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Go Jep Go, aka "Jeppy" aka "Zip"

Summary: Jep arrived at CWER as an 11 year old registered paint gelding who had been abused in his past. Jep quickly learned to trust again. He was absolutely a joy to ride -- although still nervous at times -- and showed himself as an experienced trail horse. Jep was adopted in 2005 by a wonderful family in Ohio. 

Sadly, when Jep went to a reputable, local trailer to finish his riding training, something happened that triggered some type of abuse memories for Jep, and he got VERY upset, throwing his owner and so panicked he tried to climb the ring fence to get away. Since, he's been angry with people and aggressive with his adoptive family's other horses, including an old retired horse with a severe neck injury. They cannot risk Jep hurting this other horse, and are also anxious to try to help Jep back to trusting humans and enjoying his work, so they have returned him to CWER in June 2006. 

We've gradually worked to rebuild who he is, and in December of 06 we started, VERY gradually, to begin riding Jep again. We're also absolutely thrilled to have an adoption application in hand for this amazingly handsome fellow. March 07, Jep is back to trail riding local treks and doing fantastic! (You can read through the history with Jep, below, or just jump to November 06 to read the recent, fabulous progress and his new walk/trot work!)

History: "Go Jep Go", an 11-year old registered paint gelding, was rescued from a local auction by the Setlik family in 2004. Told he was "sweet, gentle, safe with kids, a joy to ride", they purchased Jep with plans to have him trained as a hunter for their daughter, Jess. Jep turned out to be obviously physically and psychologically abused, and very timid. The Setlik's made a lot of progress with Jep, but couldn't risk him hurting their young children when he panicked in fright. They chose to donate the big fellow to Crosswinds, along with a generous cash donation to help us care for him. He arrived today, 2/20/05, and we're looking forward to helping the big fellow further along in overcoming his fears, and learning that no one is going to hurt him any more.

A special thank you to Jess, a very nice young lady who had a hard time doing what she knew was right for Jep, and letting him go so we could help him. We look forward to Jess' next visit, to come spend time with the big fellow. Obviously, Jep is not available for adoption until we help him through some of his fears, learn more about who he is, and help him find his strengths and his new life.

March 05 Update: Jep is rapidly coming out of his shell. We're already riding together -- walk, jog, AND CANTER! He continues to spook fairly easily, and sometimes at things we cannot seem to see or understand, but he is rapidly settling down. He no longer fusses at having his ears handled, and is no longer jumpy about handling his legs. He asks for treats, and seems to enjoy attention. He is still more timid with men than women. The first weekend in April Jep will be having some extensive medical care -- he is in need of a full dental and full chiropractic, as well as a general health exam, shots, and anything else we may find he needs. Jep definitely has chiropractic issues, as his neck bends in "steps", showing multiple vertebrae out of place in a series, and his manner of eating clearly demonstrates TMJ issues. This type of 'overhaul' is expensive, and if you'd like to help us help Jep in this manner, we'd greatly appreciate it!

April 05 update: Jep had extensive dental work done yesterday -- more than $100 worth. Jep had the worst hooks on his front molars we or our vet have ever seen -- the hooks on his front molars actually nearly touched the gum line on his lowers! With dental issues like this, Jep's difficulty eating, his edginess during bridling, and all his steering issues under saddle make a lot more sense. He also has TMJ (his jaw is out of alignment), again from his dental problems, and some minor chiropractic issues where his head meets his neck, all likely caused by him not having had any dental work in many years. It is likely this colt's teeth were NEVER floated. We look forward to giving him a few days off to recover, and then trying again with saddle and bridle. Once he realizes there's no more pain, I'm anxious to see how his mobility and steering change.

