Rescue Mission

NEWSLETTER Volume 2, Number 9, September 2005

It is hard to know where to start to tell the story of what happens to some horses. Yesterday I saw a horse in the kind of sad condition that I have seen before and keep hoping I’ll never have to witness again. I think I’ll spare you some of the soap opera-like details of how this gelding got into the situation that I saw yesterday, but some of it is instructive.

A year ago, this horse belonged to a family who loved him and cared for him. He had a reputation as a sweet gentle animal who was “the kids’ horse.” His job was to pack a nine year old boy and his siblings around the farm and down the trail. By all accounts he did his job beautifully. Last year circumstances forced this family to sell all their horses, and this guy went to a new home. For whatever reason, things didn’t work out. The horse was largely ignored. Then this spring, he had his hooves trimmed. The trim was so severe that it caused a mechanical founder. This incident, combined with his obesity and resulting laminitis, meant that suddenly the horse needed attention.



A few months later, he was unwanted. Eventually, through roundabout circumstances, the horse landed in the fix I saw yesterday. When he first arrived at the place where I found him, he was put in a pasture with one other horse, which worked out well. Then he was moved into a pasture with a mare and her young foal. The mare, undoubtedly concerned about the safety of her foal and the arrival of a strange gelding, chased him and ran him through a fence. What he burst into was a herd of six or seven horses, including three mares, and a gelding who was only altered a couple of months ago, effectively still a stallion. After a scene of total pandemonium, at least as it was described to me, the new horse was separated from the herd and placed in a dry lot on his own. He is scarred from kicks and bites, these added to his girth sores (he was taken on a long ride, in an ill fitting saddle, and despite the on-going repair needed for his hooves) do not make for a pretty picture. He has also now lost so much weight that all his ribs are showing.

What struck me when I first saw this raw-boned bay gelding, though, was less the physical condition, which is shocking enough, but more the expression on his face and his body language. This was a horse who looked beaten, as if he felt that it was all over for him. He looked as if he had simply given up hope. His eyes had the lost, haunted look of an abuse victim. It is a look of detachment, where the spirit has left the physical body, it is a coping mechanism of sorts.

I brought the bay gelding home to join our little herd. Right now, I’ve agreed to take him on a trial basis because I want to be sure that he is compatible with our horses. After losing my old horse Legend this spring, and trading my four year old filly to a good friend and horse trainer, we have space at our ranch for a third horse, and this guy needs a home. The physical scars will heal, I’m sure, and his appearance will change as he receives good nutrition, exercise, and shelter. But the emotional and spiritual scars may take longer to heal. It will take time, and patience, but I am hopeful that he will connect once again to kind and consistent handling. I’ll let you know how things progress.

Anna Banks, Editor womentalkhorses.com
editor@womentalkhorses.com
Moon Hill Ranch, Idaho