We have two new additions to our herd this week: Scotty, a 12-year-old registered Arabian gelding, and his half-sister Violet, an 11-year-old Arab cross mare. They came to us at the request of a daughter, whose elderly mother had been their caretaker after the death of her horseman husband, but who was no longer feeling equipped for the responsibility. The horses had both been out of work for a number of years, and were out of date on their vet and farrier care, but were not in too bad of shape overall.
We were under the impression that the mare would be difficult to catch, and therefore prepared our trailer with panels in the event that we needed to make a chute. But when we arrived at the property, we found her quite willing to be caught, and both horses loaded just fine.
Scotty, the gelding, is a registered Arabian gelding, who was born a chestnut but completely transformed in color as he aged. It’s hard not to see a light grey horse and not conjure visions of unicorns. Once we brushed the fairy tangles (a very polite way of saying major snarls) out of his mane, it did well to match this aesthetic too. Our first impressions of Scotty were of a slightly nervous horse, a little shy about being caught, but quite gentle. Unlike some horses, we knew a little more about his past — he had been started under saddle, and was ridden regularly until 2017. He has been out of work since then, but he seems to have a good head on his handsome shoulders, and we hope that he will be an easy restart in our training program.
Violet is a truly brick house of a mare — if not a 9 on the BCS, she’s a definite 8 point something. We don’t like to body shame around here, but a diet was definitely in order. Violet was also started under saddle once upon a time (when she was three, to be specific) but like her half-brother, she also appears to have a very solid mind. She has a tendency to pull a sour expression on people, but if you set a firm boundary (aka, ‘no, you’re actually not allowed to bite me’) we have found that she respects it.
On the heels of the Gig Harbor horses who arrived untouchable, it is a nice change of pace to have horses come in who have some good stuff in their past. We will see what we uncover as we go along and learn more about them, but regardless of all that, we love them already!
