Several years ago, we were contacted by an equine rescue in Tennessee that was closing. They had an assortment of horses and ponies that would all need to be placed in homes or other rescues. Caring for unwanted animals of any kind is a hard job. It seems the demand for “soft places to land” is growing smaller while the need keeps increasing. Kind-hearted people think a rescue would be a rewarding endeavor – saving animals and then finding good, life-long homes for them. But it’s not quite that easy.
Horses are expensive. They require an enormous amount of food, water and work. It’s not their fault, it’s just the nature of the beast. So, hearing that a rescue is closing down is not a big surprise, but it’s the animals that suffer.
The horse we were contacted about was an older gelding purchased from an auction. They were not sure what breed he was, but thought maybe a Standardbred. I love all horses and so I didn’t really care about his breed.
When he arrived, I noticed right away what a special horse he was. They told me his name was Raje. Well, welcome to Rainhill, Raje.
When a horse arrives at Rainhill, he is immediately put in a stall. Horses need time to adjust to a new place and I need time to get to know them. Raje was very inquisitive from the beginning. He looked at every horse as if he was looking for a lost friend. Luckily, he settled in nicely and within a few days he was taken outside to a paddock by the barn. I noticed right away he had an odd way of moving, and with every few steps he would raise one rear leg high and to the outside, in a way a horse’s legs are not supposed to move. As Raje started to shed out old winter hair, I noticed he had many scars on his beautiful, coal black body. Not just everyday, horses being horses scars, but big, nasty “what happened to you” kind of scars. None of these old injuries seemed to be painful but they did create a problem when having his feet trimmed. He just couldn’t raise his left rear leg in a normal way. We worked around his problem and the last time his feet were trimmed he actually did better. Yeah, Raje!
The good news is that Raje has adjusted very well to life at Rainhill. When dealing with animals, it is best to have a system and stick to it. Animals like knowing what to expect. Kind of like people, knowing what to expect makes us happy, too!
So, Raje goes out every evening, weather permitting, with his little one-eyed buddy, Cameo. They are great friends and are always close by each other.
As time has gone on, I was still wondering what breed of horse Raje is. Everyone had a guess, but none seemed correct. So, I did a DNA test on him. It’s really simple. Pull a few mane or tail hairs and mail them to a company. Two weeks later, like magic, there was the answer. One small word, MORGAN. Now we know. It doesn’t change anything, I just wanted to know.
A few days ago, I was bringing Raje and Cameo in for the day and Raje was running around and jumping in the air like a circus horse, over and over again! Heck, he could barely trot and now he’s rearing ! Luckily, I got a photo because who would believe this broken-down old horse could actually do that.
Thanks for reading our little stories. If we have touched your heart and you would like to make a donation, we would be so thankful. Rainhill is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All money raised goes directly to the care and feeding of these precious horses.
-by Karen Thurman
Rainhill Equine Facility, Inc.
11125 Ky. Hwy. 185
Bowling Green, KY 42101
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