Rhett
Here is the background of Rhett aka Prince and then Darly as written by Susan Castle for United States Lipizzan Rescue Foundation Spring 2014 Magazine...
"In August 2013, Natural Horsemanship Coach Karen Jones, of Newnan, Georgia, became the proud owner of a horse called “Rhett”.
A gorgeous baroque horse, Rhett’s Lipizzan and Andalusian heritage blessed him with exquisite bone and an exotic look. Not quite seven years old when Karen met him, Rhett‘s beauty was timeless, and everyone who saw him agreed the gelding was a “stunner”.
Rhett’s journey to Karen was a long, complicated one, however, with many foster homes and rescues involved in his short life. His early years were said to be horrific. He lacked any rudimentary positive human contact, and when he was rescued through Central Wisconsin Save the Animals group and later adopted out, he was doing poorly, both physically, mentally and emotionally.
When his adoptive home could no longer care for him, she contacted Lipizzan Rescue Foundation (LRF), and LRF began the slow process of searching out a forever home for this traumatized animal.
At this point, Rhett’s early years had caught up with him. Emotional scars from his early years made him distrustful of people, disrespectful of space and terrified of even the simplest activities. His absolute - falling down - terror at anyone putting a rope near his hind legs supported the theory that he’d been broken, and likely abused, through hobbling or whipping. He was poorly socialized and traumatized by confinement of any sort.
Through LRF’s angels, Rhett was moved to foster care, so he could be kept safe and secure until his forever home was located, a happy event that began in mid October, when Karen picked him up in Murfreesboro, TN.
Then, as Karen has reported in a daily blog about Rhett, the play began! Rhett’s first two weeks were largely spent by introducing him to her other horses, slowly and carefully, in group and individual situations. This was to help Rhett gain confidence and learn positive social interactions with other horses as he had always been kept alone. Karen was pleased that Rhett was curious and careful, earning a comfortable place amidst her herd of four.
Next, Karen focused on space and boundary issues through confidence-building games. Many, many baby steps yielded incremental improvement. Mindful of his past trauma, Karen posted a saying on her Facebook blog that read: “Healing doesn‘t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.”
A friend who observed Rhett’s training said Rhett seems to have “never known boundaries, rules, structure, tough love or freedom to make decisions…he is really coming around…a kind soul who is trying his hardest to process it all.”
Near the end of October, Karen initiated clicker training with Rhett, using positive reinforcement techniques. Her goal was to present Rhett with a variety of puzzles, giving him the freedom to select his own correct course of action. She simulated conditions that bothered him: small spaces, blanketing, touching the “yea-but“ areas of his body and trailering.
Throughout this process, Karen listened to Rhett very carefully, slowing her training when Rhett indicated he “just wasn’t ready”. He progressed very well, nevertheless, and Karen excitedly announced on November 20th that Rhett would “begin his foundation journey under the tutelage of a Master Horseman”…unfortunately, this ‘cowboy way’ that has worked very well with other horses, didn’t work well for Rhett. Karen brought him back home and has renewed their way of positive reinforcement, patience and more than anything, encouraging a partnership of mutual trust and respect. Karen’s training philosophies are based on thoughts from the masters such as “the horse is never wrong, “take the time it takes and it will take less time”, “hurry up and slow down” and her favorite “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. Karen feels that she and Rhett are playing both the roles of student and teacher for each other on their horsemanship journey.
“Look deeper than the skin, look through the eyes and into the soul and you will see your kindness mending a broken heart!!” ~ Karen and Rhett
Can they do it? Why, yes they can! "