Post by elara on Feb 18, 2008 7:11:08 GMT -5
Meshak and I met almost 3 years ago. He was one of 20 horses who belonged to a woman who just couldn't care for her horses anymore. She tried sending him to a trainer who scared him badly and sent him back as "untrainable". He'd been injured when he got his leg stuck in the portable round pen he was using at a public demo. You see, Meshak had never been socialized with people or other horses so this trainer figured he had the perfect horse to show off his natural horsemanship skills. He terrified him, hurt him them sent him home to a place where there was no one to help him. I was recovering from a ruptured disc and had put an ad on craigs list looking for someone to let me groom their horse to help get me get back on my feet. I'm paritally disabled (from more that just the back) and had been away from horses for 15 years. The owner emailed me and after telling me that I was his last chance I couldn't not go meet him. What I found was awful, both the owner and the horses needed help. For a year I helped her get her barn in order, get others involved and get most of her horses sold. Now she's down to those she can care for herself. When someone finally decided to make an offer for Meshak it was made in such a manner than I was offended. She said she needed another project horse to "flip". At that point I new he was going to be mine one way or another. We had worked together for months and he trusted me, I couldn't betray that trust. I'm shortening this quite a bit LOL. Here it is almost three years later down the road and he's now being trained under saddle, he's going to be 8 this may. It took two years to get him to the point that he liked people again and accepted tack comfortably, then another year for me to get into a situation where he could go to a trainer. I've have a lot of experience but had never started a horse before and the last thing I wanted to do was scare him by doing something wrong. I hadn't told you his breed. He's a registered Trakehner and because of his lack of foal nutrition and being left a stallion which drained his system even more, he is only 15 hh. I guess the moral of our story is that not only can we save them, but they can save us. I never would have been this healthy again without his help. I'm supposed to be in a wheelchair, but by sticking by him and having him to motivate me people don't even know there's something wrong with me when they meet me. I owe him more than he'll ever owe me. 20 years ago I was rescuing horses and the lesson I learned then from those horses left a lasting impression on me. No matter what, when you save a horse, they repay you in more ways than you can ever guess, sometimes not until years later. Here are some pictures from our journey. If you'd like to see more of the story and pictures let me know and I'll send you the link to my photoalbum.
This was after almost a month of work to get him out of his stall and leading well.
10 months later in our new home.
He's so proud of himself!!!! Sure he was untrainable, this picture was sent to that trainer.
summer of 07 now full of himself
My best friend, at our new home where we are both learning. These were taken on Feb 16th
Off to work
Yea, life is good
This was after almost a month of work to get him out of his stall and leading well.
10 months later in our new home.
He's so proud of himself!!!! Sure he was untrainable, this picture was sent to that trainer.
summer of 07 now full of himself
My best friend, at our new home where we are both learning. These were taken on Feb 16th
Off to work
Yea, life is good
