Luke-Horse Profile

Luke is one of those horses that I will never forget. He is so unique because of his personality. He is always watching people in hope of getting another treat. Luke actually watches the parents to see who has the carrots. Most of the time he is right. He caused me to institute the rule that says no carrots are allowed to be brought in plastic bags. What happened was one day someone left a carrot bag lying on the ground. The next thing I new he had the carrot bag in his mouth! I was afraid he would choke on it. So I stuck my hand in his mouth and pulled it out. GROSS! Then another time he found a carrot bag in the trash can, he got it in his mouth and swallowed it! I couldn't get it out. I was afraid that he would get bad colic or worse, but he never got sick from it.

Luke genuinely loves people. He absolutely never tries to avoid being caught. Of course part of the reason is because he is always looking for a treat!

I think that one of the reasons that he is so in tune to people is because of his first owner. His first owners were an elderly man and his wife. He was only three years old when I first met him. His owners moved him to our place from a farm where Luke lived with a draft horse. He even got as much to eat as the draft horse! (Luke was so fat that you could see the fat rolls on his neck!) So when he moved to GWA he went on an immediate diet. (Much to his dismay).

Anyway back to part of the reason Luke is so greedy and he comes when he's called. His lady owner was sick with a life threatening disease. So she was unable to do anymore than look at Luke from inside of the car or pet his head over the fence. His male owner brought his wife (the lady owner) up once a month to see Luke. When they came they always brought a grocery bag full of apples and another large bag of carrots. His male owner would stand at the fence and yell "LUKE, LUKE" in a deep and loud voice. Luke always came trotting over and his owner would feed him all of the treats. We had to get his male owner to share the treats with the other horses because if Luke had eaten all those treats he would have gotten sick at his stomach.

So after some time passed Luke's lady owner passed away. Her husband was unable to deal with Luke along with the loss of his wife so we bought him.

Well Luke was cute and all, but he didn't know anything and he was spoiled!!! He did know how to be led on a lead rope and he knew how to wear a saddle and bridle. Other than that he was clueless. My sister, S "broke" him to saddle and taught him to walk, trot and canter. Then mother started teaching a ladies' group so she started riding him with that group. After he got confirmed in his flat work S taught him to jump and he did some work for the riding school.

Well a girl named M fell in love with Luke. So her father decided to buy him for her, but he wanted to surprise her for her birthday (which was in the fall). So he bought her Luke in July and asked us not to tell her, but to let her ride him for her lessons. So we did what he asked and about 1 week before her birthday he told her! After keeping the secret that long we were all kind of disgusted. She was very happy to have Luke and she spent a lot of time riding, bathing and enjoying him.

After a while M went to college. For a couple of years Luke still lived with us and she came and saw him on breaks. Then she decided to take him to college with her. So Luke went and lived at a farm near Grove City. She enjoyed having him with her, but the responsibility was too much for her and she asked us to take him "back to his happy home at Gusty Wind"

So my sister and her husband brought him back. M decided that we should have ownership back of Luke. So for a while he didn't do much. The we started him back to work. He remember his old training and I added some more.

Now he lives here and enjoys getting apples and carrots from the students. Other than that his favorite mounted activities are jumping and trail riding; his favorite unmounted activity other than eating is running out to the big field with his friends. He doesn't mind being tied, he just leaves whenever he feels like it.