Meet Our Horses

While I do offer equine-facilitated learning (EFL) in conjunction with the at-risk equines I gentle, rehabilitate, and/or train at my facility… our own family horses – and burros too! – are the equine facilitators for most of the experiential learning-for-self-development that goes on here. They have been raised and trained here with this human personal development work in mind (more on that later!). I will be sharing stories about our equines in many blogs! So, you should get to know them a little bit. They are listed on the website so you can always refer to their page if you want to see who I am talking about, or just randomly spend a few minutes virtually connecting to them.

All these equines are not actually mine, but I know I will often refer to them that way. Maybe always. My horse training and horsemanship clients have all caught on pretty quickly that all the horses I work with, I come to love and call my own. In fact, my clients appreciate this and call them mine as well! Clients will call or write to me years later about what ‘my’ horse did. This is because my calling them mine has nothing to do with ownership and they (horse and human) know it. I have had a few clients get defensive about it at first. But they understand when I explain that I have learned that I will come to truly love every single equine I ever work with and they become a part of my life in some way even when their owner no longer needs my help, or when I have homed them after rescue/rehabilitation. Plus, the horses usually behave as if they are mine when I am working with them. So, I affectionately call horses I am working with on a temporary basis my own – like a husband calling a wife “my girl” when he means it lovingly and not that he owns her. Legalities in our law-based society aside, horses get to own themselves at Shooting Stars Horsemanship – whether our own family horses or the outside horses I work with that come and go. Equines are too magnificent to be ‘owned’. Your best friend is your buddy, right?

Toby, Dewey, Kailani, Atlas, Foxy, and Mocha are our family’s horses and burros/donkeys. They are my coworkers and co-facilitators for most of the equine services I offer today. I will share them with you in the order they have come to be together, so that you can learn about them as individuals as well as a herd. We have an extended visitor as well, a Gypsy Vanner named Annie who is too precious to leave out. When you’re here, you are part of the family! Horse and human.

Let’s get to know the Shooting Stars Horsemanship/Heart to Wild Heart HERD - Human and Equine Relations Developers.

Toby

Toby at a trail event at Taylor Rodeo Grounds in Taylor, Arizona

Toby waiting to greet EFL participants.

Toby as a 2-year-old in the annual Christmas parade we put on at boarding school.

I got Toby as a yearling to be my second horse, so I could ride my mare more often. I was the Equestrian Program Director at a private boarding school in northern Arizona. My horse, named Spirit, loved kids and the kids loved her. So, she was always taken. Same thing happened outside of work. I needed to ride the school horses too, to keep them happy and tuned up. I loved that, but I missed having my horse be my horse a little more often. So, I found Toby to be my second horse that I could train for anyone to handle, ride, and learn with.

I chose a colt (that's a male horse 3 and under) so I would have extra time to work with him on the ground as he grew. That way, he would become a kids’ horse earlier in life AND my Corral Kids at school could learn about training horses – and so much more. Indeed, one student in particular was there to learn and help through the entire ground and saddle training process, including being able to ride Toby before the young man graduated high school. Many students, parents, staff, and faculty helped me raise and train Toby at school. It did take a village!

I chose Toby in particular because of his character. He is very expressive, very mentally and socially active. He loves to be silly, LOVES to make people laugh. He loves people, especially kids. He loves deep heart connections and conversations. He loves to play and solve puzzles. He loves to teach horsemanship by ‘doing the wrong thing’ so that people quickly learn what to do when a horse does this and that. When people become determined and focused, and raise their expectations instead of becoming frustrated, Toby rewards instantly by drastically changing his behavior to become cooperative and even helpful. He is motivated by these things and often takes pride in himself at doing these things well. At almost 11 years old now, he is the same goofy character he was as a baby, with more finely tuned skills! Haha! He loves to joke around, but he also loves to be serious when situations warrant.

