Bunny arrived at my college riding instructor's farm a few days before I made it back to college from Virginia to Tennessee, in May 1996. This had given her a chance to settle in a bit at her new farm, going through quarentine, so when I arrived, she was ready to be moved to the mare pasture and make some new horse friends.
The first few times I went out, I just groomed her, getting her used to going into the grooming area, which she had been a little bit afraid of, the night she had arrived, and also just giving us more time to bond. I just took lots of time with her quietly encouraging her to enter the grooming area and eventually she would just walk right onto the concrete and go with me to one of the grooming stalls.
Since I am legally blind and can not drive I had to find rides to the barn. I was able to find rides with other students heading out to the barn or I paid someone to take me out there, but it still wasn't every day, like I wanted, but I got out to the barn as much as I could. I usually left my Seeing Eye Dog Zach, a male black Lab, back at my dorm room with my roommate, who also was blind and had a Seeing Eye Dog, so I knew he was happy. It was usually quite hot out there, so I did this for his own comfort. He did come with me sometimes, and I would tie him nearby or put him in the huge crate that I had bought for him to relax in.
Bunny continued to not be too hard to catch for me, despite the previous owner's warning of her being hard to catch. Sometimes I'd have to patiently wait for her to come to me, taking about 10 minutes, but, she would usually come quicker than that. On the days she wanted to be hard to catch, she would run around me in circles, as I stood there waiting for her. She'd let me know when she was ready to be caught by stopping, then turning towards me to look at me, as if to say, "OK, I'm ready to be caught." If I chased her, it would take me a lot longer to catch her, so I learned fairly quickly not to chase her and let her just get it out of her system and she'd let me know when she was ready.
After I was sure she was getting more settled in I started taking her to the roundpen to work her and start working with her on voice commands and her steering. The roundpen is a great place to teach all of this. She was a fast learner, so she progressed quickly with her ground work and I was soon starting to get on her back, again.
We were making great progress, she was learning to steer, but on some days I would mount her and she would just stand there, frozen, refusing to move. I could sense that something major was bothering her, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I just felt sadness for her, something just wasn't right. I would lean forward in the saddle and lay on her neck, just hugging her and talking to her, trying to get her to relax, sometimes it would work, but most times it didn't. There were days that I got on her that we were lucky if we moved 10 feet from where we had started. I never pushed Bunny too hard, because I just sensed that something from her past was causing this and it was not me.
That summer, my instructor was not there very often, as she was out doing the Quarter Horse show circuit, but she knew I could handle things and when she was home she'd watch Bunny and I and see the progress we were making.
On days that Bunny was willing to work, we'd go to the riding ring and walk and trot, working on steering, stopping, and other confidence building things, but mostly I just rode her and didn't over do things, so not to stress her.
As August approached and the beginning of the fall semester was about to start my instructor and I talked about the upcoming riding class at college, which she also taught. She would usually bring student's horses that were boarded with her, to the college campus riding arena for class, and she said she would have room for Bunny and she thought it might be good for Bunny to come along. I was thrilled that I'd get to take actual lessons on my own horse, for the first time in my life.
Bunny was brought with 5 other horses and at first I would take her to an empty stall at the livestock center and get her ready. However, we changed this one day, when I left her stall to go get something and when I came back one of the guys had moved her, to put another horse there. When I went to find find her, she was tied to a plank that was nailed to two posts, right next to where the cars would go by. And, well, before I could move her, and right as my instructor was also appearing on the scene, a car went right behind Bunny, scaring her. She reared up and the plank came right off the posts. She began to drag it, but luckily, being a very smart horse, she quickly put her head down, stopped moving, and waited for us to get to her and out of this potentially dangerous situation, as she was headed towards the road. After that, my instructor had Bunny brought to the main school barn, so I wouldn't have to leave her and she was put in the one cross tie area, and everyone was told that they were not to move her from that spot.
For the actual riding class, my instructor and I talked that Bunny should be lunged first, having her walk and trot around me in the center of the big riding arena, so she could see all the action without me on her back, and we'd wait for her to show that she was relaxing before I'd get on her.
We also agreed that I would not canter her, just yet, as we were not sure she was ready for it, in such a big arena with so many other horses being ridden around her. And most times she listened and only trotted when the others cantered, but one glorious afternoon when the instructor called for everyone to canter, Bunny decided she was ready and willing and she picked up her canter, and for the second time I got to feel the most comfortable canter I have ever felt on any horse that I have ever ridden. We made it about halfway around the arena, before my instructor asked me to slow her back into the trot. We were both very proud of her and were thrilled that she was making so much progress.
My next riding lesson was at my instructor's barn and she had me ride Bunny. Bunny was having one of her more nervous days, but she was not frozen, she just wanted to follow the other horses, for their comfort and I couldn't get her to stop following the others, so my instructor had me bring her down to one end of the ring and had the others stay at the opposite end of the ring. She then had me ride Bunny in small circles around her. After a few minutes she had me stop and walked over to me.
My riding instructor was a very nice lady, but she rarely talked of emotions when it came to horses. She looked up at me and very seriously said, "Lisa, I have to tell you something. The look in Bunny's eyes is sheer terror. I truly believe that the only reason this horse is not bucking you off right here and right now is that this horse loves you." This was something I'd never heard this woman talk about, the love of a horse for a human, so for her to say this to me, it makes it mean that much more and so much more believable.
We talked about what was going on and she told me that Bunny's mannerisms, attitude, and other behavior led her to believe that Bunny's early training had been very bad, possibly even cruel, maybe even abusive. Obviously, we don't know this for sure, but Bunny showed a lot of classic signs of a previously mistreated horse.
So, Bunny was cooperating with me because of love, something that I bet she had not really known before. It is amazing what love can do. And I definitely loved that pretty little grey Anglo-Arabian mare, that was a give away rescue, that was about to be sent off to auction. I was so happy to have her in my life and knew we were going to do great things.
It was all for love, my love for Bunny and Bunny's love for me.
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