We are fortunate to have trained demonstration animals (horses and a llama) that we use to provide realistic hands-on training to students of our courses. These animals are raised from birth using the Imprinting methods of Dr. Robert Miller, and desensitization / familiarization methods espoused by Ray Hunt, Tom and Bill Dorrance and taught thru John Lyons Perfect Horse and Parelli Savvy Horsemanship methods. They go to their first public training at about 6 months of age...and from then on are a permanent part of the demonstration team.

 

We currently have 7 animals that participate and are traded out for the 15 to 20 training courses we provide each year:

 

 

Son's Impromtu Angel or ANGEL was born in 2000 and started doing demos in 2002, she is a black National Walking Horse mare about 16 hands. (All our National Walking horses www.nwha.com are related - they have the same sire.) She is strongly opinionated about being the boss mare, and is an awesome trail and foxhunting horse in her normal life. She is at her best for the laying down demonstrations, and comes when she is called by name.

 

Son's Electric Blue or ELECKTRA was born in 2003, she is a blue roan National Walking Horse mare. She made her training debut in 2003 at the Kentucky Horse Park, and started being ridden for the first time in late 2007. She is well known for showing students that a nice quiet horse can go ballistic when she gets her chance to be lead and handled for the training – she knows this is the only time that she can act like a idiot!

 

 

 

Aerial Painted Pants or AERIAL was a neglect case that we rescued in 2003, the only horse we did not raise ourselves - but she found her calling in TLAER.  Her beautiful blue eyes and Indian Horse www.indianhorse.com paint medicine hat coloring belie her diva attitude and strong opinion that humans are made to be horse scratching posts and provide treats!  She even has an online opinion column….has been featured in numerous articles and is on the cover of “Rescue Your Horse” a book about large animal rescue for horse owners by Michelle Staples.

 

Son's Suede Karma or KARMA is the most famous of our animals, he has been participating in our seminars since he was born in 1999. He is a red strawberry roan National Walking Horse gelding about 16.1 hands. We genetically select for the wonderful disposition and large size, he has been lifted 6 times in demonstrations under a helicopter in an Anderson Sling, and enjoys floating in the Equine Floatation Device.

 

Son's Tornado Warning or TORNADO was born in 1998, he is a black National Walking Horse gelding, our smallest at 15.3 hands. He has several good tricks to share with students and is playing on Level III Parelli Savvy Natural Horsemanship www.parelli.com , which means Rebecca rides him without a bridle or halter sometimes.

 

Son's Sancho or SANCHO was born in 1993, he was the first to wear the Anderson Sling in our early demonstrations. He is a black National Walking Horse gelding, and is huge at 16.3 hands. A gentle giant, he loves treats, jumping, trailriding and to travel, he is the most advanced trained under John Lyon’s training system www.johnlyons.com.

 

 

 

DEXTER is of unknown breeding, but we know he is a 400 pound white Llama with an attitude! Originally we got him because he was hard to catch, but we have found him to be brilliant with the courses and gets lifted just like the horses. He is approximately 15 years old, gelded, and the boss of the whole herd of horses.  They live together at our farm in Pendleton, SC.

 

 

TORQUE is the latest demonstration addition to the TLAER training team - he is estimated to be a 5 or 6 years old Appaloosa that is the shortest of our herd but still fought his way up to be Number 2 in the pasture!  We adopted him from Palmetto Equine Awareness and Rescue for Equines  and was Number 4 in the photos.  Since then he was rehabilitated by PEARL volunteers and came to live with us in October, 2007 after cryptorchid surgery at UGA Vet School. His training has continued and he went to his very first public training in NY in July, 2008 - lying down on command, interacting with students, and showing them how sweet he really is by standing still for the Anderson Sling to be emplaced.  For an online news report about TORQUE:  Times Herald-Record/CHET GORDON

 

Many people ask if the animals ever get injured or scared doing demonstrations under helicopters, tied down on a Glide, showing a splint complete with a mulage (fake) injury, jumping into the mud, lying down for webbing and rope manipulations, or even while acting scared while running loose for the containment portion of the training. They are trained to accept all the people, night situations, loud noises, scared people, and the equipment that we put on them.  Many times they are allowed to run loose during the laboratory sessions, and consistently choose to come to the people.  They are trained to lie down on command and allow us to touch them with ropes and webs. The only time that chemical restraint is used is to increase their safety when demonstrating the Rescue Glide. Even the vertical lifts are completed without sedation! And, we do give them lots of TREATS!

Training animals to act as demonstrators for Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue trainings starts with imprinting at birth, and continues with everyday training and handling. There are numerous excellent natural horsemanship teachers and clinicians (Pat Parelli, John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, Linda Tellington-Jones, On Target Training, etc.) available to animal owners. All of these animal/ people training techniques and methods emphasize positive responses, encourage the building of a inter-species communication system, and utilize low stress and minimal force when training the animal.

We have found that application of these techniques is useful to prepare the animals for the introduction of unusual requests such as asking the animal to allow us to lay them down in front of crowds of students, perform vertical lifts without sedation, and allowing various webbing configurations to be placed on their bodies. Without the cooperation of these animals, most of the photographs and contributions to TLAER knowledge presented would not have been possible. The authors consider these animals to be their close family members.

Statement of Humane Treatment

        None of the animals used in our training courses, laboratories, or demonstrations are subjected to pain or distress. Photographs of many of the scenarios, procedures and methodologies presented in this site are of these animals that are personally owned by the authors. No animals were used in training scenarios that could potentially cause pain, injury or distress. Only trained demonstration animals were used in training courses, laboratories and demonstrations.

        Mild sedation is used in some scenarios to prevent any possible distress from the procedures, or to prevent the animal possibly injuring itself, and is administered by a licensed veterinarian in each case. The animal's well being and level of comfort is constantly monitored during all training exercises and demonstrations, often by multiple humane officers and veterinarians.