April 08, 2006
hi,
Sassy and I are doing good. I love her so much!
Sassy and Harley



Dear Dale and Suzy,
As you can read above the letter from our daughter she is beyond happy. We want to thank you for representing Sassy in an honest professional manner. We really felt like we were able to make an informed, educated decision on purchasing her for our 12 year old who will be her main rider. We left your ranch understanding that Sassy was young but had a good foundation of training and that we had a course to follow to keep that foundation solid and to continue to move forward. Sassy is very responsive and adapts easily to new things, people, and surroundings. We are confident that we can continue to help Sassy mature into a well rounded horse. We have only had Sassy a few weeks and Harley did experience some frustration this weekend when Sassy raised up her hind quarters (not very high but a little) (She didn't do it when Larry rode her). It appears Sassy was doing this when asked to lope in a clockwise direction, so we set about looking at what Harley was doing to effect this action. We decided it was just Sassy testing Harley's commitment to making her run on her off side. The little hind raising was enough to scare Harley and shake her confidence. And if we could tell Harley was different in the saddle from across the arena then we were sure Sassy could sense it and was taking advantage of it. So we told her the next time Sassy raised up to just bear down, remember her training, and keeping loping in the direction she intended to go. Harley cried through the next few laps but Sassy eventually figured Harley wasn't going to give up (or get off) so she settled down and did what she knew she was suppose to do. Without such a good training foundation we have no doubt the outcome would have been disastrous for Harley, and Sassy in the long run. Harley has really put her heart and soul into doing the best for Sassy. We know this will just be one of the many test, trials, and puzzlements that we will experience with Sassy as that is just the way of horses. As long as we continue to build on trust and get Sassy to go with us and her foundation training instead of her natural instincts then we will succeed. We are excited to go down this path and can't thank you enough for your integrity and professionalism.

Larry and Darlene Thornton
April 03, 2006

Dear Dale and Suzy,
Sassy is great!
She has settled in just fine. She also has a few friends out at McChord horse stables. She is doing great! We gave her a bath on 4/1/06. She wasn't sure at first but she was good. She sure likes to roll because we put her out in the arena with Bob and she rolled for 5 minutes straight. Bob and Sassy get along real well, Bob is the boss. I have rode Sassy both in the round pen and the arena. Mom and I are going to take Bob and Sassy out on the trail this week. I'm keeping up with the training. In fact many people here at the stables say she was trained very well for her age. Well Sassy is awesome! I LOVE HER SO MUCH I CAN"T EXPLAIN IT. Thank you so much!

Your friends,
Harley and Sassy
March 28, 2006

Pictures of Dale schooling Harley, getting her ready for ownership of Sassy.

March 27, 2006
Dale and Suzy,
Harley wanted me to email you to let you know our home computer has crashed and she has a nice letter for you but I have to get the system back up and running so bear with us. She rode Sassy on Sat and Sun both in the round pen and the arena and did an awesome job. Sassy was very responsive and calm. It appears Sassy has settled into her new surroundings with ease and seems to get along with Bob real well. With all the rain she likes to roll and is pretty much a muddy mess, we are looking for a sunny day to give her a bath, but none the less Harley did braid her mane which made Bob happy as he looked pretty ridiculous as a gelding with braids. She is getting lots of attention and love not to mention hay (which she can eat a lot of). I tell Harley to take her time and go over all that Dale told her everyday in her mind so she doesn’t forget anything vital so we will see how it goes. I can’t tell you how happy we are with Sassy. Larry even rode her and did just fine. We promise you a nice letter real soon. Hope you got the CD we sent. Best to you,
Darlene, Harley, Larry and Sam

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