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ARRIVED November 07
ADOPTABILITY available  & RIDING!!! (see video links, below!) see adoption info, below
SPONSORED BY
  • Feed: sponsored Dec 09 thru March 2010, thx Elaine!
  • Medical: needs a sponsor!
BREED/AGE 7  yo ( '03 model) Mustang/Quarter Horse mare, approx 15hh

 nico learns to canter under saddle! Nico (Nee-koh)  nicohome.jpg (124277 bytes)

click photo or here to see enlargements of these photos and MORE pics of Nico!

click here to link to 2 riding videos for Nico!

Summary:

The family who donated Caydee and Nico met them both in very poor conditions, and purchased them to save them from abuse and the threat of 'killing these useless animals'. They did their best to care for the 2 of them, despite limited horse experience. Then, human health issues intervened, and she could no longer provide for them. They donated them both to CWER, with hopes we can put their lives on the right track and give them meaningful futures as more than just lawn ornaments.

Nico arrived seeming fit and in good health, simply in need of some basic medical updates and needing significant farrier care. Despite the abuse, on arrival Nico seems level headed and managable.  Her abuse-based fears continue to show, however, relating to handling her hooves, even through several months of "take your time" careful work with her.

Sadly, despite 25 months of work, we had not been able to bring Nico riding sound. Her hooves were a nightmare when she arrived and she was VERY fearful of having them handled. By summer of 2009, she would allow basic trims on her front hooves, but could not use the stand and remained panicked about handling her hinds.  In Dec 2009, we were able to build a set of farrier stocks, primarily to help the big draft, Valiant, get through treatment for a very bad abscess. In the mean time, Nico learned to use the stocks, and received her first 'full' trim! AND CAME OUT OF IT SOUND!! Continuing forward, in January 2010 Nico RODE!! (details below)

Nico has been badly abused in her past, and requires intermediate and above level handlers. She is not trusting enough to be managed by beginner horse people. Nico now rides very nicely indoors, and in April 2010 was very successful in her first outdoor ride including a canter (video below). She would likely do very well as a trail mount and non-show arena work mount.

History:  

Intake Notes: Nico arrived a little timid of people, and mildly herd bound to Caydee. She willingly leaves Caydee, and we don't believe it will take much to resolve the attachment behaviors. Nico challenged AnnMarie the first evening mildly, seeming to test if she was going to get abused, and when she saw she needed to obey the rules but would not be beaten for defiance, seemed to attach very quickly and settle down almost immediately. Her former family tell us that she will rear when upset -- and the prior owners they rescued her from had beaten her with a 2x4 for rearing or striking.

She needs significant farrier care, but otherwise, Nico seems healthy and fit. Her hooves are in very poor condition -- we cannot tell yet if they are just severely overgrown and split, or if she has foundered at some time in her life. In the next several weeks, we hope to get her trimmed and determine the status of her hooves, earn her confidence, and start basic ground training with riding training on her schedule once we're sure we understand her history, the triggers that cause her to rear, and that she tells us she is ready.

 

March 08: We believe the info we were given previously was confused. Nico is clearly the abuse case, although not nearly so bad as many we've met. She remains defensive and ready to use either flight or fight to protect herself, but she is making good progress. She comes to and from the barn with ease now, and is no longer attached to Caydee at all.

 

She still makes 'angry faces' when you bring her feed, but will step away from her tub and allow you to feed her respectfully. Most of the rest of the time, her ears are forward and she finds our human world interesting. We have done only minor work on her feet thus far, and will keep taking small steps forward with this formerly abused beautiful little mare.

 

Summer 08: Nico rushed into a partially opened stall, thinking another horse was going to bite her. She caught her side on the door latch and gashed into the muscle bank. We had to rush her to Dr King's office on a Sunday morning, sedate, clean and stitch both muscle and skin layer. She is healing nicely and has been very good about allowing us to treat her injury. It will likely be 60 days or more before we could consider even an untightened saddle on this little girl due to her new injury. She was surprisingly well behaved for her medical care, including injections and suture removal.

Fall 2009 update Nico has remained a challenge for the CWER team. Her hooves have been a long, slow process, and continue to challenge our efforts to help her recover. Nico is naturally overweight, so we have tried to keep her on dry lot, but the dominant mare in that paddock was bullying her and making her hoof issues worse. We have now split Nico, Sally and Lacy into a separate dry lot group, and all 3 seem to be settling nicely.

Nico remains cautious  with humans. We are able to trim her front hooves fairly regularly now, and the new growth is far better than what she had previously but still is not ideal. Her hind feet remain a nightmare, and she remains unwilling to allow us to handle them regularly.

