SRBA Farm Case Studies Horses

Tibbs - neglected, abandoned, rescued and was previously in rehabilitation.

Tibbs - History of a rehab horse:

Tibbolt (Tibbs) is a 4 year old, sorrel and white Pintabian, 14 hh and approximately 850 pounds. He had been handled very little his entire life. His halter had grown into his face and he had been run in a round pen with a lunge line attached to the imbedded halter while being forced to move with violent jerks on the line. He also had severe blunt force trauma, large knots the size of a fist, on either side of his spine, I can only assume by looking at the wounds that they came from a horse rearing and landing on his back in the loin area. His feet were not trimmed and his mane was full of dreadlocks.

He was removed from this situation by a kind young couple who had heard through the grapevine of his plight. They trapped him into a stock trailer and used a pipe gate to squeeze him into a corner to cut the halter off of him, they medicated the wound, administered a dewormer and some antibiotics and took him home. They fed him and kept him in a round pen alone because of the possibility of disease. After a couple of weeks they decided they could not keep him and put him on the internet with hopes of finding someone to take him. A friend of mine saw him on the internet and called me to see if I was interested in him.

Our first meeting:

After speaking with his rescuers and being told his history, I decided to go see him and evaluate his physical and emotional wellbeing. When I arrived at the farm the couple was welcoming and hopeful that I would take him.

When I approached the gelding in the round pen, he was not willing to allow me to touch him. He would raise his head very high and look around with wide, fearful eyes and back away. I looked him over and found residual face damage from his halter and the back lumps as explained above. I moved him around the pen some to see how he traveled and if he was in pain. Beyond the fear flight response he didn’t seem to have anything else I was concerned about soI decided I would bring him home. We loaded him in my trailer and made the trip home with no mishaps.

Working process:

Upon arriving at SRBA we backed up to my round pen and opened the trailer door. Tibbs couldn’t make the trip out of the trailer alone, so we shooed him out and left him to check out his temporary home, with hay and water of course.

I checked on him frequently throughout the day. He seemed interested in the other animals on the farm, but did not want to have anything to do with me. I left him alone for the evening. The next day I gave him water and hay and left him alone to eat. After I had finished my other chores I went into the pen with his breakfast of vitamins and pellets. He would not come to the food and showed no interest in it. I placed the pan on the ground and retreated and he still would not approach the pan. So I left him alone and came back a while later and he had eaten a small amount. I continued with this same pan of food a few more times and finally he did finish it. I left him alone again.

The next day I decided to work him just like he was any other horse, no babying and feeling bad for him. I worked him until he hooked up with me, it took quite a while, but at no time did he ever try to kick , charge or bite at me and was mainly staying away. The ground work paid off and I was able to touch and pet him on the front part of his body. He had a lot of fear about the rest of his body but through persistence and patience along with timing of release I was able to touch him everywhere. Once I was able to touch him and have him stand, I could proceed with halter training. I had to keep in mind not to treat him “special” because of his history. I felt that I could do the best for him by treating him like a horse, not a wounded creature. He needed to learn trust but did not need to be pampered.

His head shyness and halter fear were very pronounced. I decided to use “target training” which is a positive reinforcement program to teach him to touch the halter and finally to allow me to apply it. Whenever he would respond by touching the halter I would give him a very, very small apple bit. I had experimented with a few treats and found his weakness was apples. Within a short amount of time he would allow me to halter him.

Leading was a whole other deal though. He was afraid of the lead rope, twine, lunge line etc. I went back to the ground work techniques I use and if he would stand as I approached with the lead rope he would be rewarded with no work, if he moved he would have to work. Pretty simple and basic stuff, but once again timing and experience do play a big part in this technique. Before I could clip on the lead I had to make certain he was in a good place so he would not run off. Due to his level of fear he could revert to the flight response if he were to feel threatened. I did not want him running off with the lead rope attached to him.

Once he was calm enough to handle the rope I put on a flat nylon safety release halter and a short grab line. My point here was to allow him to work through the pressure and release lessons himself. From then on I would review his previous lessons to make certain he knew I meant the same thing every time I was with him. This can be accomplished very quickly since it is not the same as learning the first time. Tibbs caught on very quickly once his initial lessons were absorbed. I started leading lessons in the round pen and once his quarantine time was up, I moved him into one of my emotionally healthy gelding herds.

Results:

As of this writing Tibbs is doing well. He has graduated to lunge line lessons outside the round pen wherever I want him to go. He has been vaccinated, dewormed and will have his first hoof trimming next week.

Where to next:

Tibbs will be desensitized to stable blankets and saddling next, of course followed by being ridden and wearing a bitted bridle.

Stay tuned for monthly updates on Tibbs.