The Horses: An Introduction

Yesterday I got to thinking, why don't I have more pictures of the horses? Well, aside from the fact that a wonderful photographer donates her services and we have lots of pictures around, I always have my hands full while I'm there! So after running to town to pick up a couple things, I came back and took some photos. I'd like to do a post on each horse, but here's a quick intro for all the horses currently up for adoption!

Sadie is a small gaited mare in her teens who's been here about a month. She had a few years off of work, but she's sound and we evaluated her under saddle on Sunday. I don't know much about her history except that she stopped being ridden after backing her way home on a trail ride. She tried to back into the gate multiple times during her test ride, but our wonderful young rider kept with her and eventually had her going on the rail at a variety of gaits...

This is Hope. She's been up front for three days now and seems very sweet, but a bit shy. This is not the best picture, but you can still see how underweight she is even after several weeks of proper feeding. I think she's been here about a month as well, but spent longer in quarintine thanks to some skin parasites. I don't know how old she is, I think late teens.

Meet Kahlua, the awesome paint mare is who I've been working with lately! She has a club foot but stays sound with proper shoeing and is learning to work calmly at the walk and trot in the arena. Some of the other riders think she's squirrely, but I think she's a smart little mare who will give you the run-around if she thinks she can get away with it! She'll be a fine trail horse for a calm, confident rider. She's only 7 or 8 and hasn'd been working under saddle very long.

This cute fellow is Badger. He and his penmate, Billy, are both very late 20s and have been living together for at least a decade. They came in together with a couple other horses who had been starved more than once on dude strings and are not up for adoption due to their repeated bad luck. They get used a lot for group demos like massage and basic horse health because they're calm and love having lots of people paying attention to them!

Princess is the fattest mini on the face of the planet. See my previous post on her if you're curious as to why...

Mattie is a nearly 3 year old registered Quarter Horse mare who was bought from the kill buyer at the last possible moment by a kindhearted woman who was there picking up a mule she'd bought at the auction. Mattie had strangles and was severely underweight, and this mule had apparently been standing over her and refused to leave without her! We initially thought she was a yearling, she was so tiny! After her long stay in quarintine, she's put on tons of weight and grown several inches! We're still learning a lot about her past...

Winston is a five year old, 17+ hand Quarter Horse gelding who has injuries in all four legs from a jumpping carrier that began at 3, way way way too early!

Romeo got his name from that heart-shaped spot on his shoulder. He's an Arab in his early 20s, mostly sound, likes going on the trail.

Winston and Romeo think they're so studly!

Bella has had pretty much every neurological disease possible, and thus has permanent nerve damage to her back legs. Lots of dedicated people have worked to get her sound and happy, and last month she was even able to hold up her own back feet for the farrier!

Honey's a black Thoroughbred mare with a long history of bad homes. Her hing legs are covered in scars and she came to use with abcesses in three of her hooves. I think she's been her over 6 months, and she's a different horse now that she can move around comfortably! She was such a great sport getting her feet soaked those first few weeks, it was hard to believe a horse that wary of people was letting us mess with her so much! I think both Bella and Honey are late teens.

Oh, Bailey! 42 years old, mostly blind, mostly deaf, completely spunky! She's SUCH a love!

I've talked about Isis before. She's 8, has terrible ringbone, and was beat nearly to death by a kill buyer. After a few years here, though, I'd say she's looking pretty damn good!

Codi was a barrel racer back in her prime, and at 33 she's still got plenty of spunk! She has cushings but is otherwise in pretty great shape for the shape that she's in! This is a terrible picture of her being disspointed that I wasn't bringing her anything delicious, but she has the cutest face and it always so excited to see people, she's one of my favorites!

The little hackney pony in the foreground is Jack, and Storm is the Morgan in the pen behind. Jack came in this fall with a big Saddlebred gelding, both nearly skeletal. His eyes were bugging out of his head and he cowered in the back of his shelter for weeks, but an equine eye specialist, dental care, and haycube/ beet pulp/ Triple Crown senior soup three times a day made all the difference in the world! He's very skittish about people, but we hear he was quite the looker as a parade horse in his prime! He's 26 years old.

Storm belonged to an older gentleman who owned him for all 20 years of his life. They went trail riding every single day, and we did our best to help him keep Storm but in the end we couldn't help him out enough to keep up with the rising cost of hay. He's a total love, and I do hope his old owner will make the difficult trip out here to visit him sooner or later!

Finally, we have Amigo. Aside from being a butthead around mares, this 18 year old quarter horse is a total champ! He had a long carrier as a reining horse before being used in lesson programs for begginer riders. He's sound, reliable on the trail, and takes care of his rider. I would love to see him go home with a little boy who will love the snot out of him! I mean, this is the sort of fallen-through-the-cracks wonderful horse that people wish they could find at a rescue! Now that he's in good weight, there's no reason for him to still be here!