Clients Professional Horse Training - The home of realistic horsemanship.

I met Ferdinand Santana in the spring of 2005 when he agreed to help me with my 5 year old problem horse. My "problem horse" was started as a 2 year old by a highly recommended trainer and just 2 months after his training started he transitioned from my happy go lucky colt to a runaway bucking monster. I was told that I needed to get my horse to someone who was skilled at riding horses like this and so I took him to another highly respected trainer. This trainer did manage to force somewhat of a "feel" into my horse, but unfortunately my horse couldn't often handle the pressure of this "feel" and so became even more explosive and dangerous. I gave him time off and started him again when he was 3 years old by myself and we got along fairly well except for when he would short circuit and run off sideways with me. Then 1 day after I got on he started bucking hard and threw me head first into my arena panels. After a slight concussion and 6 stitches in my head I decided I needed to find some help with this horse again. I went through 2 more trainers before I found Ferdinand. One of them called my horse crazy and brain damaged after my horse tried to flip over on him and the other 1 tied my horse up with a loose saddle and watched him smash his right eye. My friends thought I was crazy for wasting my time on this horse, but I could help remembering what a happy go lucky baby he had been before I had sent him away and I knew that what he seemed to be now wasn't what he really was. Ferdinand was the one to help my horse remember who he was, and in just 2 months Ferdinand was riding my once hopeless horse up and down the challenging terrain of the mesa where he lives. After seeing Ferdinand ride my "explosive" horse through the shrub brush and down the steep rocky paths I was thoroughly convinced I had witnessed a miracle. My horse's demeanor had completely changed, he was relaxed, he accepted pressure, and he liked to work for Ferdinand. I realize now of course that what happened there wasn't exactly a miracle but it was the true change in a horse that very few people have the skill and talent to be able to bring about. You see, since my horse was a 2 year old he was taught to expect that the world was going to fall in on him at any moment. All he could think about was how to save his life when when he felt this starting to happen, which for him was a daily ordeal. Ferdinand had to literally ( from my horse's point of view) bring the world down onto this horse but at the same time show him that there was always a safe way out and taught him how to consistently find it. I have never met a horseman in my life that could do that for a horse that had so much against him. Many lesser horseman had already given up on him because they understandably weren't willing to risk their own lives for the life of my horse, but my horse's frightening issues didn't intimidate Ferdinand and he got him on the right road again all in a few days work. I am now finally able to ride my wonderful go lucky colt with a sense of confidence, and he will have a home here with me until the day he dies. I can't help but wonder how different it would have been for my horse if I had matched him up with Ferdinand when he was still a 2 year old. When people ask me how he lost his eye they don't believe that he was once capable of doing it to himself in an explosive fit of panic. I won't have anyone else start my colts for me but Ferdinand Santana. And I only need to see my horse's 1 good eye looking at me to remember why. Thanks very much for saving my horse Ferdinand. Christie Hebert, Riverton, Wy.