About Gabe
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Gabe is a 16-hands-high palomino registered quarter horse, aged 26, and he has a very interesting back-story. Gabe was a rescue horse, who at age sixteen was brought to my attention back when we lived in Northern California. |
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I was alerted to Gabe's situation only days before Gabe was ordered to be "put down" because an owner could no longer afford board. The kindly vet assigned to that unpleasant task could not get himself to perform the put-down, and word spread among NH trainers of Gabe's plight and impending fate. Here was Gabe's life story before that day: Gabe reportedly had been neglected for around eight years of his life, left in a small stall, never having much people contact, only hay tossed to him daily. For eight years of his life that was his prison! Animal Protection Services had been called in a few times, but Gabe wasn't "bad enough," close enough to death, for them to take action and remove him from his miserable existence. He was, after all, being fed. There are no laws protecting horses who are receiving no contact, or not being allowed out for regular exercise or a happier life. Eventually, the owner simply ran out of board money, and the death sentence was ordered. As a result of his neglect, Gabe had "checked-out," shut down to humans, even other horses, since he had very little contact with them either for those eight years, except for one horse who was stalled near him, named Cody. Cody was Gabe's only friend in life, and that's probably what kept Gabe alive those eight years. He could "talk" to Cody over his stall's fence. But overall, he had shut down, given up on the world. However, when I first met Gabe (another trainer, I, and my husband, drove an hour away to go check Gabe out), I spotted a great mind underneath all that sadness in that gentle, yet shut-down, giant, and I decided to rescue him. My heart always has a soft spot for palominos (my favorite!) and I knew I could not turn my back on this one. My husband was one step ahead of me that day, and had reached out his checkbook to pay the stable owner the back-board fees owed them by the former owner to allow ownership to be turned over to us; he also saw how much I cared about Gabe and how Gabe seemed to connect to me well upon first meeting. He fell in love with Gabe, too. We transported Gabe to our stables and I then dived in to work long and hard to bring Gabe back to life. Not only had Gabe's heart and mind been neglected for those past eight years, but so had his teeth, his hoofs, his entire body. He was horribly underweight, a mess, but fixable. I worked about eight months, every day, nonstop, to bring him back, before I ever climbed onto his back for the first time. I had his lameness issues looked at and they were fixable, but would take time. When word got out that Gabe was rescued, various professionals stepped in, including that wonderful rescuing vet, and I used their services to help get Gabe back to a good spot in life again. The vet worked on the health issues, an excellent farrier worked on the feet issues, and we even called in a renowed California horse accupuncturist from southern California who drove up and treated Gabe's sagging body (caused from standing too long), a treatment which worked remarkably well, overnight! The accupuncturist taught me accupressure/horse massage, and I began using that daily on Gabe's long-neglected human-contact-wise body, to help facilitate bonding, and to also reduce his soreness that came from new-to-him exercise. Using Natural Horsemanship (NH), we all worked on his heart, his soul and bringing his muscles back to life; slowly trust built back up again in Gabe, one small step at a time. As Gabe started to come around, he showed increasing signs of happiness and joy in his new home, with new-to-him, loving, devoted attention. He was happy. However, about six months after I'd bought Gabe, suddenly some of Gabe's old tack arrived at our stables, donated by Gabe's former stable owner. Apparently, Gabe's former owner had left it there and no one wanted it, so they sent it all on to me. The first time I brought Gabe's old saddle up to him, normally-calm Gabe backed away, and danced around upset. Very upset. This was very uncharacteristic of him, so I set the saddle near him on the ground, close enough for him to approach it if he wanted, but avoid it if he chose. Suddenly, he rushed up to the saddle and stomped on it angrily. I quickly put the saddle out of his sight. Then I brought him some of his old grooming brushes, etc., that had been sent along inside his old tack box. I let him smell them, and again, he became extremely agitated and made it clear that he did NOT want any of his old tack near him. He was that overtly upset, which was completely out of character for him. Then it occurred to me what was happening: the old tack smelled like his former, neglectful past life and Gabe remembered his past unhappiness via just smelling his old tack. And this sign of anger and rebellion was actually quite healthy, I felt. To evolve from a completely shut-down horse now to one who openly showed his feelings and anger about his past, was good. He was venting pain, deep pain, and that was good. It was a pivotal turning point for Gabe. He was telling me how unhappy he had been in his recent past, and wanted never to feel that way again. I quickly gave away all the old tack and supplies to anyone who promised to keep it far, far away from Gabe, and I just continued to use my own new tack and supplies, which Gabe had no problem accepting. It's amazing that just the smell of his "old life" could set Gabe off, but I understood: Horses never forget. With all negative smell-signs that reminded him of his past, sadder life kept away from him forever, Gabe became a changed horse. Long story short: Gabe recovered beautifully and turned into one of the most remarkable horses I think I've come across yet. He's extremely bright, very protective of riders (even small children!), and, even more remarkably maybe, he became a partner with me in training other horses, especially young, green horses, our communication runs that deeply and symbiotically. Gabe seemed to think he had died and gone to heaven in his Virginia home. One cannot even imagine the joy and satisfaction of bringing a horse back from the brink of death like that until one experiences it firsthand. Gabe is happy, immensely kind, affectionate, smart as a whip, grateful as all get-out, and he loves to help me train other horses and riders. What more could you ask from a horse partner?!
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