This horse was my first ever project horse, and first ever horse. I bought her nearly a year ago, but sadly lost her in April. It took me months to gain her trust and i love telling the story so here it is:
I bought Pasella pretty much untouched, she had fancy papers and stunning conformation but i think we all know that doesnt make a horse. I chose her because i like a challenge. Her owners told me that she had no show experiance, was face-shy, greenly backed and hard to catch.
I had been riding for abut 4 years at the time, i had plently experiance with hard horses, especially with backing and handling tricky mares.
When we arrived to pick her up it was pouring with rain and me and my family were exhausted from the 3 hour long drive. It took 50 minutes to get her from the top of the paddock (which is supposed to be a 5 minute walk) to the horse box.
And then another hour to get her into the trailer, the owners at one point sedated her to get her in. I was incredibly uneasy with how she was being handled.
When we arrived to the yard she was being stabled she was shaking and looked extremely unhappy. I sat on the floor, soaked, and waited for her to aproach me. She finally did after an hour and i manged to brush off the worst of her dirt before feeding her and leaving.
I spent everyday with her, slowly working with her. She was NOT head-shy what-so-ever! She was very happy to be touched on her face, in fact it was the only place i could.
We carefully introduced her to the herd in which i discovered she was very aggressive and mean with other horses.
She paced a lot was something i noticed and stress-ate constantly. She looked deeply unhappy.
Pasella pushed me harder than i've ever been pushed with a horse. About 2 weeks later i had my first ridden session with her, bareback as we didnt have a saddle for her.
She hated being tapped to go faster and often bit me if i tried. She slowed down every few minutes and refused to go forward.
I started doing a lot of inhand work with her, only riding for 20 minutes a day, and found her love for jumping this little ditch in her paddock.
I was riding her in a halter and bareback because she apperently wasn't properly mouthed (which was a lie).
I just kept going and with her. I'm not sure when it happened but one day i went there and we had just clicked. She didnt want to fight with me, she just wanted to be there with me.
It was a massive relief for me. I started taking her out to this farm next door and doing work with her in the fields.
And then i started doing little jumps with her, she was so pingy over the fences.
And then the shoe dropped...
She got kicked awfully by one of the geldings there and was incredibly sore, even limping around. She was very defensive of herself and wouldnt let me close.
When she recovered from that she started refusing to come down from the fields. I would spend ages trying to get her down and she would just bite me and refuse.
It took a couple weeks to get her over that and we decided it was time to buy her a saddle. We had the saddle fitter come and tested out a saddle.
While we were trying it out she decided to bolt with me across the field and was bucking. I had no control at all and was hanging on by a thread when she skidded to a halt and threw me into a fence.
And there went my confidence..
The saddle fitter told me i needed to get her a bridle for my own saftey but i was reluctant. I had grew up in an enviremont where bits and bridles were rarely used.
I didnt listen and had my knee ripped open only a week later. I was scared to get on her.
My knee had been shredded and so had all my confidence. I knew that this had to get better and just kept going.
Someone offered for me to use their arena for schooling and i took it. Me and her regained what i had lost and i actually took her over a 60cm oxer, bareback and bitless.
I was feeling much better about her and we had a good couple of weeks. I went out on a ride with a friend one day and decided to ride myself of the reins.
She listened so well!
I was in relief nd started doing a lot of bridleless work with her. During december i got into an accidnt with another horse where i got dragged while doing cross country.
Then just as i was feeling better i got hurt while biking. I had gotten into a crash and couldn't reallly walk very well. No anything really serious. I had tore the muscle in my leg.
When jan came we decided it was time for her first show. I borrowed a friends saddle and had bought her a bridle. The bit was very soft, and she responded very well to it.
At the show something snapped in her and she just freaked out with me. I finished it shaking and crying.
She had lost her faith in me.. I couldnt get her to listen at all. At one point while i was trying to take her on in inhand walk she bit me in the neck.
I was so frustrated that i didnt come for a week after. It was hard on the both of us.
I had someone come in and try help us. We worked together for a bit and Pasella started trusting me again.
We were working together much better and i could ride her tackless in the fields.
And then i lost her...
I don't want to talk about how or what happpened
Sunny
