Spirit has been with us now for just over a year. She arrived from Animal Control on Halloween in 2014. Unlike in Digger’s case, her owner didn’t die; just took off and left her and another horse behind. The sheriff’s department had to dart her with anesthesia in order to catch her initially. And when she came to live here some weeks later, we had trouble catching her.
(The reason she had to stay awhile with Animal Control even after we offered her a home at Sky Ranch was because in this type of case, an owner must either relinquish ownership to the authorities or the case will be tried in court. Often the owner will give up ownership to avoid prosecution.)
Weight back on, Spirit is a beautiful, lively mare with a mind of her own. She can be a little pushy when begin lead, but never aggressive. She can get impatient and will kick her stall or paw at the fence if we aren’t getting things taken care of as rapidly as she would like. She still isn’t crazy about lifting her feet for cleaning or trimming, but we got her through one trim and will take on the challenge again next time. Fortunately she wears her hoofs down naturally and doesn’t need trimming as often as the other horses. Looking at her, and enjoying her sweet but bold spirit, we can’t help but wonder why she was left like that. Guess we’ll never know.
Thank you.