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Meet Sara

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The newest member of The Girls

Our latest and final resident, Sara (a.k.a. Blue Seranade, a.k.a. Sarabear), was donated to the farm not long ago. Her owner was selling all her horses, but due to an abusive past she wanted Sara to go somewhere special where she would be well cared for and understood.

When an abused horse is moved to a new home, there is often regression which requires careful handling and a longer period of adjustment. For all you horse lovers out there (or anyone interested in animal psychology :o) I give you ...

Epic Farms or Bust

Sara arrived here safely on a weekday afternoon. Thankfully, this gave her plenty of daylight hours to adjust to her new surroundings.

She scrambled out of the trailer in a big hurry, but since it was a four hour trip to get here we could hardly blame her. She was a bit nervous at the change of scene, and let us know by snorting softly several times as she looked around at her new environment. Even so, she was a perfect little lady as we made our way around the house to her temporary quarters.

A New Home

Something that I found interesting was that one of the shippers referred to her nervous snorting as "An Arabian thing", which surprised me. It's not a breed trait at all, but simply an expression of equine anxiety. A precursor to those frantic whinnies, if you like, should the stressful situation escalate. Shadow [our resident weenie] is a Tennessee Walking Horse and he snorts at things on a regular basis. Have you ever heard it before?

We walked Sara slowly around the area we had fenced off for her so she would know exactly where the boundaries were. Initially, she was more interested in the grass than anything and spent the first 30 minutes or so with her head greedily buried in it... YUM :o)

Hey, Who Are You??

The Girls had been at the top of the hill initially, but hot-footed it downhill to see what was going on. Rina, Lady and Taya [sometimes referred to as the "Three Muskateers"] decided immediately that Sara was A NOBODY and should be thoroughly ignored. The threesome looked at Sara, then turned right around and marched straight back up the hill; noses and tails haughtily in the air. Bella however, [the loner of the herd] was absolutely fascinated with her new neighbor.

Apparently it was mutual; they spent an entire hour completely transfixed and staring at each other across the fences, which I thought was pretty funny. Sara eventually went back to chomping away on the grass, but Bella continued to stand and stare until it was time for supper.

Maybe she finally found herself a friend. Wouldn't that be nice?

How Do You Do?

With the girls tucked safely in their stalls, introductions were made all around before walking Sara around the perimeter of the pasture. Photos below from Left to Right: Lady and Bella, Rina (who is the leader of The Girls), and Taya.



Um, apparently DD hasn't quite mastered the concept of holding the camera completely still when taking photographs...Please excuse the bits of blur :o)

A Boy's Eye View

Shadow (R) and Cinnamon (L) were the first members of the Moo Crew to arrive at the fence and check out the new arrival. They stood staring with avid interest as we headed up the hill with Sara in tow.

WOO! - Who is that??

Haaay, she's kind of cute...

Senor Studmuffin Strikes (out) Again


Of course Shadow (a.k.a. Señor Studmuffin) developed an instantaneous infatuation with our pretty new arrival.

While Cinnamon lost interest within a few minutes, Shadow remained at the fence and quickly struck several of his very best studly poses. In an added attempt to impress the new love of his life - who was ignoring him completely, being otherwise occupied mowing the grass at warp speed - he arched his neck over the fence and let out an itty bitty whinny.
- Oh the shame of it -
Sara was distinctly unimpressed with his machismo...(of course it may just have been the sissyfied whinny that failed to wow her :o)

After turning Sara loose and letting her poke around her new home a bit more, we let the girls out of their stalls. Everyone raced around madly for a few minutes...



...before settling down to munch hay (whew!)

Making Way at the Hay

As The New Girl, Sara was not exactly warmly welcomed at the haypile although Taya finally agreed to share a bit of her space.

Rina, Lady and Bella ultimately decided to pretend that Sara did not exist in their little world. Although Bella periodically cast surreptitious glances Sara's way, she made no offer of friendship which surprised me. Remember her being riveted at the fence?

Mucho Macho Man (or not)



Unfortunately for him, Shadow seemed to be experiencing a rather extreme case of denial. He continued his attempts to convince Sarabear of his overwhelming manly appeal by executing his very best trot in large circles by the fence; while periodically peeking at her to see if Sara had fallen head over hooves for him yet.

Sadly, she hadn't. Sorry man... :o\

Spatial Relationships

Well Miss Sarabear may be settling in okay, but it seems that some of her pasture mates have opted to stage a protest. Rina, in a bout of teenage drama, has decided that Sara's presence here is unacceptable and ruining her life. Really.

Rina has a very large personal space, and gets very cranky when a member of her herd trespasses in said space. It would seem that Sara missed that little tidbit of important information, and had the misfortune to wander just a teensy bit too close to her new leader.

The Fail to Hail (to the Queen)



Unfortunately, when Rina explained this egregious error in no uncertain terms via a bite to the *Ahem* boo-tay, Sara compounded the problem by rather desperately lashing out in self-preservation before fleeing the scene.

Uh-oh. Contact.

Houston we may have a problem...

The Detestable Ding

To say that Rina was put out by Sara's audacious behavior would be somewhere along the lines of calling a backhanded slap to the Queen of England "an unfortunate incident" (you know, the understatement of the century).

It's ALL My Space...Got it?

Rina has finally stopped chasing Sara at 5 minute intervals, and has opted to remind her of her place only periodically and at a much slower speed. I have also noticed that this is now done from a much safer distance :o)

The Domino Effect



Since Rina has decided to be offended by Sara's presence, Lady has announced that she feels exactly the same way. Hmmm, can you say brown noser??

Taya only makes ugly faces at Sara when Rina is looking, otherwise she is pretty much ambivalent. She is pleased, though, that she is no longer the resident peon (now that she actually outranks someone) and has been spotted practicing her important new status by butting in front of Sara at the water trough every chance she gets.

Least but Last (no longer)

Seems Bella doesn't really care one way or the other either, except to be deliriously happy that Rina is no longer chasing her around the haypile.

Ah well, such is the life when you're a horse.

I think it's time for a nap...

A (not quite) Wordless Epilogue...

It's Official: Miss Sarabear has declared us Home Sweet Home :o)

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a.....hallucination?

Hmmm, well wonders never cease :o)

Looking for an official Squidoo charity to help you unload all those pesky lens royalties?

Please consider donating to us (we need all the help we can get :o)

Epic Farms is a small family run non-profit striving to share the big picture with horses. We have kid-friendly programs geared toward area service organizations and small groups; our goal is to share the wonderful world of horses with everyone!

The Squidoo Review Woo! Sara got an A :o)

So tell me, did you know that horse herd and high school were synonymous?

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by

Wysiwigs

(a.k.a. Jen) I'm a daughter, wife, mother, artist, horse crazy grownup, scary christian chick, paper folding fiend, acronym junkie, breast cancer survivor,... more »

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