Allen Park Thunderhawk has spent July to
September 2009 being broken in (with a little
spell in the middle) by Trent Allen from Allen
Park Stud.
He is by Allen Park Cherokee (Black & White
Stallion - Clydesdale x Station Bred Stockhorse)
and is out of Allen Park Dakota (Bay & White
Pinto - who was by Allen Park Bald Eagle out of
a Clydesdale Mare.)
He was born in May 2007, so is just a little over
2 years old, but as you can see is quite a big solid
boy already.  He is pictured at left and below with
Jason Allen - Trents brother.
Thunder has been sold to Shiobhan Blair of
Pt Headland, WA, and is heading over to her
at the end of September.
Pictured below is Jason saddling him up, as
you can see he is quite happy to be saddled
with his reins dropped and knows to just
stand there quietly.
Rather than fold everything up and being very
'quiet' with putting the saddle on - at this stage, he
is used to it being thrown over - yet not 'thumped'
down on him - Trent has spent quite some time
desensitising him to a number of things.
When working with a young green horse, it is
always wise to send them around the round
yard a few times each way just to get them
used to having the gear on - as time goes on
and they gain a lot more experience under
saddle, this can be cut back.
On the 14th of September, when these
photos were taken, Thunder just took
everything in his stride, even though he
wasnt used to an audience hanging over
the round yard fence.
Trent is 6 ft 8, so please keep that in mind when viewing
these photos - and Jason is around 6 ft 5 - Thunder is
not quite the 'pony' he looks in these photos!
After mounting and standing quietly for a few moments,
Trent asked Thunder to walk off which of course he did
with no worries whatsoever.
Trent asked for a trot, and then a canter, and
Thunders transitions were quite smooth.
He was quite willing to move, and quite willing
to slow down and come back to a walk when
asked to without any worries.
He is going to make a lovely horse once he has
some more experience under his belt!
Jason left the centre of the arena, and without a person
standing in the middle, Trent needed to give Thunder a
little 'hurry up' with the end of the reins.  He was not
at all fussed about being told to move it!
After Trent was finished on him, Craig wandered in
for a couple of photos of him standing next to
Thunder - being 5 ft 9, he is around the same height
as Shiobhan so this gives her an idea of his true size.
Craig picked up Thunders front feet, and they were
given a 'thump' with his hands and then his
leatherman to mimick shoeing... He was not at all
phased by this either.  Once completely unsaddled,
Trent gave him a cuddle and then walked back to
his yard with him following behind.
Below you can see Thunders sire at Left and his dam at Right.
Dakota is as you can see, back in foal to Cherokee again and due to drop in the not too distant future.
Click HERE to go back to the Allen Park Home Page where you can see some pages of the herd -
including images of Thunder as a foal and growing up!