It’s been a manic week for me, and I thought whether I should post or not, but then I read Julie’s mail about whether abused horses can still love you back:
“I adopted 2 horses last week. The 2 year old is a sad case. He has sores all over his body from other horses biting him and being rode through rough terrain. He has cuts all over his legs. Most of the wounds were healed or healing when I got him. I was told he was hard to saddle. I get nothing but love and gentleness from this beautiful 17 hands high( I’m guessing) gelding. I even got a huge hug from him the third day he was here.
Abused horses can still love you back
I had just got done brushing him and was rubbing his forehead( one of his favorites) and I gave him a hug and told him I was sorry for the bad treatment he had in his young life. He rested his head on my shoulder and than turned slightly and squeezed me gently with his head and neck giving me a much welcomed hug. I must of stood there for quite some time until he stopped squeezing. Than he just laid his head back on my shoulder. He is the most loving horse.
I have no issues putting a saddle on him and even my 14 year old son was able to ride him. His intelligence in knowing a good human hand from a bad one is what makes it so easy for us to handle him. I am so happy he has joined our family. I have included photographs. Their coats dullness says a lot about their poor nutrition and care. The shiny one is my mustang. I wanted to show the huge difference in the coats.
Abused horses can still love you back
The second one is a 6-7 month old filly. She was kind of wild at first. Even after a few short days here, she now comes up to me and lets me rub her neck and forehead. She was real bad at turning and kicking for the first 4 days and I couldn’t touch her without food being offered. She is still a little cautious of movements and other people. She is going to be a tall horse. She is already the size of my mustang in height.
I just wanted to let you know what love can really do for a horse that has been mistreated or not handled much. Abused horses can still love you back. Patience and love are the heart and trust winning ways. Doesn’t that work with all animals? Oh I think it works with people too.
God Bless everyone who show love and patience to animals.
Sincerely,
Julie”
A lovely mail from Julie, I thought it paints a beautiful picture of how abused horses can still love you back.
Please do leave a comment below if you’ve got anything to add on this one – I’d really like to hear your thoughts.
And don’t forget there are hundreds of posts like this on the blog but the only way you can see them all is to jump on the newsletter.
Best
It’s so special, isn’t it? Thanks for the lovely mail, Julie.
For the first time last evening, my mare put her head down on my shoulder and really relaxed into me, as if I was her friend. That was worth a lot.
Thank you for sharing. I rescue horses and I have this same experience from them. This story filled my heart for another day of sharing with them. May the horse be with you!
Hi Julie,
God gave us our fellow creatures for us to take pleasure from them. Unfortunately, many people only give themselves pleasure by putting their own needs first and neglecting or abusing them.
Years ago, my aunt taught me that it is IMPOSSIBLE yo give anything away; anything you give, be it good or bad, comes back a thousand times over.
Thank God for people like you and the other people on this site.
Six years ago, travelling with my son in his camper van in Ireland, were forced to stop on a country road, on our way to the ferry; Oliver’s 40 year old camper van had broken down.
We waited for help and we suddenly became conscious of some birds outside the van making a fearful screaming noise. It went on for so long that we went outside to investigate.
A few feet away we saw what appeared to be a small piece of rag.
Closer investigation proved it to be a tiny kitten, about 4 weeks old. Oliver picked it up, it had the most face that I had ever seen.
It appeared to have no bottom lip and so it had a permanent snarling expression. Its lower gums and teeth were exposed and its mouth was infected. Its eyes were full of pus and its ears were black with ear mites.
Obviously because it couldn’t see, it hadn’t been able to forage and so it was very close to death.
The obvious thing seemed to be to put it out of its suffering.
Oliver picked it up and wiped its eyes. It looked trustingly at him. I could see that he was considering giving a swift hard blow to the head but instead he offered the little creature a tiny morsel of cooked chicken.
The kitten was obviously starving for it snapped the food and ate it travenously.
“What are we going to do, Mum? we can’t leave it here”
“We’ll take it home with us and I’ll try to find a home for it” I said.
For practical reasons, my house was a no pet house.
We put the kitten in a cardboard box with newspaper, some food and water and hoped to God that we weren’t breaking any quarantine laws.
Arriving in England I took the kitten to the vet.
I placed the kitten on the examination table.
“Oh! she’s trying to clean herself!” exclaimed the vet in wonderment.
She said that the kitten looked as if it had been hit by a car.
