Sara
Foaled in 1989 (approx.)
Died February 2014
16.1 hand Thoroughbred/Belgian draft horse cross, bay mare
Dear Sara is a problem. The previous owner lied about her condition. She also didn’t contribute anything when she sent Sara to me, and despite repeated promises to do so, she never provided medical records. Bottom line, Sara came here as a three legged horse. She’s not too responsive to medication for pain or swelling. She is also prone to abscesses, often making her only a 2-legged horse! Sara lives a happy life following Bruhad around with her bff Joyful. I want to begin lunging her, at least, because she has an amazing appetite and like me, can gain weight just thinking about food. We call Sara the D-8 – after the Caterpillar tractor that can bulldoze just about anything down – her stall required extra reinforcement because if she got bored or hungry, she would just dismantle the stall and cruise out.
Margaret and her new husband Mooney were able to visit recently, and you can see Margaret has Sara's number - carrots, carrots and more carrots!
At the same time as Mitey Nice, November of 2004, I mistakenly gave some hay to these girls which was perhaps moldy. Other horses will leave the moldy part – they are very well fed and not desperate enough to eat anything they don’t like – but Sara and Mitey Nice are eating machines. Unfortunately, for them and for me, they both foundered as a result. And the ongoing problems trying to keep them on special diets, and get their huge hard malformed feet trimmed, are making me sorrier than I already was. We obviously don’t ride Sara anymore, and that makes her weight even harder to control. And if she doesn’t have food of some sort to play with, she simply removes some part of her fence and goes walkabout looking for it! She is brilliant and cuddly, but eats at LOT, and farrier expense is high due to the size of her foundered feet and the difficulty she has keeping her feet up to be trimmed.
UPDATE 1/11/10 The January visit is cancelled, but it gives more time for the new shoes I’ve put on Sara to provide her with some more relief. And now that we don’t have Sierra 3 times a week to work the horses, I guess I’ll have to work Sara myself. But with the help of CHIA (www.getchia.com) I’ve been able to keep Sara’s weight under control. We hope to see a whole new Sara come summer, when her feet are in better shape thanks to her shoes, and her weight-conditioning are in better shape.
UPDATE 12/10 – no, the shoes actually seemed to make her worse. She’s back to her usual bare feet, trimmed every 6 weeks.
Below are pictures of Sara, carrying little Sierra, her first time under saddle since 2004. Margaret was kind enough to send a few bucks to have Sierra exercise Sara, and you can see Sara still recalls how to be a riding horse. This is in Sept of 2009, and we hope to get Sara in good enough shape to give Margaret a little ride in January 2010 when she intends to visit again….
She doesn't like the bit - but got better as her 20-25 minute walking session continued.
They're getting along well now, she's still got it!
She’s tired. Only 20-25 minutes of walking, but she’s been on a diet this summer too, so this was a big deal.
WHOOHOO! Sara is finally part sponsored! Dear Margaret Squires has stepped up as a sponsor for our girl, in memory of Bayla, her horse as a child. I’m so thrilled someone is there for Sara … Thank you Margaret!
If you can help Margaret and TGC with Sara’s sponsorship, or wish to sponsor another Golden Carrot horse, please contact Casey.
