Lalga

****New Addition....But she has a home!!!!***

Lovely, older bay Arabian Mare. Star, Strip, Snip, Upper Lip, Left Fore Leg, Right Hind Leg. Imported from Sweden. This mare rides quite well and is a sweet heart. She is also in foal to Colonel J.

SAHR ALGOMEJ

*LALGA # 0272675

SAHR LEWA

Lalga will be leaving for her new home with Carol J. of Massachusets sometime this week! In speaking with Carol last week, I told her of this lovely mare's plight. Carol immediately said she would give her a home for life and sprung into action to acquire the most luxurious and experienced transport available! Thank you so much Carol for caring so deeply and helping a mare in need at moment's notice!

Update 3-8-01 - Lalga has arrived at her new home!

She is really adorable and went into her paddock like she has been here for years. Its funny, even my most dominant mare (Trix) usually lunges at a new horse through the fence, but they all just accepted her. I think they know she has been through alot!

I could not really see her until this morning because it was dark. She definitely needs her feet done, so a call is already into the farrier. I noticed this morning she has a big open sore on her back leg. We will scrub that with betadyne and put some ointment on it until the vet comes to check her over. She seems sore or a little lame on her back end but it might be because of the 5 day ride and that sore! But when she was trotting through the 2 feet of snow it did not bother her!

She is really beautiful, just needs to be cleaned up, she looks like she came from the mud! I believe she is about 14.1h which my daughter will appreciate even more than us! You can tell by her confirmation that she is a well bred horse.

Right now I am looking out the window, and she is happy, great appetite, and just enjoying life! She even ran around in the deep snow last night to get some exercise! She is real sweet and safe! A beautiful mover too!

Thanks so much for caring
Carol

Update 3-10-01 - The past two days (now that we can see her in daylight) we have been washing her with warm water and medicated soap to remove all the debri and mud from her utters and back end on the first day. Day 2 we washed her with warm water to remove the manure and mud all over her body. We detangled and cut mats out of her mane and tail today and conditioned them. We then blanketed her.

We noticed that she has a big sore on her back leg it looks like down to the bone, we keep cleaning it and disinfecting it while we wait for the vet.

Her feet are in real bad condition. She has rubber grown into the hoof. I dont know whether someone had pads on her and they just grew into the foot or what. The farrier is coming on Friday. The vet said he will be out by Wednesday.

She is happy as a lark and just loves her stall and laying in her shavings. She stands completely still while we work on her. She loves the attention and knows she is being loved and cared for! She picks up her feet and will almost knock herself over to accommodate holding them up for you!

She is so sweet and we just love her so much! And so do all the other horses! She has had many visitors from the neighborhood and more of my horse friends
coming tomorrow!

Will keep you posted....

Thanks so much for her
Carol

Update 4/13/01 - Lalga is awesome! She is just unbelievable! We gave her a bath the other day (the weather has been great), with viodine shampoo, some expensive cholesterol conditioner, great brushing, and alas! She is Cleopatra! You would not believe how gorgeous she is!

Today I had a 10 year old on her on the lungeline on a breezy very windy day in an open field, and she is just so good! She is very safe!

Update 7/20/01 - She came here on the thin side and she's been putting on weight little by little. She's making progress but I figured she would have put some more on sooner. Had her vet checked and she came out fine so maybe it's the move, new environment, little high metabolism.....you know-things like that.

You'll love the photos. She's a real sweetheart. When I go to see her she either softly walks over to me with her head down or comes running. Depends on how often I see her. Anyway, she puts her head into my chest and I wrap my arms around it stroking the head, ears, mane and neck. She is especially sensitive to being gently scratched below the eyes and sometimes it looks like she's going to fall asleep in my arms. What a nice mare.

The falling asleep thing is no joke. I'm refining a sort of Tellington Touch rub & scratch down that greatly relaxes high strung horses. On July 3 I worked over a high strung thoroughbred that a girl at a barn could not saddle and in 20 minutes he fell asleep in my arms. I released him and she said "Oh my God-is he dead?". It was unbelievable. She then touched him on his nose and he jumped a foot off the ground and startled us. Then I relaxed him again but just to the point of still being conscious and she saddled him up and took him out for a ride. This is the second time I did this. The first time was with a Belgian but he was mellow to begin with so it was not all that dramatic.

Update 7/23/01 - Jerry & Winston......very important friends in Lalga's life!

I suppose one of the exceptions is my first horse that I purchased in January. He was severely face beaten by the woman that owned him and she owns a riding school in Connecticut. I paid a ton of money for him but don't care. In 6 months of humane training this habitual biter, kicker, pawer, head tosser and refuser to give up his hoofs has calmed down to a nice pet. He's still antsy and I figure it will take another 6 months to finish his training off. I can't undo in a few months what she did in 21. He's always been trouble for his owners as he had 5 in the past 6 years. Spent the first four years of his life in N. Dakota. I'll send you some photos if you want.

Last month even though I've never done a horse show and never saw one other than 1 hour in May at a schooling show, had no idea as to what the horse's show record was, we did two shows. We entered hunt seat equitation and in 6 classes won 6 ribbons. One was a championship walk trot and we found ourselves in a three way tie for first place. The tie breaker was a figure 8 and after the three of us did it, to a thunderous applause that almost tore the house down, Winston the Wonder Appaloosa was awarded champion, with me on board. We were by far the most inexperienced team on the field. I've been riding only for 3 months and had no idea what he was going to be like. We also had no barn to sponsor us, no trainers, no instructors or anything of the sort. We did the whole thing from start to finish by ourselves.

After the awards ceremony I was confronted by the mother of the girl that got third place and she told me her daughter was balling her eyes out in their trailer. She congragulated me and was thrilled I beat her daughter. She was sick and tired of hearing the "I'm holier that God" attitude her daughther had adopted and was double thrilled that a man beat her. I was the only male that competed that day. We exchanged pleasntires and she went about her way.

What I did not tell her that shortly before, her daughter was not the only one crying in a trailer. I went into mine with Winston outside devouring a large bowl of horse biscuits and as I changed my clothes I looked at the big blue ribbon and a yellow one (we got a third in another class too) and cried my eyes out. What these ribbons meant is the humane and loving methods of training work. We had been lied to, deceived, misinformed, and almost short of being robbed by owners, trainers, instructors and the likes. I fired them all in March and decided to go it alone. Got a bunch of training tapes made by Greg Best and Sally Swift and put into practice what they said about flat work. Also got books by George Morris, Frank Madden and Anna Mullins. Well, it all worked and the ribbons were the ice breaker. Two weeks later we did a regional horse show in central Massachusetts, entered four classes and amist a huge thunder, lightning and rain storm won 4 ribbons.

In view of what type of environment Winston came from in January and how he performed at the two shows, he has been nominated for a Presidential Citation with the New England Trail Rider Association and it is expected to be handed down in a month or so. All this on the horse that was deemed impossible, stupid and dumb by his 5 prior owners. June proved it was them that those words describe.

Due to what he has taught me about horses, people and life in general Winston the Wonder Appaloosa was officially nick named The Professor on the 17 June. When you think of it, they are all professors of life. It is up to us to attend class and listen.

Jerry

Update 12/24/01 - MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM "LALGA"

SHE IS DOING AWESOME AND HAS RETURNED TO GREAT HEALTH! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! GOD BLESS YOU!

CAROL