Looking back, it is a wonder Sean Davies likes horses at all! As with many children, his first experiences with equines was with a Shetland pony. This particular ponies’ name was “Roscoe”, aka. “Satan’s Spawn”. Why children are subjected to these evil creatures it is hard to say, but, at 4 years of age, Sean took on the challenge of surviving the wrath of Roscoe! Roscoe was very adept at the “Run, Suck back, Drop head, and Buck” move. The resulting complete flip over, of the diminutive rider, usually resulted in the immediate inability to breathe as all air was slammed out of the lungs on the ground. Roscoe was a genius mathematician in that he knew the exact measurements of the distance between the ground and bottom limbs of all trees in the immediate riding vicinity. He would make extremely abrupt detours which resulted in the rider being unceremoniously scraped off of his back. Even trying to catch Roscoe had its hazards, as more often than not, he would chase you out of the pasture with bared teeth! It is said Roscoe still guards the gates of Hades!
After surviving Roscoe, Sean, continued his life with horses, living with his Aunt Mary Jane Davies. “Aunt Jane” was very involved in the Morgan Horse Association in the 1970’s and early 80’s, breeding and showing Morgan horses with several national champions in a variety of classes. Sean got his first exposure to the principles of Classical Horsemanship with these horses. At the same time the horse farms were also working ranches and agricultural operations where long days of putting in fence, baling hay, tossing watermelons, pulling calves, and doctoring cattle were the norm. In 1977 the entire operation moved from Chiefland, Florida to Greeley, Colorado. The facility in Greeley sported a large indoor arena, 17 stall main barn, 8 stall secondary barn. Sean became very adept at cleaning all stalls, feeding, and working horses each day on his return from school. His first job in Colorado, was in Redfeather Lakes, as a wrangler at the Pine Ridge Stables and Beaver Meadows Stables, guiding rides through the beautiful mountain settings and moving the remaining cattle around the vast ranch where only homes and land lots exist today.
Sean had some tumultuous years as a teenager and began living on his own at the age of 16. Bored with school he left and went to work in construction pouring concrete. He returned to school, but, became disillusioned again. He did however gain his GED which, later, at the age of 18, allowed him to enlist in the Air Force. Sean spent 6 ½ years in the service as an Inflight Refueling Specialist (Boom Operator) on KC-135 and KC-10 tanker aircraft. Traveling to many countries and hotspots of the day including Spain where his love of the Pura Raza Espanola (Andalusian horse) began. After the years in the Air Force, Sean owned his own “Decorative Painting” business for many years in Florida, with his work gracing the homes, hotels, restaurants, and venues in Florida and other places around the country.
Horses were never far from Sean’s thoughts and life came full circle when in 2005 Sean returned to Colorado. Sean started volunteering at a horse rescue and took interest in a very wild, and abused, buckskin Mustang mare he named Honey, aka. “Vinegar”. It would have been Roscoe if she had been a gelding! This proved to be life changing and to this day, Sean will tell you Honey taught him what he knows today. At age 20, Honey would still rather be wild, yet if it wasn’t for her, Sean wouldn’t have developed the skills to help many horses that are misunderstood, mistreated, and or wild. The basis of much of Sean’s energy work and communication, with horses, was developed through years of teaching Martial Arts such as Tai Chi and Tae Kwon Do.
Sean went on to compete in many colt starting clinics on RDFTV and has also competed in four Extreme Mustang Makeover Competitions.
Through these experiences Sean has developed ground work that transitions well to riding and works to create a soft balanced horse.
Sean loves all horses and works with all breeds and has a special knack for helping owners where communication has been lost, or holes that may have been missed in training.
Interesting fact about Sean:
When Sean was a little boy they had a rooster named Crooked Neck. This rooster ran around looking at the world upside down and lived a long happy life. ?
The move to Spirit Heart Ranch has opened the door to expanding services for more boarding, training, clinics, and classes. Together Sean and Dani are creating the Spirit Heart Community. They are excited to bring people and horses together and welcome all.
You can watch Sean’s training techniques on his YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/coloradoreinsman
