Acknowledging the other horses in my life Part 2

SIENNA

On March 2006, after seeing an advert for a dun brumby mare possibly in foal that was due to be dogged that weekend, I picked up the phone and bought her sight unseen. The biggest dilemma came when trying to find someone to bring an unhandled brumby down to my paddock. I finally found a person willing to do it who had a cage trailer that they transported wild horses in. I had no choice and had to use them as no other company would touch her and she had to be out within days. So I had a yard ready and waited eagerly that afternoon for her arrival.

She turned up a few hours later and it immediately sunk in the huge task I had taken on. However, I was smitten from the first time I layed eyes on her. The people that bought her down were experienced with brumbies but said she was the wildest they had handled. They backed the trailer up to the yard and she exploded out of there, her snorts echoing across the valley. She pranced around the yard, eyes rolled back in her head in terror. My heart went out to her immediately.

Sienna on arrival (she was 6 months pregnant in this pic)

She was to be one of my greatest ever teachers and still is to this day. She had been captured with her mob in Grafton and transported up to Queensland. She had a buckskin filly foal at foot but the filly died after being given prime lucerne at the dogger yards. The rest of the mob were dogged except her and another mare. No wonder she was so traumitised!

At first she was terrified of the feed bucket and would not eat during the day. She would clean up all her hay at night though much to my relief. I was keen to get her recognising mixed feed so I could worm her with worming pellets.

I started her training almost immediately as I wanted to let her out of the yard as soon as possible. I taught her to face up by putting pressure on when she would flee and stepping back from her when she would face me. Just raising your eyes to look at her would send her off so it was a challenge. She learned very quickly and still to this day is the smartest little mare I have ever known.

After her being there a few days, I took my arab mare Jade into her yard to show her that horses acutally do like people. Jade was very disinterested in her and just wanted to hang out with me. This intrigued Sienna so much she forgot her fear and walked up to us. Jade then promptly told her to back off and then lowered her head to my chest. The look on Sienna's face was priceless! She could not believe this horse actually wanted to be with a human over another horse.

The next day I had some yard panels delivered and decided to extend Sienna's yard so she could get some grazing. Whilst I was doing this Jade came over and tapped her hoof on the gate to Sienna's yard asking to be let in with her. So I let them hang out together for awhile whilst I put the panels up. She soon got bored and tapped on the gate to be let out again. I let her go and Sienna forgot herself and walked right up beside me. She quickly fled again but it was a start.

I would go into her yard everyday cleaning, changing panels and talking to her whilst I worked. She was starting to become relaxed in my presence and would face me watching what I was doing with curiousity. Within a week, I was asking her to come up and sniff my hand which she did nervously. I would take Jade in there each day and feed her in there which then prompted Sienna to finally try to eat out of the scary bucket. Within a couple of weeks she was following me around the yard still keeping her distance. I would sit next to her at feed time as she quickly became food motivated, and I would hang my hand in the bucket as she ate. She got used to brushing her mouth against my hand and was becoming much calmer with my presence.

My biggest breakthrough came after having had her there three weeks, I decided to take Jade in as I did often. I stood with Jade having a mutual grooming session. I was scratching her tail back and neck and she would enthusiastically use her lips to groom me back. Then I suddenly felt Sienna's nose behind me. Without looking I stretched my hand out and rubbed her face. She then started licking my hand and arm. This went on for about ten minutes and it was the breakthrough I was waiting for. I stood with tears streaming down my face at connecting with such a wild spirited animal as she is.

Soon after this, I turned her out with the other horses into a 20 acre paddock and proceeded to work with her in open pasture so she would not feel unduly pressured and was free to leave at anytime. I had deeply instilled the facing up with her and this was very valuable when working with her in a paddock situation.

This picture was taken a few months after her arrival. A much happier, healthier girl!

Sienna would take great interest in all that I did with my other horses. When I was trimming hooves she would always come over and stand a couple of metres away watching intently all that I was doing. She was like a sponge for knowledge and it was plain to see she was enjoying her new life. She started out at the bottom of the herd but as her confidence grew so did her place in the herd until she was lead mare and still is to this day with any mare that is paddocked with her. Interestingly though, her instincts always makes her submit to a gelding. I like to keep my mares paddocked with a gelding when possible to simulate as natural a herd structure as possible.

I took her training very slowly at the start, doing everything at liberty at first then finally introducing the halter after she had been with me for 4 months. Throughout the whole process of getting to know one another, we both showed each other no force or aggression.

Then in August she had a beautiful little smokey black colt. He was born bold as brass wanting to investigate everything he could. She was protective of him at first but gave that up realising that he was taking no notice of her. He continued to get more dominate and one day reared up and struck me in the stomach. He was getting far to much handling from the people in the neighbourhood and needed to understand some boundaries. I decided the herd would be the best to teach him that so turned him and Sienna back out with the other mares and gelding. Baron, my gelding at the time, chased him around the paddock for a few laps. All the mares then went in and formed a protective circle around him. It all calmed down very quickly and a very respectful little colt emerged in the coming weeks.

I named the colt Bandit and had alot of fun with him before I sold him when he had turned 9 months. I was worried about how Sienna would react with him leaving. I had weaned him very gently. I had him and Sienna paddocked side by side so they could still be close when they wanted to be. I had by that stage taken on another gelding who I put in with Bandit for the weaning process. Bandit was purchased by a lovely local girl who also took the gelding for company for Bandit. When it came time for Bandit to be loaded onto the truck, Sienna stood at the fence and then turned and took the mares up to the back pasture without looking back. Never a whinny or a backwards glance. I think she was glad to see the back of him!!!

Bandit grew into a beautiful brumby and is a curious, althletic and delightful colt who is very well loved.

Sienna progressed on beautifully and today will lie down when asked, is super soft and responsive to handle and is just a delight to behold as she glides around the paddock in her own spirited, graceful way. I had a trainer do some work with her and he commented on her softness and intelligence being unlike any horse he had worked with before. We went for a ride up the mountain one day. He rode Sienna bareback and gave her her head to pick her way up the steep rocky trail. At one point she stopped and would not move and we discovered a small hole in the ground. Her instinct for these sorts of danger is amazing. She was at a level where she would respond to the slight movement of your pelvis. She would slide to a halt, back up etc just with a very small cue. I saw a change in her throughout this time though which unsettled me. She was losing her spark, that glint in her eye, that depth of character and spirit. I stopped her training soon after that and went back to walking the trails with her and the other horses. At the moment, she is running on a good friends property until I can find my own place and have my horses all back together again.

For anyone interested in learning more about the brumbies, please visit this wonderful organisation www.savethebrumbies.org

ONLY ONE WEEK TO GO TILL I PICKUP SCOUT!!!!