Sunny, as we call him, now resides happily at MRS. When you walk through the barn, more times than enough, he will be standing in his stall with his friendly face hanging out. He has the kindest look you will ever find, despite his long head and very apparent ears. He would be my idea of an autistic kid. For someone who does not know him, they would never understand him on the inside. He is so quiet, if he were to be kept alone, you would never know he was there. There is rarely a peep coming from that horse. He is just as happy as they come.
Sunshine's happiness most likely has a lot to do with his past. Here, I will explain the parts of his story that I do know.
Silver Sun Shine was born in Michigan in May of 1996. He is a Standardbred, born to race. Sure enough, he landed in Montreal as a racehorse and eventually found his way to Nova Scotia. I'm sure, he has multiple owners in his life time. From what I know, he was owned by an older gentleman who still did some racing up until a few years ago. He was then given to a sweet lady to take care of for the rest of his life.
Sometimes happy endings aren't so happy. Every so often, people reach a point in their life where they are not able to take care of horses any more. If that ever happened to us, we do what is best for the horse. In Sunshine's case, he ended up going on a lease to a young girl and her parents(of course after references).
Things do not always turn out as well as one would hope. Unfortunately the sweet owner(whom I quite like) did not get so lucky.
In February, I had put an ad out that I was looking for a safe trail horse to help start my business. A lady replied to me saying that her friend was looking to rehome her horse and that he should be suitable for me. He would be a Standardbred and at first I thought, no way. At this point, I was struggling to find horses, so I said okay, I would come see him, not knowing what to expect.
I had made arrangements with the owner, met up with her in Truro and off we went. Needless to say, it was not what I expected, nor what the owner expected. Apparently she had not seen him over the winter and assumed that he looked good and they took good care of him on his lease. Unfortunately, that is not always the case and it just broke my heart, the immediate sight. Two skinny, edgy looking horses standing in a foot of snow outside. You could see from a mile away that they were clearly malnourished. As we went closer, the owner just could not believe the sight, and these two horses were crying for attention.
I have always been blessed to see decent looking horses. Never in my life have I seen anything like this in person. I took one look and told the owner that these horses need help. I was furious and she was in tears. At this point the property owner was not even home and we just went in and spent some time with the horses. The other was an older Standardbred who looked a little better than Sunny, but was also clearly the dominant one. Truro is very windy and all I remember was freezing my rear end off. Here were these horses who had hair longer than most people's hair hanging off them, but what use would it be when it was all dead?
Sunny's neck was inverted, no muscle. His shoulders, you could cut into his bones with a butterknife. When I looked at him from behind, you could see nothing but a spine and hips. I took one look at the owner and said "I'm so sorry, but I don't have any idea what I would do with a horse like this". I explained to her, that I needed something that could look good for a business, and something that would be in shape. However, I wanted nothing more, than to help this lady and the horse of course. She ensured me that Sunny would be a great horse and that she had brought one back who was starved previously within six months. I just knew that I could not afford to invest into a horse that would be a lawn ornament for most of the year.
Once the leasor came home, I felt like screaming at her. She was one of the most ignorant ladies I had ever known. She might not have known much about horses as they were her daughter's thing, but she should have been far more educated. In her mind, the horses looked great. The owner didn't have strength to say a word to her. Standing there for half an hour, I explained to her that these horses were malnourished and she better get her rear in gear and feed them some grain---and today! Luckily she listened and I told her how much, starting slow. If this had happened on our property, she would have heard some other unpleasant words.
It broke my heart to see that horse and I did not want to leave. On the 2 hour drive home, I did nothing but cry.
The following days, I spent some time talking to the owner. She would arrange to get a vet in to see him, to make sure that he would even make it. The vet could not get out for another week at least, and every day I just sat at home and wondered if that horse was still alive. It was one of the most horrible feelings I have ever endured. It was incredibly sad. Eventually, I heard word that the vet was there. He had mentioned that the biggest problem was that the horses were dehydrated. If there hadn't been the amount of snow in Truro, these horses would have died from dehydration. Of course horses will not eat if they are thirsty, thus one thing led to another. Either way, Sunny was healthy enough that with much TLC, he would most likely be okay in the long run.
The owner convinced me to take him. She helped me as much as possible, knowing it would cost me a lot to get him back in shape. I am thankful for all of her help. She felt incredibly guilty and just wanted him out of that place. It took me forever to find someone with a horse trailer and approximately two weeks later, my friend and I were on the road to pick him up.
