I love this stallion for being so respectful walking up to a hot mare with a crippled handler!

I love this stallion of mine! Long story long, there’s two pieces I’m going to share about this video. This summer I was (mildly) injured by a project horse I picked up. Some of you probably noticed my knee brace in a few of my videos and stories, but I never really shared what happened. I was on about the 10th ride, in a small round pen. I was struggling to get the horse to cooperate and move with me. The horse was the type to not want to do something and throw their body down on the ground. It happened once and I jumped off on to the panels, thankfully unharmed but a little shaken. @mustang_packer_matt assisted me with some ground work, got the horse moving again and asked if I wanted to get back on. Reluctantly, I said no but I probably should be brave and do it. I climbed back in the saddle, was moving the horse off my leg, turning into the panels. Couple sticky spots, but it was going smoother. Until it wasn’t. I asked for a right turn, but the horse turned left then FROZE. We all know that scary feeling when we don’t know what the horse will do next. I tried to get the feet broke free but couldn’t. The horse reared up, and while straight up on hind legs, jumped up into the air in an attempt to slam us both backwards. Thankfully two things happened simultaneously. Matt flagged the hips to the right while I was pulling the horse left to prevent being landed on. I all but cleared the 1100 lb mass except my left foot was still in the stirrup. I thought I broke it. Luckily I only bone bruised it. I didn’t have knee pain that day, but I think from landing on my side I strained my knee ligament. About 5 months later, I’m still cautiously working to not put too much stress on my knee to mitigate the pain. This is where Leo comes in. I’m grateful for this kind stallion. Life is too short for horses with dangerous habits or dangerous minds. Days after that accident, I still had mares to breed. So I grabbed Leo and told him to be gentle with me. He was. Good minded horses are worth their weight in gold. And I’m grateful to have Leo as my stallion. There’s probably not too many stallions that would be so respectful walking up to a hot mare with a crippled handler! 🥰🎥 @tmhokens #horsetraining #horses #cowgirl #breeding #stallion #equestrian #inspiration #motivation #life #process #bts