There he is!!! Parmella he's looking fantastic. After some of the changes you've made in the past couple of years I wondered if you still had him.
For those of you who have never seen, or may have forgotten, this is what Wiz looked like in October 07. Parmela literally saved this little fella's life with her care. It's hard to believe this poor little one and the happy little guy in the other pictures are the same horse.
Hi Donna,
Thanks for posting the picture of him. I'd forgotten about that one.
Wiz has really come around. I know when you first rescued him he was nothing short of heck on hooves!
Once you got some food into him, his true nature and strength began to emerge...not to mention that you'd been told he was a gelding when in fact he was most certainly a stallion!
I know when Mark came home from picking him up, his first words to me were "this horse would have eventually seriously injured or killed that woman." And I soon learned why he said that. Wiz was getting stronger, had ZERO manners, was as wild as a March hare and had NO concept of people or personal space.
Obviously, the first thing that helped was gelding him. Although I don't believe to this day he really knows he's not a stallion. Having Corona, Merlin, Spirit and Wiz on the property at the same time was a challenge...mostly for Wiz. Even with 16' of neutral space between his fence and the others, he just couldn't stop running the fenceline and protecting what he perceived as "his" mares. But by May of 2010 when Spirit left for Julie's place and Wiz was now the only mature "stallion" on the property, he started to calm down. So, add to that his advanced age and he now knows what a halter is, knows what treats are and doesn't feel the constant need to protect his mares from another stallion, he's really settled down. This winter he's in the best shape he's been all the years I've had him. He's keeping his weight on and he's just more relaxed.
He currently shares a fenceline with my younger boys - the oldest of which is 3 this year - but so far he's not concerned about them. I'll have to keep an eye on it as spring nears, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe he's over his need to run the fence.
And yes Donna, there have been so many darn changes for me since mid 2009 - divorce, selling or re-homing over half of my herd, moving to a new location, changing jobs (same company but got moved to a much busier, higher profile role), selling my dream horse Spirit (but it was what was right for him), not being able to show, etc. It's all been frankly overwhelming. But I kept Wiz for two reasons...1) I just couldn't put him through that big of a change - I was already so worried about moving him with me to a new farm and 2) I'm not sure someone else would put up with him!
He's still stubborn, can be very hard-headed and sure can pitch a fit when it's time to have his feet trimmed. But I understand why he's that way and I've learned to accept it. He's old, has very few teeth and only sees shadows at this point. I can't imagine sending him to live somewhere else.
Thanks to everyone for looking at his pictures. The whole situation of the starved horses in WV really brought up sad memories of the KS horses and those left behind. Seeing Wiz in good condition and happy brought a smile to my face after all of the sadness of late.
) I believe has made a difference in his quality of life and his ability to enjoy himself and finally RELAX
.
Wiz is somewhere in his mid 20s and has very few teeth but still looks stunning to me. I wish I could have seen him in his prime.
