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Nutrition is an integral part of the rescue process and the “Horse Health & Nutrition” category is where you will find this vital horse nutrition information.
In addition to a health and nutrition category we have horse evaluation information, horse training and other relevant horse rescue information gathered from Equestrian experts.
By: Lisa Rodriguez
I don’t know why his owner calls him Clydesdale but I think maybe it’s because he is such a big hearted horse where it counts.
When I first rescued him the then owner called him Stormy. It didn’t seem to fit a horse so well put together and highly trained. Soon, I started to see why it might fit. Only I thought maybe he was more of a Dirt Devil, you know those little gusts of wind that swirl through the dirt and are fascinating and annoying at the same time. Well he’s like that. She had rescued him from abandonment in someone’s pasture. He had a history of champion awards in the show pen which told me he was smart.
As it turned out, he was way too smart for his own good and was always trying to pull something over on inexperienced people. If he got away with breaking training once it would escalate quickly to the point that he would attempt to dominate his handler and rider at any moment. Not in a mean way, but it could quickly became a big fight, or a reason to blow up. Stormy’s owner needed training help but chose to abandon the horse. I took him over and in 90 days I had him calmed down. I gave him the new name of Sky, as Arabian horses are said to “drink the wind” and also to reflect his new attitude.
A family in natural horsemanship riding lessons with me took him home to love and called him Buddy. Love wasn’t quite enough however. They unfortunately chose not to continue working with a trainer and soon he found his old tricks were working again. They gave him back to me and I put him to work as a natural horsemanship lesson horse. During that time I learned what a truly great horse he was and that his having to put up with inconsistent or rough handling for too long just made him mad at the world.
Stormy/Sky/Buddy was adopted by a petite well trained young woman that wanted a fun horse as a break from working her huge warmblood for Hunter Jumper horseshows. She has a blast zipping around on trail rides and doing cross county obstacles on her little Arabian who never seems to be mad about much anymore. When I pass him on the barn aisle and see his beautiful dished head, I wonder about the name Clydesdale, or Clyde for short. Then I remember that he thinks he can pull anything given the chance.
