Blaze of Threat was 10 years old when he came to Montana. He had spent nearly his entire life in Tennessee and surrounding areas. He arrived here in Montana from TN on October 31st, 2000.

We put him into a pen right here by the house by himself where we could keep a close eye on him for a time. This served several purposes, to quarantine him after his trip and exposure to many different horses along the way; to get to know him; and to keep an eye on him to make sure he was adjusting to the changes in his life. His pen had a big round bale in a feeder so he had access 24/7 to hay. Rhere was an automatic waterer with a heater in the corner so there was also access to water.

On November 1st we got a foot of snow and Blaze of Threat retreated into the barn. He stood in the doorway looking out but would not even stick his head out. We laughed and decided when he was hungry and thirsty he would venture out.

On the 2nd of November we weaned calves and they were in the corral next to Blaze of Threat. It was quite apparent by his behavior that Blaze of Threat had not been around cattle before, especially unhappy bawling calves. He stayed inside the barn, no longer looking out the door. He was nervous, white-eyed, jumpy, dancing and sweating. Even though he had not been out to food and water, we decided to leave him alone to calm down before doing anything with him.

November 3rd we had another 12 inches of snow and Blaze of Threat still had not come out of the barn. We decided something needed to be done so we caught him up, put a halter and lead on him and took him to the barn door.

At the barn door, Blaze of Threat stopped cold. He was not sure about stepping out into all of this white stuff. He sniffed it, pawed at it and with a little coaxing, took his first step out into this world of white. He followed closely behind Mark and moved like he was walking on egg shells. One hurdle down, next was the calves, Mark led Blaze of Threat over to the fence where he could look at the calves. He was very nervous and stretched his neck out as far as it would go to get a little sniff. Blaze of Threat and Mark stood at the fence for a couple of minutes and watched the calves. Blaze of Threat, blowing quietly through his nose and ready to flee at any sign of danger.

Finally, Mark led Blaze of Threat over to the feeder and he hungrily snatched a couple of mouthfuls of hay. Mark talked to him a little patted him on the neck and took off the halter. Blaze of Threat snatched another mouthful of hay, turned and ran back into the barn!

Mark walked back to the barn and started over again. This time he led him to the water tank Blaze of Threat drank and drank. Then Mark led him over to the hay and again he snatched hungrily but would only stay to eat as long as Mark was with him. After a time, Mark tied him at the hay feeder and Blaze of Threat continued to eat, but, as soon as Mark would turn him loose, he would go back to the barn.

For several days we had to follow this routine, leading, tying, feeding, watering until Blaze of Threat finally figured out that snow and calves were not going to eat him. That first winter was also difficult because Blaze of Threat did not have a heavy hair coat like our other horses. He seemed to be cold all the time.

In the spring we started by hand-breeding him to a couple of mares. Then we just left a mare with him. In the beginning he kept his mare away from everyone and everything. He didn't let her get more than a few feet away from him. We later found out that he had been used as a "teaser" stallion.

He didn't seem to mind the foals too much, and he wasn't mean to them but he didn't have much repect for the mares...in the beginning. Eventually he learned to treat the mares with respect. Of course those lessons did come with some "Scuffs". He also learned that Montana was not a bad place and that cattle were not horse eating monsters, BUT it did take time!