Mama, Hercules and Zeus
In November 2018, I saw an ad on the Facebook page, Unwanted Farm Animals. It read “Arabian mother, and two Haflinger sons $500 each, need gone ASAP.” When I called it was a niece selling the horses for her great uncle. She told me her uncle was in his 90’s, he never named the horses. They were just ornaments in a pasture that wasn’t very safe. That the mare had an old knee injury, but it didn’t bother her. Mama was 13 years old, Hercules was 5, and Zeus was 4. I mentioned to her that paying $500 for Mama wouldn’t be financially responsible for my lesson program. She let me know that her Uncle had run out of hay and wasn’t going to buy more. That he didn’t care who bought the horses if he got the $1500. “Someone said they can be here in a few hours and will buy all three. I’ll let you know if they don’t sell.” I responded. “That would be great I am over a 3 hour drive away and I will have to find a babysitter, rent/ borrow a truck, and move a few lessons around if I come.”
I received a call. “They guy that showed up is a kill buyer. We tried to get the horses run onto the trailer from the small pen and they freaked out and ran to the big field. He tried for a while to catch them and couldn’t. He told me to call him back when they are in the small pen. I don’t want to sell them to him. Can you come tonight? My uncle wants the money but he doesn’t care where it comes from.” I told her I would come. I has major issues with the truck hitch I was borrowing. It took 6 hours and borrowed part to finally get on the road. I told my sister that it would be miracle if the horses got on the trailer. It was midnight with snow on the ground when we arrived. My interior lights weren’t working so this family of horses would have to load into a pitch-black trailer. I know many well trained horses that wouldn’t do that. I would take it as a sign from God, if they got on it was the right thing to do, despite all the tings that had gone with me trying to get there. She handed me the lead of Mama, I walked her towards the trailer, and she walked on without hesitation. Both of her boys walked on nicely.
I had the vet out to get the family’s teeth done. I have learned how crucial it is have done, especially for rescue horses even if they are easy keepers. I discovered that Mama was in her 20’s not 13. She has partial cataract in one eye and wasn’t sound for riding in her knee. I also learned that Hercules was turning 9, not 6 and Zeus was turning 6, not 5.
I was able to refresh the training for the boys and use them for riding lessons/ therapy. Mama really liked men and did one therapy session with a young man. The place I was boarding the horses at started buying really poor-quality hay and also not feeding my horses for days at a time. The final straw came when she called me to tell me she lost all 9 of my horses. She was an alcoholic and was very volatile and hard to trust. It turned out she hadn’t lost my horses; they had broken into the barn looking for food. They got into the grain room and ate 100 pounds of grain. Thankfully none of the horses colicked and died that is very common sickness that happens when horses overeat. After that incident I moved all my horses to Honey Creek Stable. The stable wasn’t set up all the way but I was promised a safe environment to keep working with horses and my students. I decided to adopt Mama out to a wonderful woman, she couldn’t afford to pay the adoption fee, so I lost about $1,300 rescuing Mama. I know Mama can live out her life in peace, being loved everyday and isn’t going to be slaughtered to make easy money.
Zeus and Mama were adopted out but Hercules is still at Eden and used for lessons.