PETE
New Chestnut Gelding
Meet the newest member of our barn. This older gelding was at the mercy of a kill buyer in Kentucky. With the help of Hadley Hope Farm, he is now at quarantine and will be making the trip home to Brooksville in the near future. We will keep you updated as his life changes for the better. To sponsor or help with his expenses (transport, vet, farrier, dentist, special diet - just to name a few) please go to "how you can help" at the top of the page.
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Pete has gained at a remarkable pace once we found what he could eat. Soaked pellets, cubes and senior grain. So easy! He is ready to find his final home.
In Petes words:
I find myself, in this late stage of life, searching for a soft place to rest and call home forever, however long forever may be. . Im old. I have spent my life serving people, i can not remember all the jobs i have done but the scars on my back tell a story of many hours under saddle. My kind eye also tells the story of being loved, i can not remember if they were young or not but Im thinking they may have been since Ive learned to get my way if im not made to be patient. (if you are a bit timid, i may push by you to get my food but if im told to wait... i can do that very well) speaking of food, i didnt have any for sometime. It was an aweful feeling being hungry. I may have been given hay but my people in the last place i lived didnt know that i couldnt eat hay. i tried but my old teeth just couldnt chew up, so i starved. They decided to send me to a man that put me in a truck and said "your on your way to the glue factory old man" I waited, still hungry, while he collected other horses to fill his truck. For whatever reason, i may never know, someone saw life in my old eyes, they knew i had some love left to give so they brought me here. They took the time to figure out what i could eat and boy, do i love to eat! im gaining weight every day - I may be old as dirt but i heard the vet say "he is healthy as a horse" :) So, back to my search.... This is a great place but if i can find my own home that i belong in, there will be another space for these people to save another horse, maybe like me. So if you have been thinking of getting another horse (i really need a friend so i cant be alone), please consider me. I can still tote a few light people around for short periods of time, i love being brushed and listening to everyones problems (its a pretty good tradeoff - you brush, i listen :) i am good with the farrier and the vet - and i will give you a happy nicker everytime i see you - i love people. Contact BRER if you have any other questions.
In Petes words:
I find myself, in this late stage of life, searching for a soft place to rest and call home forever, however long forever may be. . Im old. I have spent my life serving people, i can not remember all the jobs i have done but the scars on my back tell a story of many hours under saddle. My kind eye also tells the story of being loved, i can not remember if they were young or not but Im thinking they may have been since Ive learned to get my way if im not made to be patient. (if you are a bit timid, i may push by you to get my food but if im told to wait... i can do that very well) speaking of food, i didnt have any for sometime. It was an aweful feeling being hungry. I may have been given hay but my people in the last place i lived didnt know that i couldnt eat hay. i tried but my old teeth just couldnt chew up, so i starved. They decided to send me to a man that put me in a truck and said "your on your way to the glue factory old man" I waited, still hungry, while he collected other horses to fill his truck. For whatever reason, i may never know, someone saw life in my old eyes, they knew i had some love left to give so they brought me here. They took the time to figure out what i could eat and boy, do i love to eat! im gaining weight every day - I may be old as dirt but i heard the vet say "he is healthy as a horse" :) So, back to my search.... This is a great place but if i can find my own home that i belong in, there will be another space for these people to save another horse, maybe like me. So if you have been thinking of getting another horse (i really need a friend so i cant be alone), please consider me. I can still tote a few light people around for short periods of time, i love being brushed and listening to everyones problems (its a pretty good tradeoff - you brush, i listen :) i am good with the farrier and the vet - and i will give you a happy nicker everytime i see you - i love people. Contact BRER if you have any other questions.
When Mary and I decided to bring Pete here from a killbuyers backyard in Pennsylvania we knew he was in rough shape but when he stepped off the trailer, nothing but a rack of bones, we wondered how he had survived the trip. Then we found out he was 30 and couldn't eat hay! The chances he was going to pull through and be a happy horse once again was unlikely but we had made a commitment to him when we had him loaded on that trailer in Pennsylvania. We would do everything we possibly could to prevent him from beinghngry, in pain or scared ever again in his life. Pete thrived under the care he was getting at BRER - He gained weight, grew a shiny coat, ran and played with Chester... He was a happy horse living in a field with all the food water and love he deserved. In early spring we were contacted by a wonderful person, Susan Lamarre, who lived in Raymond Maine she wanted to give Pete his forever barn, for as long as Petes' forever was going to be. She was a perfect match for Pete, she had tons of rescue experience (more then us actually) and her beliefs matched ours in long term care - Pete deserved carrots and brushing and should have very little asked of him. She also believed as we do that if we can help an old guy move on to greener pastures with dignity and without pain, it is the greatest gift we can give them. We had a date set to bring him down mid April.....Pete stopped eating.... he ate very little for about a week, then he had an episode of colic which Mary quickly reacted to and treated.. He was doing ok when his left front shoulder became very sore - he was holding it forward all the time - bute for a while but then we noticed a twitching happening. All this within a 2 - 3 week period - Pete was looking tired, his soft eye was hardened and his expression was painful - ears layed to the side - nostrils flared - he spent most of his time in the barn - The move to his forever barn was cancelled and Mary and I decided Pete needed to stay here where he felt safe and comfortable until he was ready to move on to greener pastures. In the days that followed,his twitching became worse - all daylong he would rub his nose and twitch he head up and down - then he would run to either the barn or out of the barn or anywhere except for where he was- trying to escape the pain - he was miserable. On May 9th the vet came - trigeminal neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal nerve, which carries sensation from the face to the brain, even mild stimulation of the face — such as sunlight - may trigger a jolt of excruciating pain - The vet explained he had very little experience with successful treatment with this condition - Mary and I could not see Pete suffer with this condition another day - It was a cloudy day so he wasnt in the worst pain - We led him down in the field for that last time and let Pete trot along to greener pastures. It was very quick and he took a deep breath as if to say .... sigh... i can rest now. Thank you.
“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees.”
― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
Every horse has their Ginger and we hope Pete is running beside her now :)
it is a wonderful thing what we were able to do for each other. We helped him forget what the feeling of hunger was and he shared his enormous heart with us and showed us what true forgiveness looks like. We were so lucky to have shared his last months with him - each time i think of him I will smile
“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my friends under the apple trees.”
― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty
Every horse has their Ginger and we hope Pete is running beside her now :)
it is a wonderful thing what we were able to do for each other. We helped him forget what the feeling of hunger was and he shared his enormous heart with us and showed us what true forgiveness looks like. We were so lucky to have shared his last months with him - each time i think of him I will smile