March 17th, I will never forget this day. It was messy, with melted snow as we arrived at the property. We parked the trailer and I wrapped Sunny's leg. The horse was ever so confused as to what was going on. All I wanted was to leave as fast as possible. The owner met up with me, gave me a bag full of blankets(which I appreciated SO much) and some of his other things. The leasor, I ignored her the whole time I was there. I could not help but be so angry at her. The most heartbreaking part was leaving Sunny's buddy behind. He was his best friend for a 18 months or longer. Surprisingly, Sunny did not look back once and literally ran on the trailer. I had been worried that he might not load, but it's funny how things work.
His buddy was unfortunately really upset and we heard that for a while :( The good news is that the provincial vet had been sent out by the regular vet, to go check on him, so I am hoping he is okay now. That old, sweet horse.
The trip home was long, but you would not hear a sound from Mr Sunshine, despite his nerves. He came home a little worried, but walked into the barn and immediately drank a whole bucket of water. My father came to see him after we arrived and the look on his face just made me feel like I had just done the worst mistake of my life. I knew there were chances that horse was not going to make it. One of my mistakes was that when I saw him, there was a lot of snow and I never got to take a good look at his legs. They were and still are quite a mess(from racing a lot). My father was really worried that he might not be able to be used again at all. Below are some pictures of Sunny's arrival. Please don't look too hard, it's a rough sight :(
That night, I blanketed him, and left him with a giant pile of hay overnight. Sunny spent weeks standing in his stall wearing this blanket so nobody would dare see his terrible shape, just doing nothing but eating hay. Slowly I had started feeding him fat and fibre grain, but as much as one likes to feed them 24/7, you have to be careful with their sensitive stomachs. You would not hear a peep out of that horse, he just stood like a saint and literally just ate. He refused to go outside, all he wanted was just to eat. He did not scarf his hay, but took his time and generally always looked like he just appreciated everything. For the first two months, he just stood around, ate and occasionally played in the indoor. He never did go outside in his paddock often as I think his feet were quite sore. It took a while for the farrier to come out and when he did, I was very concerned. I certainly got a lecture about horse legs and feet that day. Sunshine's feet are permanently messed up due to his crooked legs. This could be conformation or racing related(probably both). Regardless he just trimmed him and took a lot off his feet. I'm quite sure Sunny was a lot happier after this day.
Slowly I began to take him on walks in the indoor and occasionally around the yard. This horse really had no muscle on him whatsoever. Every single one of his discs in his back was sticking out as far as they could. I did not think I would ever be able to put a saddle on that back with a spine that excessive, sticking out.
On May 16th, exactly two months after we got him, I put a saddle on him and took one of my intermediate kids on a pony ride, for a trial, as I felt too big to sit on him. At this point, he had already looked like a different horse and I was anxious to see if he would even still be ride-able. That horse was incredibly happy, just to be useful. He had gotten back some energy and really came to life.
Since then, Sunny came back slowly and started going on some trail rides. He knows his job is walk only and he certainly appreciates doing just that. His hind legs are weak, as they have been severely pinfired in the past. Essentially, that is a cruel, painful way to de-nerve a horse's legs, so they do not feel pain after an injury. It is seen in race horses and as sad as it is, it is worth it to them, so the horse can have a longer career.
Sunny has been living with this for a number of years I am sure, so we keep his work load reasonable. He surely still enjoys playing in the indoor and gets very playful at times. His old habits of sticking his neck out into the hallway and tapping the floor at supper time have all returned, so I would say he is a happy camper.
Nobody ever thought that horse would be of any use again, except the owner. It took me a while to be convinced, but his recovery was incredibly quick, considering the shape he was in. It was unreal, how happy, quiet and easy his return was. It just took time. Sunny will now stay at MRS and continue doing some beginner lessons and trails in the summer. That horse has incredible strength, but sometimes worries. He has learned that he and I have gone through this journey together and has quite an emotional attachment to me. Due to this bond, I now am not emotionally able to let him go. He has grown with me as well as the clients. There is not one person that does not appreciate his quirky character. Most of all, his kind eye. People cannot believe how kind this horse is when they step near him and see how much love his heart contains. There is not a single person who brushes him that does not feel, how much this horse appreciates the care. He is definitely one of a kind and will always be waiting for you to come to MRS to meet him.
Below: July 13th
More pictures to follow soon :)