It did in fact have a lower lip but it had been split in two.
The kitten was in the hospital for almost a week, she had had her lip stitched and her jaw wired in place.
She had a plastic cone around her neck to stop her tearing at her mouth.
I was longing to have the collar removed so that I could give her a bath.
2 weeks later, after her bath, she was revealed as a gorgeous multi coloured kitten: five colours in fact: White, grey, black, brown, and apricot.
Then came the slog of trying to find a home for her.
No one wanted her.
That is how I came to be owned by Baby, my beautiful little companion who follows me everywhere.
Mercifully, something made me think, once I’d decided to keep her “This cat is going to be trouble, I’d better insure her, so I did. It cost me just £6 per month.
Now, 5 years later, the premium has gone up to £15 per month because she has proved such a liability, but d’you know what?
She’s worth every penny, and more.
If you’d like to read about her a adventures and scrapes, and how she has become an icon in the community, get back to me and I’ll tell you more!
Love conquers all!
Sylvie
X
I too adopted (rescued) two horses and one was sick and developed cushings and got bit by a spider with months of treatment and even I had to give her shots which was beyond me. The other was abused and couldn’t go near his head or hind feet. I can’t caress both now and there isn’t a day go by I don’t experience their show of love and gratitude with hugs, nickers, and cut antics for me. They are so smart and loving.
Beautiful horses julie, so glad you rescued them and they are now in a loving home, you are a very kind and caring lady.
They are very lucky to have found each other.
I recently bought a horse I had fostered. I spent 5 months with her when I found her starving on the land I lease for my goats. The owner had left her out there thinking she can fend for herself. There were other horses too but they perished during the drought. Sunday was all bones,a Thoroughbred. I was told she was wild and that was apparent. I began by feeding her twice a day, she was not my horse so I just gave sweet feed like what I give my goats. Then I began to give her hay and would make sure she had water. Soon enough she would let me walk her so i got her a halter and lead and would walk her all over the farm. One day there was a wild hog in the brush as we were walking. Sunday heard the hog and reared up. As she was up she looked at me under her feet. I was terrified she was going to kill me when she came down but she twisted her entire body around to avoid hitting me. Then she came immediately back to me as if to see if I was ok. I knew in that moment I had to have this horse in my life. The owner came back from Mexico where he had been for five months to a healthy horse and instead of saying thank you he bred her. Keeping in mind her teeth needed floating g and her hooves were a mess, (no farrier would touch her because she was not my horse) So on bad hooves with bad teeth this man paid a grand to breed this poor horse and then he took her away. I was heartbroken. Three months later I get a call from this man looking for a way to get me to again care for this horse. She had gone back to her wild ways and avoided him. I went to see her, and everyone was trying to talk me out of trying to buy this horse. I was told Thoroughbreds are hard to handle. She is an older horse, horses are expensive, it is a bad trade.. blah blah blah. I even considered listening to them but when I pulled into his drive and she saw me, she let out a high pitched cry and ran to me. I feel like both of us cried and I knew that no matter what it cost me I had to find a way to bring her home with me. I traded my older car for her, it was valued at 6k. I found that Sunday is a registered horse with the Saddle Club and had papers, this is why he was breeding her, to get race horses to take to Mexico. I am still working with her but I swear she knows she never has to go back there. Her entire demeanor has changed. She is calm She is sweet and ALWAYS happy to see me. She is getting the best feed and vitamins daily,. I can not get her teeth floated until she foals but her feet are trimmed correctly now and she loves a walk. She will actually bring me her halter and lead to go for a walk. I love her with all of my heart and I have no regrets for buying her. I am worried that her nutrition before I brought her home may have harm that foal but I am hoping it will turn out ok. My plan is to take it slow and easy. I have never owned a horse before. I read as much as I can and at this time we are following the natural horsemanship example. I am making plans for an arena to lunge her and work with her further, Sunday has been with me for three weeks now and has gained maybe 150lbs. She has filled out nicely and her bones are not so apparent anymore. Yesterday I saw the baby move and she is letting me touch her belly now. I spend about an hour per day just touching her walking her and talking to her. She is 12 and I do not believe she has been ridden ever. I plan to take it very very slowly with her. But to get to the point.. YES I too believe she loves me back. I can feel her love every time she looks at me. It is in the way she will stand next to me for however long I need her to. It is in her greeting every morning when my red truck pulls in front of the barn. I believe she will be my friend for the rest of my life and I have no doubt I will be hers for as long as God sees fit to let us stay together. I love the tips from this link. You guys have helped me avoid stupid mistakes that could easily have harmed her or myself. Thank you guys, I may never ride Sunday. I have not decided yet. I do know though that it dont even matter. If I do it will be up to her. I can tell you that she is definitely not wild or high strung.
