Username: Mister Hollow
Show Name: I Grieve In Stereo
Barn Name: Stereo
Name Meaning(s): Taken
from here, most of my names are inspired by songs that I really like
Gender: Mare
Halter: Black
Dog's Collar: Also black
Relationship:Uveitis.
A word that strikes terror into the owner of any horse, a debilitating condition that usually eventually causes near or complete blindness in both eyes. Moon blindness, as it's sometimes called, a genetic fault.
Stereo came to us from an acquaintance's stable, who despite their urgent, desperate, and immediate measures to treat the development of uveitis as soon as it reared it's ugly head, the mare wasn't very responsive to treatment and slowly lost vision in both eyes. The previous caretaker made a noble effort to keep the horse, retrain her to see without seeing and navigate her environment without crippling anxiety or injuring herself, but eventually had to fold, taking a responsible decision to pass the horse on to one who could care for her more appropriately. One of my personal horses has been blind since birth, so we both felt like I had a great view on the issue and could care for her more completely than he could.
I worked with Stereo personally upon her arrival for weeks, though the mare was struggling a lot and simply wouldn't move around in her stall for fear of bumping her head into things or accidentally walking into walls, and in the pasture she was much of the same way. She was crippled and miserable in all forms of the word, merely a shadow of the once proud, lively, and energetic equine that she had once been. She didn't take to Lucifer, my other blind horse, as well as I had hoped, so I began to look at other alternatives to get this horse to a better place mentally. I had heard of some folks trying out seeing eye dogs for their horses and well, with nothing else to lose and everything to gain, I decided to speak to another friend that trained dogs for a living and was set up with a young dog named Radio. There were other options available to me, but Radio and Stereo was just an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. It seemed meant to be.
I cautiously introduced Radio to Stereo one day in a paddock so she would have room to breathe and move away just in case the dog startled her, but there was no need. They hit it off right out of the gate like they'd been raised together since birth, they sniffed noses and Stereo nuzzled him a little, and then they were off. Radio moved in one direction and barked softly to signal for Stereo to follow his voice and footsteps, and after cautiously repeating this method a few times, Stereo's confidence swelled up like a wave pulled by the full moon and she was off! First walking, and then trotting... and then galloping! She was running around in the paddock without a single fear because she knew that if she was about to run into something her new companion would bark and alert her to it. It was such a beautiful and magical sight, I had tears in my eyes watching her, seeing her finally happy and free was... beyond any words.
As you could probably imagine, these two are inseparable now. Radio stays with her no matter what, all hours of the day and night, they eat meals together and are always within earshot of each other, walking side by side in the pasture like the best friends that they are.
(566 words)
