Fourteen-month-old golden retriever Nimit had a noticeable quirk — he would always pay attention when horses appeared on the television.
“He would see horses on TV and would perk right up and have to watch,” owner Stacey Crook. “He seems to really like horses, and I would love to see how he would react in real life. We wanted to see how that would work out.”
Crook put the word out on a local Facebook group, and on May 26, Nimit met his first horse, Midas, at the Kingsway Equestrian in Uxbridge.
“It went really well,” Crook said. “You never know because they’re huge when you see them in person … He did get in there. He did get excited.”
Cadence Dow, whose family facilitated the meeting, said they were intrigued and willing to make it happen in a controlled manner, as the horses at Kingsway Equestrian are plenty used to dogs.
Dow said Nimit did quite well, acting skittish but remaining calm.
“Most dogs at his age, I think, they either react one of two ways. They either are super barky, energetic, just a lot, or they just run away from the horse,” she said. “When Nimit approached him, he was just a little skittish but very engaged.”
That gave her the confidence to let the horse, Midas, out of the stall. Dow said Midas was specifically selected for the meeting as one of the most friendly on the farm.
“He’s safe. He’s slow. He’s super sweet. He’s honestly such a good boy,” Dow said of Midas.
Nimit warmed up to Midas as time went on, and they went outside. The dog became more engaged with more room to manoeuvre.
“By the end, Nimit was in love,” Dow said. “It was really cool to see him interact with Midas and just see a reaction I wasn’t expecting.”
“He responded well,” Crook said. “You got to give them new experiences and enrichment. He seemed to enjoy it. He got pretty excited in the end, and he responded pretty well.”
Crook is working on a crafted “bucket list” for Nimit, with different experiences they want to give him throughout his life. They range from camping and boat ride to playing in a giant ball pit and getting a cone from an ice-cream truck.
Meeting a horse is one thing they can now check off.
“I thought, let’s start making a list and tackle it in stride so he can have the richest life I can give him,” she said. “Hopefully, eventually, we’ll be able to check everything off the list.”
