Justin

Justin is doing very well! He spends his days in a  pasture with his young friend, Linus, and comes inside to a comfy stall at night. His adopter enjoys seeing Justin’s personality continue to shine through the longer she has him.

Justin has found an outstanding home with Kim! They are a great pair and Justin has a new brother named Linus. They are all doing well and loving the pasture together! Kim had many OTTB and when she met Justin, she saw in him characteristics of her old partners. His gentle ground manner and thoughtful nature were a big part of why she fell in love with him. She took her time getting to know him at SAFE before taking him home and we are thrilled that everything has gone well since the move.

Kim is a very thoughtful and responsible horse owner. She fell in love with Justin I think at first sight but she was careful to make sure he was the right match for her. Kim and her husband Kerry have a beautiful home. It is a perfect place for the horses to enjoy pasture time and stretch their legs. Kim had this to say about her new partner: “He is so very very good and I love him so much…I watch him in the field and just know he was meant to be mine.”

We are all so grateful that Kim came to SAFE looking for her next riding partner. Justin is an extremely lucky boy to have such a great family to call his own. We wish them the best of luck and many happy years together!

Justin did very well while in training for 60 days with our friend Ben Hannan. He has a good personality and is easy to work with, both on the ground and in the saddle. His only issue is around cinching. Nothing too difficult but he will look back and try to nip at the person cinching up. He will also move around a bit while the cinch is being tightened. It is something pretty ingrained in him so whoever adopts him will need to continue the good work we have started and it will continue to improve. You can see this a bit in the video below. This is a good boy who will make a wonderful addition to a family. He has a good amount of life but is uncomplicated to work.

Justin is now in Redmond at Safe Harbor and and available for adoption. Fill out an application to be considered for this sweet boy.

We are all so excited about the work Justin has been doing at SAFE. Joel saw lots of improvements since his last visit and felt comfortable putting the first rides on him. There really isn’t any way to know what happened in Justin’s past but so far the Horsemanship work is getting him to a peaceful place. It was great to watch him change and develop over the four rides Joel put on him. His neck lengthened and his strides became smooth and untroubled. He walked, trotted, and cantered forward nicely, with good expression and try.

Joel said he thinks he is going to make it, which is a huge improvement from the troubled horse he met just a few month ago. Waiting and getting more groundwork was not a bad thing. With older horses like Justin that come to us with baggage, it takes time and consistency to get changes. Healing his neglected body and repairing the trust lost in people doesn’t happen overnight. He is a sensitive sweet boy and it breaks your heart to think what a frightened life he had before SAFE.

Someone at the clinic asked how we teach them to join up. It’s not something we have to teach them, it’s about us learning to communicate in their language. Each experience with humans at SAFE is helping him gain trust. Being able to sit on him now was a result of many good experiences at SAFE.

After the clinic, Justin went home with our friend and horseman, Ben Hannah. He will spend the next few weeks being ridden by Ben. We are currently taking applications for Justin and scheduling showings early in November. This boy will go fast, so don’t miss your chance to come meet him! Fill out an application today!

Preparing Justin for a rider has been a fun and rewarding process. This gelding’s sweet disposition continues to shine through. He is a willing horse with a lot of try. The more we work him, the more we fall in love with his kind eyes. We hope to ride him in the near future, but we are letting him lead the way. He doesn’t have to prove anything to us. As an older restart with a troubled past, restarting as a riding horse can prove difficult. We are chipping away at his hesitations and he continues to relax. The goal of the ground work is to prepare him for what the rider will ask.

Another part of his training is for us to put him “in a bind” so we can show him that no one will hurt him. It’s not about desensitizing him, but rather teaching him he doesn’t have to overreact in stressful situations. We will never ask him to do anything he is not able to do. This horsemanship work helps troubled horses like Justin realize they can calm down after having been wound up. In the face of future stress he can draw from these good experiences and remember we always take care of him. Justin naturally likes people and will make someone an endearing partner, either as a riding horse or as a companion, that remains for him to tell us.

Justin is doing very well in preparation to become a riding horse. We have spent a great deal of time strengthening him and getting him balanced to hold the weight of a rider. He initially had trouble transferring his weight off of his forehand and over his hocks. He would get stuck with his front feet when asked to yield in the front or when backing up. This “vapor lock” would panic him and cause him to be unsettled and even a bit explosive. But over time and with the use of groundwork Justin has been able to get free in his feet and gain balance and not feel trapped. He knows now that he has options to move and with that freedom he feel relaxed and peaceful with his handlers.

He was very “girthy” when we started saddling him. He would turn and try to bite us or move around trying to escape the saddling. At first we allowed him to have some movement in his feet and went with him as to not make him feel trapped by the experience. Over time this helped relax him, but the biting was still there. To help correct this, we took things very slow. Working with just our hands around the cinch areas, placing the pad off and on, and finally adding the saddle. It took time and patience but things have greatly improved. He still needs some correction not to bite when we start saddling but he’s getting better. This is something that will continue to be watched and worked on. All we can do is to continue to offer good experiences that reward try and are fair and kind to him. The changes we have already seen over the last few months is evidence that Horsemanship works and positive change is possible with time and patience.

We are planning on getting Justin backed in the next month. We have done an extensive amount of groundwork to give him new healthy experiences with people. In order to help him through this trouble, we have “put him in a bind” to expose the points where he may attempt to get stuck and try to flip. Other than being completely stuck in the front end he did not ever take it to the extreme of rearing or flipping. We always had a door open for him to comfortably move into so he has felt safe enough to get through troubled spots. He is very healthy now and you can visibly see him rock his weigh onto his hind and free up his front quarters to turn around. He is relaxed and calm when bumped up to the panels with someone sitting above him. He does not overreact to the flag and is getting better about the rope being swung around him and over his body. We will keep you posted when he heads off to training and how that next chapter unfolds.