At A Glance
Gender: Mare
Height: 15hh
Breed: Grade
Age: 7
Handlers Experience: Intermediate
Riders Experience: N/A
Ideal Home: Non-riding home only
Cheyenne is a 7 year old grade paint mare joining us for training from Gerda’s Equine Rescue in August 2025. An initial evaluation found a number of old injuries that will likely prevent Cheyenne from having a future as a riding horse, but she has plenty to learn about daily handling! We are looking forward to getting to know this pretty mare, and learning how we can best help her.
October 2025 update: Cheyenne is making great progress in her groundwork and handling skills. When she arrived, she would kick at her handler if she even thought they were going to try to pick up any of her feet. Through a lot of care, consistency, and clicker training, she has let go of most of that behavior around her front feet and is well on her way to accepting handling of her hind feet! She is easy to catch, and really seems to be warming up to people. She is not overly sensitive, but is certainly not quick to trust– so we feel quite honored that she is slowly lowering her guard and giving us the chance to prove that not all people are bad.
February 2026 update: Cheyenne has made excellent progress over the past few months. The introduction of liberty work has significantly shifted her attitude for the better, and she truly seems to enjoy this new way of communication. She is much more relaxed about human touch, and has let go of much of the defensiveness she used to exhibit around grooming. With lots of patience and consistency, we can now handle all four feet and are practicing with the hoof stand in preparation for the farrier to be able to trim her without sedation. Cheyenne has become much softer on a line and will demonstrate a lovely stretch and relaxation. Her basic yields are quite soft as well, and she is very confident with obstacles and is generally not bothered by much that might be going on around her. The most recent lameness evaluation done by our vet does confirm the initial prognosis that due to old injuries to both hind fetlocks, Cheyenne should not carry the weight of a rider. However, she is an excellent pasture mate who gets along well with everyone, and we could see someone having a lot of fun with her in future for groundwork or liberty work.
