Dakari

When he came to us in 2007 it took us almost an hour to get a halter on him. Once we completed that task, it took us two days and two different open top trailers to get him to load, just to bring him to our ranch. The first time I tried to saddle him I was able to get the saddle on his back, but he had been so badly treated that is took 2 hours to get the cinch tight. He was so afraid to have it tightened that he would kick if I pulled to fast. Everything we did he looked at us with fear in his eyes, afraid that we might harm him.

I worked with Dakari at his own pace and used Natural Horsemanship to help him understand I was just there to love him. I had grown up on an Arabian gelding, a bay named Kastaniel, and I know that they think so differently from other horses. Arabians are sensitive and very smart. You cannot "Tell" an Arab to do anything, rather you must ask them, and if they have been treated with love and respect they will gladly do anything for you. After about 2 months of working with Dakari I had him coming up to me in the field, saddling perfect, and riding in the round pen wonderfully. He is one of the few horses in our pasture that if lying in the field, I can walk up and lie down with him, Molly and Cyrus being the others. He has come such a long way. He is a trusting horse with love to give. We did adopt him out to a family with very good intentions but unfortunately he was still a little to green for what they wanted to do and they did not have the experience to work with him. So he is back at our ranch, happy and content. He has been sponsored for the year by a wonderful woman that comes by and loves on him and I continue his training as well. Possibly in the future a perfect adopter will come along but for now he will stay at our ranch.

This is a good page to learn the basics of the Arabian horse and to see why they are so different. 

The Arabian Horse