When I bought Crackers, my Hackney pony, he was 22. And the mare, Sassy, we got from a rescue at the same time was into her 20s already. The only one that was middle aged was Salt, the grade pony we got from the same rescue as Sassy. We didn’t mind getting older horses. It felt good to know that they would never be moved on.
6 Likes
He looked clean legged but of course I didn’t vet him, considering the circumstances where I found him. He was sound once the fetlock joint area was blocked. Then we xrayed him and found the rows of tiny triangles. It was only when his lower leg was shaved really closely that you could see a scar that wrapped around his fetlock joint. But the joint itself was unremarkable. My vet sent the xrays off for second and third opinions and the replies were mostly that no one uses surgical staples or metal closures like that on a fetlock. But he also came with a rip roaring infection from being gelded. Glops of pus were coming out of a narrow fistula drainage hole. My vet opened up the wound to clean it and saw something. She put a pair of hemostats up in there and pulled out wads of pus covered gauze! Why was he packed after castration? Why was the gauze left in there? Who knows!
The poor guy had just been so used and then neglected. I was told he’d never been bred but I called APHA and he had 13 registered foals. He came from Iowa but I found him one stop from the killers in the inland part of SoCal. I’ll never forget that horse.
15 Likes
This morning, my sister told me she bought a TWH from a kill pen in Texas. Yes, it was from Bowie. She is beyond excited. Apparently, the horse is well trained. She and her husband have at least four Walkers now. (I can’t keep track.) Two others came from kill pens. Another nice horse released from Bowie!
17 Likes
That makes my heart so happy!
1 Like
