Yuku free message boards
Username or E-mail:
Password:
Forgot
Password?
Sign Up
Grab the Yuku app
Search:
Free Speech Horse Forum
>
General Discussion (Horse Related)
>
Solomon and ddranch!
1
Point
Search this Topic:
Remove this ad
Add Reply
New Topic
New Poll
Forum Jump
Announcements and Information for New Members
Training Logs and Stories
Training the Next Generation
Training Questions and Advice
General Discussion (Horse Related)
General Discussion (Not Horse Related)
Conformation Critiques
Memorials
Emergency Preparedness Information
Foaling Camera Discussions
Beware of..
Horses for Adoption or Sale (Under $1000)
Horses for Adoption or Sale ($1000+)
Horses Wanted
Other Animals - Wanted/For Sale/Available
Tack For Sale
Tack Wanted
Stuff Wanted/For Sale/Available
<< Previous Topic
Next Topic >>
Re: Solomon and ddranch!
Author
Comment
evergrey.sanfranciscogothic
#1
[-]
Posts
: 3050
Apr 2 09 10:22 PM
Reply
Quote
More
My Recent Posts
Hah, okay, I'll trot out the old photos again!
These photos don't really show just how ribby and thin he was.
Solomon was at a "horse rescue," if by "horse rescue" you mean "place where horses languish in tiny tiny stalls deep int heir own feces, getting skinner and being ridden when they are injured and a 2 or 3 on the condition scale, while the owners use the donation money for pot and meth." His hooves were 4 months overdue for a trim (those photos were right after he got a $35 trim from a farrier who had just done another horse's feet. Yeah, he was sore after, and I had only been around horses for about 2 days, hah.)
See, I'd found the fugly horse of the day blog via a friend of a friend on livejournal, I read through it, and it rekindled my childhood love of horses. I wanted to Do Something and I asked around about local rescues. Somebody pointed me to the Jerry Springer Barn, so named for the screaming cussing fights that humans and dogs got in there, as well as an overabundance of lawn chairs. Solomon really liked to grab 'em and throw 'em if they were in reach of his stall.
Anyway, yeah. With some trepidation I started volunteering at this run down place that had closet doors on their sides as part of their arena fencing. No pasture, just two raggedy stone-filled arenas. I asked for a horse to brush. I had back surgery in '07, and I have chronic tendinosis in both ankles, so I couldn't do much physically. I could walk about two or three houselengths on a good day, less on a bad. So I figured I could at least brush horses. They pulled out Solomon. He had dreadlocks in his mane. It took me two and a half hours to get it all untangled. This horse tried every trick in the book that wasn't horribly aggressive to get me to leave him be. Head high, head low, around and around the post, shoving me away with his head, tossing it, stuff like that. I just kept talking to him in a low, calm voice, and unraveled him when he got himself totally wound up around the post. I got that mane untangled and I decided that I liked him, even though he was a pain. He had a sweet face and there was a little light in his eye. I realized that he was thin, but I didn't yet realize just how underweight he was. I also noticed that his feet were crazy long with the shoes barely staying on. I think they hadn't fallen off only because he'd been rotting in a 9 by 9 box of poop for months and months, only coming out a few times to get run around the ring in the local rodeo.
So the next day that farrier was there, and I paid for a trim. He was sore after, but I didn't really get why yet. They told me he was just not used to not having shoes. Hah, they told me a lot of things. Most of the things they told me were BS, though I did learn some basic horsemanship. A lot of what I learned I had to unlearn later.
Anyway, I also noticed that he was skinny. I made a friend at the barn, who had worked on the track for 15 years, but had stopped in the mid-90s. She suggested LMF Senior. I read about probiotics on the fugly blog. I paid her to buy some LMF from the local track, and she was nice enough to feed it to him when I couldn't. She was a big help, really. I paid for Solomon to get fed more than the tiny tiny crappy flakes of hay that they got too, but I don't think they ever actually fed him extra. I also paid to "sponsor" him. Turns out he wasn't a rescue horse, even, but belonged to the BO's now ex boyfriend, and in part to the BO. It's not a rescue horse in a horse rescue if it isn't up for adoption, but can be sold.
Anyway, I fed him senior feed and gave him probiotics and flax seed oil. I took him for little walks, and sometimes he'd walk and hold me up because I could not walk far on my own. And by far, I mean around the barn once or twice. It's amazing how you end up redefining things when you have been severely injured.
Solomon was headstrong and sad, and more than a little nuts. He wasn't sure he wanted to trust humans. I was told he had been a charro horse. Much later I found out that this was true. But there was also that light in his eyes, and he was so gentle with me. He let me get away with all kinds of dumb things. Safety was not a word that most people in that crazy barn knew.
But I learned to pick a hoof. I learned what thrush was, and that he had it. I knew he needed a vet exam, but I wasn't ready to pay that kind of money for someone else's horse. Solomon's health improved, and he became happier and calmer. People would say, "is that Solomon?"
Solomon's Blog and Training Log
<< Previous Topic
Next Topic >>
Add Reply
Forum Jump
Announcements and Information for New Members
Training Logs and Stories
Training the Next Generation
Training Questions and Advice
General Discussion (Horse Related)
General Discussion (Not Horse Related)
Conformation Critiques
Memorials
Emergency Preparedness Information
Foaling Camera Discussions
Beware of..
Horses for Adoption or Sale (Under $1000)
Horses for Adoption or Sale ($1000+)
Horses Wanted
Other Animals - Wanted/For Sale/Available
Tack For Sale
Tack Wanted
Stuff Wanted/For Sale/Available
Share This
Email to Friend
del.icio.us
Digg it
Facebook
Blogger
Yahoo MyWeb
Free Speech Horse Forum
>
General Discussion (Horse Related)
>
Solomon and ddranch!
Click to subscribe by RSS
Click to receive E-mail notifications of replies