Sophia
On March 26th I received an email from a lady in a rescue forum that was very concerned about a pair of white horses she had seen on the U.S. Treasury auction site. They were located in Presidio Texas and were scheduled to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. On the border can be a very scary place for horses, if you are not useful you are sent to slaughter I contacted the organization that was handling the auction and they put me in contact with a lawyer in Chicago that had been appointed the case. After several weeks of negotiations the lawyer agreed to allow the rescue to purchase the horses. We set off for Presidio three days later to bring them home. We knew nothing about the horses we were going to pick up except that they had been confiscated by border patrol, they were being used to either smuggle drugs or people across the border, there was a mare and a gelding and they had a negative coggins. We did not know how old they were, if they were broke to ride or anything. We arrived at a ranch just on the north side of Presidio where the horses were being boarded. We met with a man from the USDA that gave us their coggins papers and we went to see the horses. They were standing in a corner looking scared to death. I went in the pen and was able to touch the mare and get a lead rope on her, but the gelding would have nothing of it. The USDA man had to rope him to catch him and he followed her into the trailer. We started the long trip home and the beginning of what is the "Mexican Strays", as their coggins say, new life.
We named the beautiful mare Sophia. She is a leopard appy and according to her coggins 8 years old, she is almost 15 hands. She had two shoes left on her very overgrown hooves, Les came to trim her and she was wonderful. She is a little head shy if you move to fast but she is getting better every day. I gave her several weeks to settle in and once she seemed comfortable I put her in the round pen. She was a little rusty but did great. She took the saddle with no problems at all. I tried to put a bit in her mouth but she has probably never had one before, so I put a hackamore on her and she did fine. She rode very well. She neck reins and has a good stop. I ride with a very light hand and she was very responsive, she has the smoothest jog I have felt in a long time. She is becoming more and more personable every day. She is ready for her new home. She needs someone with a kind gentle hand that can continue to gain her trust. She is a real sweet heart.
Her adoption fee is $700
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