Working with Abused Horses

I have seen some sad situations in my time with horses ,but the one I am currently working with seems to be the worst yet. Around a year ago we were approached with an offer to take a free horse. Now people in the horseworld know there are no free horses on this planet. We went over to this guy's house who in all honesty was just trying to help out a friend who could no longer look after this horse.

We walked around the corner of his house and saw two roundpens. One had a beautiful stallion in it. The other a very scared mare. We wanted to take both of them. We knew we could give them a good home. We talked it over and found out someone was already taking the stallion. We talked with the guy and he told us the story behind these horses and how the owner had killed himself. I was fully decided we would take the mare. We brought the horse trailer with us ,so we figured we would just go ahead and load her. We began to walk her toward the trailer. She started crying for her companion. He started crying back. We did many circles and more circles. About an hour later with a bucket of feed she calmed down and loaded in the trailer. We closed the trailer very slowly. We did not want to scare her. We began to roll down the driveway with her. She jumped and kicked the entire way home. It was only a twenty minute ride that seemed like hours long. We unloaded her and walked her around so she would see the new place she was in. She could not even lead well.

That night I called her previous owner's mother. She was more than happy to talk with me about her son's horse. She told me how wonderful this horse was until about two years prior to us getting her.

They decided to send her to a local breeder/trainer. They were going to breed her to the trainer's stallion. For some reason she would not go into a full heat cycle. The trainer decided he could make her go into a full cycle by getting on her and riding her. He got on her and rode her and beat her until she almost collapsed to the ground. He did not check her hooves before he got on. A 16 penny nail went through her back right hoof. He then decided to tie her to a tree and let his stallion attack her. She still has the marks to this day. The owner's mother explained how she almost died from the infection in the hoof. They had a year of antibiotic injections and hoof soaks three times a day.

She told me not to give up on this mare. There were many times we almost gave up that she would ever be any better mentally. Every day for the past year we have done something with her. We groom every day. We have her hooves trimmed every six weeks with the assistance of a wonderful vet and farrier.

We have been working on lifting her hooves and doing them by ourselves We are almost there. It has taken many days and hours of nothing but touching her all over. It takes a long time for a horse to trust any human after they have been abused. I can say it has taken her a year. It has been a long year. Has it all been worth it? I would have to say yes. She was sent to us to save and in return she has saved my husband. You see he has been in many combat tours in Iraq. He has cleaned up his men's bodies from ied's. That tends to do a lot to a person. So I have to say she was heaven sent for him.

My husband rides her out on the trails about once a week. She is all about trail riding. She hates the ring work. I believe that her abuse took place in a ring. Anyway, if you do decide to take on a task of working with an abused horse just take your time. They do come around and learn to trust again. It just takes a lot of time and patience on your part. I don't by any means think someone who is beginning in horses should take a project like this on. It does require a person who is skilled in care of horses. There were probally a few shortcuts we could have taken with her but in order to gain and keep her trust we have taken the long road. The results have been worth it.