Saturday, Aug 13th– St. Paul, MN –Saturday was the culmination of three months of hard work for the horse trainers that took part in the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue Society’s “Challenge of the Unwanted Horse.” Each trainer volunteered their time, their feed, and their facility to turn a useless, sometimes even dangerous horse, into a useful one.
The event is designed to draw people looking for a horse and gives them a very good idea of just what the horse can do at this point in its life/training. Potential adopters are screened so the horses don’t end up back at the rescue or in some unsafe or unhealthy situation in the future.
The horses available for this challenge were all donated to the Rescue or ended up there after being taken from their neglectful or abusive owners. They came with a wide range of phobias, illnesses, mental and physical issues. Trainers had some choice in the matter of which horse they got, but there were clearly some that had more potential than others from the outset, and the “good” horses were chosen first.
Most trainers tried to get a horse that fit their bailiwick, for example, the Western trainers preferred to choose a horse with a lot of quarter horse breeding, and the English trainers were more likely to choose an Arab or Saddlebred type.
Sunborn Stables got a small Arab-cross 3 ½ year old mare, “Cold Snap,” nicknamed “Chilly.” We figured we didn’t stand much of a chance at the contest with our little mare because she just could not canter slowly, and you need that for the pleasure class. Plus, she was still a bit thin and that would hurt her in the halter class. The canter can take a long time for some horses to develop, and she wasn’t strong enough to slow down and carry our weight. It takes development of the hind end of the horse.
But, with the help of many students and parents from our barn both during the training period and at the contest, We tried our best and put together a fourth place overall finish with two first places (out of 5 divisions) a second place and a sixth.
Chilly and I were really excited to be able to pull off a winning freestyle. Chilly also was the winning horse in the “vet/farrier” part of the contest. That means she stood the best for having her feet and other body parts handled and blood drawn.
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Our Sunborn crew was amazing! I had helpers from 10 years old to 60. We had a lot of equipment to move around the arena so our freestyle could show Chilly to her best advantage — going over jumps. We did a combination of dressage and jumping. Apparently that worked for the judges. But I have to say, I was very impressed with what the other trainers did. Sid Zacharias, from Spooner, Wisconsin stood on his horse and cracked a whip while it remained motionless. Then he pulled the saddle off and had the horse lie down. The crowd loved it! I never thought we could beat that!
All the horses in training at Sunborn Stables, including Chilly, are exposed to a variety of challenges so they become trustworthy and versatile. Chilly, for example, rides Western, goes through water, pulls a cart, doesn’t mind noisy trucks going by, and has had a rope spun on her. She got a second place in the “Trail Class” where she was tested on her ability to do all sorts of “scary” things like walk over a tarp and a bridge and load in a trailer.
I watched the guy in front of me in the trail class and he actually trotted his horse into the trailer. I thought, ‘Can Chilly do that?’ I knew she was a confident loader, but hadn’t ever tried that. Well, we decided to go for it. We trotted right up to it and she just took one walk step and in she went. I was so proud of her!.
During and following the contest, people were encouraged to bid in the silent auction on the horses. Several horses now have prospective adoptive families waiting to be screened by the Hooved Animal Rescue. Eight horses were adopted at the event. Chilly is one of the horses who has a loving family waiting for her.
This was the 4thyear for the Challenge. It will run next August as well. More information can be found at the Minnesota Hooved Animal Rescue web site: http://www.mnhoovedanimalrescue.org/
Overall Champion was Annie Schall and Ernie, and Reserve Champion was Sid Zacharias and Coe.