About

Emma originally adopted Mikko from the BLM. She picked him out of a Wild Horse holding facility with the intent to train him for the ranch she worked on. She gentled him to the point of being able to touch his nose and shoulder, but shortly after was bucked off another horse and seriously injured. She had to leave the ranch and take a year to heal from her injuries.

During that time the ranch decided to sell Mikko because they didn’t have the time or resources needed to properly train a wild horse. He was sold to a local person with mustang experience–that was the last Emma heard of him.

Two years later she saw a friend post about a ranch horse who was listed for sale on Craigslist. Emma’s jaw hit the floor when she saw it was Mikko. His ribs showed, his coat was dull and his mane and tail were dreadlocks. When she arrived to take him home he was petrified of everything, but when he saw her his ears perked up and he marched right for her and put his head in her chest.

Once home Emma realized Mikko had been severely abused. He was terrified to leave his pipe coral and touching his girth area either sent him into a panic or he tensed so hard his body shook uncontrollably. She had never seen a horse like this and promptly called in a trainer. The trainer worked with Mikko for a year and helped Mikko overcome a lot of his deeply ingrained fears. However, after 2 rides Mikko violently bucked the trainer off which resulted in a few broken ribs. The trainer never got back on and Mikko still had a lot to work on, so Emma decided to make a change.

She put Mikko through a Buck Brannaman Colt Starting Clinic and found a new trainer shortly after. That trainer was also promptly bucked off and due to the again violent nature, he deemed Mikko dangerous and told Emma to euthanize Mikko. That didn’t sit well with Emma, to say the least. At this point she spent everyday with Mikko and their relationship on the ground was solid. They enjoyed hiking on trails, working with odd objects and just hanging out. Emma saw the gem in Mikko and was determined to carve it out.

So, she took Mikko’s training into her own hands. She built upon the work trainers had done with Mikko and decided to not focus on his intense issue with the saddle. Instead, she worked up to riding him bareback. They rode like this for a while and not once did Mikko offer to buck or do anything violent–like he had with all his trainers. Once he was comfortable with her bareback she went back to the saddle. She realized he preferred a treeless saddle as he didn’t offer to buck with it, like he had with all other saddles. He still had underlying stress about the saddle in general and it took another year to fully work through that. At that time Emma was not aware of any CBD products for horses, but she sure wished they were avaliable!

After another year of bareback riding and working with the treeless saddle Emma was finally able to ride Mikko in the saddle. In total, it took two years to ride Mikko once Emma found him again. She was prepared to have him for life, even if he didn’t want to be ridden, so now every time they head out for a ride Emma is extremely grateful and will never forget all the hard work it took.