The reality of rescue...

DAY 1....

I'm always window shopping for horses and with winter approaching I'll have more time available for training horses because lessons always slow down during the winter. I saw this mare pop up on the online auction for the Enumclaw Sales Pavilion and watched as her bids went up to, and then stopped at, $150. I figured something must be "wrong" that wasn't disclosed in the description, so I took a day trip up to see her. As i was trying to take pictures she was very curious as to what I was doing but not curious enough to let me actually touch her. I didn't want to push her, so I went home and thought it through. That was on Thursday morning and the auction closed later that night. I was the high bidder with the final price of $325 plus auction house fees.

I've purchased a few horses from "kill pens" in the past trying to do my part to give them a better shot at life. I wanted to do what I could to save a horse from ever ending up in a kill pen at all. I don't know that that's where she would have ended up but with the bidding as low as it was (and the fact that we're going into winter) her odds weren't looking the best.

It's now Saturday afternoon and she's home with me and surprisingly calm about the whole situation. She got into the trailer like a champ and although she walks fast and is a bit pushy, she walked by the playing dogs and the flock of chickens without batting an eye. She tolerated a bit of brushing but she's not sure about me being back by her barrel or hip yet. We did get the tangles out of her mane and cut the auction sticker off. She'll have a couple days to settle in and get used to me being around before we try to do anything too "hard."

Now we get into the whole purpose of this (and the upcoming posts)... The purchase price for a horse isn't usually the most expensive part. I'm already preparing to spend more on her first vet bill than I spent actually buying her. As soon as she settles in enough the vet will be out to float her teeth, give her her vaccinations, and give her a good once over. Then it's time for her to see the farrier because her feet are LONG. Thankfully they haven't started chipping or splitting and we're going to be focusing on that a lot so that the farrier can get to her before they do.