Voodoo goes to school

It was bound to happen some time, and I do not know why I am surprised at this, but in the process of trimming and moving horses a few weeks ago, I took Barry's word for it when he said that Voodoo was in a certain pasture. Which then meant that we proceeded with several things from that assumption, for things such as trimming, deworming, etc.

All the horses in the back pasture are hay only horses, which normally keeps them fat as ticks, but this one-off supplier we used provided us with hay of a far lower quality than we are used to--and since it was paid for in advance, we had to feed it. It is not bad hay. It just nowhere near the quality they are used to, so the fatties dropped some weight. I discovered this, and that meant that Voodoo needed to come in to get fed up for a couple of weeks, on way better hay and some Strategy, etc.

Except, 8 days into Voodoo Rehab, I realized that that was not Voodoo. It was Boogie. Who has already been to the trainer, and although he needs to go again, I have other priorities right no. That threw off the training schedule, as I had to start all over with the Rehab on him. And I should not admit that it took me close to an hour to figure out who in the hell that was in the stall. But it did.

Anyway, the day finally came this weekend, and Voodoo was delivered to his trainer, Bobby.

This is his dismount from the trailer. His very first trailer loading and trailer ride were without incident--he hopped right up in for Barry before I was even out of the shower. I did not expect it to be that easy! When he got out, he looked around, sighed real big--then spooked at an imaginary booger. Or a peacock, hard to say at his house---I did not see a peacock though, so I am calling it an imaginary booger.

And please ignore how crappy Voodoo looks--the dried mud on his legs is what is left after an hour of grooming him on Saturday. We have been underwater here for weeks, and the weather is so crazy that none of the horses have shed off normally. Poor Voodoo has bald spots where he is shedding off all loony--he looks like he has mange.
As we pulled in, we saw Bobby loping across huge fields on this big roan--with his working dogs in tow. I tried to get shots of that, but could not catch up--it looked so happy. Just after Voodoo's spook, Bobby asked to take his lead and see how he acted being ponied from the roan horse. The poor little guy was a little anxious, but he took just fine to being snugged up close to the roan. I was proud of how quickly he settled in. Young horses are just full of surprises when they go on their first trip off the farm--you never can predict just what will happen.


Training at Bobby's is a complete 180 from a lot of trainers that I have used--that is one of the things I like about it. The horses are not stalled full-time--something I hate to see happen to a young horse like it does in a show barn. They are exposed to so many things at Bobby's--like dogs, etc, and any crazy thing he can think of to teach them. Still I was wondering if Voodoo was ready for his first step--to follow the roan horse through a walk door. Only a slight hesitation, and he walked through it like he did it every day.


Next Bobby just fiddled with him, while still on the roan. He chucked the rope at him, and aggravated Voodoo in every manner possible. Voodoo was pretty unphased by the whole thing.
And when I say he tried to aggravate him, I mean he tried to aggravate him. Look at the look on Voodoo's face--he clearly is asking me WTF is going on here?

Voodoo liked Bobby though, and I could tell he was going to be okay. Last time I left one at the trainer, I felt so guilty as he looked so scared. But this time it was okay. Strange that.


And then I see this picture, where he looks a little scaredy.

BUT, last nite, mid-Nudie tragedy, I got a phone call from Bobby. Actually he called earlier in the day but the call got dropped before we got to talk. That had me nervous all afternoon, because I was sure something had happened and Voodoo was hurt already.

Finally we got ourselves lined out and I learned that Voodoo was completely happy and having a good time. Bobby had started playing with him in the morning, flexing and bending and doing general stuff and he did good. By the afternoon, he started wondering what he could do to set him off, so he got him out again, and tried to set him off. None of the regular things worked--he tried the flag on a stick, throwing a rope at him, everything. Nothing did it. He had to spank him on the butt with the stick, while Bobby was horseback on another horse, to get him to move out at all. Then he could get him to trot and lope circles around him.


Since Voodoo was doing so well, he decided to introduce him to the saddle and see what happened. Turns out there was nothing to see. Then he stood in the stirrup and still nothing. Voodoo was so easy to get along with, he threw a leg over him.

Still nothing.

Figuring he had pushed him past any reasonable point, Bobby ended by getting Voodoo to move with him in the saddle.

His report to me was that Voodoo seemed to want to do right, and wanted to please. After the last one I sent him a while ago, who was absolutely not interested in pleasing anyone, he knew how happy I would be to hear that.

I know it means nothing long term, and probably by the end of this week, he will be up to no good, but for his first day, he was a superstar!