By Sandra Martine Eriksen
Have you ever felt this connection to an animal you have known but was never tecnically your own? This story is about a spescial horse who became our schoolhorse at the stables I work at, as an apprentice, but eventually moved away. This happened from October 2018 to February/March 2019.
One day, one of the riding instructors came to the stables with tree new horses that was going to be our new schoolhorses. Two of them was well trained schoolhorses and one of them wasn’t. That horse was a cold blood mare, who we called Zozo, who wasn’t actually really friendly.
At the beginning, Zozo seemed calm and normal since she was at a new place. Eventually, many of the coworkers at the stables started to get more afraid of Zozo and didn’t want to go near her. The reason was that every time you tried to go in to her stall, she would try to attack you. Not only she seemed aggressive, but she was also afraid and difficult to handle. Like when you were supposed to clean her hooves, she would kick, not the person but she kicked backwards and a bit to the side. The riding instructor, who bought her, suspected that Zozo was mistreated at the stable she lived at before. That would explain why she was behaving like she did. Maybe it was difficult for Zozo to get over her past but we thought she could start her new life with us.
On the other hand, I was curious about Zozo even thouth I was also a bit afraid of her because of her beaviour. Since Zozo needed one person to get used to before she could get used to the others at the stables, I volunteered to work with her. There was only me and the riding instructor who would try to get to her. Since I was one of the workers that was in the stables and groomed the horses almost every day, I could work with Zozo at the time. Maybe I haven’t worked with difficult horses before but I still wanted to try. I wasn’t all alone since I got support and recieved some advise from the others in the stables.
Every day I was the one to groom Zozo when we were supposed to groom the schoolhorses before the riding lessons started. I also groomed the other horses but I worked a bit more with Zozo. She tried to be the boss over me but I didn’t give up so easily. Even though I got scared, I tried again.
Weeks went by and I managed to get closer to her every day and she was easier to handle. I learned how to get to her and how to teach her how to lift her hooves when I was cleaning them. After some time, it was easier to clean her hooves without her kicking.
After a couple months, Zozo was getting better in the riding lessons and in grooming. The only thing was that she was still aggressive in the stall so you couldnt go in to her at all. She also tried to attack some people who was supposed to get a horse from the paddock when she was in there at the same time. Because of that, no one exept me, or someone who came with me, would get her or one of the other horses from the paddock. Nobody would try to get a horse without someone who could handle Zozo’s behaviour. Of course I understood why the others in the stable saw her as an aggressive and dangerous horse but I could see a wonderful horse under that behaviour. Zozo tried to be the boss over me sometimes but not as often as she did with the others. She eventually started to follow me when I was supposed to get another horse from the paddock. As I was the one taking care of her, I started to like her more and more. It felt like she was my own horse, even though she wasn’t.
At the end, we couldnt keep Zozo anymore because she was still aggressive and there were only two people who could get to her. Even she impruved herself a lot other ways, we couldn’t have an aggressive horse that other stable workers or advanced students wouldn’t handle.
I was a bit worry since only a few would buy a horse like Zozo. I was afraid that we had to put her down if nobody would buy her.I would buy her but I couldn’t for some reasons. First, I couldn’t afford to have a horse. Secondly, no one I knew would be able to take care of her when I would be on vacation. Thirdly, I haven’t had my own horse before and Zozo wouldnt be the perfect first time horse to have as your own. Even though some people was interested in Zozo, they didn’t bought her after all.
After some time, someone eventually bought her. A friend of someone who worked with us at the stables. Her horses didn’t have stalls so they could be outside all the time. This was perfect for a horse who didn’t like to be in a stall. I was so happy for Zozo that she got this oppportunity but at the same time I felt sad that she had to leave us. I felt like I was about to cry when she went in the trailor and was driven to her new home. Even she wasn’t perfect, I would miss her a lot and think that she would be happy in her new home.