Welcome Appollo

It’s a couple of months since Red passed away. Once we overcame the initial shock and sadness of his passing, we decided that we wanted to introduce a new horse to the herd to assist us with our work.

Welcome to Appollo!   Appollo comes to us from close friends. He is a big, beautiful, well natured horse who has been very well cared for. Our clients have been working with him for about a month now. They are learning a lot about him,  and from him. 

Introducing a new horse into the herd has many similar challenges to fitting in with a family or new friends.   Appollo has had to find his place in the herd.  Horses have a natural social order, and Appollo had to find his place within this hierarchy.  This led to some initial  conflict and confrontation as the horses sorted  out their rankings.  However, this calmed  quickly, and the other horses have accepted him into the herd ,  he has now settled into the ‘pecking order’ . 

As with human relationships,  it can take time for the new horse to bond with other members of the herd.  In the first couple of weeks we encouraged positive interactions and gave the horses time for socialization. There has been some moments of stress and anxiety but overall, we feel Appollo has fitted in beautifully.

As the weather has grown warmer, Appollo has shown us that he loves to splash in the dam. We often lead the horses to the dam at the end of sessions and Appollo needs no persuasion. He’s straight in, splashing and rolling.  This brings a lot of joy to all those seeing it.   He is a lovely addition to our herd and we look forward to introducing you to him.