Where to begin. We were aiming for horses in the future. Two well trained, fit and healthy mature, steady horses.
But no. We have been blessed with two rescued colts (and a mare should be here at some point soon) Destiny, fate, divine intervention, stupidity, call it what you will. When I first clapped eyes on these beasts, I wasn't sure what to do, so I thought it only polite to go find the owner.
He turned out to be quite a nice man, considering he almost starved to death a couple of his horses. Much to my surprise, he agreed to my terms. They were simple. Feed them, or be arrested. I offered to look after some of them, since it seemed clear he couldn't manage the amount he had. The local Vets and Animal Control are aware of the issue. Long story short, he gave me one of the starved colts, and a pretty healthy 8 month old. Neither are halter broke. Actually, they wont let me touch them, but they do follow me, and are curious. They will take food from my hand, so this is a good start. What's the point of breeding horses, then not bothering to even touch them. I swear, its beyond me.
Over two weeks, the starved colt has made good progress. I thought I would share an image of him from two weeks ago - the day I saw, and intervened) I've put the image on a separate page, so if it is going to upset you, don't visit it. You'll find 'Mr Skinny' here.
The previous owner didn't name them, and we haven't named them either - in the meantime, we have Mr Skinny, and Mr Red. They only arrived yesterday, so its early days.
Here they are ~
But no. We have been blessed with two rescued colts (and a mare should be here at some point soon) Destiny, fate, divine intervention, stupidity, call it what you will. When I first clapped eyes on these beasts, I wasn't sure what to do, so I thought it only polite to go find the owner.
He turned out to be quite a nice man, considering he almost starved to death a couple of his horses. Much to my surprise, he agreed to my terms. They were simple. Feed them, or be arrested. I offered to look after some of them, since it seemed clear he couldn't manage the amount he had. The local Vets and Animal Control are aware of the issue. Long story short, he gave me one of the starved colts, and a pretty healthy 8 month old. Neither are halter broke. Actually, they wont let me touch them, but they do follow me, and are curious. They will take food from my hand, so this is a good start. What's the point of breeding horses, then not bothering to even touch them. I swear, its beyond me.
Over two weeks, the starved colt has made good progress. I thought I would share an image of him from two weeks ago - the day I saw, and intervened) I've put the image on a separate page, so if it is going to upset you, don't visit it. You'll find 'Mr Skinny' here.
The previous owner didn't name them, and we haven't named them either - in the meantime, we have Mr Skinny, and Mr Red. They only arrived yesterday, so its early days.
Here they are ~
Mr Red (approx 8 months old) he looks pretty healthy.
Mr Skinny, not so healthy (approx 18 months old) ~
He also has a swelling on his forehead. The previous owner thought it may be a snake bite, but I'm not so sure. I'm going to show the image to the vets tomorrow. Then they can decide what we need to do. Its so difficult not being able to touch them.
They have already eaten the grass in the pen - Once they are halter broke, we can let them into the first paddock. I hope the electric fencing will keep them in place. The rest of the 7 acres isn't ready yet.
I bought a book called Zen Mind ~ Zen Horse by Allan J Hamilton. I hope to God its going to help me through this journey....I'm freaking out left, right and center, but, I already love these two boys :)
Any advice, will be very much welcomed.
