"Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
--Christopher Robin to Pooh
Someone posted this in the comments section. I thought it was perfect for Argus.
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Argus is getting stronger, and can now trot and canter easily in his arena turnout. I ride his friend, Ridge, in the arena while Argus is turned out. Argus follows us around. This helps prepare Argus for a time when I will pony him (lead him) off of Ridge. Argus seems to enjoy following Ridge and I, and he gets a mini workout.
Yesterday, I saw just a tiny bit of....er....muscle developing in his back! Wow! These photos are a bit blurry. It was getting dark when my daughter took them:
Here is young Hannah. She is our first Argus Grooming Volunteer. She came out yesterday to spend an hour brushing Argus....who was, well, in HEAVEN. Argus loves being groomed more than just about any other horse I've known. Hannah is only 12 years old but has a lot of horse experience. I felt completely comfortable letting her handle and groom Argus (that's how sweet he is):
Yesterday, the local Press Democrat ran a story about horse neglect in this county. I was interviewed about Argus for the article. Here are links to both articles that ran:
A tough time for horses | Santa Rosa Press Democrat // News for California's North Bay and Redwood Empire
Local vet builds network to help horses survive | Santa Rosa Press Democrat // News for California's North Bay and Redwood Empire
An interesting phone call was the result. It was from a family member of Argus' former owner, who confirmed that Argus has spent his entire life in a pen, that everything really was as bad as we thought. Possibly worse. This person halterbroke Argus when he was 6 years old, and handled him, as he was nearly wild at that point. That is the "old" training I keep coming across. Thank goodness, because Argus remembered enough that I was able to re-halter train him, and he now picks up his feet easily. He really has lived in hell his entire life.
I learned that Argus' mother was a big, tank-like TB mare, very kind. Argus has a living half sister, too. She is still living in hell, with the original owner.
4 comments:
Argus is such a pretty fellow! He looks so happy in his pictures. You have done wonders with him since the first pics you posted of him!
It's really sad to know his half sister is still in that hell hole. I'm praying that something will happen to get her out of there before it's too late.
CAS
Wish we were closer- I would love to find a way to "liberate" Argus' Mom and let her be a "horse" for a while....
I just want to say that I am sitting here reading this and I can't even imagine. I just can't understand why someone would do that to such a beautiful creature.
I am by no means a rescue but I did rescue my new forever friend. She (Dreamer) at the time was going into her third trimester and had no water for days, no food, and was standing in crap up to her knees. You could tell from her eyes that she had just given up.
The lady that had her received her on a free lease and decided that she no longer wanted her so she just stopped feeding her.
I went there with my friend and we both decided that we had to get her out of there.
The day we brought her home we offered her some food and she literly inhaled it. I don't think she came off the round bale for weeks.
She too had problems with going into the barn...she didn't think there was food in there. It took us weeks to get her to do this but she finally came in without a struggle.
We didn't know if the baby was going to make it because it had not had a lot of nutrition but he made it and is huge and healthy.
I think you are doing a great thing and I will keep you and Argus in my prayers. I hope that you find a forever home for him.
One more thing, You should think about putting this story into a book and selling it for your rescue. I would buy it. You have a great way of telling the story so we all can imagine being there.
God Bless you and your family (2-leg and 4-leg)
Heather from Michigan
Great blog I enjoyed rreading
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