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Ever see a Texas horse move up north? This is Huckleberry's third winter in Minnesota. At the start of winter, Huck was shivering in 30 degree (F) weather while the other horses were oblivious to the cold. This poor boy was not a fan of the cold, that's for sure! I threw a winter blanket on him for one of our colder snowy days, but after that I didn't blanket him, which allowed his body to acclimate to our winter weather. By the time our first real cold snap in January, we got down to -45 F, he was able to maintain his own body head and he didn't shiver once.
Huck came from a kill pen down in Texas. A kill pen is where horses go to be sent to slaughter. Some kill pens put horses up for sale to give them another "chance" before they are shipped, but it's essentially just another way for the horse meat buyers to make more money off a horse. I ended up with Huck in August last year because his previous owner was hardly able to catch him. He would run for as long as he needed to just so he didn't have to get caught. When I went out to look at him, we spent almost an hour trying to catch him before we got him cornered into a small pen where it took us another 15 minutes to actually grab him and get a halter on him. Once we got a hold of him, he stood perfectly still and let me check him over. I decided to give him a chance so I came back with a trailer a few days later and brought Huckleberry home (it took less time to catch him this time since he had a halter on).
It was obvious that Huck had a lot of emotional trauma that I had to work through. By the end of day one of working with him I could walk up to him while he was loose and he would allow me to pet his hips and all the way up to his neck without running off, which was a huge improvement in such a short time! He was also broke to ride down in Texas on what they said was a cattle ranch. The first time I saddled him up and climbed on him he would bolt forward and freak out when I calmly asked him to stop and stand still. I spent maybe 30 minutes just asking him to stand still while I was on him and he was drenched in sweat because he had so much anxiety. I now knew that I had a ton of work to do with Huck. I started working with him by using a very calm and quiet approach since he was so reactive if I asked too much of him.
After a month of work and patience, I took him for his first weekend trail ride away from home. He did great for the most part, other than him freaking out once when I asked him to stop (we ended up nose first in a pile of brush, neither of us were hurt thankfully). We actually got complimented several time for how well he was doing and how he trusted me when I asked him to go through water and over small ravines.
I continued to work with Huckleberry until winter hit. During the winter moths I worked more on his catching issue, which was already way better, but he would still try to run when he saw me with a halter and lead every once in a while. As of right now, Huck will let me walk up to him with a lead rope and halter. He only takes a few steps away, then he allows me to put the rope around his neck and put his halter on.
I am planning on taking him out on a backcountry trip in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota for around 7-10 days by the end of May and into the beginning of June. We will stay out in the backcountry, so no pen to put him in at night, only a picket line. We will ride around 15-20 miles a day in the rugged badlands with a packhorse and two other riders. This will be Huck's first trip out there so hopefully all goes well! I have done this trip once a year for the last 3 years, twice with my trusty old mare and once with my green broke mare so I already know what to expect.

Description
Ever see a Texas horse move up north? This is Huckleberry's third winter in Minnesota. At the start of winter, Huck was shivering in 30 degree (F) weather while the other horses were oblivious to the cold. This poor boy was not a fan of the cold, that's for sure! I threw a winter blanket on him for one of our colder snowy days, but after that I didn't blanket him, which allowed his body to acclimate to our winter weather. By the time our first real cold snap in January, we got down to -45 F, he was able to maintain his own body head and he didn't shiver once.
Huck came from a kill pen down in Texas. A kill pen is where horses go to be sent to slaughter. Some kill pens put horses up for sale to give them another "chance" before they are shipped, but it's essentially just another way for the horse meat buyers to make more money off a horse. I ended up with Huck in August last year because his previous owner was hardly able to catch him. He would run for as long as he needed to just so he didn't have to get caught. When I went out to look at him, we spent almost an hour trying to catch him before we got him cornered into a small pen where it took us another 15 minutes to actually grab him and get a halter on him. Once we got a hold of him, he stood perfectly still and let me check him over. I decided to give him a chance so I came back with a trailer a few days later and brought Huckleberry home (it took less time to catch him this time since he had a halter on).
It was obvious that Huck had a lot of emotional trauma that I had to work through. By the end of day one of working with him I could walk up to him while he was loose and he would allow me to pet his hips and all the way up to his neck without running off, which was a huge improvement in such a short time! He was also broke to ride down in Texas on what they said was a cattle ranch. The first time I saddled him up and climbed on him he would bolt forward and freak out when I calmly asked him to stop and stand still. I spent maybe 30 minutes just asking him to stand still while I was on him and he was drenched in sweat because he had so much anxiety. I now knew that I had a ton of work to do with Huck. I started working with him by using a very calm and quiet approach since he was so reactive if I asked too much of him.
After a month of work and patience, I took him for his first weekend trail ride away from home. He did great for the most part, other than him freaking out once when I asked him to stop (we ended up nose first in a pile of brush, neither of us were hurt thankfully). We actually got complimented several time for how well he was doing and how he trusted me when I asked him to go through water and over small ravines.
I continued to work with Huckleberry until winter hit. During the winter moths I worked more on his catching issue, which was already way better, but he would still try to run when he saw me with a halter and lead every once in a while. As of right now, Huck will let me walk up to him with a lead rope and halter. He only takes a few steps away, then he allows me to put the rope around his neck and put his halter on.
I am planning on taking him out on a backcountry trip in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota for around 7-10 days by the end of May and into the beginning of June. We will stay out in the backcountry, so no pen to put him in at night, only a picket line. We will ride around 15-20 miles a day in the rugged badlands with a packhorse and two other riders. This will be Huck's first trip out there so hopefully all goes well! I have done this trip once a year for the last 3 years, twice with my trusty old mare and once with my green broke mare so I already know what to expect.