Client Testimonial - Katie and Dee
They say you should never buy the first horse you look at, but I did anyway when I was 12 years old. The first time I saw Dierdra (or Dee as I like to call her) I fell in love with her: the four year old, beautiful dark bay mare with brilliant red dapples and the sweetest eyes I had ever seen. When I rode her, I fell in love with her even more. She has one of the most comfortable canters I have ever sat. And she could jump the moon.
We brought her to my farm in Brookeville, Md, which has about 100 horses, including about 20 mares that she would be living with. Dee was a complete angel, minus the fact that we could not pull her mane, and I knew I had to have her. Plus she was spunky. The vet warned me that she was temperamental because we couldn't touch her ears, but I didn't care. I needed this horse.
Unfortunately, our honeymoon didn't last long. Soon enough I learned how spunky (to put it kindly) my new horse was: one of the first times I was bridling her, she bolted and took off down the isle right as the owner of the barn was walking down to meet her. Then, during our very first show season, I fell off at least once at every show because she would do dirty stops in front of all the jumps. A few times, I fell off twice. And it only got worse.
Dee began charging people who went into the fields to get their horses. She got so mean that she had to go out by herself in "solitary confinement" as we called it. She wasn't much better when she was in her stall either. I said she was territorial, everyone else called her mean. We had to put up rubber pads along the walls of the inside because she kicked them so much she actually kicked herself lame. We put a metal gate up instead of the door because she banged on that. People hated to go in there because she would cow kick at them.
The kicking got so bad that we eventually had to get "kicking chains" for her. Kicking chains are essentially padded bands that go around the horses' hind coronet band (ankle) with metal links attached that don't feel too nice when they hit the leg when the horse kicked.
Dee was notorious at my farm for being "evil;" people called her "Princess Poo" or "Moo Cow." I couldn't even count the number of phone calls I received from people telling me she had kicked someone or bitten someone. I dreaded talking to people sometimes because I knew they were just going to tell me a horrible story about my horse. To put it simply, she seemed to hate people.
I still absolutely loved my horse though, and my trainer put up with her because she was so good under saddle (once we got past the dirty stopping)… until she began bucking every time I got on. I couldn't even trot her, much less ride for longer than twenty minutes. I became so frustrated I stopped riding her and rode other horses. I hated it. I wanted my horse back, the beautiful, kind-eyed mare I had bought 4 years previously, but I didn't know how to get her back. It killed me to see my horse so unhappy.
For my sophomore year of college I brought her to Virginia Tech and kept her at a small farm where she lived outside 24/7. This worked well until she kicked the owner of the farm while he was putting hay in the field one day. And then she didn't eat for three days because I couldn't bring her in. I knew I had to find a new farm so I could bring her back to school with me for my junior year, I just didn't know where to go. I was literally praying every night for an answer, when one finally came. My next-door neighbor gave me an article from the Roanoke Times about Canterbury Farms and a woman named Paula Danyi who did Natural Horsemanship. God had answered my prayers, now I just had to get the courage to call.
I had heard of Natural Horsemanship before and been to a few expos, but I had never done it. No one in my area trained with it, they all thought it was silly. I didn't care. I was at my wits end and if learning how to speak "horse" for my horse didn't work, well something was going to have to change.
I was sitting in my basement at home in Maryland the first time I ever spoke to Paula. We talked for at least an hour. She asked me everything about Dee, and I told her how almost everyone hated her and thought she was evil. Paula was so understanding and kind and told me I could come out and look at the farm to see what I thought.
My Mom and I took a trip down to Canterbury the summer before my junior year, and I fell in love with the farm immediately. The barns were beautiful on the inside and out and there was just a peaceful, relaxing feeling at the farm. And Paula was just as wonderful in person as on the phone. We decided to give Canterbury a chance.
I don't think I have ever been so nervous as the first day we spent at Canterbury. I was terrified Dee was going to hurt someone or tear up her stall. Worse still, I was absolutely convinced she was going to attack Paula in the round pen. I literally told her, "I'm terrified she's going to try and kill you." Paula laughed and said not to worry about it, but Dee's first moments in the round pen terrified me. She did give Paula a good amount of dirty looks, and she did kick out at her, but she didn't try to kill her. She actually worked very well.
For the next couple of days Paula worked with Dee in the round pen, teaching her the basics. Dee learned very quickly (she's almost too smart for her own good). Paula began teaching me how to round pen with her horses who are a little calmer than Dee, so I would be ready to work my horse.
I remember how happy I was the day Paula told me that my horse wasn't mean. I hadn't heard someone, other than myself, say that in ages. In fact, Paula actually liked my horse. She could truly see the potential that Dee had, and that she acted up when she was unhappy or frustrated, not mean.
Paula and I have been working with Dee for a little over 6 months now, and she is a completely different horse. I can't even explain the change in her, she is just so much happier. She doesn't kick out in the round pen or pin her ears and charge. She doesn't kick in her stall or try to bite people who clean it. Her ground manners have gotten exceptionally better though we're still working on standing still. And best of all, I can ride her again. She's not perfect, in fact she bucked the other day, but using Natural Horsemanship techniques, such as the One Rein Stop (you use one rein to pull the horses head around toward your leg, essentially stopping them), and then making her pivot in small circles. I was then able to control her and continue to trot and canter around the ring.
Dee loves Canterbury. You can just tell by the look in her eye. She goes out in the field with the entire heard and hasn't tried to hurt anyone out there. She loves working in the round pen, and even more, loves working in the ring. We've walked her while dragging a noisy bag behind her, played with a giant exercise ball, and walked over scary tarp. She's unfazed. When we let her run around the ring, her ears prick forward, her tail swishes, and she'll even take herself over jumps.
I finally have my horse back.
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