Remy

Remy was born in Kentucky and moved around to at least four different homes through Ohio and Pennsylvania, when we found him in Erie, PA, via Facebook. To get him, we drove there and back in one day. By the age of four, Remy had already had five different homes. We fell in love with his relaxed, playful personality over videos and during our brief visit, and in spite of his youth, brought him home to Take Heart on July 30, 2016, to be our 3^rd therapy horse. However, much like an adopted kiddo who has experienced many homes, Remy had some struggles. Remy was terrified of other horses when he arrived at Take Heart. Covered in scars to this day from his past herd experiences, Remy slowly learned to trust Noble and Charley, and to bravely be himself in the herd. Now he is the instigator of play! Remy gets along great with just about any horse now and is often one of the first horses to make friends with new herd members.

Remy had to learn some things about trusting people, as well. He is extremely friendly and loves attention from people, especially butt-scratches! But Remy is highly sensitive, highly intelligent, and still learning to regulate his own emotions. What this looks like in practice is that he can be reactive to something like quick movement that makes him uncomfortable, or someone adding too much pressure. Remy has been known to bite and is quick, so you have to be aware of yourself and how he is responding at all times, but he is in no way mean-spirited. Over the years we have had him, he has learned that control and intimidation don’t build relationship, and he really thrives in connected relationship – but stress or high-pressure situations sometimes make him revert back to control and intimidation as a defense.

When we got him, Remy was very passive and fearful, then as he built a little confidence, he got cocky and controlling; now he seems to have found a much happier assertive way of communicating his needs and is very expressive, if you watch closely. Remy’s word from God is “be brave.”