Gabriel is a cute little Friesian cross who just hadn’t found the right person. He was a failed lesson horse, a failed therapy horse (he kept stopping and refusing to go forward), and a failed cart horse (he didn’t like pulling the cart). We knew that Gabriel had the right person out there; he just hadn’t found that person yet.
Gabriel was with us at Hanaeleh for a very short time (a few days) before we got a call from a potential adopter. She seemed like good fit, but we wanted to spend a little more time with Gabriel so we could give her a more accurate description of him, and make sure to work through any issues he might have. It turned out that while he could be a bit opinionated, he was also very affable, and a lot lazy. He had an old injury to his pectoral muscle, and we had the massage therapist and chiropractor out to make sure that his old injury would not affect him. They both said that he stretched out well, and while that muscle was tight, he just needed to work on stretching to feel better.
So we worked on carrot stretches and circles in the arena, and after a few weeks Kirra came down to see him. She rode him around in the arena and played with him on the ground. He was *mostly* a perfect gentleman, and while he tried a few of his micro-challenges (he wanted to go right when she asked him to go left, and vice-versa), she was able to gently correct him and he seemed to respect her leadership. She came out again to play with him and ride him, and it seemed like a good fit for both of them.
We took Gabriel to his new mom on Sunday morning. He got into the trailer without any issues, and was great on the ride over. His new family was waiting for him, and we were so happy to see how excited everyone was! Gabriel walked out of the trailer without any issues, and we handed him over to his new mom, who literally (not exaggerating), cried tears of joy, she was so happy. Gabriel settled right into his new stall without any issues, although he did tell his neighbor that he was obviously the boss.
It is so wonderful to know that Gabriel will have someone who thinks he is the sun, moon and stars, but who also is able to set boundaries so he feels safe and secure. We wish Kirra and Gabriel many wonderful trail rides, grooming sessions, and whatever adventures await them!