Herds of Hooves was founded in 2008 with the official mission statement of "pursuing the physical, mental, and behavioral rehabilitation of horses and the humans who love them." It was the birth of a calling that horses who had been written off for one reason or another could flourish with an intentional and focused second chance; that past failure did not necessarily eliminate future success; that horses who might need management or training or problem-solving outside of the box were not beyond redemption. 

The redemption of such horses is impossible on a grand scale without bringing awareness, education, and support to horse riders, handlers, and owners. Riding lessons alone do little to prepare a young horse lover for having that first pony under the Christmas tree; classes on handling and care often do not dig nearly deep enough to acknowledge what to practically do when things go wrong. The fear of what can happen often becomes a waiting wolf in the corner of the room, whose presence is accepted with the assertion that "horses are unpredictable and can't be trusted." (As an aside, what relationship skills are we teaching our children when we encourage them to invest in a partnership with another who we are simultaneously asserting cannot be trusted or who may in fact be untrustworthy?)

However... what if horses are inherently honest? What if they do indeed convey what they intend to do and, further, offer insight into why they feel they must do it and how we might change the pattern? What if they are indeed not only predictable but also can be trusted to be true to who they have been taught to be? What if they are indeed trying to get along in the human world in the way they have been taught that they must? And what if we can change such behaviors through consistency,  boundaries, and options for choice?

This is an almost fantastical concept, but these are the truths that founded HOH. Furthermore, the almost constant communication offered by horses to convey all of these truths is not mystical, unreadable, or even difficult to understand once the human begins to learn the basics (and then the intricacies) of equine body language and dialogue. Learning to read a horse's myriad of expression and communication can be achieved in moments and pursued for a lifetime. Horses are quite consistent and yet intricately varied in their expressions, just as we humans use inflection and tone in our speech.

The greatest challenge is building awareness in the human student so that expressions are noticed and responses are offered, thus the foundation of real and dynamic communication between horse and human. We are taught from a young age to ignore many aspects of body language, but we all have the ability to tune in, read, and interact with body language as we are taught what the horse's expressions mean and what our responses mean to the horse.  The second greatest challenge is embracing this as a lifestyle-- this communication is not done in leu of riding, competing, etc but becomes the lens THROUGH WHICH the activities with our horses occur.

HOH enthusiastically maintains a passion for educating balanced, refined riders pursuing any discipline which supports the horse as a partner; for preparing owners for the realities of management and husbandry; for stepping into the gap when a horse has been displaced from a home. However, for us the true impact to the issue of horse overpopulation and displacement is in teaching humans to truly see these animals for the individuals they are, to commit to treating them with empathy and care, and to build awareness that-- however small-- there is always communication being offered by the horse to one with the humility to stop and listen.