His Story

There is always something to be learned from an animal. Relating the story of Sirocco, Wildworks Director, Mollie Hogan, tells of how this high-strung Arabian gelding taught her patience. His original owner was an endurance rider, interested in horses trained to run 100-mile races. But Sirocco was not yet well trained when his owner decided that she had one too many horses. She turned him over to her friend, horse trainer Sol Spitz. Mollie felt an immediate connection with the big white horse and purchased him from Sol. She looked forward to riding her new mount into the Topanga hills on leisurely outings with her dogs. Sirocco, however, had a back injured by inexperienced riders trying to play “cowboy” and was nervous about being handled. He resisted Mollie's every attempt to ride him, even to the point of tossing her off his back. At Sol’s recommendation, Mollie stopped trying to “ride the wind.”  She settled for tentative approaches and gentle strokes. "I realized he was scared, so I just petted him," she recalls. "He taught me to take one thing at a time. When at last he allowed me to mount and ride him into the hills, we only took one dog with us at a time. Now, after our long, patient time together, he lets me ride him bareback as far as I want to go and allows all the dogs to come with us. ‘Wild horse’ is now just a game we play together in his pen."