An astonishing fact: my horse Lukas receives then 8 year old chestnut gelding - “You could see
over 100 e-mails a day! How can that be you might every rib and his tail was a solid bat of dried mud.”
ask, what could anyone possibly write to a horse Smith, a local trainer had hoped to eventually include
about? him in her amateur jumping program. After two years
though, he still wasn’t fitting in, according to Smith,
Let me give you a few examples - and I purchased him from her after seeing his picture
• “Thank you, Karen and Lukas, for changing peo- ad in the local Horsetrader.
ple’s perception of horses - I own a horse rescue
and I have been getting more calls than ever from
prospective adopters. Lukas is helping to bring
greater understanding and vast improvement into
the lives of horses world-wide”.
The Throwaway
• “Lukas makes my autistic son smile, thank you
from the bottom of my heart.”
• “Lukas is like a beacon to the world - showing
by Karen Murdoch
how truly remarkable and wonderful our equine
friends are. I always knew they had intelligence
and emotions, now I can prove it to the skeptics I Working full-time as a psychiatric nurse, I had our
know.” (then) barn trainer begin some basic lessons on him
And one of my favorites, with the plan to take over myself and show him at
• “I just had to tell you how much I love Lukas - lower level dressage shows. In a very short time Lukas
since losing my horse 2 years ago, I’ve been so became sullen and resistant to the point of being
depressed I haven’t wanted to ride. I saw Lukas’ extremely dangerous - bucking, bolting and spooking
videos on you-tube and realized how much I miss (even in his own stall!). “He’s a throwaway, Karen,
being around horses after seeing the bond that you what do you expect? Quit wasting your time on him,”
two share. Now, I’m going to 1/2 lease a friend’s I was told by more than a few well meaning observers.
mare. I’m so excited, thank you , Lukas!” After 30 years of training horses, I had just about met
my match with Lukas.
As glowing as all this sounds, it wasn’t always this
way. Lukas (race name Just Ask Mike) left the track as Before giving up, I decided to fall back on my 30+
a two year old with two bowed tendons after three un- years of behavioral training experience (these types
memorable race finishes, changed hands several times of dangerous behaviors are best dealt with by profes-
and ended up emaciated and neglected in a back yard. sionals) and also try to find out what he would enjoy
doing. My approach uses a very broad base of shaping
He was rescued by Sue Smith, who took pity on the (successive approximation) techniques, a specialized
14 Equine•Connections - the magazine for global equine stewardship - www.equineconnection.org
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