Friday, July 07, 2006, 21:59
Filly Update (See Story Below)
My friend who went with us last night to look at the filly just called.
We think we have found a home for her!
A man she knows, who shoes horses and raises horses and breaks horses and who really likes Appaloosa horses, left a message on her answering machine saying he was interested.
My friend was going to call him back and tell him to set it up with the owner when he could come to pick her up.
LeAnn
Friday, July 07, 2006, 21:17
From Bad to Worse. . .
I might have known.
I should not have ever said that I was hoping for a quiet week so that I could get some work done.
Thursday afternoon, Randy called me from work. A friend of his had called and said he had found out about another guy who had a horse that he didn't want and that if he couldn't find somebody to take her, he was going to do away with her, dig a hole with a backhoe and bury her.
The horse is a two-year-old filly who has never even had a halter on her.
Randy and I, Randy's friend and another friend of ours went to look at her Thursday evening. The situation was that the guy bought a mare at an auction two years ago, and unbeknownst to him, the mare was in foal. And now he wants the youngster gone. In addition to never having a halter put on her, she has never had her feet picked up, she has never had her feet trimmed, and I would imagine, she has never had any vaccinations.
The filly is going to be a big horse. She is already bigger than her mother. And she is curious. She wasn't especially sure she wanted us to pet her, but it was like she couldn't stay away and had to keep coming over to see us while we were standing in the pasture. She is filled out and sleek, so she hasn't been underfed or anything like that. Her mother is a strongly-patterned Appaloosa, and she is a sorrel roan with the beginnings of some spots on her rump.
Unfortunately, the young lady also has some foot problems that might be corrected with proper trimming or it might be a congenital defect. (She has somewhat of a club foot on the right front; her foot is turned in and her ankle is turned out.)
I know I can't take her. I've already got one two-year-old horse to work with. I don't need two. Especially one that has never even had a halter on her. She will require someone with lots of time, patience and know-how. Plus, an Appaloosa's temperament is such that the horse will go along, acting like a perfect angel for a year or two or three, then all of a sudden one day, it will blow up on you, seriously injure you (if you're unlucky) and then it will be a perfect angel for another year or two or three before the next blow up.
We told the guy we didn't want her but that we would find someone who did. He said fine, that she could stay in the pasture for a while.
As soon as we got home Thursday evening, I started making some phone calls. I already have a couple of leads on people who might be interested in the filly. If her foot is so bad she will never be sound enough to ride, she can still be a 'pasture buddy' for another horse who needs some company. After all, the price is right. The owner wants to give her away.
I was awake until 4 a.m., worrying about the filly. I have been saying lots of prayers that we can find the right home for this little girl.
And here I thought all of the things going on with Charlie and his surgery and the abscess, the Strawberry Fest last weekend, baling hay, the Fourth of July, the neighbor's Jerseys getting out and taking off (they are home now; I saw them Friday morning on my way home from town; they're in the pasture where they belong!) -- AND getting roped into being on the church pictorial directory committee (that's why I went to town Friday morning for a committee meeting; it's going to be a tremendous amount of work) -- was all WAY MORE than enough for one week.
LeAnn R. Ralph