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. In mid-July, Willow blossomed into a beautifully bold and confident girl! She is quite solid on her liberty leading and targeting, and we've worked on touch acceptance down her front legs and on her haunches. She is even moving towards hoof lifts with her fronts.
As of September, Willow is working on putting her muzzle through a rope loop in anticipation of her first haltering. She is already responding to pressure of the rope behind her poll when we work on leading with a neck rope, so the last piece is the nose band.
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. She is currently enjoying life with the Lower Herd and has made some friends. She is also wearing down her feet pretty well, so that buys her some time to settle in before we need to start training for hoof handling.
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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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As of September, though still tentative at times, Cal is willing to be caught by Ari and several volunteers, and is willing to be touched and loves receiving treats!
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Sid
October 2025 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 had been rehabbing from a tendon injury in early 2026, but was cleared, so Ari has been checking to see if he is interested in light riding.
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As of early September, he is enjoying ground work, but doesn't seem to be as receptive at the mounting block, so we are scaling back with only ground work with a bareback pad and will work toward ground work with stirrups soon.
We'll keep you posted on his progress!