Introductions

Blossom

One day I mentioned to a friend that I kinda wanted to get a pony so that when I rode one horse out off the property the one left behind would have someone to keep them company. That way when I returned the left behind horse wouldn't have run himself into a lather worrying about whether his buddy was coming back.

Well, the next thing I know she calls and asks "are you still looking for a pony?" Before I know it she's dropping off Blossom. I don't think it would have made any difference if I had seen her first. I'm a sucker for a needy case. And boy, blossom was needy. I figured, if I didn't take her, who would?

When I took her off the trailer she had that "OK, do your worst" resigned, look. Here she stood a medium sized, one time white, pony with eyes goopy from "moon blindness" (uveitis), ribs showing and a bony butt. Pretty sorry sight.

My friend said "you can keep the lead rope and keep the halter on her, she's hard to catch". I wasn't surprised.   

I've owned or worked with horses who were neglected or confused by green handlers but I've never really come across one who I was pretty certain had actually been abused. Until Miss Blossom. The vet and I discussed the indentations around her neck. He said it could have been a rope. The first time he tried to work on her (poor thing started to colic a few days after I took her in and again, I wasn't surprised. You couldn't get in the stall with her. She would climb the walls. Colic will sometimes happens with a new horse (especially a run down one) between worming, change of diet and the stress of adapting to a new home.

Blossom the within the first 2 weeks of arriving

After 3 years she stands calmly and quietly on the crossties to be groomed and treated. I try to do things in the same order when grooming so she doesn't get worried. I know she would be a lot further along if I could work with her everyday but I can't. We just want to keep her as comfortable as possible at this point. We don't know how old she is because she is pretty flat mouthed with teeth extremely worn down. In fact, she quids her hay (balls it up and spits it out because she can't chew it) so I feed her chopped hay along with her senior feed.

She is starting to trust me and even nickers along with TJ when I come out to feed. 

Her moon blindness is even a lot better these days. Between keeping a fly mask on her during daylight hours and having her on a good vitamin supplement she doesn't have bouts of it half as often. building up here immune system has helped. They say it's (uveitis) is caused by a bacteria. I don't know? Why do horses with white around the eyes seem to be the ones who get it? Wouldn't a bacteria affect any horse the same? The symptoms are more like glaucoma (which my mom had as I was growing up). When I last asked my vet if there was any new breakthroughs he had to admit that on one knows for sure what causes it. So we are still hoping for a cure. 

Blossom loves Rocky most of the time but when she's in "season" it's all about TJ. My husband has fallen in love with her and one day came out with "We should start a rescue". I laughed and asked him if he really wanted to move to 100 acres and spend all his time begging for money? He quickly changed his mind.

blossom these days