King

King returned from training with Joel Conner recently, and we are so impressed with this black beauty! He’s being ridden on a regular basis by volunteer rider Jolene and doing wonderfully, even on the trails next door. He’s become so gentle and willing. King is ready to move on to a new home, and we don’t expect him to stay around too long, so if you’re interested in this horse, submit an application today to come meet him!

I had the chance to visit and ride King at Joel Conner’s where he is getting started under saddle. King has become a very handsome boy with a very shiny black coat and a sweet personality. He is kind and gentle on the ground, easy to groom and saddle. He still needs more work with the flag and to relaxed with new things or objects. He had an “honest spook” when I was riding and he just jumped to the side then stopped and approached the thing that scared him. He has just not been exposed to a lot and has much to learn about the world.

Joel described King as a forward horse that is sensitive to the rider. He is still learning to line up along the wall, although he is now staying nicely on the rail at the walk. He still has some trouble changing eyes and when things approach on his left side but both of these are greatly improved with Joel’s work and will continue to improve with consistency. He is suitable at the moment for an advanced beginner and as he gets more rides put on, he should make a fine intermediate rider’s mount. He has a gait pace and someone who is interested in developing that could bring it out more. For right now, SAFE riders will be getting a good walk, trot and lope on him and get him ready for an adopter to take him into further training. From my ride on him, I can tell you that he was pretty darn smooth to sit. I think he will make a very good riding horse and be especially comfortable to sit on long trail rides.

Here are some photos of Joel riding King in Ellensburg:

When King arrived at Safe Harbor, he was frightened of every noise and every person who approached him. Our efforts to gentle him and gain his trust are really showing and now you can hardly tell he is the same jumpy horse that came to us. Now when you approach his stall he is calm and inquisitive. He loves head rubs and has become relaxed in his stall and to work around. King has also gotten a lot better for the farrier and we have no problems grooming him or getting his blanket on and off. He had some time off during the move to our new property and for the most part “vacationed” well. His sensitivities to the flag showed up again during his recent clinic with Joel Conner but over all he was much more connected to his volunteer handler. After the clinic was finish King loaded easily into the trailer and went home with Joel to begin his training as a riding horse. All reports have been great. He traveled well, settled into his paddock and began work with Joel without an issues.

Volunteer rider Ann worked with King in the clinic. Here is what she had to say about her experience:

I really enjoyed working with King in the groundwork session. He is a sweet and sensitive horse. I worked with him at the November clinic and he has made some good progress since then. He is still anxious about the flag and is not real comfortable being worked from his off side. He is very light and responsive in all the groundwork exercises. He sticks right with me while leading and is easy to send out on a circle in either direction. I did the exercises without the flag at first and kept everything calm and slow. Then I added the flag and he became quite anxious and was rushing through the exercises trying to keep the flag from touching him. I worked on sending him past me in a half circle petting him with the flag several times as he went past. He was able to settle down and accept the flag touching him before too long. He just needs a lot more work with the flag. King stays focused on what I am asking and follows a feel well. He is willing and has a lot of try. King is going to make a really nice horse for someone.

SAFE’s volunteer riders and their horses spent last weekend working with Joel Conner. Here’s a report from Ann A about her session with King:

I worked with King in Sunday’s groundwork session. I had not worked with him before and really enjoyed getting to know this sweet, sensitive boy. He responded well when I kept everything calm, quite and slow. I started by working him in a half circle between myself and the wall. He was quite nervous at first and wanted to rush through. Joel had me work him without the flag and use only my leading hand to keep him from feeling too much pressure. He got progressively better with each pass but did not want to stand on my right side. He would spin around and try to rush immediately back through to my left side where he felt more comfortable. I had to bump him back to keep him from rushing through. When he could stand quietly on my right side I rubbed his forehead and had him pause for a moment before sending him back to the left. He was ultimately able to walk calmly from one side to the other pausing on each side and waiting for me to send him back the other way.

Following this we worked on the walking half circle exercise. Joel wanted us all to use a flag for this one. King is still fairly fearful of the flag but was able to do quite well after our work next to the arena wall. I was primarily working on my own coordination switching hands on the flag and lead rope. I used the flag very minimally to cue him without scaring him. King was a bit stressed and really wanted to scoot around to avoid the flag. He only got really scared a couple of times though. We did much better on our second pass down the arena. He could use a lot more work with the flag and this exercise in particular.

King is doing fairly well with backing from a hand on the halter knot. It did not take much to start him back although I had to encourage him to flex at the poll and get soft. I only backed five or six steps each time but he was stepping with his feet in diagonal pairs. When we tried backing a circle he would take a couple of reaching steps and them bog down and get stuck. He could use a lot more work at this.

King was a bit nervous leading along the wall. I gave him a bit more space and kept things calm and quiet. He handled it well and got good at keeping slack in the line and following a feel. I did not try trotting because I wanted him to stay calm and relaxed. He stayed focused on me and I only had to bump him back a few times when he was late backing. He was not as comfortable being led from the right side and will need more work on that. He tried to put me back on his left side a few times.

King is quite soft and light at bending his head to the left. He followed my feel and kept a float in the lead. When asking him to bend to the right he would bend his head about 45˚ and then start moving his feet. He took quite a few steps before he got his feet stopped. I had to use a bit more pressure to get a 90˚ bend. It took many tries before he was able to bend to the right without moving his feet but he did eventually get there.

All in all King is a nice horse to work with and has a lot of try. I was really pleased with the progress he made today.

More photos of Anne and King: