Kayla

Kayla is an approximately 7 - 10 years old Thoroughbred cross, she is 15.2 hands.

 

Adoption fee:  $500

 

The following is a little story that Kayla wrote about going to camp:

 

"Kayla Goes To Camp: September 14, 15, 16, 2019

 

We left late in the day just as it was getting dark. My foster human was running around all day putting things into the horse trailer. It was mildly interesting but I didn’t think it had anything to do with me. Then she put my buddy Simon in the trailer. That got my interest! If Simon was going somewhere I wanted to go too. Then, luckily, my foster human put me in the trailer with Simon. Thank goodness because, you know, the only thing you can trust out there is another horse. Humans are too unpredictable.

            We left the “ranch,” at least that’s what my foster human calls it, and headed out for who knows where.  My buddy Simon said he did this all the time and it would be fine. We drove for a long time and finally stopped at another place that I could tell had horses around but I couldn’t see any of them. Then my foster human asked me to get out of the trailer! Oh man, I was scared to get out. I didn’t know this place and it was dark. She asked me to back out of the trailer. I tried one step then I said No Way. It was too scary. Finally she let me turn around so I could go out front ways but it was still scary. I didn’t want to go. Another human came and started tapping me on my rear end. That was annoying! Finally, I decided to hop out. Luckily nothing bad happened but I was really wanting my buddy close by and he was still in the trailer. I was put into a stall in the barn across from the trailer. I called for Simon. Simon wasn’t very upset and I couldn’t understand why not since we were in such a new place. I felt better when Simon was put in the stall next to me. I kept poking my head through the window at the back of the stall to check on him and make sure he was there.  My foster human made some sounds that humans make when they want horses to believe there’s nothing to be scared of but I didn’t listen. She tossed in some hay and made sure I had water. That provided some distraction but I didn’t get much sleep the first night.

Early in the morning a man came by and tossed me some more hay. I didn’t trust him or my new situation but at least I was getting fed.  A while later my foster human came by. Simon seemed glad to see her. I was just glad Simon was there. She brushed both of us and then to my horror she took Simon out of his stall and away from me! I was beside myself with worry. What would I do all by myself in this barn? She put Simon into an arena directly across from my stall; I could see him through my window. Simon was not upset at all but I sure was! I wanted to jump right through that window and go with Simon. Unfortunately my foster human stood right next to my window and waved me off when I got serious about jumping.  Humans can be such pests.

Finally, I could tell she wanted to go get Simon, this made me even more anxious and to my horror she closed the window to my stall so I couldn’t see out!  A few minutes later Simon was back in his stall and I felt much better. My window was open again and I could poke my head out and ask Simon to poke his head out so I could check on him.  He still didn’t seem very concerned which I didn’t understand.

A little while later my foster human came by and opened the stall door. I didn’t care what she did. My biggest concern was Simon and checking to make sure he was still in his stall. She pestered me until I finally turned around and said What!  Then she talked to me and put my halter on me and led me away! What! What about Simon? I shouldn’t be leaving him but she insisted.  She was the only other thing familiar to me so I trusted her a little bit. We walked up the hill to the covered arena. There were some other humans and horses up there, including the man who tossed me hay in the morning. My foster human took me to a railing, tied me there, patted my neck, talked to me a little, and then walked away!  I was flabbergasted! How could she leave me? Where was Simon? Is she coming back? What’s going on?  How long will I be here?  Finally, after what seemed like forever, she came back with Simon. She tied Simon next to me. Whew! I was glad to see him.  Amazingly, he was cool with all this so I tried to be too. 

Next thing to happen was my foster human came and took me over to part of the arena and turned me loose. That was weird. I just moseyed around checking things out until she came over and started making me move. I took off and ran around the circle. I wasn’t interested in her and I tried to ignore her and talk to the other horses.  She kept pestering me. Finally, I started to take notice. Sometimes she’d move in a way that made me want to go forward, then she’d cut me off and made me turn the other direction.  We kept playing this game until I started watching her more than I watched the other horses.  The man who threw me the hay came out and played the game too. He was easier to understand and hanging out with them was easier than running in circles.  I started to think humans here may have something for me after all. Maybe.

I spent a lot of time tied to the rail while the other horses took their turns playing this silly game the humans thought up. It gave me time to think and settle in. It wasn’t too bad being tied to the rail. We also all got to play in-hand leading games and I learned how to back up better. Finally, after a long day I got to go back to my stall and relax and eat (my favorite part).

The next day had the same start. The man with the hay came by. I was busy looking out the window with my butt to the stall door. He didn’t seem to like that and got after me a bit. I didn’t think about humans as something to take notice of but I turned around and got my hay.  My foster human came by and brushed me and Simon and we went up to the arena. I wasn’t nearly as anxious this time. The man who brought me my hay in the morning talked to my foster human as we played the run-around-in-circles pay-attention-to-the-human game again and I caught on really fast this time. It was a lot easier to come to my foster human and hang out than run around in circles. Eventually I decided it was even easier to follow her around and shadow her. For some reason this made her really happy and I could feel a little bit of my heart thaw.

The last day the man with the hay came by in the morning and I greeted him and said “thanks for the hay mister.” He seemed pleased and that made me happy too.  My foster human came by later and opened the stall door. I greeted her too. I looked forward to being brushed and hearing her talk to me.  She smiled and rubbed my ears. 

Back in the arena we played the circle game again for just a little while. Then we did some other leading in-hand games and worked on helping me understand picking up my feet so my foster human could look at them.   I was starting to feel really comfortable listening to these humans and I couldn’t help but feel good when I figured out what they wanted me to do.

Finally we loaded up and went home. I’m starting to like this new chapter of my life.