 I've ridden hundreds of horses and there's never been one like Skye. He's a big powerful horse and by looking at his stature you would just think that he could rule the world and has no insecurities. But looks can be deceiving. I am Cassie Varteau and I'm a horse trainer and a U.S.D.F. bronze, silver and gold medalist. My mother's a horse trainer as well and I've always had horses in my life. Horses Out Humans takes horses in from a lot of different situations. We've had simple surrenders, we've had starvation cases, we've had horses that have been drawn out from kill pens. Rescuing and adopting horses is really important because there's a lot of animals that I think were just either in the wrong hands or just misunderstood. The emotional reward you could receive from rescuing and adopting is just it's an undescribable feeling. And it's almost not only that these people are giving the horses a second chance but it feels like the horses are doing that for the people as well. Skye when he came into the rescue he instantly drew my eye. I was really attracted to his personality. I mean he was full of life but he was a powerful boy. He truly I could tell was going to be a challenge and something that I was going to have to work for and that was beyond intriguing to me. I would be riding him and trotting one second and pretty much out of the blue that fright and flight response he would just tuck his tail and run. That was very intimidating in the beginning. I really realized that it wasn't that he was trying to be ill-spirited it was just that he was that insecure and looking for direction. As people we can give horses confidence but horses can teach people so much. What they give to me is a sense of just clarity because I can get a little bit hectic. He needed me as much as I needed him and that outlook really changed our relationship. I always refer to dressage as basically like we're dancing together. You really start to feel riding when you let go of control and you feel what the horse is trying to tell you. Skye has changed in so many ways. He's really softened even to my daughter. She's so innocent and he becomes so gentle with her. I'm teaching her about horses because not only is it a giant part of who I am but horses have helped me so much emotionally. Skye has helped my confidence. He's taught me to be more patient. I have grown a lot. When you have a relationship with a horse and when they trust you it's a beautiful thing.