ELDERLY THOROUGHBRED GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE AS WINNING GYMKHANA HORSE-Novice division 2010 west coast at age of 26!
Stacey Kresha, Vacaville, CA
Discipline: gymkhana, trail riding for pleasure
"April not only saved the life of one of our horses; in doing so, she also inadvertently saved my husband's life, as he became extremely bonded with his horse while working through some post-traumatic stress.
I'll start first with the work she did with my National Show Horse, Cooper. April changed him from a very grumpy customer into a happy camper. Almost overnight, he became more responsive and much calmer. He is now a pleasure to ride and work with.
But I have to say the most dramatic changes April effected were in my husband's older thoroughbred, Dude. At the time we bought Dude, we were told he was 16. It turns out that he was actually 24. He had a wide spectrum of issues, including incredible stiffness, inability to pick up his leads correctly, blocked tear ducts for which we treating him with steroids, as well as an inability to gain or maintain a good weight. You could practically see him changing as April worked on him. Doing the cranial/sacral work, Dude's blocked tear ducts opened up as if he were literally crying his eyes out. Now, we no longer need to use the eye drops on him. But more amazing was that as Dude began to feel better, my husband decided to see how he would do at gymkhana. With April's help, Dude and John went on to win 4th place in the CGA finals, at age 26. At an age when most horses were being retired, Dude found new life as a winning competitive gymkhana star. Dude has been instrumental in helping my husband recover from some very serious trauma, so it feels really great to know that we also returned the favor by making him feel better , all through April's work. Although Dude has now retired from gymkhana, he and John do a lot of trail riding. With April help, I see this horse having many years left as a happy riding horse.
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