Good morning this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride and I am here with my wife Karen and the horse Contigo.

Contigo is a Holsteiner stallion who unfortunately developed a foot infection when he was very young, so he was never really able to train more than a couple months before his feet would blow apart. We have been rehabbing him for about three years now with many thanks to our Master farrier Kenny Lyon (who I will do another video on next time he is here explaining the process he has gone through with him).  This horse is now going to be twenty years old this year! After three years of rehabbing, he is back to looking like a four year old. He is going absolutely beautifully, stretching into the contact as you can see there, and look how his back end is moving.

When we started with this horse he was so sore in all four feet, and it took years to rehab those feet. But now that they are back together, you can see that even at twenty years old he is back to looking and moving like a four year old again! So remember, it really doesn’t matter how old your horse is, unless you’ve done permanent damage like destroy a navicular bone or something like that. They may amaze you when you start working them correctly and they start working through their backs. Look how lovely he is able to come up. Karen is able to sit to the trot, which is a new development with this horse, we only just started after three years of work to be able to sit to his trot. Now see what it looks like, his back is strong enough to support it and his feet are sound enough to sustain it.

Once again, this is Will Faerber from Art2Ride. Never give up on your horses, they may surprise you! Thank you very much for joining us!

classical foundation Contigo infected feet rehab San Diego horse training sitting trot Will Faerber