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c h r o n o f h o r s e . c o m w i n t e r 2 014 103 training challenge to eight local trainers as a way to showcase their expertise and the adoptable horses. e trainers would select a horse through a draw. ey would have 100 days to prepare for a competition where, in five minutes, they would load and unload the horse from a trailer, show it at all three gaits, and do a freestyle of their choosing. e trainers would receive $1,000 to offset the cost of feed, veterinary and farrier care, and there would be prize money for the competi- tion, garnered through one ths fundrais- ing event. e draw took place in April. eight horses were chosen out of 18 presented as candidates. e trainers who took them home came from a variety of backgrounds including dressage and at-liberty work, polocrosse, roping and moving cows, and wilderness trail riding. one of these trainers, ginger gaffney, had an extra challenge. she'd been teach- ing a horsemanship course to residents of delancey street, a drug and alcohol recov- ery program facility, and decided to involve her students in training her gimme shelter candidate. Brandon olcott, a 30-year-old recent graduate of gaffney's course, did all the rid- ing on root Beer until the last two weeks, when gaffney got on for some finishing touches. olcott worked with root Beer to stand for the farrier, be dewormed, step over poles, drag a line with a parachute, and jump over small obstacles. he's now actively pur- suing an equestrian career, due in large part to his positive experiences with root Beer. naturally, every gimme shelter contes- tant had its own issues: one panicked when left alone in the trailer, another refused to be tied to anything (but was happy to stand ground-tied all day long), and one found fly spray application to be an especially trau- matic experience. Jackie o, a 7-year-old Quarter horse mare, was fearful and resistant in her train- ing until about day 85, when trainer Clint mortenson introduced her to cows. When she discovered she could push the cows around, her confidence blossomed almost overnight, and she began to enjoy herself— to the point that during her freestyle perfor- mance, mortenson roped a steer while only using a neck rope to guide her. A large crowd gathered at the morten- son Arena in santa fe on day 100; the com- petition was the last event of the national day of the Cowboy. trainers had five min- utes to show off their horse and to tell the audience a little bit about them, and it was impressive to see how far each horse had come. But what was even more impressive was the philosophy expressed by gaffney and echoed by others, that, "As the trainer, you need to be thinking about what the horse needs more than what you hope to accom- plish in 100 days." to that end, trainer michelle deCandi- >> LEARN MORE: Check out The Horse Shelter's website, thehorse shelter.org. >> GET IN TOUCH: You can reach a member of The Horse Shelter's team by emailing info@thehorseshelter.org or calling (505) 471-6179. >> GET INVOLVED: If you live in the Santa Fe area, The Horse Shelter is always looking for dedicated volunteers, but monetary donations keep the facility going and will help fund the second an- nual Gimme Shelter competition. One of the easiest ways to support THS's mission is to designate it as your charity of choice when shopping on Amazon. com. You can launch your shopping search directly through THS's website, or visit Smile.Amazon.com and search for "The Horse Shelter" to set your charity preference. Through the Ama- zon Smile program, THS will receive 6 percent or more of the proceeds of your purchase, at no cost to you. Trainer Michelle DeCanditis built such a bond with Blue over the 100 days of the Gimme Shelter challenge that she ended up buying the mare herself with help from her clients and friends. tis decided her mount, Blue, needed more than the allotted time to be ready, and she only showed her at the walk and trot. But she'd fallen so in love with the 8-year-old pony of the Americas mare over the course of the 100-day test that her friends and cli- ents chipped in to help her bid on the horse. When the bidding reached $825, deCan- ditis revealed that she had $1,715 in checks for ths, thereby ensuring Blue would remain with her. e high-selling horse was Jackie o, who won the competition by showing off her newfound ranch skills and received a top bid of $2,000. But all eight horses found new homes, most with the offer of contin- ued assistance from their gimme shelter trainers. in addition, e horse shelter gained invaluable public awareness of its mission and raised $10,000—a resounding success that ths members aim to improve upon in their second annual gimme shelter com- petition, in 2015.

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