{"id":4566,"date":"2012-07-23T20:30:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T20:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/?p=4566"},"modified":"2012-07-23T20:30:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T20:30:15","slug":"the-holistic-path-to-a-horses-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/2012\/07\/23\/the-holistic-path-to-a-horses-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"The Holistic Path to a Horse’s Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kris Kokal stands with his horse at the family farm. The Kokal brothers’ business, HorseTenders, uses a holistic approach to building relationships with horses and their owners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It takes heart, determination, and dedication to create a business or to work with animals. Erik Kokal \u201909<\/strong>, Kris Kokal<\/strong>, and Nik Kokal \u201911<\/strong>, three brothers who attended Keene State College, have put plenty of these attributes into their horse training business,\u00a0HorseTenders<\/a>, and the HorseTenders Mustang Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Erik, the behind-the-scenes\u00a0financials and \u00a0computer guy, and also works at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center as a counselor. Kris, a graduate of equine dentistry school and a certified farrier, is with the horses daily. Nik is entering his second year of veterinary school at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, but when he’s home, he spends every day with the horses. While each brother has a different role, each is vital to their business’ success.
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\nKris and Nik decided in their early teens that they wanted to work with horses. The Kokal family has always used a holistic approach toward working with horses and their trainers\/owners. They have developed their \u201cMettle without Metal\u201d philosophy to prove it’s possible to train and build a relationship with the horse without using metal bits, spurs, or horseshoes. \u201cHorseTenders is here to help the horses and the owners,\u201d Nik explained. \u201cRelationships are built with the horses, bonds develop, and we get to see horses enhance people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kris and Nik applied their Mettle without Metal approach when they participated in the Extreme Mustang Makeover <\/a>in 2008 and again in 2009. In the competition, 100 participants had 100 days to train a wild mustang. Each brother had his own horse, which each prepared for a competition in Texas. The second time around, they were filmed for the documentary,\u00a0Wild Horse Wild Ride<\/a>\u2014all while taking classes at KSC!<\/p>\n

After the Extreme Mustang Makeover, the Kokals realized that other mustangs needed their support. The family fosters and works with mustangs and neglected or abused horses until they’re ready for a new home. No horse is too difficult to work with. Each mustang gets personal attention, and the Kokals spend as much time as needed with the horse, until they’re sure the mustang can be moved to its forever home.\u00a0 \u201cThey are never lost\u201d Kris simply states, \u201cThere is always hope.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It takes heart, determination, and dedication to create a business or to work with animals. Erik Kokal \u201909, Kris Kokal, and Nik Kokal \u201911, three brothers who attended Keene State College, have put plenty of these attributes into their horse training business,\u00a0HorseTenders, and the HorseTenders Mustang Foundation. Erik, the behind-the-scenes\u00a0financials and \u00a0computer guy, and also … Continue reading The Holistic Path to a Horse’s Heart<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":4568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[438],"class_list":["post-4566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alumni-achievers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/231"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4566"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4577,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions\/4577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.keene.edu\/newsline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}