We've been wanting to foster a mini for a while and have read so many stories of terribly neglected and sometimes abused minis, so when we got a call from Marty asking if we could help out with a couple of minis being turned over to CMHR, I expected the worst.
Thankfully, our experience was different from many rescues. When we arrived to pick up the horses we were met by a very caring and anxious owner that was very worried about where her horses would go and what would happen to them in the future. The owner is juggling caring for a terminally ill family member, helping her daughter care for her newborn twins and dealing with her own health and disability issues and she loved her horses very much but has been away from home for days at a time and just couldn't devote the time and attention and the sort of care to them anymore that they deserved. She was also in a situation of being in an area of a hay shortage and worrying about being down to their last few bales and having to figure out where to get more at an affordable price. She learned about CMHR through the forum and some forum members and decided rather than sell them to a stranger, she wanted to turn them over to CMHR because she felt confident they would go to good homes. She carefully went over as much information about them as she could, and with tears in her eyes, she kissed and hugged them and sent them off with us along with all their paperwork, the feed she had left and their special feed pans. She apologized over and over about them needing to be wormed and needing farrier and vet work but the horses were healthy and energetic and in overall good health and I feel she is a pretty amazing woman for doing all that she does for her family and she always made sure the horses were fed and watered and had shelter so that was most important and once we brought them home we had the vet and farrier work done and wormed them and they both checked out to be in good health.
ABOUT THE HORSES......
Dante is a 6 yr old (I think) bright sorrel gelding that came with an AMHR application so hopefully can get papers and my first impression was of him being the "shy, quiet, serious one" because the other horse was so outgoing and energetic and seemed to push Dante around a lot.
Dante has already gone on to an adoptive home and now that he is separated from Scout he has come out of his shell and now that he is settled in and feeling secure he has become more assertive and spunky and more of a handful himself. He went to a wonderful experienced family though, that owns a farm with minis, ponies and donkeys and they are hoping to start his groundwork and get him driving this summer. They also own a local tack store and hope to use Dante as sort of a mascot for the store and special events and have said they will help promote CMHR in the store and to their customers.
I don't have an updated picture of Dante yet, but here he is the day that we brought him home.
Scout is a two year old AMHR registered buckskin pinto. He was still a stallion when we got him but he has been gelded. He was quite the energetic little handful and liked rearing up and had a habit of nipping. Gelding him calmed him down a lot and though he was a naughty boy, I fell in love with him and talked my husband into keeping him "for a while, just to do some work on his manners" and that has evolved into us deciding to adopt him ourselves. We are conditioning him and getting him in to shape and we plan to show him this summer. He is smart and enthusiastic, loves attention and being worked with and has personality +++ He will represent CMHR well. Not every rescue horse will become a show horse, but he is proof that some can be.
Here is Scout the day we brought him home (sorry about the last photo, I can't resize it for some reason)
And here is was yesterday, after finally finishing clipping him and giving him a bath:
The owner, by the way, has stayed in touch to see how the horses are doing and I've kept her updated and have sent her many photos. She was in the cities for a meeting and stopped in to visit Scout.
This is a good reminder that there are many stories and many different circumstances that will bring a horse to CMHR.
Thankfully, our experience was different from many rescues. When we arrived to pick up the horses we were met by a very caring and anxious owner that was very worried about where her horses would go and what would happen to them in the future. The owner is juggling caring for a terminally ill family member, helping her daughter care for her newborn twins and dealing with her own health and disability issues and she loved her horses very much but has been away from home for days at a time and just couldn't devote the time and attention and the sort of care to them anymore that they deserved. She was also in a situation of being in an area of a hay shortage and worrying about being down to their last few bales and having to figure out where to get more at an affordable price. She learned about CMHR through the forum and some forum members and decided rather than sell them to a stranger, she wanted to turn them over to CMHR because she felt confident they would go to good homes. She carefully went over as much information about them as she could, and with tears in her eyes, she kissed and hugged them and sent them off with us along with all their paperwork, the feed she had left and their special feed pans. She apologized over and over about them needing to be wormed and needing farrier and vet work but the horses were healthy and energetic and in overall good health and I feel she is a pretty amazing woman for doing all that she does for her family and she always made sure the horses were fed and watered and had shelter so that was most important and once we brought them home we had the vet and farrier work done and wormed them and they both checked out to be in good health.
ABOUT THE HORSES......
Dante is a 6 yr old (I think) bright sorrel gelding that came with an AMHR application so hopefully can get papers and my first impression was of him being the "shy, quiet, serious one" because the other horse was so outgoing and energetic and seemed to push Dante around a lot.
Dante has already gone on to an adoptive home and now that he is separated from Scout he has come out of his shell and now that he is settled in and feeling secure he has become more assertive and spunky and more of a handful himself. He went to a wonderful experienced family though, that owns a farm with minis, ponies and donkeys and they are hoping to start his groundwork and get him driving this summer. They also own a local tack store and hope to use Dante as sort of a mascot for the store and special events and have said they will help promote CMHR in the store and to their customers.
I don't have an updated picture of Dante yet, but here he is the day that we brought him home.
Scout is a two year old AMHR registered buckskin pinto. He was still a stallion when we got him but he has been gelded. He was quite the energetic little handful and liked rearing up and had a habit of nipping. Gelding him calmed him down a lot and though he was a naughty boy, I fell in love with him and talked my husband into keeping him "for a while, just to do some work on his manners" and that has evolved into us deciding to adopt him ourselves. We are conditioning him and getting him in to shape and we plan to show him this summer. He is smart and enthusiastic, loves attention and being worked with and has personality +++ He will represent CMHR well. Not every rescue horse will become a show horse, but he is proof that some can be.
Here is Scout the day we brought him home (sorry about the last photo, I can't resize it for some reason)
And here is was yesterday, after finally finishing clipping him and giving him a bath:
The owner, by the way, has stayed in touch to see how the horses are doing and I've kept her updated and have sent her many photos. She was in the cities for a meeting and stopped in to visit Scout.
This is a good reminder that there are many stories and many different circumstances that will bring a horse to CMHR.
