Meet Derby:  This Horse Makes Me Cry

If I had to go into battle, this would be the horse I would choose to take with me.

He’s the one who is ready to go put it all out there. Anytime. All I have to do is ask.

It wasn’t always this way, though. When he came to me he had some major contact issues. 

He was super short in his neck - and used it against me.  Really hard in his mouth and just…strong.  He was so heavy in the hand that he came to me with sores at the corners of his mouth from his leaning on the bit. He did a lot of stuff with his tongue, too. 

He’s always been energetic and has places to go, but in the early days, he’d happily drag me there along with him.   

But for some reason, that never bothered me.  I just felt connected to this horse.  I knew he could be ‘fixed.’  He had to be re-trained to use his body correctly.  

Not only because of the contact issue, but he has a funky front foot.  He wouldn’t be sound for long if he kept going the way he was going.

It took a...