username; Placebo
name; Goliath
gender; Gelding (Stallion)
halter colour; Light Olive Green with Burnished Gold Buckles
Backstory
Goliath, true to his name, was gigantic for a tolter stallion before he was gelded (Now he’s just a gigantic gelding). He was bred almost entirely for his size; both his father and mother were prized for their physical capabilities and were on the upper end of the spectrum in terms of height, and Goliath easily outstripped both once fully grown. He was on the right track to becoming something big for his stable- his stature coupled with his sweet, naturally gentle nature made him easy to handle and perfect for competitions. But, his attitude also made him gullible in his young age. Gullible enough to trust humans who were out to do him harm.
Before that particular incident, Goliath was almost dog-like in how he approached new people. Without a mean bone in his body, he didn’t believe any creature could be any different from him (even while he sometimes didn’t realize that other humans and animals were wary of him due to his size), so he was ill-prepared when he was targeted by humans out to sabotage his prior owner and their stables.
The aftermath left him with badly scarred eyes and an infection that slowly crept in despite the money his owners invested to abate it. The only thing is, his prior owners weren’t a rescue organization— they specialized solely in training show and racehorses, and had no use for a horse they couldn’t profit off of. He was kept from euthanasia only because his owners didn’t have the heart to kill off their former pride and joy, but high costs quickly moved him to the cheapest lot on their property, where the lack of grass made the area prone to muddiness. He was a sore sight to see once he finally switched to a stable who could better accommodate his needs and treat his sightless gaze. Hopefully, this sweet boy will no longer have to try to make himself as small as possible in his new home.
how will you help accommodate them? Now out of a stable that would sooner neglect him than provide for his needs, Goliath can now live out the rest of his life in hopes of regaining his previous happiness and safety. Due to his blindness, unfortunately, he’s not able to freely roam like other tolters on the ranch he now abides in without supervision, but with the help of two dogs acting as his guides, he’s able to explore the surrounding ranch with far less anxiety than he would have ever dreamed. When he’s not able to reside in the ranch, he’s usually within the spacious horse stables. As one of the largest horses, his stall is by far the biggest in order to accommodate his size. Despite his initial wariness on the ranch, his sweet disposition kept his visitors flowing in and out of his stable so that he was rarely alone during the day. In time, the attention restored his trust in other creatures, even though now he still shies away from new scents.
When his new owners realized that his guide dogs would not always be available to walk with him when he wanted to go out, they fenced in a small pasture for Goliath so that he could enjoy the day without constantly having to watch his every step. Even now Goliath is within an adjustment period, but the love he’s constantly surrounded by gives him optimism.
will they have a companion? tell me about their first meeting; Yes, he'll have two actually (using my SCS pet
Victor and
MJ; MJ is his primary companion and Victor is his secondary companion)
“Well damn, that’s the biggest horse I’ve ever seen.”
“MJ! Have a little bit more tact!”
“What? It’s true! Just look at the size of him!”
It took Goliath a second or two to translate the low whines and barks into something he could understand over the talking of the humans handling the new creatures, and he felt his neck flush in embarrassment. Though the voices seemed to be coming below him, he couldn’t help but turn away from them in the weak hope that they’d ignore him and go away. His ears were pulled back in poorly-disguised shame.
“Now look what you did, you went off and offended him. Now he’s never gonna talk to us.”
“Oh, please, Victor,” The eye roll was evident in the more feminine sounding voice, and Goliath could hear shifting behind him. The feminine voice spoke up again. “Your name’s Goliath, right?”
Combined with the area the voice was now coming from and the creaking of the wood of his stall door, Goliath could tell that the creature had lifted itself up to almost eye-level. Though he really didn’t want to speak at all, Goliath knew it would be rude not to. “Yes, that’s my name,” His soft voice drifted over to the creature, and it yipped excitedly in reply.
“See Victor? Well then, it’s nice to meet ya, Goliath. The names MJ, and the old brute dog with me is Victor,” MJ said, but her voice became contrite as she continued, “I really do apologize for that comment, though. We’re more in the business of sheep and goats, see— we don’t see many horses as it is. But we’d love to get to know ya either way! Besides, we are here to show you around.”
Goliath didn’t turn around, but his ears pricked curiously. He turned his head just so to show he was listening, and his voice grew stronger. “Show me around?”
“Yup! Trust me, we’ll make sure nothing bad happens to ya. The humans will be with us too if you need any more help. I’m sure it’ll be fine,” MJ continued.
The other dog, now identified as Victor, huffed from his position outside the stall. “Of course it’ll be fine MJ, stop scaring the poor male. Goliath, I know you don’t have much reason to trust us yet, but we really would like to help you as much as we can.”
do they have an interesting quirk? tell me a quick story about it;Goliath won’t go in water unless someone, or something, resides on his back! His new owners aren’t entirely sure why Goliath ends up being so picky about this one detail, but unless a noticeable weight is on his back, he won’t go farther than ankle deep in any sort of water. His owners are still hesitant to have anyone physically ride him, so it’s gotten them more than a few laughs to have Victor or MJ lay on Goliath’s back as he lazily swims around in the property’s nearby lake. His favorite passenger by far is MJ, and Goliath will readily jump into the water if she’s on his back, but for anyone or anything else on his back when he’s looking for a swim, Goliath always religiously taps at the soggy ground of the lake’s shore before gingerly making his way into the water. The bond he shares with the two dogs truly shines through on these trips. The dogs look fully relaxed lounging on the expanse of his back, and Goliath looks as if he’s having the time of his life.
