Every single day, good horses are discarded. They fall into the wrong hands. Sometimes those hands are cruel, sometimes they simply lack knowledge. In either case, the horse is never at fault.
Neglect is not the fault of the animal anymore than it is the fault of a mistreated child. People simply fail.
A huge challenge for advocates working in equine welfare is proving to the public these horses passing through rescues are frequently young, sound, sane and talented animals that simply need “NOTICED.”
They often are not someone’s damaged goods.
Scarlett came into Heart of Phoenix following a seizure by Animal Control in July of 2012. Her story has circulated many times, having been viewed by half a million people on Youtube. If one looked at her intake images, we get it. . .it is hard to believe she could recover. That she wasn’t an old horse. A bad horse. A horse without value.
Fact was, she was NOT OLD, Bad or without Value. She was 12 year old Quarab mare. She recovered without a single lasting issue from her time in a sling regaining condition from a body score of 1 (or less). She was smart and sensible, too.
Who knows how she ended up with the people who did not bother to provide her with basics like water or food. Her past didn’t matter much to us; her future is what we cared about, and that is what HOP wants to pass on to potential adopters. . .let’s look at the futures of these horses instead of the pasts.
In a short 3 months, Scarlett no longer resembled the tattered mare who arrived to us. She also proved to be a wonderful riding partner right from the moment she was evaluated.
Years have passed, and this mare has continued to be sound, sane and the #righthorse for her Lewisburg, WV family.
Here is to dispelling the myth that horses are mistreated because they are lame, crazy or very aged. Horses are mistreated due to a person’s lack of knowledge and unkindness or a series of unfortunately events. Not because the horse failed.
