Rescue Horses and Neglect Issues
Our Nita
As a Farrier who started in rescue, Sarah has worked more tragic cases than she would like to remember. Sarah swore she would never own a “rescue” until the day she met Nita. Nita had been badly abused by a man who hit her and several other mares with a baseball bat. Nita was abused from 6 months old until she was about three, until a friend of Sarah’s loaded Nita and 4 other horses up and took them home.
In time, the others recovered and healed but Nita never really did. At eight years old Sarah took her home to join our herd. No one could touch her and even our other horses stayed away. Nita was extremely dangerous, breaking Sarah’s leg in two places with a lightning fast kick. We were afraid that Nita might have to be euthanized. She would not accept any contact with the herd or her new people and spent her days staring off into space.
Dave was sure we could help her. With his gentle care she began to understand that she was safe and her bad days were behind her. Slowly, with patience and love from us she began to develop a bond to her new home. At last her front feet where able to be serviced. She is beginning to actually enjoy a pet on the neck and we are looking foreword to a possible trail ride this summer. She is far from perfect yet, but it is good to see her perk up when we approach and not run away in fear. Now every day is better than the last and she will have the life she was always meant to have. That was my promise to her when she came to us, and I won’t let her down.
Tips for a Successful Rescue
“Life After Rescue” - Saving horses cost a lot of money; many times their feet are a disaster taking years to fix. If someone is going to invest that much into a horse it should be one that is going to enjoy its new life to the maximum benefit, not one limited to only ever being in pain loafing its life away.
What will the horse do after it has been saved?
If the horse you are looking at is particularly mean spirited, I say watch out! Most rescue horses have trust issues but there is a big difference between horses that are fussy and nervous about having their hooves handled and ones which explode violently like a bomb when triggered, or for no reason at all. Many problems can be overcome, but don’t risk your (or my) skin on a horse that is just plain rotten. There are too many nice horses that need homes.
Is the horse a nice person inside?
The reason you might look at a given horse is because it is special in some way. Breeding quality, show ability, or is it just a spectacular child’s pet? I don’t care what kind of value it has, it just has to be something. Maybe it is something as simple as the horse is just extremely pretty. But it has to be something or the horse will have a hard time getting a forever home.
Does the horse have ANY sort of value?
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