It's now a few days later, and I've had the joy of not only riding Jep myself, but having BOTH 19-year-old Gerry AND 11-year-old Tory ride Jep! He's done wonderfully. We're cantering with ease, and his steering issues are almost entirely gone. He is still tentative to bridle and even more so during mounting, but once he is mounted, he is simply a joy to ride. He still requires an experienced rider -- intermediate level skills or better -- who is confident but not cocky on his back. You MUST remember he still has fears -- no matter how irrational they may seem -- and respect them and help him through them. We anticipate that by Mid-May we will be ready to begin looking for a permanent home for Jep. He is a lot of fun on rides off the property and has quite a bit of potential as a trail mount, as well as hunter under saddle. He's a little long backed to look at for a hunter, and I'm not sure he'll ever develop the speed for gaming. He has had minimal neck reining training, and we are not experienced in teaching it, so a home looking for that skill from Jep would have to teach it themselves or send him to a GENTLE professional trainer who would take his/her time to teach Jep without scaring him.

May 05 updates: **WOW***. Ok, let me say that again, WOW! We trailered Jep to an organized ride at a local state park today. I wasn't sure he would even be ridable, suspecting he might be panicky at the new situation. He was nervous unloading, then immediately settled in like this was old hat to him. On the trails, he hesitated at NOTHING! Steep climbs and decents that I was hesitant at, Jep completed like they weren't even there. He rode straight into a moving river, through pastern-deep mud, and more. The only thing we didn't get to try was to jump a natural obstacle -- there were no places where we could do so safely and easily. We did much of the ride with me holding only the buckle of his rein. What a happy boy he was! It was almost like he was lost in old memories for much of the ride, barely even noticing the others around him. I cannot wait to take him out again, that was just fantastic!! WOW!

Paulette R and family have adopted Jep! Jep will be going home on 5/26 to his new farm in Ohio, to be a trail horse for a confident, experienced rider. Paulette's prior trail horse had major surgery this year to save his life and make him comfortable, but he will no longer be ridable, so she is retiring him to her pasture, has adopted a pasture mate for him from another rescue, and Jep will be her new trail mount. We cannot wait for her to be here on the 26th, spend the night, and give this sweet boy his new life!

June 2005 update from Jep's new family: Just wanted to send a quick note to update you. The three horses are getting along famously. Jep and Shadow have become friends, which is exactly what we wanted as we will be taking them out together. Jep is a bit more aggressive here than I suspect he was at your place. He will often go to Shadow's bin to see if he can get a bite from hers. She runs him off but he is persistant and sometimes she lets him have his way. It is nice to see them interact. They just loving being able to graze and Jep has settled into a nice routine here. He had no problems with getting used to the grass. I can just walk up to him in the field and once in a while he will turn away but most of the time, he just stands there and lets me pet him. He is a nice horse with a great personality. I haven't tried to ride him yet but am thinking maybe this weekend. I wanted him to get good and comfortable and I think he is almost there. I will send a photo as soon as I get my own computer hooked up. I received those papers in the mail...........thanks! Maybe I will try to find the original owner since you got it started.

August 05 update: Jep is settling in wonderfully, and has made great friends not only with his new pasture mates and his new mom, but his new DAD as well. Given Jep's fear of men, that is enormous progress!

June 06 update: Sadly, things have not gone well for Jep. He was sent to a local professional trainer with excellent references to get him back working under saddle, after having had the better part of a year off while his family settled into their new home. Everything seemed to be going well at the start, and his mom was going to watch him every few days. Her only concern was that they were not allowing him pasture time -- he was stalled 23 hours per day, out only for his training sessions. However, the trainer was adamant that was how she worked and sure he would be fine. After about 3 weeks, his mom came and watched both the primary trainer and her daughter ride Jep, and made plans for her first ride herself a few days later. When she went that day, Jep seemed nervous, even panicky, when trying to tack. Badly enough she chose not to try to ride that day. Instead, she came back the next day. Again he was tense, but the trainer insisted that she 'just relax and get on him', saying he never acted like that for them and that the owner was causing the tension. She mounted Jep, who cowered in fear, then exploded, giving her a concussion and breaking a finger. The trainer said the horse was crazy and to put him down and ordered the owner to have him off the property immediately, with no explanation of what could've happened, why his personality had obviously changed over those 2 days, etc.

