The Equines

Biography

Ruby is a pure Tennessee Walking Horse born in 2011 on a farm near Two Hills AB, to Dam Moonlit Laughter who was purchased while pregnant from the US to add to their TWH breeding program. Her sire was a an unregistered 'Tennessee Walking Horse Sabino Stud,' but the lineage of that stud were all papered and on Ruby's record. He must have been stunning to pass on such stunning looks to his filly. 

Ruby got special gaited training on and off over the years, and at 8 years old she was sold on commission through her favorite trainers in Viking AB, who loved her and were set out to find the perfect home for her. 

Heart Echo Equines did not exist yet at that time, but we knew we wanted a few new solid horses in our herd, and never having owned a gaited horse before it seemed a great way to discover it. Ruby clicked automatically with my spouse and I, and us with the trainers. Technically Ruby is my husband's horse, but mostly I am still putting more miles on her... And still take Ruby back down the highway at least a few times a year to go on a friendly ride with the gaited trainers we now consider dear friends. 

Ruby didn't take long after joining our little herd to become the big - full 16.1hh - boss mare. She is a good mothering figure to all under her care, but also firm in her boundaries. She has much to teach, and Echo back to anyone willing to listen. 

-Ruby is available for conditional, on site part lease if she suits the experience of the rider

- Requirements of lease including but not limited to : Ruby is available for use outside EAL times or during for your own sessions. Two lessons a month, and tack provided. 

- use the contact form for more information or to book a walk & talk to meet the horses.  

Twister is a gorgeous Friesian gelding 16 years old - registered name: Twister fan Bonnie View. This gentle giant stands right around 17hh. He was born in Alberta and originally sold to a farm in Saskatchewan intended for breeding purposes - however turned out infertile. He was gelded around 5 years old and used instead for a few years of trail/pleasure. Twister was then sold to a girl in Alberta determined to have the horse of her dreams, and that he would teach her to ride. Not every girl who sets out to find her fairy tale story actually does, But Twister did that for her. While advancing in the field of Dressage the girl got herself another horse to help her continue on her journey, as Twister aged he was getting some early signs of arthritis and she let him slow down to prevent it from advancing.  He was still good as gold, but after a few years moving up with her other horse she decided to let Twister go - and that's where Heart Echo Equines comes in. With no performance based intentions, both his previous owner and we agreed Twister should thrive here. Since that fateful day end of March 2020 as the pandemic started turning the world upside down, Twister came home to Killam AB. (I called it panic buying - who wouldn't panic buy a Friesian given the chance? I mean makes way more sense than toilet paper.) He has been a loving, handsome addition to our herd with a whole different personality level in this gentle giant with his calm confidence both on the ground and on his back.

Meet Midnight! 

A little black grade pony (about 40") mare we got not long after we first moved to Killam, January of 2019. With 4 small kids we needed ponies!!

We bought her together with a younger bay mare about the same size as a package deal from nearby horse traders - apparently the ponies had both been exposed to a stud before they got them. They were sold as kid leadline friendly with the sellers' kids showing that they were safe. However the bay was much more flighty, and when we tried to use her at home would spook and jump around frequently with the kids both on and off. She was hard to catch and aversive to human attention. We sold the bay to a family with 5 kids who were going to work with her daily and it was an awesome fit. 

But back to Midnight - she has always been awesome. She reminded me of the black mare my brother learned to ride on, the buddy to my first pony. Topsy and Midnight were iconic to my childhood, and with the star on her forehead over a snip that looked like a crescent moon, the kids agreed we could name her Midnight. Everyone needs a black pet named Midnight anyway, right? 

Midnight did turn out to be in foal, and gave birth to a bay colt wee hours one chilly morning April 2019. She was a great mom, but the foal preferred the company of his 'aunty' the bay pony and learned many rascally habits from her, so we sold him with the bay mare to the same family spring 2020.

We aren't sure how old Midnight is, or where all her past has taken her. We estimate her to be around 22yrs old now. She is not in your pocket, but not evasive or opposed to attention, she is kind and gentle and occasionally curious - though near the bottom of the pecking order in the herd so is more often off on her own and independent. 

Midnight showed a slow gait and bagging up in her udder Spring 2022, and turned out to be the same disorder that Butterscotch has (see Butterscotch's bio). It was confirmed July 2022 that Midnight has PPID but also possibly Equine Metabolic Syndrome (like Type 2 diabetes in people) so we are still figuring out how this changes things for Midnight. But we have a good head start with getting her on meds for PPID right away and working on making changes in diet and more frequent trims. 

Midnight continues to be the favorite for every child that spends time with our ponies. Her calm, quiet presence bring confidence to even the most timid child.

