Meet the Beasts
Learn a little bit more about the incredible animals who help make what we do possible.
Alkimus
Alkimus is a 2013 Friesian x Paint gelding, full brother to Elgin, who Kaleigh began working with in 2017. Although she had ridden horses since her childhood, he was the first horse Kaleigh trained herself. When she began working with Alkimus, his insecurities made him difficult to handle as he would bolt, strike, and rear whenever he was overwhelmed or afraid. He and Kaleigh learned side by side as she helped him become confident in the world around him and the work they did together.
He is now Kaleigh’s most advanced liberty horse and travels the country with her and her other horses to share everything that they’ve learned together. He loves liberty work and learning new tricks, and also excels in dressage and bridleless riding. He has a sweet and silly personality and makes sure that nobody on the team takes themselves too seriously.
Elgin
Elgin is a 2015 Friesian x Paint gelding, full brother to Alkimus, who came into Kaleigh’s life a year after she and Alkimus started their journey together. She had been wishing to find Alkimus a perfect match to work at liberty with, and when Elgin crossed her path she knew it was meant to be. His sensitive and independent personality posed some challenges as he and Kaleigh got to know each other, but once he started to become confident in what she was asking of him he blossomed into a fiery and enthusiastic partner.
Elgin is one of Kaleigh’s main horses and travels the country with her and her other horses as they teach and perform together. He excels in his liberty work and trick training, and truly shines with his bridleless riding. He and Kaleigh love exploring refined bridleless riding and have been training with just a neck rope since the summer of 2021. His incredible work ethic and focus are some of Kaleigh’s favorite things about him.
Mateo
Mateo is a 2012 Dales Pony stallion who came into Kaleigh’s life for the first time in 2020. His owner, Cathy, had suffered a terrible stroke that left her paralyzed and in a coma. Mateo, back then known as Marley, was Cathy’s whole world, so when she began to make a miraculous recovery despite the uncertain prognosis from her doctors, her daughter contacted Kaleigh to ask if she could train the young stallion to lay down on cue in the hopes that with enough time and healing Cathy would be able to ride him one day. During her time working with Marley, Kaleigh never got the chance to meet Cathy, and before long Marley’s training was finished and he was moved to a different barn to be taken care of while Cathy continued to heal.
A year and a half later, Cathy contacted Kaleigh to ask if the two of them could finally meet, so they set a date to visit Marley together. During their visit, it became clear Cathy had sadly not recovered as much as she would have needed to to be able to ride Marley again and was wondering what was to come next for the both of them. The stars aligned for all three of them that day, and they agreed that Kaleigh would take him home.
Now known as Mateo, meaning “gift from God”, this gorgeous boy is thriving under Kaleigh’s care and training. His soulful eyes, gentle nature, and good looks win the hearts of everyone he meets. He is learning liberty work, tricks, and low level dressage and made is debut in the performance arena with Kaleigh’s other horses during their 2022 tours.
Dales ponies are incredibly rare and are currently critically endangered with less than 250 Dales Ponies registered in the US, and less than 5,000 worldwide.
Encantadoro
Encantadoro, known in the barn as “Oro”, is a 2022 PRE colt bred by Sommer Ranch Andalusians. Kaleigh is looking forward to raising him and training him to perform with the other Braveheart Beasts when he is old enough.
His very rare and unique double pearl coloring on top of his incredible conformation and great mind make this boy a top-notch stallion prospect. Special things are in store for this one-of-a-kind horse!
Simon and Oliver
Born in 2011, Simon and Oliver were a pair of twin Holstein steers that started it all for Kaleigh. They were given to her when they were just one day old by the farmer who owned the dairy farm where she worked as a teenager. Kaleigh, Simon, and Oliver grew up together, and the two steers became the very first animals she trained. After teaching them to work in a yoke together as a team of oxen, she went on to teach them to ride with and without a bridle, do tricks, work at liberty, and even Roman ride bridleless. Kaleigh’s work with Simon and Oliver led to her teaching her very first clinics, and they traveled with her as she began sharing the foundation of relationship-based training that founded the work she still does today.
Oliver passed away of natural causes in August 2021, and Simon followed in January 2023. They are both buried on top of their favorite hill at the farm where they grew up. Although her work today focuses primarily on horses, Kaleigh will always be thankful for the role Simon and Oliver played in helping her become who she is, and for the people who made her adventures with them possible.
