My Horse Journey: Introduction to Phoenix and Raven (But Mostly Phoenix)

On Monday 5/27/13, Trinity rescued two horses. These four-year-old mares had been unnamed and untouched by humans for their entire lives. Trinity volunteers named them Phoenix and Raven. Sam, a high school aged volunteer, decided to use their rehabilitation for the topic of her senior project.

Though Phoenix and Raven are Sam’s senior project, I've been out there helping her out. Two unsocialized and malnourished horses can be a lot to handle for one person. On the Wednesday after those two beauties showed up at Trinity, I started interacting with them. As the photographer for Trinity, I wasn't intending to be part of Sam’s senior project. I just wanted to get some good photos of our new friends. However, I spent a lot of time in the pasture with Sam and I took an instant liking to Phoenix, causing me to just become part of the project. Josh has been helpful, too. We even decided that we’re a little family. We decided that Sam is Raven’s mom (because Raven is her favorite), I’m Phoenix’s mom (because she’s my favorite), and Josh is the crazy uncle (well, he used the word “cool” rather than “crazy”).

I love working with Phoenix. I love Raven too, but I definitely interact with Phoenix more. During their meal times, Sam always feeds Raven and I always feed Phoenix. The girls have learned this very quickly and whenever we walk up with their food bowls they immediately go to their person. Raven is calm enough while eating that Sam can stand next to her and hug her neck and just love all over her. With Phoenix, I can pet her but it wasn't until Wednesday (6/5/13) that I could even try hugging her. Phoenix is sweet but eating just gets her so excited the she paws at the ground. The few times that I put her food bucket on the ground instead of holding it, she paws so hard that she dumps her food all over the dirt and grass. However, on Wednesday she stopped pawing long enough that I could stand next to her and slightly hug her neck. Of course, I couldn't do that for very long because I’d rather not get kicked. Thursday she allowed me to hug her multiple times and even seemed a little more careful as to how hard she was pawing. Friday, I put her food bowl on the ground and with her neck down I hugged her neck in way that I was leaning against her. It didn't faze her at all. I just love the small victories that Sam and I make with these girls each day.

On Tuesday (6/4/13) there was a victory for both Phoenix and I. I cleaned her wound! The previous day I had begun to clean her wound but I didn't have gloves and I got grossed out. Cynthia had to finish cleaning while I petted Phoenix and Sam held on to her halter. The wound on her leg is from a rusty bolt in a catch pen. It gets filled with pus and blood and is completely disgusting. However, on Tuesday I cleaned it all by myself! It helped that I had gloves and the wound seemed cleaner than the previous day. It was a victory that Phoenix allowed me to clean this wound while she ate dinner and nobody was holding her in place. It was also a victory that I could clean it without getting disgusted. She now lets me clean it every day as long as I have food with me. Cleaning it has helped it so much that I no longer have to clean it. The wound is now tiny and will soon be nothing more than a scar.

Sam and I have become very attached to these girls in a short time. The day the vet came (5/30/13) Sam and I got quite stressed out. It pained me to see where the tranquilizer gun had hit Phoenix and was gushing blood. It upset Sam to see Raven upset, kicking, and running in circles as the farrier trimmed her hooves. We both tried to remember that it was only temporary stress for the horses that was necessary for their own good, but we couldn't help but feel upset. They really have become our babies. Wednesday (6/5/13) we went to the movies thinking that we would be back in time to feed Raven and Phoenix their dinner. Some of the other volunteers teased us about our jealous reactions when we found out that other volunteers had already fed our babies. It’s been such a short time, but we sure do love them.

In my previous blog, I mentioned being bitten by a horse. The funny thing about the horse bite giving me some fear of horses, I’m now aiding in the rehabilitation of a horse that had no human interaction until two days before I met her. And which of the two did I build a relationship with? The one that bites. Phoenix doesn't bite in a malicious way, but she has tried to nibble on me when she’s annoyed or I have food on me. One day she tried nibbling on my arm after meal time. When I feed Phoenix, she always finds a way to get her food all over me. That particular day, she had wiped her lips on my arm. A little later I was sitting down in the pasture and she sniffed my arm and then tried nibbling on it. Another day, I followed her around the pasture to pet her without the distraction of food. I should have backed off after she first let me pet her, but I had continued to follow her around. She slowly moved forward with mouth open to bite but I just took a step back and she stopped. It was just her way of telling me that she’d had enough. Also, she sometimes bites objects after sniffing them. She’s like a toddler that wants to put everything new in her mouth. Humans are certainly becoming less new to her so I don’t think biting will really be an issue. It's been weeks since I've seen her biting or nibbling.

Raven and Phoenix are improving quite nicely. On 6/9/13, we went to the Animal Rescue Fair. It was a lot of fun, but I was happy to return to the barn when the fair was over. When Sam and I walked over to the pasture, they came right to us. We fed them dinner and afterwards we spent some time in the pasture to see if our mares would let us pet them without food. They stayed near us and we squatted down in front of them. Raven didn't do much other than sniff us. However, when I puckered my lips, Phoenix squished her face against mine for a kiss. For the most part, Phoenix just allows kisses when she’s distracted by food. It was nice for her to approach me instead of the other way around. Since then she's been very generous with kisses.

Another way they have improved is with grooming. I had been able to slightly groom Phoenix, but not very much. Cynthia, the lovely owner of Trinity, told me that she had been able groom Phoenix. I hadn't really tried grooming, but then on 6/12/13 I groomed her. She looked like she had been rolling in the dirt and I felt the need to clean her up. I groomed her during lunch and dinner. She let me brush her mane and use a curry comb from neck to butt. I haven’t tried this without the distraction of food, but I have a feeling that she would be pretty accepting of it.

As with most things, Raven is a little less accepting than Phoenix. She allows Sam to brush her mane while she eats, but she doesn't tolerate more than that. She is a strong headed horse and a little less willing to trust humans. The fact that she is less willing to trust, just makes Sam’s progress with her so much more impressive. Raven is very protective of herself as well as Phoenix, so even though she won’t let us touch her very much, she trusts us just enough to allow us to touch Phoenix. Her trust of humans is growing slower than that of Phoenix, but she is becoming slightly more trusting each day. Friday (6/14/13) was the first day that Raven really let Sam touch her without the distraction of food. She has let Sam touch her slightly before, but on that day she let Sam rub her face and pet her more than ever before. Sam is really starting to win her over.

One of the issues with these girls that we still need to do some work on is food aggression. At first Phoenix would go between the two food bowls, but she allowed us to get a lead line on her to keep her at her own bowl. It didn't take many times of us doing that before Phoenix understood that she needed to eat her own food. Raven, however, is still having issues understanding that. Phoenix is the skinnier of the two. She eats slowly, savoring every bite. In contrast, Raven eats quickly and then rushes over to Phoenix’s bowl to finish it off. Friday (6/14/13), we put rocks in Raven’s food bowl in an attempt to slow her down. Animals generally go for the center of the food. With the rocks in her bowl, she has to work her way around them to get to the food thereby slowing down the eating process. It certainly helped, but it didn't completely solve the problem. Now we've stopped putting the rocks in and instead we correct Raven. We shoo her away and she's getting a little better about leaving Phoenix alone. However, they still need to have supervised feeding to make sure Phoenix gets all of her food. The food issue is still a work in progress, but not everything can be solved quickly.

Both Raven and Phoenix have made a lot of improvement in such short time and they continue to improve more and more each day. I can’t wait to see how they improve next!