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Mikko’s Choice is a small, woman-owned, business. Emma founded the company. Her BLM Wild Mustang, Mikko, is the inspiration for the brand. Emma adopted Mikko from the BLM, but through a series of unfortunate events they became separated and she lost track of him. Miraculously she found him on Craigslist a few years later. He returned to her in bad shape–he was underweight and scared of everything. He had clearly been mistreated.

A few trainers tried to help Mikko recover, but he wouldn’t let them in. After seriously injuring a few well respected trainers, trainers labeled him dangerous and told Emma the kindest thing was to euthanize him. Eventually, two years after getting him back, Emma took his training into her own hands. She used the methods of Ray Hunt, Tom Dorrance, Buck Brannaman and Warwick Schiller to turn him into the balanced and extremely social horse he is today. Mikko and Emma enjoy obstacles, ranch riding and cow work as well as a beautiful trail ride. Read more about Mikko’s journey through adoption with Emma, being sold, abuse and finding Emma agin below. You can also watch this video featured on The Dodo!

Emma’s Background

Emma combined an undergraduate animal science degree, a graduate degree in animals and public policy, twenty years in the equine industry and three years in the cannabis and CBD industries to create Mikko’s Choice. She got into the cannabis industry after a horse trampled her and broke her back. During a year long recovery, cannabis got her off the prescribed opioids and improved her nerve pain. At the time her brother was starting a delivery service and once healed, she decided to join him and go into business with him. During that time, her dog received a hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis and doctors gave him four months to live. There were no pet products on the market, so she decided to try giving him the tincture she used. Those four months became four amazing years with Mo Dog. These experiences showed her the power of plant medicine.

Why Horses Need CBD

Through Emma’s experience in Dressage, Ranch Riding and Hunter and Show Jumping she saw a need to help horses recover from common ailments that didn’t seem to have many natural remedies. Through the delivery service, she helped many people and animals use CBD to help improve their health and wellness. However, when it came to animals, and specifically horses, there were little to no options–and the few that were available were astronomically expensive and of low quality! She knew CBD could have the same benefits in animals as she saw with humans and thus the company was born.

Mikko's Story

Mikko’s Story

Emma originally adopted Mikko from the BLM. Emma picked him out of a Wild Horse holding facility with the intent to train him for the ranch she worked on. With patience, she gentled him to the point of being able to touch his nose and shoulder, but shortly after another horse threw her, leaving her 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 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.

Overcoming the Past

Once home Emma realized Mikko had been severely abused. He refused to leave his pipe coral in fear 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 also got 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.

Taking the Reins

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.