Kim

The stall between madeira and Faith has been empty since momma pony moved out into the pasture and although I know Madeira enjoyed bossing momma around it has been serenely quiet between the two cranky mares.
A couple of weeks ago, right after the big storm Raul found Kim shivering in the pasture, struggling to find food.
Kim is an older mare, nearing thirty, if not over. A few years back she went completely blind and was retired from the rent string after having worked as a trail horse for more than 15 years. Her best friend Nevada, an older gelding became her eyes and her protection. She never left his side, until a couple of years ago when Nevada was sold and taken away.
The day Raul found her stumbling about she moved into the stall next door to madeira.
Raul had called to tell me about her, but still the sight that awaited me in that stall was deeply saddening.
I remembered her as a beautiful proud looking appaloosa. About 14 years ago she was one of Virpi's and my favorite horses to ride, sweet and willing with a good amount of energy and gentle spirit.


Now when I looked into the stall the only thing I recognized was the heart shaped brand on her left shoulder. She stood there literally skin and bones. Her white, filmy, blind eyes had sunken in their sockets. Her hoofs had not been touched for years. From the grooves in them I could tell that they had overgrown countless times and the excess had at times broken off itself. Her entire body was covered with a concoction of mud and manure caked stiffly into her coat.
I cannot describe how awful I felt seeing her that way. And I couldn't understand why a horse had to be reduced to this before anyone did anything. Her retirement had merely ment to be forgotten into the pasture. It was hard to believe she was the same horse, that had carried us all those years ago.

Raul had already started her on a special diet, and I decided to add a weekly bran mash to it. It was the least I could do. Her Thirty year old teeth weren't in shape to eat rough forages anymore. The only part of the alfalfa she seemed to be eating was the sweet, rich, leafy ends. The rest lay stomped on the floor as good as bedding. That is why she had been starving in the pasture. Out there the "good stuff" was eaten by the strong members of the herd before the weaker ones ever got near it. What was left over for the lower ranking herd members was the roughage, which Kim had not been able to eat.
Tess and I tried grooming her, but the rain rot was so bad, that every stroke of brush peeled off more hair, than dirt leaving ugly bold spots along her back. Joe (Jake's owner) was kind enough to lend us a blanket that fit perfectly on Kim.
It has been about three weeks and now Kim comes to find us immediately when she hears our voices. She seems cozy and warm in her blanket, in a stall where no other horse can push her off her food, and she is incredibly thankful of the extra treats and attention she is getting. Even madeira and Faith, who both greatly protested against sharing their food and affection with this other mare in the middle, have given up. I don't know if they realized, that she can't see or if they just couldn't figure out why this odd horse was not reacting to their pinned ears and bared teeth. Yesterday when Virpi was feeding her bran and scratching her neck, she seemed utterly content. She kept sighing as if not believing her luck and at the same time trying to figure out why all of a sudden she was getting this special treatment. But she has decided to enjoy every bit of it and we are determined to make the rest of her days the happiest she has ever known.


This is Virpi riding Kim in the summer of 1993. If you look closely, you can see the heart brand on her left shoulder.