Atlas

I first met Atlas (aka Lukas) in Comfort, TX at the hunter/jumper barn I was riding at. He was purchased out of Louisiana and declared a push button, beginner friendly horse. His massive size was still a little intimidating. He was 18 hands! Every now and then I would ride Atlas to exercise him for my trainer and there were no issues under saddle at first. However, we walked him around with a stud chain. For those that don’t know, it looks like the photo below, and is used to keep horses under control. 

One morning I took Atlas out of his stall to tack up for a ride and decided not to use the stud chain. I didn’t like the idea of it and he’d never given me problems before. As soon as I turned him around in the cross ties to secure him, he bolted out of the barn. I tried to hold on but without the stud chain I was no match for him. He proceed to run around the parking lot for a while until I caught him again. I started to understand how quickly things could go south with him. I had heard and witnessed his go-to was rearing, which he would do when he wanted to go back to the barn, where his friends were.

Later on I leased Atlas and would ride him a couple times a week. I recall his back being very sore often. Nothing much was done that I was aware of except to put some liniment on it. We were starting to jump higher and putting lines together. It was a day I was jumping higher than I ever had, doing a single diagonal jump so I was a little nervous, but I trusted Atlas. He easily pulled out of the jump and I didn’t put up much of a fight about it. My trainer had me go to a smaller jump and regroup, after the jump he increased his pace but nothing that worried me. The next jump I lost my position by leaning and he really took off. I was on his neck and let go as he ran off. I ended up breaking my arm and not seeing him again for a long time. He moved barns a couple times.

There were a couple other incidents I heard of him having while I was out from my injury. A large truck pulled in the parking lot which scared him and caused him to bust his face open. It took a  long time to heal. He was also diagnosed navicular in his front hooves. Navicular is a degenerative and painful condition that affect the navicular bone, one of the bones in the hoof.

I'd also heard he was for sale and then one day his owner contacted me to see if I was interested in him. I was way in over my head with three horses at home already but she offered him to me for free when I said I didn’t have any money to spend. How could I say no? 

I knew that a free horse was going to have issues, especially knowing his history. Nevertheless, I was full of hope and determined to make him feel better. Three months before I had hosted trainer Tarrin Warren and was just starting to learn about horse biomechanics and soundness. Some things really improved with him in the beginning. When I picked him up he was again being led with a stud chain and I was able to improve that. It took some time and he did get away from me many times, but I was able to lead him around with a rope halter. He had his moments, but overall he was much easier to handle. 

January 2023 - A week after Atlas got to HOR

When I first got him I was eager to do bodywork on him, but I couldn’t get near him. He would pin his ears back and almost charge at me. A few months went by and he would finally let me touch him, there were certain spots he liked but areas like his hind end I still couldn’t get near.  

I seemed to have made progress following Tarrin’s exercises, but his hind end still wasn’t developing. I had heard about BTMM (Balance Through Movement Method) and loved their mission to listen to the horse and slowly help them transform their body. I hosted a BTMM clinic here and also did a virtual session before to get a head start on Atlas. He was doing a great pillar 1 but would also get so wobbly he would almost fall down. He would also still get angry and pin ears and try to bite at times. I was advised to stop lunging him and only walk in pillar 1 straight lines. Somehow that took the wind out of my sails and I simply stopped working with him like I had been. For the most part I just let him be in the pasture. 

Some adventures we had.

He saw several chiropractors over the two years. Bloodwork and teeth checked early on to try to explain his inability to gain weight. I tried different feeds and supplements. Treated him for ulcers several different ways. He had energy work. With everything I did I had to wait to see if there was improvement before I tried the next thing, or how else would I know what worked. It was a long slow process that wore me down and made me feel like a failure. I lowered my expectations for him so that all I wanted was for him to be happy in the pasture with his friends. Still I could tell he was not. He had trouble getting up and down so he was not sleeping laying down ever. His body was in pain a lot, maybe all the time. He was sweet occasionally, but mostly irritable and unpredictable as to when he was done being touched. He would come up to people but I was nervous with him being around the beginners who would come for lessons. He could look pretty scary when he pins his ears and comes at you showing his teeth. 

In a last ditch effort I finally saved up money to get him injections and see if that would improve his hind end. But the vet kindly advised me he didn’t think it would help. With his age and significant bone loss in the X-rays he said I would probably be chasing the pain around and injecting a lot of things, to maybe, just maybe give him relief to be able to be touched without biting. I could see that his quality of life was not good and so I made the decision to euthanize him after that visit.

The most important takeaway from Atlas’ life is to listen to the first signs of discomfort from your horse. A horse that can’t be lead around without a stud chain needs to be taught ground manners. Why was he so stressed without his friends? Groundwork could have helped build trust with his handlers. Why was his back so sore and still being ridden? These issues were not addressed because his beginner owner (& myself) didn’t know any better and trainers turned a blind eye or didn’t have the skill set to help. Atlas was ridden until his body was broken and he become enough of a handful to pass off. 

I've experienced trainers explaining away horses acting out as a learned behavior to ignore. Now I believe behavior is communication. Horses act out when something is wrong. You may not know the fancy terms “professionals” use or be able to ride as gracefully as them but you know your intuition. You can sense when something isn’t right. The question is where to turn? It was a long winding road for me but I put myself out there and asked for help. Any horse person that would give me the time of day I learned from and took away some knowledge. Eventually I found Tarrin Warren and I take lessons from her every chance I get. 

I started Heritage Oak Rescue for horses like Atlas to have sanctuary after a hard life. I wanted to give him an easy job helping teach beginners about horsemanship and get lots of love for many more years. It breaks my heart I couldn’t give that to him. He was so uniquely beautiful and loved by many while he was here. I’m grateful for all that he taught me. I hope you get something out of hearing his story. Thank you for reading.