We’ve now known Beauty for a little over a week. She’s still on our standard intake quarantine for another week so we haven’t been interacting with her too much, but she’s proving to be a sweet mare with a desire to connect with people and other horses.
Beauty came to us a little underweight, and she has some dental issues. She had her teeth floated prior to arrival, and the veterinarian that performed the dental found multiple loose teeth, two of which had to be extracted. It was recommended at that time that she be on a mash-only diet to reduce her risk of choking on hay. She is currently on a diet of strictly equine senior, because she has told us that she prefers not to eat any other type of pelleted feed. She also told us that she prefers her meals with very little water and refuses to eat them if they’re soupy. She’s definitely a girl who knows what she likes.
Beauty’s haircoat is rough and her history of malnourishment is evident. She has hair loss on her face where she has begun to shed that rough coat, and new, healthy hair is growing back in its place. It won’t be too long before Beauty lives up to her name and is a stunning chestnut mare. We haven’t thoroughly evaluated her for soundness yet, but she trots comfortably around her paddock and doesn’t seem to have any glaring issues.
It will probably be another month or two before Beauty gets up to her ideal weight and that rough fur is fully replaced by a healthy winter coat. But she’s already come a long way from where she was when she was taken in by animal control. We think she’ll make a Beauty-ful transformation!
