20/03/2024
Rudnikās story, part 3 (a bit of backstory)
Teaching Rudnik the basics was far from easy. He wasnāt halter broke when I adopted him so we were literally starting from the ground up.
Rudnik isnāt my first horse & heās not the first āwildieā Iāve trained & raised. Although our journey was a long one. Rudnik had so much trauma & fear to work through & thought I didnāt realize it at the time, so did I.
A quick break away;
In the summer of 2016, I adopted Mina from a rescue, where sheād come in wild with a herd of untouched horses from AB - the herd was being shipped for slaughter when a rescue took in the whole herd - 150++ horses.
There was speculation Mina was pregnant because of how many stallions she was around but when the vet aged her at only 3, we werenāt actually sure.
Mina was 100% feral - as wild as wild gets. But within 1 week I was brushing her & by 1 month she was haltered. By 9 months, we were just starting to work on riding, she finally answered our question & had a little black filly, Lacey, who immediately won my heart.
Mina was special though. Shortly after I had gotten her - she was still very much wild at this point - I ended up in a situation where I was cornered at the gate by the barn where our gelding had swung his rump right at me - ready to kick.
Before I even realized what was happening, Mina came racing from the other side of the paddock & positioned herself between his kick & myself. She ended up being kicked in her ribs, which would have been my head had she not stepped in.
She pinned her ears, took a chomp at our geldings rump & he was off. She didnāt stay around because she was still quite wild at the time, but itās a moment Iāll never forget. I have no doubt she saved my life that day.
January 12, 2016 is the day that will forever stay with me as the day I lost my purpose - the day my world stopped. I was forced to give them up & they were off to their new home. Iād been promised by the new owners that I could visit anytime I wanted, but when an āincidentā resulted in them sending Mina & Lacey off to ālive with his brother in AB,ā . I never saw or heard of them again š
More of Rudniks story tomorrowā„ļø