The Virginia Equine Welfare Society rescued Simon from a poor situation where he narrowly missed his chance to find himself at VEWS. Luckily for Simon, someone took a liking to him and he found himself in the hands of the right people. In his former life Simon was a trotter at the track and then an Amish buggy horse. We were told not only did he drive, but also rides. After Simon was fully rehabilitated, our director started working with him on the ground and found he was very smart and willing. He took a saddle pad and saddle perfectly while he was ground tied and he appeared to be experienced under saddle. So during the next training session, we decided to see how he would take a rider. He was perfect again. So we asked him to walk. He didn’t move. We asked him to turn. He didn’t move. We discovered he had no idea what he was supposed to do and was most likely worried about how to carry weight on his back. After a few more training sessions, he learned what he was supposed to do and became comfortable carrying a rider. We have ridden him several times and Simon has become a confident trail horse. Simon is a 16 year old dark bay standardbred, 15hh and was recently featured as the A Home for Every Horse featured rescue horse of the week and adopted!