In 2016, Toby became my only horse when I had to euthanize my mare due to chronic pain from a man-made hoof disease. My heart was broken. She was my once in a lifetime heart horse, and I have been lucky enough to have a few of those. I grieved deeply and I was not ready to replace her. I wanted Toby to remain on course for our plans of him being EVERYBODY’S horse, not mine. But in his mind and heart, he had suddenly become number one in our facility full of older school horses who had told him what to do, and not do, most of his life. He was so enthusiastic about going everywhere with me like Spirit had, and he wanted to be a big help. In everything. Without really knowing how yet. I had to give him so many jobs to keep that mind of his busy, because he is best able to focus and chill when he has clear direction and something to do. Some may have called him a pain. Some surely did!

But I knew the results I would get with patience and ingenuity. As an example of how I satisfied his eagerness to help: When I needed to dismount (as well as before I was riding him) to tighten cinches and girths for kids, I learned to give him the end of the cinch to hold in his mouth while I worked at the knot or buckle to tighten it. If I didn’t do this, he would find something to grab and mess with on his own. But if I showed him what TO do and made him my teammate, he would be happy to do a very good job at whatever that was.

Today, Toby has mellowed a lot. He can chill most of the time and his high physical energy is practiced less frequently. He still takes hats, grabs zippers to zip them up and down or back and forth, searches pockets for keys and bags for candy bars, and loves to make people laugh at his playful silliness. He has a best bud, Dewey, who he likes to spend most of his time with. They ‘play stallion’ together every day, rearing and mock-biting at each other. Toby and I have grown close now and love one another more than we ever thought we would in the beginning of him becoming 'my' horse.

Aside from making people laugh, Toby is famous for his kisses. He learned at boarding school to contain his mouthy exploration and play as a colt, until he was cued to give a kiss where the human pointed to where to kiss. We consistently asked him to wait, then ‘kiss’ where and when he was given permission to. As a baby and young horse, he struggled with boundaries. He did not like them; he found boundaries to be a hinderance to his joy, his playful spirit. With time, patience, and consistency he has learned being respectful of others’ boundaries increases his joy because people feel like connecting with him on a deeper level when he treats them with kindness and respect up front, while easing into his play more subtly and with permission. While he is big and playful, he has always been incredibly careful with children. He adjusts to his environment and tasks (and experiences) at hand.

Dewey

Dewey & Toby, two peas in a pod, BFF’s for life

Dewey & Monica

Sweet Dewey on his free time

Dewey is Toby’s BFF. He is a BLM mustang from the Cedar Mountain, Utah wild herd management area. He came to us as a weanling in 2017. Just shy of 30 years old, we had lost my daughter’s childhood mare to age-related heart failure. Toby had deeply bonded with her and since he did not live at boarding school anymore, we knew he needed a buddy - and my husband needed his own horse. We were not ready just yet, but Toby expressed his sadness and irritation at being an only horse. As soon as we opened up to the idea of looking, someone showed me Dewey over the internet and suggested I show him to my husband. I said okay, thinking it would simply open his mind and heart to become ready to start looking. I explained I really doubted this would be our horse because I do not believe in purchasing (or adopting) horses over the internet without meeting and evaluating them in person. I always want the horse-human relationship to be a good fit. Plus, he was several hours away and would be adopted by someone else at any moment. But I left his picture up on the computer, refreshing it so I could keep looking at his cute face and be sure the computer was awake when my husband walked in the front door from fishing that day. I was not going to point out the little colt on the computer, so I could see my husband's natural reaction, if any. When my husband opened the door, he dropped everything he was carrying and rushed straight to the computer. “Who is that?! Is that my horse???” In an instant, he did not need any time at all to know he wanted to pursue making this horse his horse. He fell in love instantly and wanted to train Dewey himself with the assistance of a professional trainer (me). Dewey is the first horse he ever trained.

