Venus
Breed: Quarter Horse
Sex: Mare
DOB: 1997
Height: 15.2 hh
Color: Lineback Dun
Markings: Blaze
Arrival Date: February 2004
Location: Abilene, TX
 

Temperament: Venus was a bit standoffish and scared when first placed with a professional trainer for 30 days. She responded very well to her trainer and progressed rapidly in her ground training. Her trainer said she was an excellent, willing student. Venus responds wonderfully to a kind and gentle hand. She cannot be forced into doing things she does not want  to do, but can be coaxed easily with kindness/gentleness and a soft voice.  Her trainer has just finished doing 60 days of additional work with  her and she's riding well.

Physical problems / health issues: Venus has had two bouts of diarrhea and dehydration related to nerves.  She had a full series of tests done to determine if there was a physical cause for this reaction and nothing was detected.  Recently, Venus' trainer took her to a new place for a trail ride and she became very nervous, started having loose manure and then would not drink. This resulted in her becoming more dehydrated and eventually, IV fluids were administered. HfH and the trainer are going to try Venus on an anti-anxiety drug while she's being exposed to new places to see if this helps.  Her trainer is very hopeful that she can get Venus past her anxiety when she gets out of her comfort zone.

Interaction with horses: She gets along with others, currently turned out with another mare and doing well, is not dominant with her

Interaction with people:

History: She was surrendered to HfH when her owner was investigated for neglect.

Training / abilities: Venus started training some months back to work on overall handling and ground manners.  She learned to lead, load, tie, bathe and lunge in an arena in tack. She was fully broke to saddling.  She went back to the trainers in May 2005 and is now riding well in an arena setting and has been out on some trailrides around the property.  Her trainer has set up an obstacle course in her arena and Venus has been through that several times now and is doing well. At first, she was "snorty" with the trail obstacles, but her trainer allowed her to roam freely and explore the area and she's now fine with it.  Because Venus can react badly and get too nervous in new situations, her trainer will work on hauling her to more locations to get her desensitized to leaving her home.  

Venus direct reins and her trainer is working on neck reining with her now.  She responds to leg pressure and voice commands, has nice gaits and a good whoa.  
 

Special needs:

Other comments:  Her trainer cannot say enough nice things about her beauty and temperament.  She's a very unusual dun color bordering on palomino.  

More pictures:

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