The horses - the real teachers at tcc

Sugar is the horse who started it all.  You may recognize her from our logo.  She was a Standardbred race horse from Ontario and earned $27,135 during her career.  She was rescued from a potential meat buyer at an auction in Langley by a friend of Tina’s. She was skin and bones.  When Tina started exercising Sugar to help her friend, it was instant love.  Sugar is Tina’s first horse and the reason behind True Colours Ranch.

Apollo is another Standardbred and ex-track horse earning $26760. He was brought to the farm due to his puppy dog personality and spunk.  He has matured into a lovely and gentle teacher who has been incredibly patient with the students at True Colours.  Apollo is also Tina’s constant teacher who pushes her to dig deep and grow.  

Miss Gracie came to True Colours as a boarded horse in 2015.  She was born in a breeding program but, due to an issue in utero, did not meet the requirements for the program.  She landed softly at True Colours after 1 year at a therapeutic riding facility.  Gracie is the super star at True Colours for her sweet nature, slow walk, and love of children.

Shae is one of our therapeutic riding horses owned by a volunteer at the farm. She is a 19 year old Norwegian Fjord who loves being spoiled by our guests. Her owner, Charlene, fell in love with Shae 8 years ago when she met her and Shae has been her best friend since that day.

Her kind, patient personality makes her a great fit both for riders just learning the ropes, as well as our more experienced riders who are learning to be clear with their directions. Shae will often test whether you are 100% sure you know where you want her to go. If not, she will most definitely be making her was over to the instructor!

Pumpkin is one of our minis and is new to our farm.  We got him and his buddy Pepper from a woman on Chilliwack Lake road who rescued them years ago.  Pumpkin and Pepper are infamous in Chilliwack for their multiple escapes and adventures running down Chilliwack Lake road.  Pumpkin loves kids, trusts quickly, and is probably the cutest thing we have ever seen.  We look forward to learning from and with Pumpkin as he grows up.

Handsome Hanley is Tina's horse living in Washington state on their vacation property.  Tina found him at a rescue centre in Aldergrove that rescued him from an auction in Alberta.  We know very little about his past aside from the fact that there appears to be a trauma history.  When we first bought Hanley, he was cautious and nervous.  He would not let us halter him easily or clean his feet; sometimes, we had to work hard to gain his assent to brush him.  Hanley is named after a BCBA-D who inspires Tina and whom she looks up to, Dr. G. Hanley.  Dr. Hanley's PFA-SBT and Universal Protocols, along with the research on going with the staff at FTF consulting, inspired Tina to develop her practice as assent-based and trauma-assumed from the start of her BCBA career.  Like Dr. Hanley (the human), Hanley the horse inspires Tina daily as they work together to build a relationship built on assent, mutual trust, and respect.

Legacy is our biggest horse at TCC.  She is 12 years old and won us over when we met her with her gentle demeanour and kind eye.  Another standardbred racehorse, this mare retired after only five races.  She was not cut out to win jackpots, but she had a lovely career raising babies and had five over the years before she came to TCC.  After a failed attempt at a dressage home due to asthma concerns, Legacy has landed softly at True Colours.  She is for our more advanced students as she is still learning her new job.  This gentle giant will always have a home with us.

We look forward to many beautiful years with her.

Lady is here as a free lease horse.  That means we are borrowing her and we treat her as our own while she is with us.  She belongs to one of our Equine BIs and is settling in nicely.  Lady is a sweet 16 year old, been there done that girl.  She is kind and is a classic kids lesson horse.  Lady will push our students who do mounted programs to communicate clearly and confidently with her, otherwise...she won't believe you!  Lady is the newest addition at TCC and we are honoured for the chance to learn from her.