Tucker, 7 year old 14 hand Haflinger Gelding

Tucker (along with Tess) was seized May 14, 2010 along with 25 other horses in one of the largest horse neglect cases to occur in Maryland. 17 dead horses were found on the farm. His owners have been found guilty and convicted, and now Tucker is legally under our ownership and able to begin training in preparation of a new life. Tucker is very affectionate, but is a touch on the obstinate and fiery side, and has definite opinions about himself. Here volunteer Carla is introducing him to work on the lunge line, to which he is very enthusiastic!

With some work and patience, he soon realized his antics would not get him out of his dilemma, and he settled nicely and began to respect voice commands and body space. For his first day we practiced respect, and learning to turn on the lunge and control his speed. He's a very quick learner.

It didn't take long for Tucker to decide he'd really rather just be scratched and told he did a good job. He accepted a saddle for the first time without any issue at all. Tucker will require full training, but appears bright and to have a good recall of what he has been taught. Herd bound behavior will be his largest obstacle until he develops some self confidence.

Here is Tucker the day that he arrived at Gentle Giants. Tucker was a body score "3" on arrival, and is now a "5". He and Tess were very lucky that their draft bloodlines helped them to survive their ordeal of abuse better than the other unfortunate horses.