Diamond Hakita
This is a horse with Big Personality! She is a really fun, goofy character always involved in everything that’s happening.
She is outgoing, social, inquisitive and exciting, really lives life 100% every day.
Her sensible best mate in the herd is Zara and together with Lua they get into trouble.
She is 8 this year, still fairly young but now really maturing and learning with every ride she goes on. Previously she would be described as ‘random to ride’ but nowdays she is happy to take and listen to instructions. Her attitude before was more on the lines of ‘ shut up you, trust me, I know what I am doing’ but after a few kamikaze rides down steep hills we agreed that sometimes people also have ideas and advice that’s good to listen to.
I like my horses to have their opinions but it’s generally better if we can work as a team!
She had lived alone tethered by her front leg before we got her, the scars still show. When we first released her into a paddock with no ropes, she just went around in circles… she had gotten so used to the rope that even without it it took a little while for her to realize she isn’t tied anymore and can actually move freely.
It took a long while to introduce her to the herd, she had very poor communication skills with the other horses. She was like a bull in a china store with the others. She was a punk attacking everyone if they even looked at her in what she deemed to be the wrong way. A horse with a big bark!
The herd is forgiving, they mainly just learned to move out of her way without getting into fights. A few times when fights broke out, Hakita always seemed to come away as the winner. Soon everyone learned not to get provoked by her and give her a wide berth. It was almost like the herd kinda went “never mind her, she is a bit special, we love her anyway, just don’t get pulled into her big talk, give her a bit of space..”
She has been with us for 2 years and now things are settled, she has learned how to read other horses and her social skills have improved. Now she is a very important member of the team and doesn’t get into trouble with the others.
She moves absolutely beautifully – her trot is airy and floating and her walk long and forward going.
She is a big fan of clicker training and has lots of fun things in her repertoire. Now we are working on fetch and then maybe a bow.