When Dewey arrived, he immediately fit right in and was SO loved by us, by Toby, by our neighbors and friends. He was such a perfect fit for Toby, who was almost 5 years old at the time and still growing himself. He was such a perfect fit that it felt like Honey, the beloved mare we had lost just a month before, had picked him herself from Heaven. Toby and Dewey have been two peas in a pod ever since and Dewey is loved by Shooting Stars Horsemanship clients and Heart to Wild Heart participants, too.

Dewey is a sweet, goofy boy. He has given horsemanship/DIY training lessons since he was 2 years old and throughout his own training. He loves to work with people of all ages and excels in the areas of confidence and emotional control/intelligence. Like Toby, he is very sensitive to emotions. All horses help us regulate our emotions simply by being near, but Dewey is extra gifted with this quality. He tunes in instantly to intense emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, and irritability, and he wants to help anyone – horse or human – become grounded, centered, and regulated. He will stop anything he is doing and beckon the one experiencing these emotions to come stand with him while he showers them in calm, transformational energy. He has a personal understanding of anxiety and insecurities and overcoming those to feel confident, present, and whole.

Kailani Arizona

Kailani Arizona is a Devil’s Garden (northern California) Forest Service horse rounded up from the wild in 2017 as a yearling filly. BLM helped the Forest Service process (brand, deworm, vaccinate, and sell) the horses from this removal. Kailani had gone out to 3 trainers already and each time she was returned for being “dangerous and untrainable” before being picked up by Jasmine Elise Lechner of Pacific Coast Horsemanship and Seal Rock Stables in Oregon. As a TIP trainer, Jasmine had a limited time to work with her. She got Kailani gentled and halter trained for the most part. But Kailani still became overwhelmed easily, which triggered her natural flight response. She bolted, hard and fast. She needed someone that would give her all the time, patience, love, and fairness she needed to feel safe; to overcome her heightened survival instincts. I always loved Jasmine’s horses, but this one called to me. When I showed her to my daughter, she wanted to rescue her and have a horse again. She had a huge hole in her heart from her mare, Honey, passing on. Even from a few hours away from our family homestead, she knew it would be beneficial to her (she works in nursing in a hospital setting) to have her own horse to connect to again and that I could help Kailani overcome her fears. So, with a group effort, Kailani came from the Oregon Coast (sea) to northern Arizona (sky) and joined our herd. My daughter named her Kailani to honor that she came from the Pacific ocean like us to live under the Arizona skies. Kailani is a Hawaiian name meaning sea and sky.

In each stage of Kailani’s training, I have worked with her at liberty before repeating what she has learned with a halter and lead because she values freedom of choice and movement SO MUCH. She already had a lot of try in her. By giving her what she wanted and valued most, freedom and safety, she was completely free to choose to work with me and to leave when she felt overwhelmed. I gave her a say and the responsibility to find within herself what she needed to be okay. To feel safe. To feel calm. To feel loved and protected.

This horse has overcome so much, and she has been just as responsible for that inner growth as I have. For a couple of years, she volunteered to help teach people how horses (wild or domestic) like to be approached and handled. From the start of her working with humans to help them learn and grow, she especially connects with humans who have big obstacles to overcome. Fear, physical/mental/emotional disabilities, timidness, difficult change, etc. She is now kindly assertive and brave. She has not bolted in years; not in-hand or at liberty. She is expressive. It is hard for anyone to miss or misunderstand her suggestions, decisions, communication, and desires. She no longer excels at teaching how to approach a horse that is unsure of humans, because she marches right up to everyone she wants to instead of waiting for them to come to her with some proof that she will be okay. Interestingly, she always shows her approval or disapproval when humans come to meet the temporary horses and burros when they are ready to be homed. She knows her strengths well.

