George used to belong to a client who acquired him off the track. So in a sense this is a second rescue for him. When he first came to us he was in need of some weight and retraining. As most racehorses he was slim from training and a little excitable. He quickly settled into his new routine at the farm which consisted of going out in a grass paddock with a few friends to coming in to be groomed and loved.
His new owner started lessons on George after about 6 weeks in his new home. They both were learning the world of hunters together. During his lessons he always tried very hard to do everything that was asked and both he and his rider excelled with his new career until she went away to university.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years and George seemed to have fallen through the cracks and was found in quite a sad state. He was very thin and his feet hadn't been touched in a very long time. What had happened to George? Nobody seemed to know but thankfully somebody recognized him and gave us a call. We were thrilled to have a chance to get George back in the barn.
I don't want to post any pictures of George when we first got him back but I will show you the pictures of his feet. The poor guy had one shoe on and one shoe off. His toes had grown so long he was getting separations in the hoof wall. The still shod foot had completely overgrown his shoe. Our first job was to get his feet trimmed and back into shape. This is something that can't just be done all at once but requires a series of a few trimmings so that he wouldn't get sore.
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With some weight on it was now time to start him back into a slow program to help develop lost muscle. This started with short lunge sessions a few times a week gradually increasingly his work time and transitions. Finally with a little bit of muscle and some extra padding George was ready for his first ride. Only for about 10 minutes and at the walk but was he ever happy to be 'back'!
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