In 2015, my sister, a family friend, and I rescued two horses named Spring and Copper. We found their advertisement on Craigslist and they sounded perfect so we went to look at them in person expecting to see healthy horses however, the situation was nothing like what we were expecting. The owner was a truck driver therefore she was gone for months at a time and the horses weren't being fed during that duration which resulted in them being all skin and bones. Also, the area the horses were living in was not suitable; there was trash everywhere around the owners house, it was so muddy that there were no greens for the horses to graze on, and the horses couldn't walk without sliding. At this point, we knew we had to buy them so that they could live the life they deserved.
When rescuing horses, you never know what you are in for. We went to Connecticut to look at this horse which the owner claimed knew how to be ridden however, this video shows differently.
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It took a while to gain their trust but over time, they eventually let us pet them, brush them, and feed them by hand.
Overtime, Copper struggled with digestive problems which we believe was due to the diet change and unfortunately on November 1, 2016 she passed away of colic.
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The top picture is of Copper when we first brought her home and the bottom picture is of her six months later, finally looking good and healthy!
Since Spring has never been ridden before, it took a long period of time to even sit on her. We started off by just putting a saddle pad on her back so she could get used to having something there. Once she was comfortable, we then put pressure on her back with our hands which scared her at first. Then, we eventually were able to sit on her however when she walked, she was stiff since it didn't feel normal to her.
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There are now two new barns being built which will give us the ability to save more horses like Spring and Copper and potentially start our own rescue business.