Wow Lynnie, You made me cry. Good on you for having such a loving heart and God bless you both.
😛 My horse is very loving if you spend time with him and are slow with your actions. He gives me an amazing whinny when I get there after work and if he is in the field will always come to me when I walk towards him, even if I have just turned him out. He lets me do flying changes in just his dually halter and will take a tic tac from between my finger and thumb so gently with his muzzle. He really is my best friend. If only we could get to the bottom of the loading issue we would be well away. Love Anne.
I learned this trick last week. Use a lead rope and make a large circle out of it. Gently put it over the horses rump and down on his hind legs. Get his front feet as close to the trailer as possible and gently tug upwards on the rope while tugging slightly on the halter rope. This should help your horse to jump right in. It worked on my mustang. He took 8 hrs to load the first time by the people that owned him before us and it took about 20 minutes for me to get him into the trailer to bring him home using the coral gate to help. With the rope on the rump, it took about a minute or two. After the third load up, he jumped in on his own.
Good luck!
I too have taken many abused horses and can’t understand why people treat horses the way they do. Am helping a free gentle a 15 year old mustang who I think has been beat for the way he responds. Have quieted this very thin gelding and in only five days now he will put his head down to have the halter put on…will change direction in the circling game, come and back with the yo-yo game. He’s very alert and wants to learn. The cowboy who had him had never taught him anything except stand to be saddled and forced into a bit. Being very responsive, he’s now figuring out he can just relax. Now I need to find him a home as I’d like to bring my mare back home as I didn’t have room for him here at my place. He would be a perfect guy for some young petite lady to ride.
What beauties. Thank you for making me smile. I know what’s it’s like to have a hug. It feels wonderful but doesn’t always happen. You are a good lady and all the best.xxx
There is nothing like the love a horse gives, or any animal for that matter – my guy was 300 lbs underweight, a serious slice down his face, severe thrush and bad teeth – the barn manager “brought him back to life” – she is a loving person who also has suffered abuse – well, to shorten the story, I now have Rocky the Wonder Horse as my very own – every single day of the last 12 years, he provides me with love, exact and unconditional – it is a shame everyone does not get the chance to experience it –
Beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.
Coreen
What a great experience!
Coreen
I totally understand this message. I have an eighteen month gypsy cob who wanted to die, could hardly stand and had forgotten to eat. He was covered in sores and had no weight left on him. Many hours of patience and love has brought him to health and he is a beautiful, kind and loving pony. He rests his head on my chest and goes to sleep standing up. How he isn’t a nasty, bad tempered
pony is beyond me. He is now gelded, vaccinated, chipped passported and wormed and he is my life and a bonny, bonny lad. 😛
Thank you Julie for this beautiful story. I wish there were more people like you to take in and care for these loving horses. Horses are smart and if you show them love they will return it. We have 4 and TC is our rescue horse. We saved him when he was yearly and now he is 13 yrs old. He has his problems but we do all we can to
keep him happy, in return he is our watch horse, baby sitter and everyday he will make you smile.
😛 Hi Sylvie, THAT IS SO TRUE, LOVE DO CONQUIR EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING!!!!!! I CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE TREAT SUCH WONDERFUL ANIMALS,BEST OF BEST OF FRIENDS, COMPANIONS SO BAD AND THEN THERE IS PEOPLE WHO WANT TO EAT THEM!!!!! OH HOW HORRIFICK!!!!! BUT THANK GOD THERE IS PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO CAN LOVE THE WAY THAT YOU DO!!!!!! THANK YOU,ENJOY YOUR HORSE FRIENDS. 🙄 😆 😀
Dear horse lovers: I have a 15 yr. old beautiful warm blood mare. Her name is Skye and her soul and friendship was my destiny. I first saw her at friends farm, and from the first time I saw her, she would run to me and whinny very loudly. I believe it was love at first sight. Naturally, I bought my first horse. I am a young at heart grandmother, crazy right? One of the best things I ever did. I want to tell you about an amazing experience I had with her. I had taken care if my Father for 16 yrs, and we were best friends as well as Father and daughter. Dad died on a Monday at the age of 99, and on Tuesday I went to the barn to see Skye and feel the comforting aura I always felt with her. When I approached her stall, she nickered and slowly reached around me with her head and gently pulled me to her chest and just held me for awhile. I was finally able to cry for my Dad, and somehow she knew I her loving comfort. Other riders were in the barn and witnessed this show of love. I believe God gave me this wonderful connection for a reason, and I will always be grateful. I wish all of you this feeling of love. Be patient, don’t give up on these magical animals.
