Queen for a Day......

On March 15,2004 a very special girl was born. Her name was to be Sun's Pocco Betty (Betty for short). I first met her four years ago when we moved to a new boarding facility. For the first few weeks our horses were kept separate and then as they started to get familiar with things, we were able to turn them out with everybody. After about 3 months boarding there, we were asked a couple times a week to care for eight of the owner's horses. We took on the task and if it was not for that very important question that the barn owner had asked us I would have never gotten the opportunity to work with such a special gal. We then set up a working board arrangement where we took care of the other horses and cared for each one, I had handled her for a month or two very lightly not a whole lot, I noticed that she was the one that was the most difficult turned her but to you when she was scared or didn't know what else to do, was very agressive during feeding time, and was not able to be touched by a human hand. Everybody was terrified to even go in a stall with her for fear that they might be kicked. I took upon the task myself to work with this very difficult horse, my first step was getting her to be able to trust humans again, I started from square one, even showing a sign of interest was a reward for her. I build my relationship with her from the ground up, and it has grown ever since. I still continue to work with her every single day, even if its just hand grazing or a peaceful walk down the driveway or through the fields is considered a form of groundwork, at the moment I am working from the riding position and starting to get her familiar with different saddles, different weights, as well as trust when I am on her back and she cannot see me. I was able to ride her in the outside arena yesterday and she was spot on. So far I have taught her to move off of leg pressure as well as respond to voice commands and rein aids. So far I haven't had to use whips or any artificial aids. All I use on her is a rope halter and that's about it. She is very sensitive and moves of of leg pressure extremely well. I am very proud of the results that I have accomplished with he. My world without her here would not be complete, she is the other half of me, my soul-mate. For every birthday that our four horses have we always have them wear a crown and I must say I think that she enjoyed it. She loved the attention and quite honestly I think she was posing for the camera!!!