Little Lady Sally

Last Monday while attending the New Holland Horse Auction we spotted a very skinny small grey mare.  I squeezed in past a few horses to get a closer look at her but she was just too scared of me.  She pulled at her head tie and went sideways trying to get away from my touch.  She had obviously been badly abused.  I wrote her number on my list, even though I could barely touch her.

I saw them dragging the grey mare to the auction ring.  One person pulling her head, one person near her hind end rushing her along.  The terror in her eyes was peircing, my heart broke for her.  When they finally got her through the ring I began bidding on her, she started at the low price of $25.  Thirty seconds later she was mine.  They dragged her back to where she would be tied until we were ready to go.  At the end of the auction we sent the grey mare home with a friend as our trailer was full with other needy horses.  We would pick her up the next day and bring her back to our farm.

Our photographer, Cadie, who was present at the auction sponsored the grey mare after her grandmother who passed away.  She was no longer a number, she was now Sally.  Sally arrived at our farm just a few short days ago.  Her arrival made my heart hurt.  When I opened the trailer door she was shaking so hard she was sweating.  You could smell her fear from a mile away.  We slowly lowered the trailer door and tried to not make a sound.  Every noise sent Sally backing away from me.  After a few minutes we were able to unload her and safely get her to her paddock.

After a few hours Sally was munching hay from a net but everytime I walked up the hill she would run to the back to be as far from me as possible.  It was lightly drizzling and I wanted so badly to get a sheet on her.  Myself and Andria slowly walked into the paddock and poor Sally started to shiver in fear.  After about 20 minutes we caught her and we able to very slowly get a sheet on her.  Something I did not think was possible.  After all the abuse this sweet girl has endured she never once tried to kick me or bite Andria.  She just stood there fearfully waiting for something bad to happen.  We unclipped the lead line and Sally stood there for a few seconds before she slowly walked away to stand in the back far away from us.

Day 2 for Sally was was bit more productive.  I sat in the middle of her paddock with a small bucket of treats and grain.  I was able to get her to approach me and take a mouthful of grain.  She wants to trust so badly.  You can't be near her without having tears in your eyes.  I've seen a lot of abused horses in the past few years but never one as kind as Sally.  Even through all her abuse she still wants to trust humans.  Andria was able to feed her a few treats by the end of the day yesterday.  It was nice to see her taking a few steps closer.  Sally is a wonderful horse, she has the heart of ten horses.  I can only imagine how gorgeous she is going to be after 200 lbs and when she learns that no one is going to hurt her anymore. 

Sally will be available for adoption.  She is a registered Paso fino mare with a gorgeous face.  Obviously she will need someone with experience to help her learn to trust again.  She is a special horse, just by working with her for two days I can tell she will make a wonderful riding horse in the future.  At just 5 years old she has faced more abuse then most of us could imagine.  I'm glad to be able to have changed her future because I'm sure her past was very ugly.

Please check back on my blog for updates on Sally, I'm sure I will have many more pictures to share!