So I last left off with an introduction to Breeze. They moved him from the auction pen to their rescue’s quarantine barn for a few days until I could get him to a quarantine spot that had a paddock vs. stall, so our next interaction was when I picked up and moved him to the new QT spot.

Funny story on that – I actually met the person I ended up boarding him with at the local park one day not more than a week prior, but didn’t realize it till the day I dropped Breeze off! We weren’t riding, just on a family hike and I attempted to help them with a trailer issue as we finished up; Small world!
They had taken horses from this pen/rescue before and not had any major illnesses so she felt confident using the isolated paddock for him would be QT enough. It had a shelter, view of other horses, and no competition for food/hay – just what he needed. Since he seemed “Scooby-sized” I brought along the size 78 Unicorn rain-sheet for Breeze as the weather had been (and still is) nothing but cold & wet, no snow 😒, interspersed with warm days (and I had gotten Scooby a new rain sheet with neck recently so the unicorn one was “extra”).
The pickup from the rescue went well. He responded to his name, gave me no trouble leading out of the barn and hopped right onto a new trailer. He pawed a bit on our way to the next place, but overall easy trip. We arrived and turned him out in the isolated paddock and he didn’t run or such, rolled once. We chatted a while, then I left him in good hands for the next week due to work, and being a bit far away to easily go see.

Skyler & I returned the following Saturday, a crisp windy 40 degree day, to do a bit of grooming and get the hip tags off. I took advice from others that have done it and used a bot fly knife to cut them off of his rump. He was a little antsy, but not horrible. He had paced (but not run) a nice trench on a particular fence line, and lost a shoe in the process of doing that! The halter fit him well and the color looked nice on him. I returned alone on Sunday to do a bit more grooming and he was more accepting of whole idea (also did at liberty which gave him ability to come and go).

Another week went by and he remained healthy (almost 3 weeks total QT) so that next Saturday morning Skyler and I returned to pick him up for his trailer ride home. Kate mentioned he had really started to settle the past few days and no longer paced the fence. We groomed again, and got a chance to stick his height – 15.2 and a half hands. So he isn’t quite as big as Scooby, but certainly had a shark wither going due to weight/fitness loss from his summer status, as well as the “high and alertness” about him that made him seem bigger initially. As he settled, he seemed ‘more his height’ lol. Again he loaded beautifully, this time he actually munched some hay, and did well the drive home, except for anytime we stopped…then the pawing started. I believe this is mostly an anxiety thing right now, due to all the changes he’s endured.

When we got home the other 2 boys happened to be on the inside of the track grazing the section, so Breeze got a chance to explore and find them. They introduced nicely and non-dramatically over the fence line, he found the water tanks, got in a good roll and then went out in the pasture as well. Prophecy then made sure he and Scooby didn’t buddy up, and kept Breeze at a distance. Herd interaction is very interesting to see! Sully was our herd leader before – and he wasn’t one to chase. He put Prophecy in his place when Scooby arrived, making sure that he wasn’t bullying Scooby away from people or the hay. Now… Prophecy is the boss; Scooby a solid #2 and Breeze on the bottom. He doesn’t seem to mind, though will turn his butt to kick back if needed. There has been issue around the hay feeder, which resulted in me having to change the fence setup over there to allow for all 4 sides to be accessed. Unfortunately due to our soaking weather, that has meant they have trashed the driveway for the trailer 😭 Now I’m working on how to get that feeder moved, so I can reset the fence, figure out if I can move trailer without getting stuck, and then have more gravel put down there, and probably where the feeder is suppose to go/will go back to too.

So I’ve officially owned Breeze over a month, he’s been home just about 2 weeks, but other than feed and groom, I have yet to be able to do much! He eats well, and has already started put weight back on. He’s going to be a substantial guy with a weight tape at 1050lbs when he is ribby! We are in for a few dry days, so I’m hopeful to get a chance to do some groundwork and saddle fitting at the least. If things work well enough in what I have, I can ride at home in that trailer pasture. I finally decided on his colors and have a tack set in works for him – Navy, Bright Blue, and Silver. Now the torture of waiting for it to be finished! First the hybrid Jaquima squeeze halter is being made by Vudu Tack, which will go directly to Parry Tack so she can design a matching snap on headstall and breast collar, and another friend is making a set of paracord reins. I found a headstall that was Traveler’s I hadn’t moved on, and I’m pretty sure I can get it to fit Breeze (Traveler had a big noggin) and work until all this comes in; I have a few extra pair of reins (lol), but no extra breast collar around.
We finally got the farrier out this week around the weather and got those shoes pulled! He said his feet had been well taken care of, but the heels have been let run forward. There is a big event line that matches up to when things went awry for him late last fall, all of which will take some time to correct with trimming but nothing major. We laughed about the new herd dynamics seen (Scooby’s new found sass), and he said it seems Breeze is a mix of Prophecy’s and Sully’s personalities. I need to measure for boots and see if we can ride in just fronts for a bit, or if he needs all 4 like Scooby. Eventually they will both go into composite shoes for the heavier riding when we get to that point!

Amidst all that, I found someone who does custom stuffed horses in the USA, and the memorial keychain I had made from Sully’s tail arrived.
We’ve also been having loads of fun with Ziggy and Skyler is now pretty confident handling her. Ziggy is still one who likes to explore rather than just hang with us, but has started to snuggle into shirts/jackets a bit too 🙂 We also celebrated miss Luna’s 1-year anniversary gotcha day in January!