The most unusual thing I have ever seen a horse do was at the stables where I
volunteer. I was cleaning stalls and I had a clear view of the turn-out. A
woman had just turned out her 5 year old mare. I knew this mare, but from what
I'd seen before, it was just your average horse. Well sometimes while cleaning stalls, I play some country music. I had some music on, and I noticed the mare sort of dancing. She was disengaging her hindquarters to the beat of the music. I though something must be bothering, but I turned off the music just to check. She stopped immediately. When I turned the music back on, she started dancing again. I asked the owner about it and she said she never taught the mare a trick like that but that was her reaction whenever she heard music! - Jayne Reimel

 

One cool Spring evening in April, 2004 Bev's Striker gave birth to a Warmblood colt I named Lion Heart. Bev at this time was 21 years old and had been given to me 3 years prior to help start my breeding program. She was deemed unbreedable by the vet's and no hope was given to be able to get her in foal. The only way you could tell she was in heat was to take her to the stallion. Fortunately the sire's owner agreed to do live cover and she conceived from one breeding! Lion Heart was the second foal that Bev gave me. I had decided that she would be retired when Lion Heart was weaned because she didn't bounce back as quick after she had. The night he was born she coliced and I had to walk her until 4 in the morning. Bev was an excellent mother and loved her little guy. Unfortunately 2 weeks later she coliced again. The vet came and said he didn't give her much hope but left some shots for pain and said I would soon be able to tell if she would pull through. Unfortunately she got worse and had to be put down. Lion Heart had tried valiantly to get her up but to no avail. When I put him in the barn it was like he knew it was all over. He called once to her and never called again. Lion had foal replacer out of a bottle for one day and then drank happily from a bucket. He is a brave 2 year old stallion now and loves to push a barrel around with his teeth at a gallop. He brings a whole new meaning to Barrel Racing! - Susan Tremblay http://www.viptraining-stables.com

 

My mare Lucy is a 10 year old quarter horse mare. Known for being docile and kind, she does have a very interesting habit. She "stands up" to look around. You can catch her out in her paddock standing on her back legs to look around and get a better view of her pals in neighboring paddocks. I do have a picture of her doing this, one day when I was free lunging her in the covered arena she took a break to look out over the wall down at her pals in their pastures. I've never seen a horse do this, in all my years of riding! - Susan Bunch

 

One day my mom, my sister, and I had my pony out while we were picking up apples to give to him and my potbellied pig. As we were picking the apples up and putting them in a bucket, he was picking them up out of the bucket by the stem (and only the stem) and placing them on the ground. We were standing there laughing and trying to pick the apples back up and put them in the bucket. We tried to get him to eat an apple but he only took it by the stem and placed it back on the ground. So we just let him take the apples out of the bucket and put them back on the ground. After he took all of the apples out of the bucket he got bored so we put him back and picked up the apples again. - Crystal Takacs

 

My mom has a horse which she has owned since 1987/88 Her name is Sheba and she is a Morgan cross. We lived in Baker City Oregon which is quite cold in winter and very warm in summer. Many mornings I awakened to the sniffing and gentle muzzleing of Sheba's soft nose. Sheba had mastered opening the backporch door, crossing the back porch, opening my bedroom door to stand next to my bed. My bed was located next to an old type oil heater where she would warm herself up on those oh so cold mornings. In the summer she enjoyed the fan which blew across my bed. This horse is just one of us kids to my mom and none of us would know what to do without her. - Nick Kennedy

 

Ten years ago my mom was injured in a horse back ridding accident. The accident took the use of her legs. Determined to ride again she sent her 15 year old Arabian horse to a trainer in Philomath Oregon. Horses by nature lie down on there side, this trainer spent 6 weeks training my moms Arabian named “Smokey” to lie down like a camel, using his knees to lie down in a straight forward motion. Smokey was trained to only take command on voice and hand control. Much like a dog would, when Smokey heard the word, “Down” he would begin to bend his front legs and slowly lie down like he had been trained. As he lied on the ground my mom was then able to wheel up to the side of him, and using her upper body strength she would pull herself up onto the saddle. Once she was completely seated and comfortable, she would tell Smokey “UP” and this horse would slowly stand in the same fashion he lied down. My mom was then able to ride Smokey independently, using her hands and voice to maneuver him. Smokey is much older now, and is retired, but he will always be the horse that allowed my mom to get back on and ride. - Trena Loftesness

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