Midnight is so lovely and our current herd so amazing we will absolutely do our best to find ways to give these ponies with lifelong issues a lifelong home for as long a life as they are granted with us. And so Midnight, we plan to be your final home in whatever journey your life has taken you on 💕💕💕

Dottie is a gentle old mare we received from a rescue organization Spring 2022 at the same time as Thelma and Louise (now Luisa). She was estimated to be about 28yrs old, with an unknown background but a very swayed back that affects her whole body. The limited research into the effects of a swayback indicate it doesn't cause significant discomfort, however we are not comfortable with riding her at this time. She is not an in your pocket type - she keeps her distance until she decides she has a reason to be near you. But once she graces you with her presence it is profound the way a person can lean into her energy and learn about their own. 

Dottie is available for use in EAL sessions. 

Merrylegs Biography

This little spitfire is the smallest of our herd, but she knows how to make up for small stature with big presence!

Merrylegs came from a pony collecting tour the trailer went on end of January 2021, and came home with Butterscotch, Patchy-Patch and Merrylegs all from different places. 

Merrylegs was formerly known as the Belladonna, or Bella. We already had a dog by that name, so in honor of her short legs and big personality we named her after the little pony friend in the story Black Beauty. 

Merrylegs came from a loving home with a number of kids who had ridden and loved on her. This pony is around 12 years old, and healthy! So she has many years of being loved ahead of her. Due to her size, however, she was being outgrown at her last home. At the time we had a full sized Paint horse who had come from a rescue type situation and was doing well, very rideable but felt too big for our kids, so it was the perfect swap. 

Merrylegs is not in your pocket type - she keeps her distance until she feels she has reason to be near you. Once she is, she is a fast learner and quickly learns what a person is about. Trust is big with this girl, and knows how to make it clear if she feels you are not giving her the respect due to her. Her size, however, is perfect for anyone nervous around a larger horse but willing to learn more from this pony the size of a large dog! 

Meet Zahur E

2021 purebred Arabian colt 

Added to Heart Echo Equines herd as of February 19, 2022.

Zahur was born May 3, 2021 to Dam 'Silver Rose,' a gorgeous Arab Unicorn. I had the pleasure of meeting Rose, and felt her heart and personality were drawing me to connect with. 

Zahur's sure is the incredible and talented black stallion Zaki. He has received his Legion of Merit, Legion of Honor, and Legion of Supreme Honor. He was also awarded the Performance Award from a World Wide organizer called the Pyramid Social.

Zahur started life with a calm and inquisitive personality that at first got him in trouble - and got him his name! He apparently would work around the barriers to the flower gardens on property and help himself to the flowery delicacies inside. Zahur means 'bloom' in Arabic - named such because this Colt delighted in consuming the blooms of his flower growing place of birth, and also suitable name for the son of a Silver Rose 🌹 

With the personality of this Colt he was selected from his cohort to tag along with the older generation to go for extra training. He got to stay in fancy stables, and taught some obstacle work and ground tying to build on the skills of regular foal halter breaking.

Due to the breeder shifting focus for 2022 to her other breeding program (Lusitanos) she wanted to find a quick sale home that would help Zahur continue to meet his potential. Heart Echo Equines sounded like a good fit for him due to his calm, inquisitive nature that allows him to find deep connection, he is steady enough to stick around for some fun but sensitive enough to send clear messages about how he is interpreting his environment. 

Zahur went to his first little community show beginning of August 2022, just for fun and exposure - he got entered in the yearling halter class. It gave us a bit of a show bug - so we attended Canada's National Arabian Championship end of September 2022. He was taken in the Purebred Arabian Yearling In Hand Sport Type getting him a top 6 placing, and in Purebred Arabian Yearling In Hand Dressage Type he got Reserve Champion 🏆🥇

So proud of this Colt ❤️

Zahur will continue to be in training for some time before he is used officially in Heart Echo Equines programs, but if you come out to meet the herd he may decide to come over and let you know how awesome he is!

Butterscotch biography 

This is a sweet buckskin Rocky Mountain Pony mare, roughly 21yrs old. She came to our pastures Jan 31, 2021 when I went on a little pony spree with my trailer and came home with Butterscotch, Patchy-Patch and Merrylegs as well 😉

We don't actually know a lot about Butterscotch's history. Her name before us was DJ but she did not come with papers or any kind of records. The owners we bought her from said she was previously a lesson pony but walks too fast for most kids, and found it was the case for their daughter as well. They did not show much knowledge or interest in gaited breeds but Butterscotch now has a home that loves those smooth sailing gaits! 💕

We got Butterscotch with my oldest daughter in mind, who had a pretty bad wreck with a horse the summer of 2020, and took many months and a few surgeries to recover from. She did not really want the white unicorn been there done that gelding I got her, she really wanted a buckskin pony mare. But the gelding seemed like he needed us, so we got to be part of his life for a time, him teaching us and us giving him a soft landing for a while. But after the accident we stepped back from a lot of our riding dreams. When my oldest daughter and I started dreaming of ponies again, and she still held to her wish for a buckskin pony mare. So when I went out on my pony spree, Butterscotch was one of the chosen. Maybe my daughter knew intuitively about how a buckskin pony mare would work out for us. 

