Just Kidding: Rescue to Stardom 2022

02/02/2022

He is so happy playing with Khody

12/18/2021

🥰

12/18/2021

He loves me?

12/18/2021

Kidd relationship goals.

12/15/2021

Well I realize I haven’t updated Kidds progress, but he is doing well. We will be taking some of the pressure off him for the time being and addressing some eye issues we noticed. So the bigger news since he won’t be going to Rescue to stardom is that Just Maybe aka May will be taking his place!! She just arrived last night snd started her training today. She is a lovely 3 year old quarter horse cross mare. Shes big for a youngster. Shes smart and light to the touch so we need to help her understand pressure a little more. I will be creating her own page to follow so look for Just Maybe: Rescue to Stardom 2022.

12/10/2021

So Kidd was still a bit feral when I ask the vet to come castrate him. And when it came time for his teeth she was like ohhhhh he is crazy! I was like no no he is just scared but he is better now , trust me 😂. I had worked out every possible scenario imaginable to keeping everyone safe…. And here is how it turned out. Best Kidd ever! ❤️

12/09/2021

Some say loading horses on a trailer is the ultimate win. I have been preparing Kidd for this for quite a while. Even though there are many more steps to finish this task today he showed me he understood my request and trusted my leadership. 🥰

12/09/2021

So up until today Kidds reaction to anything near his hind legs was to fire out with a kick. I have been chipping away at his reluctance to yield to pressure as his fear in this zone is really strong. He is no where there yet but it was a win for him today. 🥰

12/08/2021

So here are a few examples of how I started with kidd and understanding touch isn’t the end of the world. He is a bit of the sky is falling when approached with foreign concepts. Every day I would be consistent with certain protocols. He had to acknowledge me before eating, it was a simple request, just touch my hand. I didn’t touch him. He just had to touch the back of my hand and I would feed him. He got clever at this game of touch. And we are still expanding that game. 🥰

12/08/2021

As the days unfolded for Kidd, my
mission was to "win" the friendly
game. Which translates to nothing
means nothing, movement's without
intention to cause pressure.
But the
slightest thing to kidd sparked his
desire to flee, create distance and
escape by any means necessary.
So I took my trusty chair to his area
and sat for hours with him at
breakfast lunch and dinner time.
Never asking anything of him. I Just
sat there and he could do whatever
he wanted, eat, stand touch my
shoes or leg…

12/08/2021

I sat with kidd as I usually do each evening and he felt like a few snapchats. We brushed off the day and hung out trying to understand each other’s perspectives.

12/07/2021

Day 7 in kidds official c**t start… it was a rough day for both of us. I was hoping to be at least sitting on him but his fear and reluctance to trust is strong. I dug into my tool box of knowledge and tried helping him but he fought me every step. I had one nice moment when I thought he finally turned loose to me but next round he came back fighting. Tomorrow is another day… I won’t quit this horse and he won’t quit me but we have to conquer his fears 🥺

12/04/2021

To continue Kidds story… once we successfully got him off the trailer my job to bond with him began. Kelly asked how? I said water! Water is life so I will come out and offer him water every few hours. And if he doesn’t come to me he doesn’t drink. Hummmm…. 🤔 so before she left I was about to offer him his first drinking opportunity. Which was successful as he inched closer and closer and stretched his neck as far as he could to drink from the bucket of water I had brought him. I continued with this for one day and he began to try to connect with me.

12/04/2021

In this short video you can see that kidd didn’t understand how to follow a feel on a rope. His instincts say fight pressure. I had to teach him to turn loose to the pressure and yield. Once he understood he could find comfort by yielding we could start to have a conversation.
He will need this skill to be successfully ridden.

12/03/2021

Kidd came to me in October completely feral! Like Kelly Smith drives in the driveway and relays this story of him leaping over four foot fences escaping quarantine out onto a road and back again just trying to load him on the trailer 😱. I was like ah how high were the fences?? Thinking omg i am glad the fences at our place are five feet… sheepishly asking her well do you think he will leap these? 😆 her response no, no I don’t think he will. 🤔 ok lets unload him then…. To be continued…

12/03/2021