Hi I'm Danae and I am a rider and volunteer at the Sacred Equestrians riding school. I will now take on the incredible task of introducing such a special horse.

Dazzle is an off the track thoroughbred who steals everyone's heart when they first meet her! I met her in the Okanagan when she was for sale as a young green horse, and then my coach (and owner of Sacred Equestrians) Brinna Ellis purchased Dazzle along with another friend named Bling.

We brought Dazzle into our family knowing she would never be a top competitor due to an injury she'd sustained on the track in her early years. (Healed and managable) However, her kind, curious, loving, and gentle demeanour is something that simply cannot be trained. It takes a special kind of horse to be in a lesson program and she had that personality, and we knew she could help show people the ropes once she learned a bit more.

Sadly her training did not progress as well as Bling's did (who is excelling with some intermediate/advanced riders). Over the past couple years, Sacred Equestrians became a barn of detectives, trying to figure out where we were going wrong by Dazzle. We had a saddle fitted and checked for her, we checked and treated for ulcers just in case, and we have gone through periods where we reduced riding and focused more on ground work.

During all this, Dazzle was showing signs of discomfort riding but was still always so happy to hang out and be with everyone (horse and human alike). She's been doing ground work and theraputic work with some of our disabled riders, and kids who just want a less demanding day at the barn. Her personality makes her a favourite for these days.

With the help of our vet, we finally came to the root of Dazzles pain. Dazzle has a condition called kissing spine. In short this is where the bony nubs on the vertebrae are touching and rubbing together. The prognosis can vary, but luckily Dazzle's is very good. She should be able to rehab to the point where she can be comfortable under saddle and even doing some low level jumping.

This is where we ask for your help. With surgery, rehab, and pain medications Sacred Equestrians is looking at around $12k over the next 6 months to a year, which is a bit more in vet expenses than our organization is used to. We are also caring for the other 6 school horses, which makes attaining Dazzles surgery a bit harder.

How can you help?

Thank you for taking the time to read and get to know Dazzle. And thank you for your support to some of the best people at Sacred Equestrians: Brinna Ellis and of course Sacred Dazzle.

Yours,

Danae