The Tayenne project is terminated; she has gone back to her mates and we brought Lucie home. Tayenne is a beautiful young horse, that's what seduces me, every time I look at her; but I don't have the time to educate a teenager with zero education and experience.
On the day of the changeover, Fina had a stressful day, but the other two took it well. M. Cazor loaded Tayenne easily in the trailer (well he is a magic horseman and horses just respond to him) then I went ahead in my car to prepare Lucie. It would be nice to say she recognised the car; anyway, she came over to me and we greeted each other, I'm sure she knew it was me, and licked my hand and let me scratch inside her ears which I bet nobody did for 2 months. By then the trailer had arrived and Tayenne went into the field as Lucie came out, and loaded, all without any fuss. Once back home, I put Lucie in the field opposite Fina. I took them both for a walk and groom that evening, and left them to settle overnight. Lucie is very mareish and Fina will be all over her, I don't want anybody kicked, and I want to re-establish pecking order first. It worked well like that when Fina arrived whereas it was rather less tranquil when Tayenne arrived so lesson learned, we are going for setting up for success this time round!
Lucie in't in foal; she didn't come into season properly, probably because, interestingly enough, she took upon herself a management role in the herd. The comments I got back about her behaviour reflect the difficulties I've had with her. Subtly dominant, looks as if she's timid but fought for a high position in the herd hierachy, submitting to only one horse above her. I find I'm not too bothered if we don't get a foal; it would just complicate life. I decided I don't want to keep Tayenne for several reasons. She needs too much time to bring on & give her basic education; at 7 years old, a lot of good learning years have been missed and a lot of bad habits been forged & gone uncorrected. If she was my only project... But I now have Seraphina, and I want to spend time with her and was having to ignore her (which she notices) to sort out Tayenne. Whereas Fina has all the basics in place (thanks to my friends and her last owners, Helen and Ali) and we are both wanting to move forward together. Also I feel the balance was better having an older mare; the two youngsters together don't make a successful combination. Lucie was quite happy for me to spend time with Fina because then she didn't have to do anything!! Lucie as a mentor to either youngster is good for them. Fina tried to boss Tayenne but isn't really effective, and doesn't really want that role.
No comments:
Post a Comment