Holly Goes Home

That title should say “Holly and Synergy Go Home”.   Too bad Synergy didn’t think it was necessary to get on the trailer last night.  Even worse, she thought it was necessary to stand straight up on her hind legs as often as possible and come down on top of Glenn’s head the last time.  Glenn is ok, just a little headachy this morning.

When I picked up these two from their previous owners, they both gave us a hell of a fight getting into the trailer.  They would both rear up when asked to move forward on to the trailer and Holly would use her size and power to drag us around and stomp all over us.  She had absolutely NO respect for us or her owner.

Things were no different last night.  It took an hour to get Holly on the trailer.  We fought with Synergy for another hour before she decided to tap dance on Glenn’s head.  At that point we called it a night and put Synergy back in the pasture with Kisses.  We’re building a round pen this week since Glenn is home and Synergy will be spending A LOT of time in there learning respect and finding out that rearing is NOT the way to react when asked to load.  Once I have her loading without all the fuss, I’ll take her down to Maggie.  Maggie can have fun undoing all the previous training (or lack thereof) that has made Holly the rearing maniac that she has become.

I don’t have any pictures from last night, but I did do the last Holly update over on Rescue Recoveries yesterday so go check it out.

Four-legged kids

Earlier this week I got a call from a man looking for a rescue to take four of his horses. He and his wife had hit hard times financially after they moved here from TN and were going hungry themselves so they could feed their two toddlers and six horses. Eventually, even that sacrifice wasn’t enough to keep all of the horses fed and their neighbors started calling animal control and threatening them with media coverage if they did not do something about the horses.

Remember Chessie and Duchess? When their owners had trouble feeding them, their neighbors brought them hay and feed to help out. So what went wrong here??? Is it because this family was not from the area? They were outsiders, therefore, not deserving of a little compassion?? Granted, the horses are thin. But not because they are neglectful or uncaring owners! When we got there the horses all had hay and three of them didn’t look bad at all. They called other rescues, but either never got a return call or were turned down. They had been trying to find homes for the horses for awhile, so it’s not like they weren’t making an effort. They even gave me their winter blankets, halters… and you wouldn’t believe the paperwork! They had made up a folder for each horse, complete with registration papers, medical history, vet records, a CD with pictures and videos, training summary, etc. Holly’s folder is an inch thick!

There were many tears as we drove away with two of the horses last night. Does this sound to you like people who don’t care about their four-legged kids?

Me either.

Holly is the oldest and skinniest horse of the bunch. She’s no where near as bad as Ellie was when she got here, but she’s still pretty bad and because of her age will take more time to recover than the fat cheeky little Ellie pony. I’ll be posting about Holly over on Rescue Recoveries.

Holly is a 17yo registered Holsteiner, shown successfully at second level dressage. She’s a big mare, standing about 16.3h-17h, with a very sweet disposition.

Kisses is a 3yo Quarterhorse filly. She’s already had ground work done with her and was the easiest horse to load last night. She’s a real sweetheart and loves to be in your pocket getting attention.

We go back to pick up the other two tonight. They are keeping two of the horses that are in good weight and have found a five acre pasture to move them to. Hopefully they’ll be able to stay fat and their owners can save some money on the feed bill and finally catch up.