We bought Belle when she was about 16 months old, she is now 4 1/2. She was going to be my forever horse, but it turned out that she had a bit too much attitude for me. We sent her off to training with Larry Chastain as a 3 year old and then to another trainer for a total of 4 1/2 months. Belle still needed time under saddle so we decided to contact a rancher we knew (he bought one of our crazy sorting horses) in Klamath Falls. Belle went to the rancher's place mid August of 2018. He sent pictures whenever I asked.... of his grandaughter riding and pictures of her in the snow. I thought she was being well taken care of and the rancher had nothing but good things to say about her.
Fast forward to August 2019... I asked the rancher if we could come see Belle in a few weeks, which was the very beginning of September. He was agreeable and also stated that she developed "a bucking problem." I was shocked as Belle had never been a bucker before... like EVER!
Our family saw Belle that 1st of September and we were all so shocked at her situation. This poor horse had clearly been neglected and not fed well. She was limping around like she was severely lame. The rancher tried to ride her and he was yanking HARD on her poor mouth.... She had a sadness to her that you can't really explain, you just have to be there, to see it and feel it.
We hadn't planned on bringing Belle home until November 2020, but guess what we did that same day? If you guessed that we drove home, picked up our trailer and then drove all the way back there (1 hour 45 minutes each way) you are ABSOLUTELY correct!
We have had Belle home for almost a month now and we are happy to report that she is not lame. She had a rock stuck very high up in her hoof. The farrier said that it had to be up there for at least 6 months to do the damage that was done. Belle is gaining weight and she is being ridden under saddle again. She did try to buck the 1st few rides, but she quickly gave up. We feel that her bucking was due to the way she was being treated at the rancher's place; lack of food, yanking on her mouth, and a huge rock stuck in her hoof that was causing her severe pain with each step. Belle still has a LONG way to go, but we are happy that we rescued her from the situation.
The 1st few photos are of Belle now. The last photos are of what she looked like before going to the rancher's house.
It's hard to see in this photo, but you can see every rib on this poor girl. She looks so sad to me...
The neck of a horse is not supposed to look this way. The reason for this is muscle wasting due to lack of food and the way the people on the ranch rode her. When the yanked on her reins Belle would lift her head up very high to try to avoid that pressure. This is called a ewe neck. Not so good.
Belle's mane and tail are in such terrible shape. She had the most beautiful mane and tail just 1 year ago!
These pictures below are of Belle last August 2018.
