The holistic approach used at Haven Horsemanship has demonstrated profound results for both horses and humans. See below for a detailed story about a horse that's been retrained here, recommendations/evaluations from supporting professionals, as well as some reviews from human clients.
Major arrived in September of 2017...
First, here is a video of him in 2011 when he was for sale that gives you an idea of what he was trained to do (stepping pace) and how his brain and body were doing: https://youtu.be/6g-yBOMlQ3I
A woman bought him who loved him dearly for 5+ years. Sadly, she became ill and passed away. One of her dear friends promised to take care of Major and find him his person. She is his guardian angel! Most horses in Major's position aren't half this lucky. At this point he had not worked consistently for quite some time, had body issues, feet handling issues, and significant anxiety.
Here he is soon after arriving, probably early October 2017. I believe it took us a couple of weeks to get this trot, it took him a couple months longer to get a canter. I used various pole configurations, cavaletti and small jumps learned from my jumping days to shape each gait with clicker training: https://youtu.be/3avl4aPNQSA
Here he is around the same time as the last video, but pacing, which is what he preferred to do: https://youtu.be/460otUM8ilM
Here he is in April 2018. You get a glimpse of his stepping pace (I learned through a lot of research that this is the most physically damaging gait for a horse's body to perform), then pace, and then you'll see that he was confident breaking from the pace to the trot to pop over a small jump to pick up the canter: https://www.facebook.com/Equusynced/videos/1114791361985813/
Here he is in October 2018 playing some games on the ground, free lunging at the walk, trot and canter, riding at the walk, running walk and a small clip of trotting. You'll see what's left of his "lameness" (or imbalance or?) when he turns hard to the left at the trot while free lunging: https://youtu.be/hTVY49ioOOQ
Here he is in November 2018 showing off his fox trot/trot: https://www.facebook.com/HavenHorsemanship/posts/2216430025245406?hc_location=ufi
And here he is in March 2019 after a couple month break from riding due to weather: https://www.facebook.com/HavenHorsemanship/videos/303034497057810
I am so proud of him for his resilience and heart, and so grateful to his guardian angel for believing in him and knowing that his person is out there.
Comments