We’re excited about this lovely mare! Eda was the last member of the Valentine Herd to join us at SAFE. During our first interactions, she was cautious — testing her safety around us, reacting jumpily to touch, and showing signs of anxiety when she felt confused or frustrated. Honestly, it’s refreshing to have a horse that can communicate so clearly how she’s feeling about the work and the process. Some horses come to us completely shut down; Eda, while unsure, was still willing to interact and showed a natural curiosity about us and what we were asking.
Each session has built on the one before, and it’s been wonderful to see how transformational good horsemanship can be for a young horse! Eda has clearly had some handling in the past, but from what we can tell, it lacked quality or left her without a true understanding of her handlers.
So, we’re starting fresh — focusing on building her confidence, understanding, and acceptance. With some skillful support, we were able to trim her front hooves last week. In a few more weeks, we’ll work up to trimming all four. She has fairly flat soles, so we kept this first trim conservative. With good nutrition and regular farrier care, we’re hopeful we can maintain her barefoot, but if needed once she’s in work, we’ll explore the use of boots or shoes.
Now fully vaccinated and de-liced (yuck!), Eda is ready to begin training sessions in the arena. She appears to be around 3 to 3.5 years old — a great age to start introducing her to saddling and carrying a rider. Speed is not the name of the game! As long as she stays comfortable and confident, we expect her to progress at a steady and positive pace.
Although she was not found to be pregnant at intake, we’ll complete one more exam at the 90-day mark to be absolutely sure, given possible past exposure to stallions. Eda is a lovely mover, and we’re excited to see her grow and develop in the months ahead through our training program!
