Show name: Retaking the Empire
Barn name: Spartan
Halter color: Golden
Task 1:
I never imagined the horror scene I would witness as my eyes gazed upon the lot of petrified, bone-thin equines. There were so many of them, all shoved into tight pens with barely any room to move around. No water or food sources were to be found around their spaces, and the smell of the manure-covered floors was almost unbearable to be within distance of. I wondered to myself how someone could let any animal suffer in these conditions. They did not deserve such maltreatment as they were getting, which is the reason that I brought myself to the decision to take one in.
I watched as the rescue staff pulled out individual SWE's to take to trailers and ship them off to their new homes, but I wanted to get mine in person. It felt like I at least owed the poor thing that much for the nightmarish life it had been living. I pulled out my adoption form, which had been messily folded and crinkled in my pocket, and tried to straighten it out the best that I could before walking up to the head rescuer to meet my new project.
I handed over my form to the rescuer who gazed over the information carefully, and then beckoned me to follow them to one of the back pens. I noticed that these pens held individual horses, which I guessed was because of aggression or health hazards. Finally, we reached the pen on the end of the row, and inside, I noticed one of the most frightened SWE's I had ever seen. He was cowered in the corner trembling, and I also noticed how he was not putting much weight on his hind left leg. "Here is your boy. Our staff has had problems with his aggression, and you may want to keep him away from other equines because he tends to lash out," the rescuer said, "You can bring your trailer around and we will get him loaded."
I could not get his picture out of my mind as I saw him being frightened (not purposely) into the trailer where the team slammed the door behind him. This was going to be the start of a hard, yet amazing journey, and I was ready to help him turn his life around. The whole drive back was filled with banging on the metal trailer, and every time I would stop for gas, people were terrified of the screaming whinnies my boy was producing. However, we eventually got back home, where I released him in our indoor arena (which already had a food bucket and water trough set up in it) so that he would have some room to run and relax a bit by himself. The doors of my trailer burst open, and he came sprinting out and then limped over to the water trough. Within minutes, he was all out, which meant that I would have to go give him some more.
I did not plan on disturbing him so early, but since he was so dehydrated, he needed it. I grasped the hose tightly and had one of the stable hands stand by the faucet located outside of the arena to turn it on when I got to the bucket. The minute I tried to enter the arena, the stallion charged at me in a bucking fit, and I jumped back over the gate just in time before being trampled. "Oh boy, do I have some work to do with you," I whispered softly. Instead of trying his patience, I filled a large bucket with water and set it a few feet away from the entrance. At least now he has some water, and I watched him from the outside of the gate. His eyes seemed to settle a little bit and I could tell that he was becoming a little bit more relaxed as time passed. I began to just talk to him softly, and his ears would perk a little bit whenever I talked to him. I held out my hand and watched him eye it in suspicion and then pulled it back. He still seemed a bit weary of me, and I knew that he would take some time before he would ever let me approach him. So, I took an opposite approach and decided to let him try and approach me first. Hours had passed, but eventually he started to walk past me and the gate from time to time. He was far away enough that I could not touch him, but it was still progress. And since he had been through so much for one day, I decided to give him the rest of the night to settle in. The next day, I would try and get a simple contact with him, but for now, he was showing no aggression toward me, and I hoped to give him a better human experience. In that moment, a name had also come to me...Spartan, because he is a fighter and is getting to come back from a bad life and turn it all around.
Here is a
little bit of art for this task <3
Task 2:
About two weeks had passed, and everyday we seemed to make progress, though I had not yet touched him. Yesterday, I had gotten to the point where I was able to stand in the arena and he would step toward me instead of dart away when I looked at him. I was hoping that today would finally be the day I was allowed to make contact with him, so I grabbed a few horse treats from my tack box and walked to the center of the arena as usual. I tossed a couple of them on the ground in his direction, and at first he was afraid of them. He would run out of the way because he thought that the treats would hurt him. "Come on Spartan, I am not going to hurt you! Look, these are good," I whispered to him. He started to settle. Spartan loves to be talked to, even though he is not comforted by the touch yet. He let out a prolonged sigh and then sniffed at the treat by his hooves. Eventually, he picked it up and seemed satisfied as he crunched away. I tossed another one a little bit closer to me and he followed it and picked it up. At this point, he was within 10 feet of me, so I tossed another one about four feet away from me. Reluctantly, he took a few steps and then reached out his neck as far as possible to gobble it down. "That's a good boy Spartan! You can do this," I praised. I held out the last treat in my hand. He eyed it, but did not move from his position. I took a baby step toward him and he raised his head. "Hmm," I said, "it's ok boy, that was good enough for today." I turned around and began to walk toward the gate until I felt a nuzzle at the treat clenched in my hand. I turned my head and saw that he had taken a leap of faith, and had finally approached me. "That's my boy," I whispered as I handed him the treat. I gave a soft rub to his head, and then released him to run around a little.
