Link

Link came to Far Hills after his owner requested we look in on a lease situation that had made her uncomfortable and since we lived in the area, we offered to check it out.  His feet were a mess (bar shoes with a negative palmer angle….) and he had lost most of his muscle tone.  He was frantic and stressed under saddle.  We offered to take him home to see what we could do to help him out.  

After we got him here, we learned that he was bought at an auction in Argentina and was  a very hot, sensitive guy, who likely got "tuned up" a bit for the auction.  The owner who bought him from the auction is a very good horsewoman and has a successful program, so there was some good memories we could build upon.  However, he was physically uncomfortable and emotionally a wreck. 

We started with the physical, getting his feet corrected, adding some nutritional supplements to help him build muscle, doing some therapeutic vet/body work and working him on the ground to start to build muscle without the interference of the rider.  Once he started to unwind and feel good again, we found a very sweet, kind horse.  He never wanted to do wrong and was super careful about jumps—we started with rails and he never, ever touched even a little PVC on the ground.  He had just grown so fearful of the big bit that he would constantly guess what his rider wanted.  

When we started riding him, we put a very light snaffle in his mouth and rode without spurs.  Even when we got to the point of jumping him, we didn’t’ need much more than that.  He had grown afraid of jumping and his mouth.  If you would touch the reins before or after a jump, he would halt.  He wouldn’t stop at the jump, but he would just halt.  He never was spooky about jumps or material and never stopped at a jump.  His fear was not of the obstacle, but of the person.  To help him with this, we would always have a rail or cavaletti or small jump in the arena and just toss it in here and there in his flatwork.  Soon, jumps became part of the regular day, not something big we’d build up to and continue escalating until it worried him.  By the time we found him his forever home, he was a confident good guy with lots of love to give.

Fast forward to the happy ending.  Link was leased to a young jumper rider who adored him and they had a great experience together.  We were so proud of how far he came and how much he had changed that when the lease came to an end, we sought out a longer term arrangement.  Link loves his people and deserved to be someone’s only horse, not a stepping stone (even though the people who leased him adored him and did not at all view him that way).  We found him a great person to call his own with a very kind and supportive trainer who continues to send us photos and stories about how wonderful he is doing.