I was leasing a rescue. No one knew her history but guessed by her actions. It did not take long, maybe two weeks, and she would put her head down on my shoulder and fall asleep. I have now purchased her and we still share very tender moments together. I love when she sleeps with her head in my arms. Nothing having a special bond with such a massive animal. I have two great danes that are also loved so much. One turned ten on 11/4 and one will be 5 on 2/8. I adore al my fur babies.
Dear All,
What wonderful posts. God is loving & giving.
HE made these animals therfore it is our job to love &care for them as God has a master plan for us all before we even knew it.There no accidents these wonder horses come into our lives.
If you believe, our horses & ourselves will have eternal life.
Stay blessed
Just so beautiful <3
Hi Julie. It is a lovely story, you are so lucky to get such love and affection in return for their care. The only thing that I would advise is to let the 2 year old go unridden for at least a year. Their muscles and bones are really not strong enough at this age to have weight on their backs, in spite of what any racehorse trainer will tell you. The proof is in how long an ex-racehorse lives as opposed to a horse that has been backed when he is a bit older and stronger.
I’ve been reading all the wonderful stories of how horses show their love and couldn’t agree more! Julie, I have to agree with Blinda that a horse really shouldn’t be ridden until it’s a 3-year old. I’ve had horses for over fifty years (got my first one in January 1962), have raised foals and always been told by respectable horse people that know their stuff, a horse’s bones don’t solidify until they are three. They can end up sway-backed with structural problems as they get older. I’ve seen examples of it and it’s heartbreaking. There is alot of ground work that you can do in the meantime which will pay off later. I’m surprised that Belinda was the first to mention this and bless her for doing so in such a kind and loving manner. Julie, you’ve done so well with this youngster I hope you will follow Blinda’s advice and give him a long and healthy future.
I just love the horsey stories on here and love reading them especially rescue horse stories. Horses are such specail animals and all deserve to be loved and cared for. 😀
WOW!!!! What an awesome story of unconditional love! YES, they know a bad hand from a good hand.
That is just so wonderful that you opened your heart and your forever home!
Hugs n Kisses to them for me!
My 2 yr old paint I bought in may wasnt handled much, he wasnt an abused horse but he hugs n kisses me all the time YES patience is a virtue!
i felt for the horses and thak the gods there is poeple like you in this world even one horse saved from gruelty is a step forward i really love what you do i have learned a lot from you and ewant to thank you
carola
Lovely lady, your horses look great. Carry on with the good work. You are a true Horse Lover. You put those evil people who hurt horses to shame. good luck for the future.
🙂
😕 😀 Hi there Julie, Belinda`s advice is correct, just handle her every day but do not ride her give her structure time to build, I have 5 horses at present
Our first foundation broodmare was a RESCUE. Golden Jam was so thin when my sister told us of her that our mother didn’t think she would survive. As a two year old she had the weight of a yearling. We were able to use high gear easily in our compact pickup truck when hauling her home to our leased property of the time in Tillamook county even though we had to climb several steep hills. With good grass and proper comfort and good hay, she came around to become our foundation thoroughbred broodmare of our farm which is now in Yamhill county Oregon. She along with Count Mein Too, also a rescue, produced a foal named Flemings Touch O Gold. Flemings Touch O Gold went on to become our farms first race winner at Del Mar racetrack at 69 to 1 Odds! You an achieve amazing things with horses if people just give them a chance. Golden Jam is still very much alive and has retired herself from being a mother although she still resides with her daughters and our farm stallion in a natural herd setting and she is the instructor of all the young horses in how to be a member of the herd. She is very special to us and we have had many offers to buy her from us. We will NEVER sell her and she has her lifetime home at our farm. She seems to have been able to pass on her flashy chestnut color to her most of her daughters and they in turn pass the color onto their foals. Fred and Joan.