She especially loves to work with people who have never worked with horses, and she still prefers to work at liberty. She is highly interactive, and so sweet. Having overcome big fears and obstacles herself, she chooses to share her process with humans. Of late, her favorite choice of EFL participants are the ones who are having a hard time relaxing and letting go. Just this year, she has facilitated MORE THAN ONE human to relax so deeply with her that they took NAPS together in the round pen! She has a huge heart of gold and loves to share her determination to give herself what she needs to be okay. To be well and whole. To be able to speak up for yourself. To learn compassion for yourself. She is quickly becoming a master of meditation and relaxation. These seem to be her favorite learning subjects and activities with humans.

Atlas

I purchased Atlas from the BLM in 2018 to compete in a Mustang Heritage Foundation training challenge and then find a fitting home for him. For his own good, we almost did not make it to that training challenge. Atlas was super afraid of humans and had likely been harassed by humans given his scars and the way he was massively triggered by the very specific motions of haltering, saddling, or having a rope anywhere near him. I don’t mean he was triggered by doing these things (he was) but by the motions in the air, away from him, or in proximity. His instinctive reflexes were triggered lightning fast, just like a horse that has been abused and forced by humans who think they can manhandle a thousand-pound free spirit who knows how to take care of himself. He had (has) buckshot scars across one hip and on the inside of the other thigh from being shot by a human, and an old proud flesh scar on one knee that was 6” by 6” and protruded out from his hock (hind knee) 6+ inches. The vet said that original injury alone would have “lamed him up” for months in the wild, which would have had him kicked out of any band or herd he belonged to as a young colt.

One hundred days was not enough for this horse, but we had worked so many hours in short, slow sessions and made consistent incremental progress. I knew he would trust me no matter what; he would not bolt or be a danger to others. We went to the show, prepared to bow out if or when he needed to. I am so glad we did. It boosted his confidence and trust, as well as our bond. It was an experience of a lifetime for both of us, in many ways.

I did not find an appropriate (good fit for the horse and human) home for him at the show, so he came home with me to continue training and wait for his person to come along. But, when we got home late at night at the end of that weekend, and he unloaded so calmly in the dark with my husband pointing a bright flashlight at him. He was so excited to see Atlas, and so proud of us, I had to remind him to point the light where we were going! Atlas had been in the dark trailer for several hours. There was no moon and seemingly no stars because it was especially dark that night. He could not see and needed to rely on me some more. Atlas unloaded like a pro and followed me so calmly and willingly, trusting, and full of love and appreciation. I felt it in my heart then. I was so glad when we got him all tucked in for the night and my husband said, “You know, you should keep this horse and give him all the time he needs.” Atlas never left and never will.

He soon went into the pasture with our herd, but he always stayed hundreds of feet away from them at first. He did not feel a sense of belonging anywhere in our domestic world, except sometimes when we took walks together. He is now fully integrated into our herd, which really boosted his confidence and self-esteem. He even leads them on gallops all over their twenty acres from time to time! He has not truly bonded with any of the horses, but he is accepted by them and honored for who he is. He is a little bit bonded with Foxy the burro; they love to play together. He has bonded deeply with me, and I with him. He loves to help the new wildies when they arrive for gentling, especially when they first arrive. I now always place him near the gentling pens so that when I unload untouched wild horses and burros into the corral, he is there to greet them from just across the fence. When they are afraid to get off the trailer, I back up and let him coax them off. He seems to tell them something like ‘I was SO AFRAID when I first got here, too. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands and Monica and I will help you through this tough time in your life.’ And they get off the trailer calmly; they start to rest and let down right away. He helps them feel safe even sooner than I can. For this reason, I have nicknamed him Uncle Atlas. He has watched over newborn burros, keeping the other horses away from the fence while he exudes peace and safety to them. He initiates equine conversation with all the newbies, but especially the ones who are more afraid or reactive than most. Like he was.

