Balder

Balder came to PHH in December 2004 as a yearling that had been born partially blind, had never seen another horse, and had never been handled. It took 30 days before he developed enough trust to allow anyone into his stall. As trust and experience was built, Balder began to be ridden only seven months after he had arrived. He’s a gentle spirit that is good with other horses, happy to have a job, and is great to take on trails. Update August 23, 2008: Balder has been adopted by a wonderful family in Canada! He will be shown by his new family in full Renaissance garb and he may even give vaulting a try! Check back to learn more about Balder’s new life. Update – August 27, 2008 From the Owners: We’ve talked a bit about how beautiful he is and how much we are looking forward to getting him used to all the stuff that goes with being a reenactment horse. Mama said something about how much Boulder sounds like Balder (The Norse god of light, joy, purity, beauty, innocence, and reconciliation). He ended up with a tiny bit of a name change as a result of that conversation as he brings great joy to our home and is a shining example of all of those qualities. He has been here for less than a day and already brought several people who weren’t seeing eye to eye closer together through their interest in him. I went out the back door and peeked over the balcony to see if I could see Balder. He was standing at the fence looking back at me, like he had heard the door and was waiting to see who was coming to see him. He was a mess(so much for beauty)! He has discovered rolling in the mud. It took about an hour to get all the caked on, dried mud out of his mane and tail and coat, which he stood for like an angel. He discovered that if he lips my pony tail I will turn and look at him (oops) and played with that on and off while we were cleaning him up. We tried the lunge line and discovered that the grass is just too wet right now and he keeps sliding out. We are talking about bringing in a load of hog fuel as he is already digging the back enclosure up with his hooves. Then he will have decent footing for more than just a walk. He is a little leary of the wooden slide gate, so we went back and forth through it until he stopped trying to rush it or get all jumpy half way through. I expect we will have to do that a few times before he is comfortable. The electric fence never did get turned on last night (not sure why) and he didn’t even try. I guess that means he likes it in there. The banging of nails, running of the well pump, flapping of the surveyors tape on the fence, and cars going by at all speeds doesn’t faze him at all, but he is still a bit jumpy about people he doesn’t know coming towards him quickly. Lori and Mama–and of course, me– he recognizes right away. He even remembers to stop a few feet away and in order to let us close the gap (I sound like a proud parent, I know). Update – September 3rd 2008 He’s learning to not be afraid of wooden slide gates and yesterday he walked across the ply I put down to try to have him do the work leveling the mud holes. We’re taking him to the stable where the vaulting horses live next week to see how he deals with other kinds of obstacles as well. He starts traffic desensitization tomorrow, although he doesn’t even twitch when my roommate revs up his car in the driveway, so I expect that won’t be too difficult for him. His girlfriends (two draft/draft cross mares) are arriving on Sunday evening so he won’t be by himself all afternoon anymore and his saddle comes with them.