BORN: 30 April 2004
DIED: 1 March 2024
BREED: Brumby
HEIGHT: 13.3hh
GENDER: Mare
COLOUR: Snowflake Appaloosa
ARRIVED: January 2020 – gifted by Mia Blashki
STRESS RESPONSE: Rarely reacts – she’s unflappable!
PAIR BOND: None – but Sooty thinks it’s her!
LIKES: A good massage, grazing in bush land and absolutely ANY food
DISLIKES: Being stabled and being ridden in small spaces
Personality
Indy was an excellent communicator with humans and a huge asset to our equine therapy programs. She was strong and sensible and oh, so smart. Indy was loved and adored by all who know her – horse and human.
Indy had a special gift for bringing stillness. She did this often by inviting and asking for touch, but her connection went beyond physical as she was very attuned to the feelings of humans sharing her space. Indy’s wild instincts showed in her love for being in the bushier paddocks, and how she was always sourcing where the best food is at the time.
History
Indy was gifted to the sanctuary in early 2020 by the Blashki family who had owned her for four years. She has strong Brumby instincts and stands her ground. We honour that at the sanctuary and always seek her opinion and permission before doing any work with her.
Sadly, this was not always the case in her earlier life – for the first 10 years of her life she’d had very firm handling with an owner that used punishment as a training tool. (Here at the sanctuary we use mostly positive-reinforcement training). Punishment is a term used in operant conditioning to refer to any change that occurs after a behavior that reduces the likelihood that that behavior will occur again in the future. It is, sadly, a widely accepted horse training method that, in our opinion, is animal abuse.
We sadly said goodbye to Indy in March 2024, after four wonderful years at the Sanctuary.