CASSANDRA & REIGN
Shelley Appleton! The best thing since sliced bread! (Although we can’t eat that anymore) Insert cheese here ^^^^
People trainer extraordinaire!!
Eternally grateful to you for being a major influence in starting me on my own journey learning about horsemanship!!
At the age of 42, with virtually zero horse experience (Had pony when I was 12), I had the BRILLIANT idea to buy myself a young unhandled horse sight unseen from the other side of the country.
I know right, Sheer genius!?!
A horse I could learn and grow with and we would gallop off into the sunset together, all would be well with the world
Well two years later I had my beautiful mare who looked lovely in her paddock frolicking with the other horses and I often enjoyed watching her from afar! My little 14hh yearling had grown into a 16hh brick outhouse with emotions
Out of the paddock she scared the absolute bejeebers out of me and I knew I was in way over my head! I was relying on friends to be able to do anything with her, in fact I mostly watched my friends work with her as I could barely lead her from her paddock to the round yard without feeling like I might die at any moment (In hind sight Reign probably felt the same way)
Cue the Applenator! Dedicated, knowledgeable, passionate!
Shelley has an amazing talent for teaching people and has shown me how to better understand horses, how they feel, what motivates them and what makes them feel safe. I’ve learnt that recognizing and taking care of all the little things make a huge difference as horses are always communicating even in subtle ways that go unnoticed by many. If they don’t feel good with the little things, the big things can get way out of control very quickly. There’s so much more to horses than just providing the essentials to keep them alive, you have to develop your skills to establish emotional stability and self-control in a horse, otherwise you just have a domino effect of reactions that may or may not go your way, not a true partnership.
3 years on I have managed to have Reign feel much better about sharing a portion of her day with me. Reign is wonderfully behaved on the ground and under saddle. I still have a lot to learn and due to some soundness issues, we aren’t quite galloping off into the sunset together YET, but I’m positive we will eventually!! Forever grateful.
Thank you for all you have done for Reign and I as well as many others. All the information you are able to impart to people trickles on down and around to help form the revolution
