Refusing to give up on 'dangerous' horse, freerider forms powerful must-see bond

To say that horses saved Alycia Burton's life may sound like an exaggeration, but her work helping rehabilitate "dangerous" horses has given her purpose and a new outlook on life, according to Free Riding New Zealand. Burton drew the attention of people all over the world when videos and pictures of her jumping on a horse bareback and bridle-less surfaced on the internet.
"I take the horses that no one else wants to ride — or with severe behavior issues — and train them. The results speak for themselves," Burton says on Free Riding. "I'm here to show others that despite the odds, you don't need money to do well in the horse world and to look professional — you just need hard work and dedication."
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"When I get a horse, I don't ... say, 'that's a horse that's bucked everyone off, and it's dangerous, and it has a problem.' I look at it and I say ... 'That horse is amazing.' When you speak positive and speak what you want into something, that's what you get in return," Burton says in a video for City Impact Church.
That attitude has taken her far. Despite the odds being stacked against her (she dropped out of high school at 15), she took a chance. She quit her job at a local bank and became self-employed. She lived in a garage and spent her free time training and shoeing horses, giving lessons and rehabilitating horses with behavioral issues.
Now she travels all over New Zealand training these animals. She doesn't rely on any specific training methods, having learned her skills from hands-on experience with the horses, according to Free Riding. It's clear that she has a rapport and connection with the traumatized horses she rehabilitates.
Of all the horses she has worked with, however, there is one with whom she is especially close. According to Free Riding, Banjo travels with her and "holds the key to her heart." The two are in such perfect sync, they take on incredible jumps without a bridle or saddle. Watch the two work together in perfect harmony in the video below.
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