Sara E is a SAFE volunteer who has been riding Kat on a regular basis. She had this to say about her work with Kat:

I first met Kat when I first started volunteering with SAFE and was doing night feeding. Truthfully I wasn’t impressed, she was standoffish and a little food aggressive. She was never out right mean, but was not a cuddle bunny or tried to seek out your company. Over the last year of working with her and now riding her I have come to understand a little more about miss Kat. She puts up a hard front, but once she trusts you and you two start communicating she comes out of her shell. Now she will never be a snuggle girl, but she does seek me out when I’m around.

I started riding her twice a week for a couple of months and then got a job that took me away from riding her for about a month and a half. When I started riding her again, I could tell she was a little mad at me for not coming out. Really, her being mad at me was a great feeling to have, it meant she liked me enough to miss me when I was gone. Instead of being indifferent to whether I was the one riding or not. Since starting to ride her again I have noticed her become more and more open with me, she still gives me her ‘mad’ ears but now its more like an inside joke between us. Leading her is now more of a formality, since she mostly just follows me around when we are together. She is a one person horse, if I have ever seen one. She puts up with people, but she bonds with just one.

I think one of our biggest breakthroughs was about a month ago, when we really finally started to communicate with each other while under saddle. Kat likes to do well when riding, and she can easily get frustrated when she doesn’t understand what you want her to do. Once she figured out how I was trying to get her to do things, and I figured out how to get her to do what I wanted, we started working so much better together. The best relationships are built on good communication, and with Kat that is so very true.

 Kat is an amazing little horse, shes got that good Quarter horse mind that thinks through things with out big blowups. She forward in her riding and yields to leg and seat ques and always tries to do what you want. She’s a little of a hard nut to crack, but when she starts to like you it makes you feel so good that the little standoffish mare only lets you give her hugs and kisses.