I continued to do this for a couple of days, but noticed that his limp was getting a little bit worse. He looked very stiff, and I decided to call the vet to come check him out. Within a few hours, Dr. Timothy came walking into the barn with all of his supplies. "And who might this fellow be," he asked unlatching the gate. "This is Spartan, and you may want to be careful approaching him. He is not too fond of strangers," I cautioned. The doctor laughed and stepped inside, which I followed.
"Hey there Spartan," I said sweetly to the old horse. He picked up his head and limped over to my side. I gave him a nice neck rub and then he noticed that Dr. Timothy was behind me. "Hello old boy," Tim said as Spartan nipped at him, "Looks like you don't like me too much." I slipped a halter onto Spartan and held him in place waiting for Tim to get back with his supplies. "Hmm. His joint feels warm, and due to the swelling I see, I am gonna guess that he has some old man arthritis," Tim observed. Spartan had his ears flat against the side of his neck and tried to kick at Tim. "Haha, but it seems that it is not too bad. I will give you some supplements that will help with the arthritis and show you some stretches and rubs you can give him. I think that it is best he is not ridden any faster than a trot, and no more than a half hour at a time if you decide to ride him. Although I would recommend that he is not ridden anymore. It looks like from the pictures you sent me on the first day you got him that he is already putting on some weight, so keep giving him what you are giving him, and I think that as soon as you get him comfortable around everybody that is not just you, he will be an amazing horse," Tim instructed. "Thank you so much! I am so proud of him for coming this far already! I can't wait to introduce him to Cher Ami either! I think they will be great friends," I said relieved. Dr. Tim continued to show me some stretches and techniques that I will be using on him before I thanked him and asked him how much it would be. "No charge for this visit. This boy needs some good care, and I know that you could use the money to get him something better and that he needs," Tim said.
Tim pulled his truck out of the lot and I went back in to see Spartan. "That's a good boy Spartan," I praised him. I then put some of the new supplements in his feed and gave him dinner for the night. After he ate, I gave him a nice rub on his knee and proceeded out of the arena for the night. "Goodnight Spartan," I called over my shoulder and closed the gate.
Task 3:
A few more weeks passed, and everyday was a new adventure. Spartan had gotten to the point where I was allowed to groom him and walk with him around the arena. However, he still was a bit weary of other equines, so I decided that maybe it was time that he meet one. I walked to my tack box and grabbed my light blue halter for Cher Ami, and went to her stall to halter her. I tied her to the other side of the fence so that Spartan could not lash at her, but could still interact with his head between the bars. I haltered Spartan and led him over and tied himself to the opposing side of the fence where at first he pinned his ears. For his whole journey, he had most of my attention, and seeing another horse getting paid attention to made him feel a little bit jealous. Cher Ami sniffed at his lead rope and nickered softly to him and he extended his nose out to sniff her as well. So far no biting, but that will still be one major thing that he will need to work on in the future.
I plan on him being a therapy horse, and a possible potential breeder (only for a few, I would not want to abuse him with it) depending on his future health. Then, I will geld him after one or two breedings so that he can be a pasture mate. However, in order to do that, he will need to learn to be around other horses. His progress with Cher Ami has made me hopeful, however, and cannot wait for his future. Because of his arthritis, he will never show for me, so he will never be ridden again, unless it is for his therapy sessions to help little kids with rare diseases or anxiety.
However until then, I will always be proud of how far he has come, and cannot wait to see how he can help others in the future <3
THE END
Beautiful job on him <3 I will get to work on the tasks when I get home because I am currently on mobile! And the backstory is very good
