Spirit Horse Equine Rescue and Education Center

Lucy's Story

In this case, the phone call came from the owner of a boarding facility. She was concerned about the condition of some of the horses kept on her property, in particular, Lucy.

In a special arrangement, the owner of the farm had allowed a man to keep his eight horses on her property for an agreed upon sum. The owner of the horses agreed to come to her farm daily to feed and water his horses.

Initially the agreement was adhered to, but in recent weeks, visits and thus feeding had become spotty. According to the property owner, the horses’ owner had admonished her when she took it upon herself to feed them, so she stopped. The horses got thinner and the owner of the farm put Lucy, who was in the worst shape, in a stall and began feeding her senior feed…owner be damned. Meanwhile she contacted us to find out if we could help out in this situation.

Along with board members Wendy and Anna, I visited the farm and found all the horses to be underweight, but Lucy to be truly emaciated. Her eyes were dull and she had little interest in whatever went on about her. I thought she could be referred to the sheriff’s department, but by the time legal action might be taken, Lucy could die.

After a difficult time reaching and negotiating with Lucy’s owner, we finally came to an agreement that Lucy would be given to us. It was apparent that Lucy’s owner did care deeply about her, but his life circumstances had prevented him from caring for her in the way he should. He assured us that the other horses would soon be moved to a farm with more pasture.

The lovely little mare has been built up to 9 pounds of senior feed a day. Her teeth have been floated and her hooves have been trimmed. She cannot effectively grind anything else, so her pasture time is spent chewing grass into little balls and spitting them out. That does not appear to frustrate her and gives her something to do, so she spends days in a small pasture and nights in a deeply bedded stall so she can rest her sharply boned body as comfortably as possible.

She has gained some weight while with us, the brightness has returned to her eyes and her step has gained energy and purpose.

If you’d like to sponsor Lucy to help with her care, feeding, and bedding expenses we’d really appreciate it. To do so, please go to our Donation page and use paypal, or send a check to us through regular mail.