Day Three- Blue starts to come out of his shell

 

Thursday was an easy day for Blue. He was brighter again than the day before and continued to gobble up breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the hay he could get in between. He spent a couple of hours outside in the round pen soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the fresh air but seemed content to come back to his stall for the heat of the day. He stills seems to tire easily so we didn't leave him out too long as the fresh air and interest from other horses was enough excitement for one afternoon. We worked him lightly in the arena again and I was able to do a little lunging with him myself. He was less worried about the groundwork lesson than the day before and stood quietly while I brushed him afterwards, enjoying the one-on-one attention that he's probably unaccustomed to. Though still wary, Blue has started to come out of his shell a little bit and looks forward to my visits to the bank barn with friendship offerings of food. He even ate a carrot today! Barry had to cut it up into little, tiny pieces but it was still progress in my eyes.

 

 

 

It's amazing how quickly a person can get attached to an animal, especially an animal in such desperate need of care and kindness. I've only known Blue for three days but already, I can't imagine sending him off to an unknown fate. He doesn't have an undesirable quality about him; nothing that I can identify that would make someone want to give him up so I still find it hard to believe that a person could. Maybe I'm just different?....or maybe I've just been fortunate enough never to have found myself in a situation which forces me to make that kind of decision? It's not for me to pass judgement on the actions of another person without knowing the details which led to those actions. All I can do at this point is be thankful that I am in the position to help this horse and do everything in my power to make sure that Blue, and the rest of my equine family, never have to know abandonment or suffering of any kind again. Blue is my inspiration for this blog and I hope his story will inspire others. It's true that Blue was one of far too many horses facing slaughter and that fact can make it easy to turn a blind eye to a difficult situation but I hope this story will make one thing very clear.....We cannot save every animal out there that has been mistreated or abandoned by another person but we can most definitely make a big difference to one.