In the above pictures, you see Kim and her gelding, Shoki, sharing a moment of pure trust. This sequence is all the more amazing if you know Shoki's story. He is a 20 year-old Arabian gelding who came to live with us in February 2002. Much of his history is unknown. His previous owner, Billie Blackmon, rescued him from an abusive situation. She did her best to "rehabilitate" Shoki, but never achieved real success. When Billie learned that she had a terminal illness, she bequethed Shoki to Kim knowing that he would never be treated harshly or abused again. But she could never have imagined the horse that Shoki has become with Kim's loving guidance. We hope Billie is looking down and smiling at her "pretty boy."
When Shoki came to live with us, he could not be safely ridden. He had thrown his previous owner, an accomplished rider, numerous times. He had to be cross-tied in order to get a saddle on his back. If the rider's toe touched his side during mounting, Shoki would explode.
Shoki was unsafe to handle in hand. As soon as you placed a halter or bridle on Shoki, he would become a "basket case." This normally bold horse would spook at the slightest provocation, especially at ropes and hoses. But he also spooked at clumps of grass, brown patches in the grass, water buckets, feed buckets, birds, you name it. His hooves were in horrible condition because farriers refused to work with him. On one occasion, a farrier struggled for two hours to trim three of Shoki's hooves. The farrier finally threw up his hands in exasperation, and with a curse, walked away, leaving Shoki's back left hoof untrimmed.
Kim has lovingly converted Shoki into a trusting horse, as you can see from the sequence of photos above. To see the latest videos, see below.
