Chavez's story. When I notice an advertisement of someone trying to give away a horse or sell very cheaply, I often call or email with suggestions or thoughts on checking references before giving their horse away. Chavez came to me that way. I called on an ad for a yearling, greenbroke Kiger Mustang for $500. This was back when a person could still sell a horse. Now, he'd be given to anyone who drove by with a trailer. Just the economy.
Anyway, we went to see him and he was in deplorable conditions. Mud past his fetlocks. Wire and crap tangled in his mane and tail. A halter with attached leadrope dangling while loose in his little area. He was in a "corral" about the size of a king sized bed. His water was muck and they were feeding him something that looked suspiciously like straw. Nasty.
I offered something way less than $500. They guy said "no" he is worth more, blah, blah, blah. I told him it would cost me more than that to rehabilitate him. Guy stood firm on his price and I started to walk away. Rescue is a tricky line between helping and enabling.
My husband didn't follow. This was the first time I'd brought him along and he was appalled at the thought of leaving the poor little colt there. He was not gelded and was not greenbroke. Guy thought that the ability to get the halter on occasionally constituted greenbroke. Ummm...no.
Guy (real name Jose...) was very proud of the fact that a big time Kiger breeder had given Chavez to him. The had him for almost a year and had never bothered to give him a name. Turns out I know big time Kiger breeder and have since gotten more info about Chavez.
Anyway, we went to see him and he was in deplorable conditions. Mud past his fetlocks. Wire and crap tangled in his mane and tail. A halter with attached leadrope dangling while loose in his little area. He was in a "corral" about the size of a king sized bed. His water was muck and they were feeding him something that looked suspiciously like straw. Nasty.
I offered something way less than $500. They guy said "no" he is worth more, blah, blah, blah. I told him it would cost me more than that to rehabilitate him. Guy stood firm on his price and I started to walk away. Rescue is a tricky line between helping and enabling.
My husband didn't follow. This was the first time I'd brought him along and he was appalled at the thought of leaving the poor little colt there. He was not gelded and was not greenbroke. Guy thought that the ability to get the halter on occasionally constituted greenbroke. Ummm...no.
Guy (real name Jose...) was very proud of the fact that a big time Kiger breeder had given Chavez to him. The had him for almost a year and had never bothered to give him a name. Turns out I know big time Kiger breeder and have since gotten more info about Chavez.
Below is his first day home. Not finding photos of the wire and yuck and the nearly embedded halter.
Ahh, here we go.
A raw spot on his neck. Probably rubbing to try to remove halter or mud or...
You can see the wear marks of the halter here. Luckily it hadn't worn through the skin to become embedded. Just wore off the hair.
Dreadlocks. Lovely.
Ribby and hips poking out
So that is when we got Chavez. I had to cut the halter off, it had been tied on so long (rope halter) that I couldn't get the knot undone. He took off and we couldn't catch him for quite awhile. He came around slowly though.
Chavez, the name, came from Young Guns. Adam is a fan and kept calling him "the Mexican Greaser" (no offense intended) and it stuck.
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