Butterscotch ended up being perfect. Still hesitant about riding, we were slowly working on confidence around horses on the ground, and Butterscotch showed she needed to have her trust gained as much as we needed to trust her. So honest. And so sweet as mutual authentic trust started to build. 

Unfortunately, by mid-spring 2021 I could tell something was off. Her coat refused to shed, and her udder started filling up with milk!! Took her to the vet for routine care and to ask about those things. The vet confirmed Butterscotch was NOT in foal, but making milk was a strange symptom of Equine Cushing's disease - which was also why her winter coat wasn't shedding. This disease affects hormone production, and is more accurately known as Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction (PPID). It has been a steep learning curve for us trying to make sure we keep it under control enough that she does not get laminitis - a very painful condition of the hoof that once bad enough results in horses needing to be euthenized. Anyone with a chronic disease knows, the better you are at preventing flare up, the smoother life goes. Well, so far so good with Butterscotch, with her daily medication, diet management, and tightly dialed frequent hoof trims, her health has been doing amazing! 

We have done lots of groundwork with Butterscotch, saddled, done some obstacle courses with her. And finally over a year after getting her, since spring 2022 we have also been ridding her and can confirm she is very sweet and dreamy to ride. We are hoping with proper disease management that Butterscotch will be around for many years to come, with more trust and relationship to build on along the way 💖

- currently  Butterscotch is not available to connect with at our facility, she is enjoying an off site lease for 2022-2024 before returning to our program.

Luisa is approximately 18yr old Quarter Horse type mare. 

We have only been acquainted with this girl since April 2022, when Heart Echo Equines took on 3 adoptions from a horse rescue. Luisa was originally part of a mother daughter bonded pair they called Thelma and Louise. There was very limited history given on the adopted mares, but apparently they came from another EAL program before going to the rescue, and had been "well trained" in their day. The mother of the pair was older, around 28, and in a very tragic turn of events she had to be euthenized just over a month after arriving. In that time the pair had been given space and the only work expected of them was to let us help them restore health and feel at home. They had mostly been keeping to themselves, only really needing each other, but the week before Thelma's passing they had begun integrating more with the herd. I am so thankful for this, as it seemed to really help the daughter adjust with her new friends around her to support her in her grieving. 

Because Louise was so strong in the midst of her trials, and since she was her own individual self more than ever with the passing of her mother, we decided to rename her Luisa after the popular character in the Disney Encanto movie. It suits her well. 

- Luisa is currently not on site, being leased off site to a wonderful family enjoying her sweetness and continuing to slowly explore her potential over the winter. 

Biography:

Khamir was the longest standing member of our herd. And until we got baby Zahur spring of 2022, Khamir was the only Arabian horse we had left after many generations of breeding them (though he is not directly related to the lines we bred). 

Khamir was born May 15 1993 to dam Gemzura, sired by Montego Bay, was bought by an older lady as a 2 yr old from the breeder and apparently had primarily done ground work for 5 years. He was beyond expert on the lunge line! He was then bought in year 2000 by the camp manager at Teen Time youth camp for his own family. I (Naomi) was out wrangling for the summer, and had my mare out there as well! I wondered how my mare had gotten in with the managers horses, until I saw my mare where she was supposed to be, so it wasn't her! I admired the gelding version with almost identical markings of my mare, until one day he got into a nasty pasture accident, slicing open his heel on left forefoot down too bone. I helped out with the daily cleaning and bandaging a few times, and was offered the horse for $1 if I would take over his care, not knowing the permanent damage that may have been done. I was thrilled and agreed.  

By the time I took him home at the end of the summer he no longer needed daily bandaging, and by mid-winter he was sound to ride. To my knowledge he had not been ridden, but had so much groundwork done he knew voice commands and ground driving had taught him to be bridle wise, so he was the easiest horse in the world to train. He quickly became wise to my excitement for his easy trainability and learned some fancy prancy moves that might prove a bit much for others to handle, so I then had to untrain him a bit because I wanted to give him to my younger sibling Ruth to move up from onto from Carabella the pony. And so Khamir was moved to Killam for Ruth when he was ready the next spring. 

Ruth had many good years with Khamir, and my life moved me far from home so I was not so involved again until moving to Killam in 2018. We used him for our kids first horseback rides and even our 2 & 4yr old girls at the time were able to ride him independently. 

Khamir had struggled his last few winters with weight due to tooth loss, and became high choke risk and had a few episodes. We had slowly been developed a mash program for his feed, and did our best to treasure the time we had with him. On October 27, 2022 (what turned out to be the end of a gorgeous above seasonally warm fall) Khamir refused his mash. He had been kept in the corral for separating to feed, but he just stood and looked at the gate to the pasture. I knew he was not feeling well, and was asking in his subtle way to go out onto his pasture he had roamed freely for the past 21 years. Knowing it could be goodbye for the last time, I opened the gate for him and watched him amble out, free to enjoy a warm night on the pasture he had known so well. In the morning, he was found passed away. 

We will always remember this kind, smart, gentleman of a horse, he was indeed a treasure worth his weight in gold 💗