And he's off!
Back when I was a new volunteer at the Colorado Horse Rescue, I recall feeling resentful when a horse was adopted and left. Of course that was silly, and selfish - but at the time I was reveling in getting to work with horses again after quite a dry spell and I wanted them ALL.
Once I got involved with the adoption committee, however, that attitude quickly changed. It was suddenly so aparent that the love and care that a good family can give to a horse far surpassed the best that the rescue was able to offer. To see how excited these adopters, kids and adults alike, got when we were able to match them with a horse was incredibly satifying.
And today we got to find that satisfaction again. Well - for me it was all vicariously because in fact I never met the people, but Ginger was effusive.
Several weeks ago we had started to discuss that our horse Joey was not faring so well. He's still healthy and sound, still loved working with the kids. But his weight, which we've always struggled to keep up, was getting worse. We resolved to try and find him a new home -- despite all the factors against doing so: The time of year - people frequently are 'unloading' horses in the fall so that they don't have to bear the feeding burden over the winter. Not to mention the economy - people are scaling down in horse ownership much as everything else. And, of course, the fact that he is an older horse with some special needs. None the less we could only try, right?
Just before I left for California last week, I got Joey's information up on our website and posted an ad to Craig's List. And what do you know but a fantastic family called up almost immediately. They met with Ginger and met Joey, and it was clearly one of those good matches. He went home just hours ago!
We're so excited to see Joey head off on to his next adventure and wish him the best of times. This time he's trading off the adoration of lots of little campers for the love some kids all his own. We wish him the best.
See the pictures, and Ginger's note of farewell on our website.
Once I got involved with the adoption committee, however, that attitude quickly changed. It was suddenly so aparent that the love and care that a good family can give to a horse far surpassed the best that the rescue was able to offer. To see how excited these adopters, kids and adults alike, got when we were able to match them with a horse was incredibly satifying.
And today we got to find that satisfaction again. Well - for me it was all vicariously because in fact I never met the people, but Ginger was effusive.
Several weeks ago we had started to discuss that our horse Joey was not faring so well. He's still healthy and sound, still loved working with the kids. But his weight, which we've always struggled to keep up, was getting worse. We resolved to try and find him a new home -- despite all the factors against doing so: The time of year - people frequently are 'unloading' horses in the fall so that they don't have to bear the feeding burden over the winter. Not to mention the economy - people are scaling down in horse ownership much as everything else. And, of course, the fact that he is an older horse with some special needs. None the less we could only try, right?
Just before I left for California last week, I got Joey's information up on our website and posted an ad to Craig's List. And what do you know but a fantastic family called up almost immediately. They met with Ginger and met Joey, and it was clearly one of those good matches. He went home just hours ago!
We're so excited to see Joey head off on to his next adventure and wish him the best of times. This time he's trading off the adoration of lots of little campers for the love some kids all his own. We wish him the best.
See the pictures, and Ginger's note of farewell on our website.
Labels: Ranch
posted by Monica |
2:20 PM
3 Comments:
Good news!
The blog title "Joey has gone home" at first is ominous. I knew Ginger meant that he has a new forever home, but my first thought was oh no! and a stomach lurch.
Oh Spike! That certainly was not our intent. But looking at it with fresh eyes I can see how you had that reaction.
Monica
This is such a sweet story. Seems Joey has been twice-blessed at least.
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