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© Shannon Kalahan
Grade
mare
??
Miss Marple came to us on July 3, 2005 through a local auction
with two other horses, Pip and Granny
Smith. Miss
Marple is a chestnut grade mare. Her exact age is unknown,
although we believe her to be around 15 or so.
Miss Marple caught our eye at the auction
because she was covered in what we think to be scrapes across
her side, chest, neck and face. All of those scrapes were
missing hair and seemed to be swollen and infected. That
first night we saw her at the auction, the house did not put
her through for sale, so we did not have any opportunity to
get her out of her unpleasant situation. In the past,
this particular auction house has not agreed to sell horses
to us privately on the night of their sales.
We returned to the auction house the following
week, hoping to remove her from the auction house, and again
we were disappointed to find that she was not being shown that
night. We were happy to see though that the infection
seemed to be lessening.
Third time is a charm, and finally we were able
to convince the auction house to sell Miss Marple to us privately,
since they were hesitant to put her in the auction looking as
she did. They told us they thought she had an allergic
reaction to a breast collar – that was what had caused
the severe infection. They also mentioned, after we signed
the papers, that she was impossible to ride! Rears, bucks,
etc.
Since Miss Marple has come into our care, we have
learned that she has severe trust issues, probably stemming
from abuse. When we turned her out in the quarantine paddock,
it took 4 weeks before we could touch her again! Her allergic
reaction (we do not believe it was an allergic reaction, but
we must go on what the auction house told us) has healed up
nicely, and the hair has grown back to cover her bald patches.
We are slowly getting her to trust the people around her, and
she in return is slowly letting us teach (or perhaps re-teach!)
her to stand nicely for grooming, fly spray, fly masks, vet
and farrier attention… We have not ridden her yet.
Miss Marple found a forever home with a wonderful family who
has a history of making a huge difference in the lives of abused
animals who need to re-learn to trust. We wish the all the best
of luck together.
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