This is Gandalf....He is my equine soul mate, and my very first rescue horse. I cannot express to you how special this big lad is to me. He is my world........and I thank him for all he has shared with me every single day, as without him Natural Horse NZ would not exist, and all the horses he has helped me and you to help, would have sadly have been slaughtered for dog meat. Gandalf is a Boulonnais, and the only one of his kind in NZ as far as Im aware. He is an exceptionally big horse, and he knows it too-lol :) Even now, after working with hundreds of severe behavioural cases, Gandalf is still the most challenging horse I have ever met, and keeps me on my toes, though I have earned his trust and trust him with my life these days. Gandalf was a stallion until he was in his teens, and has a strong opinion that he is very happy to share with humans-lol :) For the first year that I had him, when he used to kick off, he used to go off big time, which used to make him a very dangerous big horse that was a real challenge for me in the early years......but he has also taught me so much that I am so thankful for :) He has shared that never does a bigger bit or a stronger anything work with horses. You see Gandalf has an old school personality like your Grandad, and is an absolute stickler for good manners, and he will not tolerate rudeness from people towards him in any shape or form. To kick him to go forward would be like hitting the ejector seat, and this big fella bucks over your head with all four feet in the air so staying on his not an option! Yet squeeze him to go and he politely walks forward. His behaviour has shown us all to Ask rather than Tell and that Less Is Always More with horses. Which means less with everything you do-less rein, less pressure, less leg, less seat and more softness, and more feel, and more release and more rewards, for longer and for smaller tries. Gandalf is a sheer testament on how forgiving these fabulous horses can be as he has suffered the very worst cruelty I have been privvy to, and it takes a lot to shock me after seeing how awful some people can be to rescue horses.....but I still remember seeing him for the first time and my mouth gaping open at the emaciated skeleton that was in front of me. An acquaintance, who loaned me a float to collect him, insisted on sitting on him, even though I protested he was too weak to take a rider, and even in his half state he still managed to summon the energy to buck her off. Check him out these days -playing earlier-this is what Natural Collection looks like. Somebody needs to tell this big fella that hes getting old....but it wont be me as I love seeing him like this. If you have a challenging horse, it maybe just that he is trying to tell you something just like Gandalf was telling me. I have learned the more you listen the better your horse will become. Heres to Gandalf-thanks for putting your trust in me and for every lesson you share with me :)
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 04:49:16 +0000