Kazu is a very sweet purebred Crabbet Arabian born in July 2014. Although currently a lovely strawberry roan colour, he will fade to white like his parents over time. He is just over 14hh with a little growing still to do.
2020
Despite a very guarded prognosis after breaking his shoulder last year, Kazu made an incredible recovery and was given the all clear to go back to being a normal horse in March 2020. We had planned on gently introducing Kazu to a rider early in 2020 but we gave him a little more time to re-build the muscle mass he lost when confined to the stable and he finally started training in May.
We use very gentle, positive re-reinforcement training methods and bitless bridles at the sanctuary and Kazu took to his training like a pro! He is such a smart little man and loves to learn. Our wonderful Volunteer, Mia, did a super job and when she sat on Kazu for the first time in August, he didn’t bat an eyelid. He has come so far and is so loved by everyone at the sanctuary.
2019
Kazu slowly started to learn to trust people and then realised that humans were actually quite nice to be around! He learned to really love spending time with people and to have great snooze sessions during our Trust Technique sessions. Kazu didn’t get to grow up in a herd environment and so he is lacking some ‘herd manners’ (that’s a nice way of saying that he can be very annoying to the other horses!). Because of this, he doesn’t have a best friend in the herd so he really looks forward to spending time with the humans and getting lots of attention from them instead.
We were all devastated in September 2019 when Kazu slipped on wet ground as he cantered around a tree in the paddock. He lost his footing, fell heavily onto his shoulder and broke it. If the fracture had been just 1mm longer, it would have been right through the joint – an injury that would not have been survivable.
We were really worried about how he would manage being confined in a stable for his recovery period (a minimum of 12 weeks) given that he had never been confined before, but he was an absolute superstar! We made his stable bigger and bigger as his healing progressed, gave him lots of enrichment toys and tree branches to chew on, created a shelter right next door to his stable where we hung hay nets to encourage the other horses to hang around to keep him company. We needn’t have worried – the other herd members all too turns to keep him company right through his rehabilitation.
2018
We adopted Kazu as a 4yo in November 2018 as our very first rescue. His name means ‘the first’ in Japanese and it really suits him. Kazu came to us as a colt but was gelded almost straight away and settled well into the calmer life of a gelding.
Kazu was covered in hundreds of cattle ticks and still has scarring from the ticks today. He also had a tummy full of worms and terrible feet – having never had his feet trimmed, worming treatments, dental care or vaccinations. We have a lot of work ahead of us to bring this gorgeous boy back to full health.
Due to his health issues and the fact that he has lived life as a stallion so far, his rehabilitation journey will be a long and slow one. He’s a lovely gentle boy and we are thrilled that we have been able to add him to the herd.
Life Before Hoofbeats Sanctuary
Kazu’s breeder fell ill and couldn’t look after their remaining herd. Kazu’s mother died early in his life and Kazu was left with his brother, unattended and unhandled, in a paddock with very little feed. He has some health issues associated with not getting the required nutrition in those first few formative years.
