In November of 2020 a close family friend reached out about a horse she was rescuing. She had owned Blazer as a baby, gave him a wonderful foundation and sold him. Come to find that over the next 4 years he passed through many hands and was on his way to be a cart horse at an Amish farm when my friend scooped him back up. I decided that his show name should be in tribute to my friend for rescuing him from a hard-working life. Her stable is called Hamesbest Farm which led to “HBF Blazier”.
Blaze is a horse full of personality. He was dealt an unfortunate hand being passed around to a number of people who didn’t have the time and resources to give him the training he needed to be successful in the riding world. He needed structure and he needed ring work.
My first ride in the arena on him it was obvious he had no idea how to canter let alone what a circle was. We spent the first few months working on basics and fitness. To be perfectly honest, he had picked up a number of bad habits. His mouth was rough, he was heavy in the hand, completely unbalanced, and his canter was a strange four beat shuffling movement that seemed to indicate he may have paced in a previous life. Our progress was slow, but through everything we did together he was willing and very sweet. He loved people, attention, and had a curiosity for everything that was happening around him.
That first winter I took a lot of time getting him out and about. A lot of trails and adventures, with some ring homework in between. The highlight was a girls’ weekend with friends to Chester County Pennsylvania. It was during this trip that we discovered he had some jump ability!
By April I felt he was ready for his first starter trial. He finished on his (45+) dressage score at Deep Run in the elementary. He was such a good boy, but it was obvious we still had a lot of homework to do.
The rest of the summer was continued outings – dressage work, lots and lots of lunging in side reins, cross-country schoolings and several starter trials – until the highlight of my time with him completing the Beginner Novice on a 36 with clean jumping at the Maryland Starter Trials in October 2020. Piloting him around that course was a breeze. He was point and shoot. Willing and balanced. I found myself enjoying every moment of our ride.
In December of 2020, I was contacted by a well-known trainer in VA looking for a horse for some clients. They were looking for a pony club mount for their grandkids as well as something that would be a fun horse for the family. Blaze suited them perfectly. They scooped him up within the week and the continued reports I’ve gotten are about how much they love his personality and that wild tail of his over every jump!
Slimak Equestrian 