Is There A Graceful Way To End A Care Lease? Part One....

Maybe before I ask that question, I should get into a bit of background on this...  Bear with me as it may take a while to get through.  Depending on the subject matter, I can get pretty long winded!!  ( :

In my early twenties I lived in Reno, Nv. (and might I say I loved it...and would live there again if I had the chance!) and had a border collie puppy.  This dog is Abbi's paternal aunt, her name was Spyder.  Its too bad I got Spyder as she was wasted on being a pet.  But initially I had decided that I was going to get into herding with her.  I am certain that she would have done a fantastic job for a rancher...and the ranchers I got her from always said that if she needed to come back, they would gladly take her.  Shewas also my brother Dufuss's full sister...  The sires side of these collies was a fantastic line, and I would get another dog from those people without heistation!

Through word of mouth and a little research I found a great lady named Mary to get us started on the basics of herding.  Because Spyder was too young to do much I learned how to send her out left and right, and how to do various other small tasks that could some day help with my ultimate goal for this dog.  The lessons were at her house and she had several Rottweilers that she bred and showed.  These dogs were trained in various skills, with one being herding.  They were fun to watch work.  I decided that right then and there I would always love Rotties...(I would get one later...best dog that did nothing you could ever have!  Rest In Peace Dinki!)

As Mary and I worked on my dog handling skills and my understanding of the whole task we started talking about her horses.  I at the time had my old mare Quoata and a baby on the way from her out of a pretty nice APHA stud horse that lived on the corner.  We chatted about our childhoods and how much a like they were.  As we walked through her barn we randomly stopped by a small black/bay mare who was doing her best to beg for attention.

I of course asked about the little black horse, how could I not? 

They called her Momma.  She was the mother to the long yearling buckskin colt across the way.  Mary let the colt out into his paddock and we watched him move.  He was cute as a bug and appeared to be cow bred.  He was getting down pretty low in the front end taunting the dogs, and when one would respond he whirled like a top.  He was great fun to watch and friendly as could be. 

Of course I asked how he was bred other than the mare across the way being his dam.  Mary said well....are you ready for a story?  Uh, about horses...hell yes I was!!

This is the story the way I remember it, it may not be spot on as I am 10-12 years older now and haven't really thought about it for some time!

As I remember it:

She said his sire was Hollywood Dunnit bred and over in the Henderson and had been on a ranch/farm all his life working and making colts.  She really liked him and heard through a friend that this little mare was for sale and had just been bred to the Hollywood Dunnit stallion.  The friend told her the mare was bred pretty well and had some colts riding age that were doing pretty well locally in smaller shows.  The friend also told her it was a fire sale of sorts and that the owner had gotten into some trouble with drugs and just needed to unload the mare.

Mary and her partner had tried and tried to contact the owner.  After what seemed like a large amount of time they finally got a hold of  her.  The owner said she had traded the mare in foal to said stallion for a debt and gave her the name of the person that had them now.  They contacted this person.  Man who had possession of horses said colts for sale and mares free.  If you don't want her, we are hauling her to the auction. 

Mary and her partner hooked up their trailer and headed to the guys house.  She said it was a mess, the pasture was a mess, the horses were a mess, and there was no food or water to be seen.  In Nevada in the summer... They also didn't see the mare and foal upon first arrival.  These girls were no dummies and had brought one of their dogs with them as well as their pistols.  (If I remember correctly, Mary's partner was on the police force, or in some sort of armed service...)  They were met by a man and brought around to the back of a shed where the mare was standing hobbled with a halter and lead rope on.  The colt was laying down next to her.  I remember Mary saying how odd they though it was that the horses were both so shiny with slick coats when the rest of the horses looked dull and rough. 

They had decided driving in that they would take these horses regardless of how they looked and euthanize them if necessary to get them out of the dump they were in.  As well as call animal control.  I also remember her telling me that when asked why the mare was hobbled, the man told her that the mare, who they were calling Gotcha didn't tie.  They bought the mare and foal for $1500. 

It wasn't until they were loading her into the trailer that they got a glimps of why they were calling her Gotcha.  The mare was missing her right eye.  They asked him what had happened and the man told them that she had been kicked in the head by another horse and lost the eye.  When asked why the eye wasn't sown shut, he said cost to much and he couldn't see a reason as to why it was neccessary.

Mary and her friend got them home and put them in a round pen, only to watch the two horses more or less crash...not in a sleepy way, but in a system failure way.  They had their vet out and began treating them for starvation, dehydration, and some sort of systemic poisoning.  The vet was pretty sure what ever had made them ill was directly related to the odd smell they both had along with the "slick and shiny" hair.  Both horses rebounded nicely and all was well.

They did find that the man's statement that the mare didn't tie was true.  She actually didn't tie well.   She would tie like a pro sometimes and then not at all other times.  She was kind and cute and although they wanted to get rid of her, they wouldn't send her just anywhere.  Whatever this little mare had or had not been through, they wanted to ensure that she would experience none of that again.

Of course I blurted out, that if the price was right, I'd take her and always make sure she was taken care of.  I told her that Momma would live as happily ever after as any horse could with an owner who wasn't indepently wealthy could.  Mary smiled and said I'll let you know at next weeks lesson.