Gentleman
   
...Gent was a much aged
gelding-probably in his 20's when I purchased him. The
above photos were after we had worked with Gent for about
6 months. We did not get any before pictures due to
camera problems at the time, but he was literally a
walking skelaton. He had been purchased by a dear friend
from a severe malnutrition case. After many months of
working with him, they could not seem to get him to
maintain weight, so he was brought to me. After a
thoroughly examination, it was found that he had, in some
point in his life, had his tongue cut in half -- for
whatever reason we do not know. Either too severe of a
bit or another common practice of tying up a horses
tongue for show purposes if they have an extremely lazy
tongue (that hangs out of their mouth). For whatever
reason, it is only our guess, but this injury had
occurred. It took over a year to see any improvements on
his condition. He had to be fed special feed that did not
have to be chewed, because due to his tongue injury, he
had difficulties holding food in his mouth long enough to
eat. It would take him over an hour to consume the
simplest of meals, so most of his day was spent trying to
eat. He received his name as a nickname from my children,
because he had such great manners. He was truly a
Gentleman. This horse, in no way, ever deserved the
treatment he had received. He had obviously had extensive
training for the show ring. We took him to a parade to
promote horse rescue -of course only after he got back
his health- and he really enjoyed showing his stuff. He
would step to the side and allow all of the little
children to rush up to pet, dropping his head so gently
to enjoy their attention, then when he was asked to move
on he perked back up with so much pride and dignity. He
had more energy then even the young horses that were
attending this parade. I'm sorry, I do not have photos of
when I first got him, only pictures of after 6 months of
attention. This animal came to me weighing a mere 600
pounds and was literally a walking skeleton. This was in
no way my friends fault, he had been trying for a long
time to help Gent, but his condition had only worsened.
After several years of working with Gent, this animal was
fostered with another very close friend who had promised
to keep him forever. But we later found that due to a
financial hardship, he had been placed with someone in
Kentucky. If anyone runs across this special fellow I
urge them to PLEASE contact me immediately! I am
totally heartbroken over this situation. We found out too
late to do anything to get him back and they refuse to
give me the name of the person they sold him too. Where
ever you may be Gentleman, we hope God is with and you
are safe in someone's loving family and they realize what
a special animal you are!
After this and several other incidents, we have learned
many hard lessons. And that in most cases it is best to
just keep them with us, especially if they have special
needs, instead of trying to place them out in foster
care.
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