Georgia
Breed: Mustang
Sex: Mare
DOB: 1997 per BLM (Vet advises teeth look more like 1991)
Height: 13.2 hh
Color: Dark bay
Markings: Star
Location: Forgan, OK
Adoption Fee: $100
 

Temperament: Georgia is a calm mare within her comfort zone.  She does do some snorting at things to let you know when she's out of that zone.  She can be shy of new people at first and acts as if she's tolerating her humans rather than enjoying their company.  She acts very much like a wild mustang when pushed beyond her comfort level and has the requisite flight instinct of many of her breed.  She's not a mean mare at all, but she is ruled a great deal by fear and therefore, there's an underlying element with Georgia of her waiting for the other shoe to drop or something bad to happen.  She never lets her guard down. She's done very well with routine in her current foster home however and has come a very long way in working with humans.

Physical problems / health issues: None Known - great teeth and great feet - typical of her breed.

Interaction with horses: Dominant mare, she does not do well with other mares at all, was tried with several different ones and just gets unmanageable around them.  She might do okay with a gelding, but this has not yet been tested. She would make a fine only horse.  She's a bit of a loner.

Interaction with people:

History: Georgia was seized due to neglect and awarded to the organization.  Wild mustang removed from the range in 2000.  She did birth one foal since she entered the organization pregnant. She may have been used for additional breeding prior to being seized for neglect.  She has some scarring on her tongue that may have been due to harsh training techniques. She does not appear to have prior training, but she's the type of horse where everyday is a new day. She often has to relearn things that a normal horse would have learned and carried over from previous training lessons.

Training / abilities: Georgia was assessed by a trainer in June and she pronounced her untrained, pretty much a wild mustang.  She does seem to be warming up a little bit with consistent work though.  In fact, Georgia had a break through recently.  With the trainer's help, one of her foster's helpers has been lunging her and also starting to mess with saddle blankets and saddles.  She stood quietly with the saddle on for about 10 minutes this morning (3rd time she's been saddled).  Later they lunged her without the saddle and when they were done they turned her loose there in the round pen.  At the trainer's instruction, the helper looked at Georgia and asked her to come.  It took a few minutes, but, amazingly, she turned towards the helper, waited a couple of minutes, took a step, stopped, took a few more, and then walked right up to her!  We still do not know if she's ever going to be really ridable.  We're taking this one day at a time, but I guess the key thing is that she's responding.

Though Georgia is responding to both John Lyons and Parelli training techniques, there is still some doubt as to her taking to becoming a reliable riding horse.  She has no physical limitations though and is a very pretty little horse. 

As of August 2006, a volunteer has been working with Georgia in the round pen using some Lyons methods that have worked quite well.  Georgia is working on the 7 games in Parelli as well and is tolerant of them now.  Of course, as previously mentioned, each day is different and those working with her never know if she will retain what she has learned in prior lessons.  There is a good deal of approach and retreat with this mare, two steps forward, two steps back.  One volunteer has managed to get as far acceptance of a saddle pad and saddle on her back with round penning, so has made some good breakthroughs with this little mare.

Georgia is being worked slowly by a volunteer trainer.  Progress is limited, but there are some breakthroughs.  It is slow going with this mare though.  Her overall reliability as a future riding horse is still very much in question.  It will take a long time and much reinforcement to get her to that level of trust to overcome her fears. it's just the conquering of her fears and enough trust in her handlers that will be a long time in coming, if it ever does.

Experience level required to work with this horse: Once haltered on the ground, intermediate.  Georgia is leery of strangers.  Under saddle, experienced trainer only, preferably someone familiar with mustangs.

Has this horse ever:  Bucked? No. Reared? No. Kicked? No. Bitten? No. Other?  

Ground handling: Catch? Yes. Lead? Yes. Tie? Yes. Trailer? Yes. Clip? Unknown. Trim Feet? Yes. Bathe? Yes.

Special needs:

Other comments: Georgia has a kind face and will let you pet all over her, at times, she's not sure yet if she enjoys it.  She has really bonded with her foster mom a great deal though, it will just take some time for someone else to forge the same bond.

From the BLM:  According to our records, the horse was captured in the Cedar Mountain Herd Management Area (HMA), in Utah, on July 10, 2000.  She received her shots and freezemark at the Salt Lake City Preparation Facility. She was adopted at one of our adoption events in Jackson, Mississippi, on February 10, 2001, by a gentleman that lives in Crowley, Louisiana.  He received title to the horse on June 11, 2002.

Her freezemark is 97 723479 which translates into 97-born in 1997; 72-Salt Lake City Preparation Facility for preparation; the last 4 digits 3479 are her unique identifier in our computer system. Signalment key is HF1AAAABD which translates into H-Horse; F-Female; 1-1 Whorls on her face; AAAA-No marking on her legs; B-Star on face marking; D-Brown Color.
 

More pictures:

Adopt: Please contact us regarding adoptions at adoptions@habitatforhorses.org or call 1.866.HFH.LSER(866.434.5737).

Are you unable to adopt but would still like to have Georgia in your life? Sponsor her through our Virtual Foster program.

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