Atlas’ nervous system is still very alive. Not overreactive like it was, but you can see his heightened senses around new people and if anyone moves too fast for him, he takes some space for himself. He asks humans to either connect with another horse or approach nice and slow, determined to connect on Atlas Time as we call it. He is not a people lover, but he loves to connect more deeply with few people who want to take the time to allow him to acclimate to them in small increments. He has little interest in most people. But he loves it when people slow down and become determined to simply be near him and make him feel safe and happy; when people become willing to take all the time in the world (Atlas Time!) just to connect with him. When they do, he loves to be touched, brushed, and try new things together. Hard work with sensitive horses is very rewarding, and Atlas loves to share that principle with a few people who want to put in the effort of patience, understanding, and care.

Kailani’s loving presence.

Kailani posing for pics during a horsemanship lesson.

Kailani looking into your heart through your eyes.

Wild Atlas when he first arrived from BLM holding.

Atlas and Monica at a training challenge 100 days from wild.

Atlas trying to take a snooze on his free time, but his #1 guardian had something to say or ask.

Foxglove & Mocha

Foxy and Mocha running some laps around their 20 acres with the horses and their guardian dogs.

Miss Mocha with her newborn son Almond Roca

Foxy Foxglove with our favorite doctor and his family, Dr. Trevor Sexton at Compass Naturopathic Health Clinic in Show Low, AZ

Foxglove, also known as Foxy or Foxy Foxglove, is the lighter grey burro with white all over her face. Mocha is the dark grey/sometimes brown burro.

My husband fell in love with Foxy at the BLM holding facility while we were there to pick up a burro with someone else. She was in with 2-year-old burros, but was only 2-3 months old. She was terrified, and we disagreed as to her cuteness level. I will now fully admit, I was one hundred percent wrong. She was just a tiny baby covered in newborn hair. I am so glad he chose Foxy! She has the biggest work ethic I have ever seen in an equine. She is ready to help every wild or damaged horse or burro that comes here, and ready for any other work at all. She is unhappy if she is not a part of what you are doing, and you will hear about it. So, she has many jobs around here. She demonstrates to wild horses and burros how nice it is to be touched, brushed, haltered, and have feet cleaned and cared for by humans. She shows the wildies how fun it is to follow humans, watch them do things, and train them to give the longears alfalfa or hay pellets (aka cookies). She loves to carry cookies in her backpack to deliver to all the horses and burros one by one. She helps me pick up rocks and reach safely to the ground for other things. She LOVES to be the safety demo burro for EFL participants. She loves to look long and close into the eyes of humans and equines. Foxy is super smart and cute, and really does love to help. Foxy is from my favorite wild burro herd, Black Mountain in northwest Arizona.

Mocha was also adopted by my husband, for a training competition. He bonded with her right away and helped her build so many skills. They would have done well at the show! Instead of going, Miss Mocha gave birth to her last burro foal that weekend. Mocha is in her teens, approximately. She is autoimmune and came from the hot, dry, southern Arizona Desert (Cibola-Trigo herd). She is already arthritic in her hips. She had lots of babies in the wild and had run out of food and water before being caught by the BLM near Yuma proving grounds near Mexico.

Mocha had found a home after her baby was weaned, but due to family circumstances and then Covid, she and Foxy bonded. Foxy was doing very well as an only donkey/TIP Assistant Gentler… until she bonded more deeply with one of the burro foals that was born here while in for gentling than she had with any other. Her heart broke and she was deeply stressed when that baby left with her momma for their home in Colorado. Mocha guided and supported her through that. When she and Mocha were clearly bonded, we gave up our hopes to find Foxy her own wild burro foal and welcomed Mocha to stay in our family. They are quite a team sometimes. Other times, Miss Mocha loves to have a break from feisty, sassy young Foxy.

