An Ode to Chaps.

Chaps (my mid-twenty-something pinto)

I will always say I wish I found you earlier Chaps (my mid-twenty-something pinto). Earning Chap’s trust is a daily challenge I’ll spend the rest of his life working through.

I found Chaps through a Craigslist ad almost 4 years ago. When I showed up, it was with the intention of finding a project horse. I wasn’t expecting perfection.

But what I found was a terrified horse that shut down with any ask. He was also clearly both underweight and probably older than listed. I also found genuinely concerned people that cared what happened to him next. The “true” owner had passed away. These owners meant well but were in way over their heads.

They had paid for 30 days of cowboying that probably did more damage than good, but beyond that, Chap’s history was unknown.

I paid cash on the spot. I was also in over my head.

A horse that usually keeps to himself, there is one horse Chaps loves the most; his best friend Sunny.

For the first two months I remained hopeful that Chaps and I could build confidence and move to working under saddle. Instead, for every correction I gave, Chaps lost more confidence. I paid more than I did for him to take an intensive R+ training course and finally started to see growth but also came to realize Chaps went through too much to ever become a confident partner.

Then came the teeth. After two years of my own anxiety around trailering Chaps again (following a major injury being caused when we moved to the ranch) I finally felt like taking Chaps into get his teeth done could be a positive and safe experience (don’t freak out, it had just been farm call visits before then)…

The result? He had never had his teeth done. Ever. In what was clearly his 20+ years of life. Due to his trauma both the vet and me had never gotten to look into Chaps mouth before this sedation. If I could go back, I would change so much…

His teeth were like jagged cliffs. More fangs than teeth. He had ulcers everywhere. Again, hindsight is everything and it was probably the pain that kept Chaps from willingly allowing me to mess with his mouth.

Now, a few successful dental trips in, Chaps is eating the hard foods he never would before and allowing more interactions.

These wins deserve to be celebrated too!

After successfully getting his teeth done and carefully training his humans, Chaps now get’s “carrots on demand” by opening the sliding glass doors on his own accord and stomping loudly until his humans deliver a tasty treat.