Argus spends a great deal of his time looking at things in the distance. When he first arrived, I assumed it was because he was looking at all the things he'd never seen. He stands very still, head up high, and kind of stares at something far away. For a long, long time.
The other day, it hit me: This is how Argus passed the hours in prison. It's how he survived, kept from going mad. He just watched the world around him coming and going, changing with the seasons. It was all he had.
It's funny that it took a month of living with Argus to come to this realization. My other horses do not stand, high-headed, and stare for long periods at far-away hills or fields. They do this on occasion, when something in the distance captures their attention. Then they return to what is close at hand.
Argus, on the other hand, probably spends hours every day just staring.
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Yesterday, Argus was turned out in the arena. Now that he doesn't wear a halter all the time, we can barely tell Argus and Ridge apart. They look more and more like twins.
My daughter, Demi, appeared at the barn entrance with a mellow white horse. "Oh, thanks for bringing Ridge in, sweetie, I'll go get Argus now," I said.
Demi laughed. "Mom, this IS Argus!" she said proudly. My very capable 12-year-old daughter had easily haltered Argus and brought him in from turnout.
She put him away and gave him some cookies and a pat. "You know, mom," she said, "Argus is getting to be just like a normal horse now."
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Argus is a 18-year-old Thoroughbred who spent nearly all of his life continuously locked in a 12 by 16 pen, with very little human contact. He was fed stale bread, lettuce, and the occasional flake of hay. He was liberated on December 8th, 2007. This blog chronicles the amazing story of his rehabilitation and new life.
2 comments:
God bless you for all you have done for Argus. All rehabilitation stories affect me in some way or another, but this has extra meaning for me because Argus is a Thoroughbred. I own two OTTB mares who are the light of my life. My eight year old, who I adopted about a year and a half ago to be my new show horse, spent six years on the track. I was stunned that she didn't know so many of the things that I naively expected happy, healthy horses to know (such as what carrots and apples are!). I tell people this all the time, but I'm not sure how serious they realize I am--my favorite part about having Dancer has been watching her learn to be a horse.
Your post about Argus' first gallop brought tears to my eyes. There's nothing more beautiful to me than a Thoroughbred doing what it has always been bred to do: run.
Good luck in your endeavors. Argus has a new friend and supporter in me. :-)
I am in the process of reading your whole blog (or should it be considered Argus' blog?) and I have to say that when I read this entry I immediately burst into tears at this entry.. Argus, spending YEARS, with nothing for him but the world turning, things we take for granted every day.
God bless Argus, and God bless you for being such a courageous, wonderful person to take on a cause such as Argus'.
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