Mocha is always adamant about her yes and no, to anything and to anyone. If she has not had time to observe and choose, she runs away like a wild burro. But if new people hang around and wait for her to approach them, they can’t get rid of her once she does. She LOVES massages all over and to people-watch for fun. She is very opinionated. Did I mention that? She is also wise and telepathic. If one of the burros here for gentling is having a hard time with something, she will suddenly march up, stare at them with big serious eyes and ‘say’ something… and then they just do what I had been trying to get them to do. I have learned to just stand back and wait for this if they are struggling.

These girls can be really funny. They are both sassy and will speak right up. They complement one another nicely. Foxy pesters Mocha when they are contained in the corral, then Mocha pesters (rides!) Foxy when they are out to “be wild”. Mocha is reserved, Foxy is outgoing. Mocha loves to stay in place and watch Foxy play, learn, and work with equines and humans. Like Atlas, Mocha prefers deeper connections with fewer people than the rest of our equines do. Occasionally, the donkeys do choose to participate in Heart to Wild Heart human-equine growth sessions together. These occasions prove to be very special. They can do what the horses do, each in their own way!

Annie

Annie likes to hang with the people quite a bit, even on her free time. It has been in her blood for hundreds of years to live intimately with humans.

Annie will be famous for her hugs one day! She gives the BEST horse hugs. This is your view from one of those hugs.

She is so curious. This is me trying to stand back to get good pictures of her whole body.

Annie is a young Gypsy Vanner who came here for a month of refresher on handling and obstacles a few months ago. During that time, she took right to our herd (and they to her!) and the human-equine relations development/self-development work we do here. Since this work was always her intended purpose and everyone loves her so much, she is staying a while longer to gain experience as an equine facilitator. She truly was born to work with humans in this way. She would volunteer for every single session and group, except that she is sensitive to the other horse's enthusiasm for the work as well. So, if one of them steps up and wants to participate with a particular person or group, she is aware and kind enough to step aside and wait for another time. As soon as she realized relationships are a two-way street here, where all parties are valued and two-way communication is key, she really needed no other training to do this work. She has two characteristics that stand out repeatedly: Annie loves to comfort and to be curious together. Basically, she loves exploring any subject with people. She frequently places her heart near the human heart as she gives hugs throughout sessions. I often call her Danu, the Celtic earth mother goddess or mother of goddesses… in honor of her Irish origins and her Earth Mother/Goddess vibes.

In summary, all our herd members have years of experience teaching and working with people in mind, body, emotions, and their souls as a whole - in many ways. They have developed their freedom of expression and communication to be adept at touching human hearts, regulating human bodies, and assisting and supporting humans on their personal development journeys. They do so by choice, with curiosity, care, and love. They are each unique individuals and honored for their uniqueness. We celebrate differences around here! They all understand the learning process well from personal experience as well as helping humans learn whatever subjects they are interested in learning about. These horses and donkeys LOVE to reflect with people and then support people in decision-making and development of internal beliefs so that people can become more centered, grounded, whole, authentic, and happy. Then, they love to celebrate epiphanies and progress with us! In my opinion and heart, they are the best facilitators of personal growth there are. However, I know there are many more as special as these ones, all over the world, doing this wonderful heart-centered work.

I will be sharing ideas and experiences here through many references to our herd of Human-Equine Relations Developers, so I hope this helps you get to know who they are. Notice that I did not speak of their training levels, what types of saddles they wear, or what riding accomplishments they have achieved. We do ride our horses in our shared off-time, for enjoyment and our own relationship-building and maintenance. But even for ridden horses, the skills they obtain and relationships/partnerships they build are all created on the ground. We have decided to make a clear delineation for our equines that the riding relationship is between us and occurs during rest, relaxation, and family adventures, while their heart work with humans is their day job for which they are well paid, appreciated, and prepared. This work requires work-life balance for them, just as we humans require. When we are on the ground with them, they need little if any direction from us. The limitations of riding safety are removed. This freedom allows the horses and burros the space to share their whole selves with us in the empowering and powerful ways they do.

♥♥♥Excellent Horsemanship IS Excellent for Life ♥♥♥

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