Horses in Rehabilitation
When a new horse arrives, we promptly initiate a thorough evaluation process to determine its age, health, behavior, temperament, and training levels. During the two-week quarantine period, we also prioritize addressing any urgent health issues to ensure the horse’s well-being. We also believe that it is essential to allow the new horse to decompress and acclimate to its new surroundings.This can sometimes take months. Once we feel the horse is ready, we carefully introduce it to the herd and begin the transformative rehabilitation process, setting the stage for a successful future.
With years of dedicated experience in caring for, nurturing, retraining, and rehoming horses, our passionate staff advocates tirelessly for each horse's journey. We customize our rehabilitation process for every individual horse, ensuring that they receive the best possible care and support for a positive and successful transition.
Sonny
We're happy to introduce you to Sonny and officially welcome him to HBHER!
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Sonny was on our wait list for quite some time between us being overly full and bad timing for his owner, but he was living at Haven Horsemanship to begin his recovery. He came here very thin and with unmaintained feet - two had cracks mid way up his hooves or higher.
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Sonny is a mid-20's grade gelding. He has come a long way. He has gained good weight and all of the cracks in his feet, except for the worst one, have grown out. He's a very sweet boy who loves attention, grooming and spending time with people.
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As of April 2026, Sonny has started doing some target training work in the arena to get him prepared to participate in our education sessions. He's learning default behavior and has been helping educate volunteers about positive reinforcement focused education and training as of May!
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Willow
Welcome to HBHER, Willow!
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Willow came to the property with Sonny, so has been here while on the wait list. She was not in as poor of shape as Sonny, but has benefited from a healthier weight and lots of movement to trim down her feet.
We were told that Willow went through the Fallon auction a couple of years ago as a 5-7 year old reservation mare. This would make her 7-9 this year. She was unhandled, but has become quite friendly in her time here so far. She frequently approaches humans at the fence line/gates and always accepts treats - we are now able to pet her face and neck!
As of early June, Willow had started to come in to her own stall in the grain area where she gets her breakfast feeding and allows us to approach her. Now in mid-July, Willow is blossoming into a beautifully bold and confident girl! She is quite solid on her liberty leading and targeting, and we're working on touch acceptance down her front legs and on her haunches, as well as introducing a rope to start working towards haltering. We look forward to sharing her journey with you!
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Sunshine
Welcome to Hoofbeat Heroes, Sunshine!
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It sounds like Sunshine has struggled with anxiety for a long time. Her owner invested years of time and resources, like time with trainers, to try to help Sunshine with her anxiety with little improvement. Her owner's circumstances changed and it was no longer feasible for them to continue trying to help her.
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We appreciate Sunshine's owner's trust in us. We will do everything in our power to help Sunshine live her best life.
Lucy
Lucy is an approximately 11-year-old grade mare. She does have curly in her, so she has the fabulous curly coat in the winter and in her mane and tail year-round!
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When Lucy arrived, she hadn't done much for the past couple of years, but prior to that she was ridden and was even shown a little bit. So far, she is very eager to engage with the volunteers and loves to be groomed and spoiled with treats.
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Ari has spent a good deal of time with her in the arena as of late Spring, Lucy passed all of her pre-ride checks. Ari had a couple of successful rides this summer, but Lucy seemed to become adverse to the saddle during Ari's next attempt. Ari is listening closely to Lucy's communication and is very patiently focusing on rebuilding her confidence. The next steps will be to go back to something smaller, like a small saddle pad to see if there are fewer potential triggers and build from there. To be clear, Lucy is a VERY amicable girl, what matters is how both the horse and rider FEEL while saddling up, because that will shape the whole ride and whole relationship between the two. We'll keep you posted!
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Cal
We are pleased to introduce Cal, a grade gelding who arrived in Sept 2025. He is approximately 11 years old and is a bit cautious when he meets new people, but enjoys being the center of attention when it comes to receiving treats.
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Cal was rescued from a kill pen/feed lot in Idaho by his previous owner, who invested considerable time and effort into his training and care. He is reportedly experienced in all ground handling and green broke under saddle. Due to unforeseen life changes, his previous owner was no longer able to provide the necessary attention and care, and made the difficult decision to re-home Cal. We appreciate his selfless decision to prioritize Cal's well being and trust us with his care.
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Cal has come an incredibly long way from how he was when he first arrived until now, and we are all so proud of him! Ari felt comfortable enough with his progress to start her first positive reinforcement session with him in early April. She worked in protected contact (with a fence between them) to help Cal feel more confident while participating ,and they had a very successful session. Since then, Cal has began to work with Ari in the aisle, no longer needing protected contact and has been a true gentleman as he continues his journey.
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Flynn
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We welcomed Flynn in late September as one of our owner-surrender horses. A 17-year-old OTTB, or Off Track Thoroughbred, Flynn has already proven his resilience and determination. The 'off-track' designation is a testament to his courage and adaptability as he's finished his racing career and is now ready for new adventures.
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Flynn had a rough time loading to come here. We started working with him 5 days a week, 2-3 times per day to get him comfortable approaching and finally loading in and he's been so calm and brave so far - he's really made all of us so proud!
We've been told that Flynn is not only rideable, but also excels in everything on the ground. Ari's first sit on Flynn was this week (last week of April 2026) and he was perfect! We are all looking forward to seeing what his next ride will bring!
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Sid
October welcomed Sid to Hoofbeat Heroes! Sid is a gelding in his early teens. Though a sweet guy, he and his owner were not a good fit for each other, so she made the courageous decision to send him to HBH to help find him the right home. Sid is at the tail end of rehabbing from a tendon injury, so we are not sure if his soundness will hold for light riding. We'll keep you posted on his progress!
Sable
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We are pleased to welcome Sable to Hoofbeat Heroes! Sable came to us in November 2025 and is a beautiful, (approx.) 13-year-old Arab type grade mare. Her owner worked very hard with her and got her solid for ground handling, but they were never able to transition that understanding to under-saddle work. Her owner knew they were not a good fit together and felt that the positive reinforcement focused work that we do here was Sable's best shot at preparing for and finding the right home.
Thank you so much for trusting us with her!
So far she is very sweet, though can be on the anxious side. She is now settling into life with the upper herd. Diana, one of our volunteers has a lovely bond with Sable, and she and Ari have been working with Sable quite a bit in the arena. Ari's first sit and short ride went well and as of late July, Sable is learning to seek the grain bowls under saddle. The grain bowls can help give a horse direction without depending on someone leading them. They can be a really helpful intermediary step for horses uncertain about going forward and/or having trouble building duration forward. Diana is looking forward to her first sit on Sable very soon!
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