Even worse, Jep was obviously frightened and angry over the event. Angry enough to act out at the other horses in his family's herd, particularly the defenseless old gelding that had the severe old neck injury. Jep's family separated him and tried to work with him about his trust, but he would have none of it. It seems Jep was convinced that his family was going to beat him for what happened, just as someone obviously had in his past, and he could not see past it. Their farm isn't set up so that Jep can be kept separate from the others and still in a comfortable pasture setting, and he continued to show severe distrust to his humans even a week and two weeks later, so they asked to donate him back to CWER. They're sponsoring him for up to 12 months while we work to rehabilitate the big, gentle, frightened boy, and if he cannot be rehabilitated to ride, but can be settled in with other horses again, they may be able to take him back as a pasture companion and retire him at their farm. But he has so much potential, they hated to see that be Jep's only option, and sent him back to us to try to recover the sweet, easy Jep we knew.

November 06 update: A happy update from the CWER mailing list:

Our latest progress -- I can't stop sharing with anyone who will listen--  is Jep.

Jep came home frightened and tense. For the first few weeks, he avoided human contact. Gradually, he started working his way out of that shell. Doc put him on 2 herbal supplements (classic eastern medicine), one of which is also used in humans with post traumatic stress disorder, among other problems. Has that helped Jep, or has he gradually learned to trust again on his own? I guess I believe it's a bit of both. We've seen some real changes in his temperament toward people over the past weeks.

About 2 weeks ago, I again started putting a curcingle on him after grooming him at dinner. mike's had every volunteer capable grooming him during morning visits as well, and he'd started to enjoy the process instead of recoiling. This time, he didn't recoil at the surcingle. Then I tried a saddle pad. again he was tolerant. a few days, and i tried a bareback pad. a
funny look, but a cookie or two and he was ok with it. a few days more, and we were saddling with my western pony training saddle, without fuss. yesterday, we went to my English jumping saddle, the saddle he and i rode together in previously. jep did great. so great i decided to take him for a walk with it on. jut walk in the yard a bit, right? well, he lead so nicely, i asked Tory to get us a lunge line. he was so responsive to the lunge line, she brought me the lunge whip, which he used to consider terrifying. Now, he just worked. just easy as could be, as if nothing had ever happened from when he and i lunged together so many months ago.

Today we even had new guests visiting, and Jep was VERY social with not only Cheryl, but her husband Mike! (Jep says, "Welcome, Merlocks, and hope you enjoyed the visit!") For a gelding who used to cower at a new man on the property, this is one more step of progress for our big, sweet boy.

He's doing GREAT!!! We've lunged 3 times under saddle now, with no fuss. He's still timid about the lunge whip, and doesn't like to be lead while I'm carrying it, but he's really, truly doing great!! i'm so, so very excited for the boy. hope you enjoy the pic!! (click to enlarge)

December 2006 update: JEP IS RIDING!! He's really riding! It's nothing big or complex yet ... just a few moments at a time, at a walk the first several rides. But we're doing so WITHOUT fear. Without confusion. Without tension. He's doing so wonderfully. We've really taken our time trying to put him back together, and now it is paying big dividends. I could not ask for more, nor be more excited for the big guy. He's doing fabulously! His heels are still underrun, and he gets sore after every trim.  His third and fourth rides included short trot sequences, without pain, without fear. In fact, he seemed eager and happy to do so, as you can see in the trot photo, right, above. The walking photo shows the eager expression he lets show sometimes; the slightly tentative but willing look in the trot photo is the more normal response.

March 07 update: Despite the weather's efforts to stop us, we've continued slow gradual progress with Jep, and he's doing superbly! He is now riding in a training hackamore and seems far more comfortable than he was in a simple snaffle. He leads, follows, and allows the other horses to ride away from him. We even cantered today!! The next stage will be to expand Jeps' range of riders, as he prepares to go home Mid April 2007!!!

Adopted: His adopters bought him a pair of Old Mac's Boat boots, which made him so much more comfortable during his training time. They've also bought him a very durable, great looking, fabulously warm winter blanket. We're so happy for Jep -- the Merlock family adopted Jep and he went home in April 07 -- fully ridable!