The Chuck Kraft Clinic - Killer Part 2

Part 1

A laudable gasp permeated the arena as the onlookers were witness to the frightened gelding's attempts to defend himself from this great troll attacking his legs. The young Arabian horse's front feet reacted so swiftly the multiple strikes appeared like a blur as the horse stomped that bag to death. There was no mistaking the ability of this yearling to protect himself.

The onlookers could only marvel at the speed and accuracy of this horse's retaliation. At the same time not a person saw any aggression toward Chuck Kraft. It was clear to all the horse was after that plastic bag and the plastic bag alone. The horse was swift............but not mean.

Chuck Kraft had deliberately pushed the horse testing his limits. Now that he knew what they were he backed off a bit and went to desensitizing the horse to the touch of this bag on the horse's legs. Slowly and methodically he kept building up the horse's tolerance for the dreaded plastic bag. In no time at all Chuck had the horse standing there ground tied as he ran that bag all over the horse's body even looping loosely around his legs.

I guess it was only "natural" that he would go from there to picking up the horse's feet. Just as slowly and methodically he gained the horse's trust until he could pick up all four feet. Again, the horse was just standing there ground tied not really worrying too much about what Chuck Kraft was up to.

The horse didn't even seem to notice when Chuck Kraft moved up from just lifting those feet to touching them with the farrier's nippers. The young horse did get a little concerned at the first "bite" taken out of his hoof and he grabbed his foot and moved off just a step. Chuck Kraft just quietly followed him petting him on the back telling him with his hands that he was going to be ok.

Next thing you know Chuck Kraft was back underneath that ground tied horse slowly chipping away at the soles of his feet. Most of the time the horse stood quietly but even when he did feel like he couldn't withstand anymore his exits were considerable controlled...........not by Chuck but by the horse.

I don't think the horse ever moved off more than a step or two before he would stop and wait for Chuck Kraft to touch him and tell him the world was ok. This was not the fastest job of trimming I've ever seen, nor for that matter the most accomplished, but for a horse that wouldn't even stand for a farrier when totally drugged up, this trim was absolutely amazing.

The whole time Chuck Kraft was working with this horse he kept talking about throw away horses like this. Being a yearling with already a horrible reputation and the name, Killer, to go with it, there wasn't much hope this horse would turn out ok............that is until he got sent to visit Kelsey Corey. With the help of Kelsey and Chuck Kraft this horse was going to get headed down the right path. There was hope after all that his owner would actually get to ride this horse someday and not have to worry about her safety.

I think the owners were overwhelmed at the whole demonstration. They had already resigned themselves that things with this horse were not going to work out. Now suddenly they found themselves with new hope and a new path for the horse but Chuck Kraft wasn't done with this Arabian horse yet. There was one more amazing test to go before his lesson was concluded.

To be continued..........

Part 3