I adopted Goose thru Serenity Acres last July. It's a leap of faith to purchase a horse unseen, but I took the leap and what a gem he has turned out to be! (I hope I posted these pictures right.)

Here is a progression of pictures of Goose, the PMU web picture, when he first arrived with me last July, and now 11 months later-(he's turning 2) See links in the 6th posting below..

Darn, I can't see your boy Would you try posting the link to your pictures again? I'd love to see how far he's come.

Cheers,

Kristin

[;jsessionid=D1737E1345A30CF48E244DA8C4A09DFB]http://www.photoworks.com/servlet/GetThumb;jsessionid=D...0CF48E244DA8C4A09DFB[/URL]

I am picture posting illiterate. I think the links in the previous post will take you to my albums in photoworks, but not sure. I'll keep working on it!

Shoot, still can't see them. Says "photo temporarily unavailable" for me. Have you tried reading the photo posting instructions? I'm not great with those sorts of things technical web/code things either. Thanks for trying

I get the same when I click on the links. Try posting them at photobucket.com.

Newt

Thanks Newt and Kristin, I hope this works!

Wow, he's gone from fuzzy to gorgeous!! He's quite the looker Thanks for sharing

Dana

Good golly! That's quite the transformation. He is absolutely BEAUTIFUL now! Definitely a boy to be proud of . I wonder if he and my filly are related... Do you know who his father is? Freya, my girl, just turned 2 and is from Serenity Acres as well.

I don't know much about him except he is 1/2 percheron and thoroughbred and came from a ranch in Bottineau, ND.

Tink - I fixed the photos because I wanted to see them. (You just needed [img] tags instead of the URL tags.) He is gorgeous!!!!!!!!! That is quite a change from when you got him.

I love seeing all these babies growing up. He really changed a lot and is gorgeous!

Dear Tink, Thank you for sharing your pictures of Goose. I adopted a 10 month old Percheron/ quarter cross last month from the same ranch. We named our guy "Friday" because he arrived on Friday, June 13th. I'm sure they share a sire. Friday is almost black, but with the seal brown points like Goose ,and he arrived extremely thin, with ringworm and a big hock abscess. He has the most loving and mischievous temperment, and is very calm. Within 2 days, he was a total puppy dog. He now puts his head in his halter, picks up his feet, leads, clips and loads.His latest trick is putting his front leg in the water trough and trying to splash all the water out. He is interested in everything, and very curious. Is Goose's temperment similar? I will try to figure out how to post pictures so I can share his progress too. Wish me luck. Lnirish

How funny!! My Cody loves to stand in his manger and in his black rubber water trough. Once he paws enough water out, then he and one of the other geldings play tug-o-war with them! He also loves to slosh the water around with his nose. I wonder if the majority of drafts love water?

Dana you can count Velvet in as one of the majority. She loves water and the best time was when I gave her a plastic milk jug to play with. She smashed it flat and then took it to the little stream and started scooping up water and throwing it! It was so funny to watch her scooping and tossing the water this way and that!

Goose hasn't declared a fascination for water but he IS obsessed with the wheelbarrow. He backs in between the handles and then tries to step into it,he will not leave it alone when I'm cleaningout his paddock twice he has even pooped in it while I was cleaning out his paddock. What a helper! He's curious about everything as well as mischevious, for awhile, he was unlatching the gate and letting himself out to pasture at night.
I'd love to see the pics of Friday.

These little ones are smart! Cody is very good at untying himself so he can wander.... We have big trash containers for manure and he always comes over and poops by them while we're cleaning the pasture. Wish there was some way to teach him to actually go in it!! He's the one who always figures out when the hot wire is down..... loves to play with buckets or whatever I give him. He loves the sprinkler too. On really hot days, I'll turn it on and he'll investigate the sprinkler head, pawing and biting it. He accidentally steps on the hose and then can't figure out where the water went, then when he steps off the hose, he gets zapped in the face. He also likes to jump it!!

Hey, Tink -- Freya, my 2-yr old Perch/QT horse, does that exact same wheelbarrow maneuver - how funny! I've never seen anything like it! She just loves backing up between the handles, tipping it over, and trying to climb in or sidepass over it. She's just endlessly fascinated... which is fine by me, provided the wheelbarrow is empty when she's playing with it.

Wow! These photos and stories are amazing! I'm sitting here getting goosebumps!!!

You are all truly wonderful for giving these beautiful creatures the opportunity to experience the joys of life as you have.

Someday, when I have acreage, I too will open my heart and home to a horse rescue.

He is rebel. Rebel loves to run fast and go on trail rides, but his favorite thing in the whole world is food!

(Source:sponsorahorse.org)

Well, I'm not quite at a year yet with Freya (it will be one year I've had her when December '08 rolls around), but I totally agree -- these beautiful horses sure do turn out wonderfully with time and a little TLC. Remember hearing about Freya, my "untouchable" PMU yearling? She's well into her two-year-old year now and loves being groomed, handled, worked with, even has her feet trimmed now, too. I saddled her for the first time this September and she took it like a pro She's so willing to do anything I ask of her now, I saddled her up in the roundpen without a leadrope attached. She was free to walk away at any time if she got scared, but she stayed calm and accepted the whole thing with an incredible amount of grace.

Here's Freya back in January of 2008. I'd had her about 3 weeks when these were taken:





And here she is in Sept. '08 on the day of her first saddling Sorry, picture quality isn't as good on this one since I took it on my cell phone.

Wow, she is looking so beautiful! Congratulations on your success. Was it the pole therapy that did the trick?

Freya has evolutionized herself very impressive. She not only has transformed into a beautiful horse, but also has taken to you and training. Wonderful!

Thanks, Dana and Apryl. Yep, it was the bamboo pole training that really did the trick... For those of you with PMU horses who are extremely fearful of being handled, I'd highly recommend it. Despite all the diffent training techniques I'd tried prior to working with the bamboo pole (and trust me, I'd gone through most all the advice available in the natural horsemanship world), she just wouldn't get over her fear of being touched. Once Freya got used to being touched by the pole, she progressed rather quickly to being touched by me, and really, she's been very easy to work with since then. She handled being saddled wonderfully, and now we're working on ground driving. Most of all, she's become a real love bug now, and she enjoys being around me; I think that's the most rewarding part

Freya's still rather slow to trust new people, but considering everything she's been through, she sure is doing great She had her 2nd ever hoof trimming last Saturday, and my farrier was really impressed with her trainability and how mellow she is about new situations.

Kristen, What a transformation...thanks to all your patience and training. What a difference 10 months makes!! She looks completely at ease with the saddle on! Tink