We're unsure if Nico will ever find a working career, or if we will need to find her a forever home as a lawn ornament. She was fabulous about us treating her injury to her side last year, and does like to be groomed. She is not simple to manage, and needs a confident handler who understands that she has been abused and will be patient with her yet still require acceptable responses from her.
DEC 09 -- NICO SOUND! In December 09 we built a set of farrier stocks to help deal with Valiant's severe abscess, and chose to try them for assisting with Nico's issues as well. Nico was nervous and fussed initially, then settled in nicely and for the first time in AT LEAST 3 years, Nico had a complete and proper trim! Mike was able to bring her heals back significantly, clean up the toes dramatically, and bring her to a normal breakover so she isn't essentially tripping herself every stride!
THE NEXT DAY, NICO CAME OUT SOUND! She did a very brief, easy work in the round pen at walk and trot, and although her hind legs still do not come forward under her as much as would be desirable, she was sound and comfortable on all four hooves!!! We had spent 2 years trying to make small adjustments to help Nico, with mixed and not hugely significant progress as the result. Nico remained unhappy and unpleasant, as she was always at least mildly uncomfortable.

January 2010-- NICO RIDES!!
Video available on youtube!
Nico HAD HER FIRST RIDE TODAY!!! We are so excited for her. It seems as though she has done leadline rides previously -- perhaps simply someone's child on her back while someone else led her. She saddles easily but is less sure about a bridle. She mounted and dismounted with ease! She rode comfortably being led, and did short sessions steering and riding without a handler at her head.

We are so excited for her. In the weeks to come, we will gradually expand her riding training and hope to eventually determine the best choice of a career for this young lady.
March 2010

nico learns to canter under saddle!
Nico has been riding periodically, as time and winter weather allows, over the past 3 months. She:
  • is easily groomed and saddled/bridled, either tied or free within the arena;
  • stands calmly to mount on a loose rein;
  • remains standing until asked to walk forward;
  • rides walk and trot, both directions with "normal" contact on her bit like a hunter under saddle english horse;
  • rides walk and trot, both directions, on a very loose rein (holding only the buckle);
  • halts easily with soft rein pressure;
  • halts easily with no rein whatsoever -- simply the word "whoa" and a shift back of her rider's weight;
  • trots easily over a ground rail;
  • works figure 8s at walk and trot;
  • stands calmly for long periods of time without fidgetting;
  • stands calmly to be dismounted and remounted;
  • is easily unsaddled and unbridled, with her head lowered to remove her bridle;
  • is beginning to bend and leg yield to leg pressure.
april 2010
video on Youtube!
Enjoy the video of Nico's first ever ride outdoors...and also her first ever canter under saddle (which occured while she was riding outdoors!)
OUTDOOR RIDE VIDEO
Adoption Terms Setting adoption fees is always a challenge. We always set our fees at least $750, as this minimizes the possibility of someone attempting to "make a fast buck" on a rescue horse and selling him/her at an auction or to slaughter.

In Nico's case, she is a healthy, easy-keeper, stoutly built, pretty, unregistered mare. She has had extensive ground manners training here, and has begun riding training. Her adoption fee includes the value of that ground training, the riding training to date, plus up to an additional 15 days of riding training prior to going home with her new family. The value of these blocks of professional training is $1,000+. Her adoption fee, as of 6/20/2010, is $850. As her training work continues, this fee may be increased.

Because we are anxious to place Nico and make space for another horse, we will offer a $100 discount upon her adoption fee -- even with payment terms -- to an adopter who contracts for Nico by 8/1/10 and takes her home before 8/15/10.

Please see our adoption QnA pages for extensive details on how our adoption programs work, when ownership transfers to the adopter, and more.
Sponsorship: HAY: Nico's former family agreed to provide funds for hay or provide hay for her for the winter 2007 (this year the hay shortage has reached critical proportions here, and prices are approximately $6 per bale for basic grass hay!) 

GRAIN: thank you Elaine for sponsoring her Dec 09 through March 2010! Her feed costs are $35/month.

MED: She also needs a medical sponsor. 

Nico/Caydee's former Aunt generously donated the $150 it cost us to transport these two girls home.

Nico injured herself seriously trying to rush through a partially opened stall door Summer 2008, and had to have internal and external stitches, at a total cost of just under $300 plus gas to rush her over an hour each way to the Vet on a Sunday morning. At another point, we had to mildly sedate Nico to do some urgent trim work on one hoof, costing $75. She was unpredictable and scared, so only the most minimal work was done at that time. These expenses are in addition to the normal cost of annual coggins tests, vaccinations, dental check-ups, etc.

Your help with these expenses means the world to us. Even if you cannot be a permanent med sponsor for Nico, please consider making a one-time donation to help us to help these horses.