Meet Lou.
Lou is our new 21 year old registered Canadian gelding. I won't use his registered name, because I would prefer that his previous owners don't have any means of finding me, or reading what I am about to say about them.
Now, whether or not Lou qualifies as a "rescue" is up for debate. People in the horse world are very particular when it comes to what they label a rescue, and I do understand. Too many people throw the word around to depict any horse for any reason, so that they can give themselves a pat on the back and go to bed with a warm-fuzzy feeling at night.
For the sake of past debates, I have always defined a rescue as a horse who has been taken out of a life-threatening situation, or a situation where they are being abused. (and I mean real abuse: not "OMG! He's outside without a blanket!" abuse.) Anything else is a purchase, or perhaps an upgrade.
I would consider Lou to fall somewhere between rescue and upgrade. I believe if Lou had been a Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred, he would have been in MUCH worse condition, if not dead. The fact that he was underweight, but not emaciated, and otherwise healthy is a testament to the hardiness of the Canadian breed.
When I went to go see Lou he was in a small muddy paddock, covered in more flies than I have ever seen on a single horse. He was eating yellow moldy cattle hay that was exposed to the elements, and void of any nutrition whatsoever. His diet wasn't being supplemented in any way. He had shelter, but not free access to it: if he wanted to go in to get out of the weather, he had to stand and wait at the barn door and hope someone noticed. His water was also kept in the barn (as far as I could tell. There certainly wasn't any outside.) which meant he didn't have access to water while he was eating his yellow, moldy cattle hay. The fact that he hadn't coliced baffles me.
He had never had his teeth floated, or seen a vet. They claimed to have de-wormed him, but his distended belly leads me to believe that if hey did, their program was ineffective. While I was checking him over, the resident German Shepard ran figure eights through his legs non-stop, barking at him continuously. He didn't even bat an eye. The owner made no attempt to quiet the dog to give the old horse some peace.
The wife was nice enough, but the husband (who was in charge of the horses as far as I could tell) was a compelte dick. The type of person who feels the need to dominate large animals in order to compensate for sub-par anatomy. On top of it, he was the worst kind of moron: obviously clueless but convinced he knew it all. He went on and on about the Canadian's hardiness, and about how people needlessly spoil their horses. He snapped at and degraded his wife several times in front of all of us. When I asked him what kind of bit he used with Lou, he replied "A normal one". Then he elaborated "Don't use one of those western bits on him, he don't know how to do nothing with one of those." I sighed a breath of relief upon deducing that he rode Lou in a single jointed snaffle, because he totally came across as the type of moron who would ride in the biggest baddest curb he could find and somehow manage to put it on backwards. Not that I have anything against a curb, just that I'm 100% positive that this guy didn't have the hands to be able to use one without ripping out the horse's mouth.
Here he is the day I went to see him. His ribs and spine are masked by his distended wormy belly... His poor condition was much more obvious in person.
Of course, I had to come home with him. He is supposedly broke to ride and drive, and pulled sleighs at a Cabane a Sucre for years before ending up where he was. The plan is to make him the resident beginner-safe horse for friends and family who want to learn to ride.
So Lou is now home, settling in, and having his needs met. He's gaining weight every day, and the de-wormer and probiotics are helping his belly. In the week that he's been here, he has gone from grumpy and withdrawn to friendly and curious. If he continues to gain weight at this pace I'll start putting some rides on him, seeing what he knows and fine tuning his training by next week.
