Tonka

I have recently purchased my first horse, an appaloosa named Tonka. For those that know me, you know that I've loved horses my entire life. I thought I knew a lot about them...but I am finding out I just BARELY scratched the surface!

I enjoy a challenge though, and with some guidance and training videos, I'm learning quickly how to be a leader with my horse and train him to do what I need him to do. This summer, I plan on working him in the round pen as extensively as I can, and then in the fall, sending him off to be professionally broken in Oklahoma.

We will see how much ground work I can get done myself with the help of Randy, the landowner where Tonka lives, and Clinton Anderson training videos...wow that dude talks a lot! He's great...but I feel like I have to watch each video twice just to catch the video and audio.

Here's a little bit of background info, what I've received so far, from his landowner, Randy.

Tonka was brought to Randy's property 3 years ago when he was still a baby. His owners were in agreement to pay $50 a month to Randy to keep him there. (They paid for two months). They were working with Tonka, trying to get him broken themselves. They'd come out several times a week and run him in the round pen. One day, his owner ran him in the round pen for 10 minutes, threw a saddle on him, and then jumped on him. Tonka of course bucked and knocked the guy off. (Can't say I blame him). The owner broke 3 ribs and got kicked in the head as Tonka ran away. Needless to say, the owner never returned. He abandoned Tonka on that day and Randy continued to care for him as he was his own.

Next door to Randy, a friend of mine has two horses she is trying to work with to get ready to show. She caught up with me when she was inquiring to have some portraits done of her horses. (www.ccombsphotography.com) I was amazed at the fact she was still working with horses, and she invited me to help out. The land is only 5 minutes from my house so I began visiting every other day to help socialize the horses. One day, I saw Tonka and she informed me he was for sale. I debated for about a week and did research to figure out all of the logistics and if I could afford a horse. I decided I could and told Randy I wanted to buy him.

I immediately started working with him and try to go out to see him at least every other day. In one week, I could put him in the round pen, get him running, and within a minute he would turn his ear and eye towards me. I could stop him, and he would come to me immediately and follow wherever I went. He even would back up with me! I also worked on pulling his head to left or right until he would give. He now does this quite well and will often hold his head in the position with his chin resting at my elbow.

My health took a sudden fall two weeks ago and currently the doctors believe I have Crohn's Disease. I have been extremely depressed as I have not been able to get out there as much now and Tonka was making good, quick progress. I go in for a barrium test on Monday to hopefully confirm or ditch the current diagnosis and figure out good treatments. It's changed my diet immensly and I have lost 10 pounds already. It's good because I wanted to lose weight, but the diet sucks. I keep craving foods I used to eat and have to keep telling myself no.

I've been slowly trying to resume my evening visits to Tonka. Last night I went out and picked out his feet for the first time. He is onery and has made every "new" task a pain. He pulled his foot away or wouldn't pick it up so many times.... ug.... but I stuck with it and by the end had much more success. This will definitely become something we do A LOT more often. Now I know how to do it!

I plan on working him in the round pen this weekend with a saddle on. I will not be adding weight for a while yet, but want to see how he does. I also need to get him to go through each gait in the round pen so we can establish that I am still in control, no matter what his speed. So far, I can only get him to trot. If any of you experienced horse people have advice, please let me know.

There is a basic run down of Tonka. I will try to post some nice pictures of him in the next few weeks!