Post by ladywalker68 on May 18, 2009 23:55:07 GMT -5
Hi, All--In early October 2007, I adopted a 15-17 year old CBER gelding named Jeramy by the rescue. I was going to name him Cherokee, but my 2 and 1/2 year old came up with the name of "Reddy" and it stuck.
I thought you would all be pleased to know his current status.
Reddy (entered under the name of “The Big Red Cherokee”) won a 5th place ribbon at the Eastern Washington Quarter Horse Association’s Spring Schooling event held on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at the Dragonwood Equine Facility in Cle Elum, Wa.
He was ridden in the Jr. Rider walk/trot western pleasure event by a 13-year old girl. Not bad for a horse who was dumped on a feedlot (last stop before being shipped to Canada for slaughter) and some who subsequently met him thought he was too dumb, too old or too unpredictable to be trained.
Hats off to everyone who helped us along the way. We couldn’t have done it without your help.
Many hats off to Shannon King, Reddy’s trainer for nearly a year, who has done a phenomenal job in turning this horse around. Shannon’s endless patience, along with her quiet, kind, gentle and yet authoritative approach was all he needed to bring out the best in this gentle giant. It was all done with the type of training I wanted for a 16 year old abandoned rescue. It was done with Shannon’s unique brand of natural “horsewomanship”, with rope halters, with treeless saddles, with full cheek snaffle bits, and without stud chains, without yelling, without hitting, without tying the horse up in a stall for hours as punishment, and without other inhumane practices traditionally used on show horses. Those who believe the natural approach is a bunch of bunk need to give it another look, especially, Shannon’s style. It is unlike any other approach out there and it works. Being a kinder and patient human renders a kinder and patient horse and one that is as safe as a 1200 pound beast can possibly be especially if you do it Shannon’s way.
Finally, many bows and hats off to Reddy for surviving a hard life, for not giving up, and for not letting his spirit get completely broken. I could just tell from his photos he was a special horse. He reminds me very much of Cappucino Kid and I know Reddy has got to have some royalty of the thoroughbred world in him even though there is no evidence. He is too awesome to be just another horse.
Reddy is an inspiration to me that no matter how hard life gets, if you just keep plodding along, putting one foot in front of the other and don’t give up, you will survive, and your best days could be just around the corner and still ahead of you.
Here is a link to photos of Reddy in the event and with his ribbon. This is best viewed by clicking on the link below and then click on the Slideshow button in the upper right hand corner. Wait a few seconds and all of the extraneous stuff disappears and you will just see a slide show of the photos.
ladywalker.smugmug.com/gallery/8255604_KdGzB/1/540076254_stERw
Warm regards to all. Keep fighting the good fight because there are a lot more horses out there just like Reddy.
I thought you would all be pleased to know his current status.
Reddy (entered under the name of “The Big Red Cherokee”) won a 5th place ribbon at the Eastern Washington Quarter Horse Association’s Spring Schooling event held on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at the Dragonwood Equine Facility in Cle Elum, Wa.
He was ridden in the Jr. Rider walk/trot western pleasure event by a 13-year old girl. Not bad for a horse who was dumped on a feedlot (last stop before being shipped to Canada for slaughter) and some who subsequently met him thought he was too dumb, too old or too unpredictable to be trained.
Hats off to everyone who helped us along the way. We couldn’t have done it without your help.
Many hats off to Shannon King, Reddy’s trainer for nearly a year, who has done a phenomenal job in turning this horse around. Shannon’s endless patience, along with her quiet, kind, gentle and yet authoritative approach was all he needed to bring out the best in this gentle giant. It was all done with the type of training I wanted for a 16 year old abandoned rescue. It was done with Shannon’s unique brand of natural “horsewomanship”, with rope halters, with treeless saddles, with full cheek snaffle bits, and without stud chains, without yelling, without hitting, without tying the horse up in a stall for hours as punishment, and without other inhumane practices traditionally used on show horses. Those who believe the natural approach is a bunch of bunk need to give it another look, especially, Shannon’s style. It is unlike any other approach out there and it works. Being a kinder and patient human renders a kinder and patient horse and one that is as safe as a 1200 pound beast can possibly be especially if you do it Shannon’s way.
Finally, many bows and hats off to Reddy for surviving a hard life, for not giving up, and for not letting his spirit get completely broken. I could just tell from his photos he was a special horse. He reminds me very much of Cappucino Kid and I know Reddy has got to have some royalty of the thoroughbred world in him even though there is no evidence. He is too awesome to be just another horse.
Reddy is an inspiration to me that no matter how hard life gets, if you just keep plodding along, putting one foot in front of the other and don’t give up, you will survive, and your best days could be just around the corner and still ahead of you.
Here is a link to photos of Reddy in the event and with his ribbon. This is best viewed by clicking on the link below and then click on the Slideshow button in the upper right hand corner. Wait a few seconds and all of the extraneous stuff disappears and you will just see a slide show of the photos.
ladywalker.smugmug.com/gallery/8255604_KdGzB/1/540076254_stERw
Warm regards to all. Keep fighting the good fight because there are a lot more horses out there just like Reddy.
