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Sollas

Balance and bravery. How much can a horse's need for self preservation influence how far we can rehabilitate him?

Left: Sollas 2 years. Right: Sollas 14 years

It took a long time to work out the formula for Anni's arab gelding, but feeding or trimming have not been the main factors. For this horse it has been postural training. Anni took his shoes off at the age of 5 when he had two abscesses, severely contracted feet and there were no solutions from her farrier or vet.

At that age, he had a few issues - physical development & condition; behavioural issues; contracted & tender feet; and allergies (sweet itch, then later hay allergy).

Individually, Anni tackled each of these challenges. Working with PNH helped with his unpredictability, but he didn't develop physically. He also grew a few unhelpful thinking patterns and unbalanced ways of using his body.

Feeding quantities of feed had little effect on his condition, and he would drop weight when stressed.

Bodyworkers, homeopathy, reiki, and massage all produced temporary effects, but finding lasting change seemed impossible. Anni eventually thought he was just a weakling. He really enjoyed trail and hill rides, so until 2007 that's what they did.

Postural training, and effective working on relaxation and bravery have been the keys to the change for Sollas. Combining classical training and horsemanship, over two years Anni and her trainer Lisa Bruin have taught him to use his body in a straight and balanced way. His training has given him bravery, has developed him physically, and it has given him a range of expression and emotional control he was unable to harness previously.

Sollas 2009