Kate

Lit – for years he’s been in a stall 23 hours a day, and a horrible cribber. I’ve only seen him crib once at this barn, this is a great example of the freedom he must have felt at his new barn…….here is his story.

I’m sure you’ll be as excited as I am. I asked his original owner (who I had leased him from) if I could either take him for an off-property lease or buy him from her, and she basically just gave him to me. That was the end of October. In November I took him out of that barn, and while unsure about moving him somewhere else for what I expected was only going to be a short period of time, I just had to get us both out of there- things were going downhill fast. It ended up being a good transition barn for him, I think- he had a paddock attached to his stall that he was rather excited about, and when I was able to turn him out, he had a playful 4 y/o next to him that he had fun with. The barn I wanted to be at got an opening, and Feb 1st he went to what will be (barring unforeseen circumstances) his last home. He settled in remarkably quickly, and seems to have no problem with the routine of being out all day. Last Friday, he got to go into the big pasture with 2 of the horses. He sniffed noses with them, then just picked up this lovely show-off-ish trot for a few laps of the pasture to check everything out before deciding he was okay to pick up more speed, at which point he flew off down the end with his tail over his back, throwing happy little bucks and lead changes every few strides. The other two horses just stood and watched him, probably trying to figure out what the heck was up with the new guy. Eventually he got them to join in the fun, and now he’s loving the fact that he has horses to play with again after solo turnout for the past 3 years, as well as a ton of space to run in. The 19 year old fits right in with the 6 year olds and 14 y/o. Go figure! It took a lot of work to put this all together, but seeing him out with the horses and playing makes it all worth it. We thank you for giving me the encouragement to make it happen. Its so nice to not have to worry about him. The new barn owners are great, Lit loves them and they love him, and its nice to have them understand and agree with the way my horse is handled and cared for.

If his story helps even one person see that it IS possible to make a change, then that would make my day. Sometimes we get stuck in spots where we just think we won’t be able to change anything, and this is the best we can do. It takes someone or something to make us realize it doesn’t need to be this way and give us the encouragement, and man does it pay off in the end. If I can make it happen, someone else definitely can. I didn’t even have a job when you told me I could make it work 🙂