At Warmbloods Maximus we often have horses coming into our program that need to be rehabilitated, most of these horses come from good homes, and most of them are donated to our program because of our reputation of making unsound horses sound, helping horses that were deemed crazy, sane, etc. Not every case is a "rescue" case and we really want to make it clear that a lot of these horses were donated to us and they came from good homes. Each horse has a story and we want to share it with you.
Our first horse we are going to share with you is the only case that I deem as a "rescue" case. There are some graphic pictures so please be advised.
Epics Augustin Moon-"Gus"-
Gus was born on my place in 2006. He was a wonderful foal, who was a quick learner, happy and healthy. I sold him at 5 months old to a woman who wanted a half arab Sporthorse, and who assured me she had a wonderful program set up for him. 8 months later I received a phone call from this woman, she told me she couldn't care for Gus any more and wanted me to have him back. At the time I was not aware of his condition, and I postponed having him come back for about a month as I didn't have room for him in my program. Upon arrival to the farm, not only was I appalled by his condition, but Gus could barely hold himself up in the trailer, and nearly fell over trying to get out of the trailer.
Gus Before being sold.
Gus off the trailer.
It was a July day in Spokane WA (meaning close to 100 degrees if not hotter) when we got Gus home. He was covered in shaggy hair, his belly was so bloated with worms his back legs splayed to support it. His front legs were bowed so severely from lack of nutrients he could barely stand, and he weaved back and forth as if drunk to support himself. He had stopped growing, and was the same height at 5 months old, now at 13 months old. It was a very sad day at the farm. Lincoln County Brand Inspector Gerry Stiles and horse enthusiast Joyce Brede came to inspect him for documentation. Gerry did a partial shave on him to help him deal with the heat, and Joyce helped groom him with our working student Bonnie. We had a ton of beautiful Eastern WA timothy hay donated to us by a wonderful family, we also had money to purchase vitamins and minerals donated. Our exceptional farrier Jim Hudkins came and trimmed his feet that week so he could stand more upright, now all we could do was slowly introduce him to grain, and keep all the hay in front of him he could eat. It was a slow process but he was never mean, angry or upset. He was a trooper through it all.
Gus 6 weeks into our program, he was feeling fiesty, and finally had his energy back.
After almost a year we decided to donate him to a fantastic pony riding program in Deer Park, WA. He was ready to be the wonderful horse I knew he could be. He went to Jenny Youngblood of Thoroughly Bred Farms and is currently in training with her to be a riding horse. He made a full recovery, and now leads a happy, healthy, wonderful life.
CA A Secret Minuet grabbed my attention from the first moment I laid eyes on her. She was a rather plump spotted mare that had charm and spunk. She was standing in a paddock at one of the barns where I teach, eating hay with her pasture buddy just fat, sleek and sassy. I started working with one of the Arabs at the barn (Glory, will add her story later on), and Lola's (CA A Secret Minuet) owner noticed something different about my training methods. I was neither afraid of, nor bashful of a sometimes over zealous Glory. I recognized she was stiff in her shoulders, and needed to learn how to move again. I rode her through her spooking and bolting episodes and we only continued to improve her body and how she moved.
Lola's owner had owned her for quite some time. She had bred a beautiful baby out of her, and had put her into training with a local trainer. They decided that due to her flashy movement she was a good canidate for the sport of Saddleseat. Lola's owner knew from the beginning though that Lola did not like this particular trainer, nor did the trainer like Lola. Lola was put in restraints, including the berring rein and asked to go forward at a much too fast rate. Lola paniced and flipped herself over backwards doing damage to her croup. Her owner put her on stall rest and had regular chiropractic treatments done on her, but mentally Lola had changed. Once a confident horse, destined for the show ring, she was now nervous about riders, had lost her sense of balance and struggled to stear and be ridden all together.
Lola's owner recognized she needed time off, and would from time to time take her out on trail rides, or ride her in the arena. Due to time though she didn't often get to work with her, working full time, raising a family and owning a boarding facility kept her forever busy, and rightly so.
I pulled Lola from the field one beautiful afternoon, her owner had prompted me into just working with her, she felt certain I could help her. Little did I know how exceptional this mare really was. I put her in just a halter and attached a lunge line and asked her for a few circles around the arena. She went into a very fast trot as if nervous, but after some coaxing, and telling her what a beautiful girl she was; in no time she was stretching long and low and really opening up in her movement. Man that girl could trot!!!
She took my breath away, and I instantly saw images of my upper level dressage horse, and decided for the first time in years to go ahead and purchase my very own personal horse.
In just the three short weeks I have worked with Lola, she has gained confidence, loves to be tacked up and worked with, helps me put her leg wraps on, and has put on a significant amount of muscle. Her plump body is now starting to show abs, neck muscles, and haunches.
She is learning how to sit down and drive at the trot while holding her tummy up, and how to have a beautiful and rythmic canter, whether we are working on the correct lead, or counter canter (counter canter is used for balancing issues).
I have sat on her once, and spent two hours just mounting and dismounting her, staying calm, and quiet and assuring her that just sitting and standing are perfectly acceptable at the moment.
I'm very excited for this mare, I see her as being my upper level dressage horse, I know we have a long road ahead of us, and trust is the biggest obstacle, but there is something very special about this girl. :) Physically she's in beautiful shape, her former owner took remarkable care of her, and that makes the progress come along that much faster. I'll be updating this page with photo's and video of her,so please keep checking back to see her incredible progress.
In these two photos take a look at Lola's front and hind feet/legs, and the placement of them in comparison to her photo of her in just her sports medicine boots. Her front legs are more forward and her hind legs are much more balanced, and she isn't "slouching," so to speak. She has good posture here. In the above picture she is stretching her neck forward and down, I'm changing how the actual neck will be carried, and filling in the neck and wither connection. In the below picture you can see she is slightly braced through the bottom of her neck, my goal is to soften that part of the neck (Sternocephalicus) and make the crest of her neck more firm so that she may then pick her withers up, and have an easier time engaging her back. This also helps to free up the shoulders as we've created space for them to now move more forward, allowing the front legs to be more out in front of her (this gives the hind legs even more room to drive from behind). Her withers will be able to become more free, which means her sternum will raise up. It will seem like your horses are "growing," with this type of work, when in fact we lift the sternums up, and the withers "pop up," horses can come up in the withers up to 3 inches! This work also allows her to put herself onto the bit, instead of having to be crammed onto the bit and ridden from front to back. Remember the classical way of riding is to ride the horses from Back to Front!
The butt rope is loosely positioned on her rump, and is simply there as a reminder that she must step underneath herself, so we can achieve overstriding, with out having to make her run to get it. *Please ask a professional about butt ropes before attempting them, a butt rope that is placed too tight can cause sprainage of the loin.*
Will be riding Lola with Michelle Binder June 10th!!