Remi- Companion Only, located at the MSSPA

UPDATE: As of April 2025, Remi has returned to the MSSPA where they will continue to evaluate his needs. He will be available to the right companion home, so if interested in him please reach out to the MSSPA. 

Remi is a 14 year old Belgian draft/Warmblood cross gelding who joins us for evaluation from the MSSPA in April 2024.  He has previous riding experience, though not recently and we will be starting as always with foundational groundwork. As he begins to settle in here with us, Remi is showing himself to be a level-headed guy who gets along well with other geldings. He has been very sensible to lead around the farm and displayed lovely ground-covering gaits on the lunge. We are very excited to begin work with this handsome boy, and will post further updates as they become available. 

August 2024 Update: Remi is just finishing up his second round of ulcer treatment and we are seeing many improvements in his attitude towards training and general handling. We had treated him for ulcers shortly after he arrived in April, and started some very light riding after we saw a lot of improvement in his mood— but within a few weeks of finishing his first ulcer treatment, we noticed a reemergence of his grumpiness and thus decided to scope him for ulcers due to the symptoms he was displaying. Sure enough, he had pyloric ulcers, towards which our usual treatment is not particularly effective. He is now on the tail end of treatment for gastric ulcers (round 2!) and pyloric ulcers, and we are slowly bringing him back into work under saddle now that his mood is improving again. He is also wearing front shoes, and seems much more comfortable with them on. We hope Remi will come along well under saddle once we make sure he is comfortable— he is a smart and athletic horse, and has a very sweet side that he shows you if you earn it.

February 2025 update: As we continued to work with Remi both on the ground and under saddle over the past few months, we continued to monitor his moods and keep track of how they changed from day to day. Most notably, we found that he would be in a far worse mood the day after being ridden— even if that ride was out on the trail with friends, where he appears to be less resentful of his rider’s aids. While we found Remi to be a lovely mover with a great deal of training under saddle, we also— and more importantly— felt like he was trying to tell us something, and was communicating via his defensive behaviors. 

We have continued to pursue further diagnostics with our veterinarians and the rest of our care team over the course of Remi’s time here, including acute ulcer treatment and continued preventative support, bodywork, chiropractic care, and x-rays of his back, hind legs, and— most recently— his neck. While the difference in his behavior when in work versus not has been the biggest indicator that he is uncomfortable, our veterinarians have noted some abnormalities in his cervical radiographs that may explain his discomfort and resulting behavior. 

Even if we can’t narrow the source of Remi’s discomfort down, he’s made it clear that he is not comfortable under saddle. His distrust in humans is still prominent and will likely stick around for a while as Remi comes to understand that he will not be asked to work. As a result, Remi is searching for a companion-only home where he will only interact with experienced handlers while he learns that nothing will be expected of him. While Remi is, at his core, sweet and sociable, we do not recommend that he interacts with children or inexperienced handlers at this time as he is learning to feel safe as a retired horse.