Meet Charlie.  Rescued just before he was sent to the slaughter house.  He had suffered neglect and beatings under the hands of a dreadfully cruel task master.  The scars of his abuse had left him physically and emotionally worn out. 

Charlie has a story to tell, and an important message to share.  He is our “Spokeshorse”, not only for abused horses, but for the irresponsible breeding that results in so many of these cases. 

You see, in the horse world there are truly stunning creatures. These horses are beautiful, they have grace, charisma, dazzling energy and a natural elegance. The nobility of these horses is forthright, powerful and agile, the enchantment and admiration that we feel at the sight of such a moving horse seem boundless. They convey magic, restore dreams and bestow marvels.  They touch our innermost soul, satisfy our craving for beauty and quench our thirst for the absolute.  These are the ones we care for and groom and upon which we lavish much affection.  They are magnificent and their beauty is valued.

Charlie is not such a horse.  There is no music in his movement, no rippling muscles, no shining coat.  He is short and stocky with skew angles, his face is bulky and his ears are too small.  His eyes are narrow and he has a funny nose.  In a word - ugly.  Now this may seem harsh, but as a horse trainer, this is the truth.  Really, Charlie should never have been born at all, because he is the one that ends up being thrown away.  He is however not the only one.  More than 50% of our horse population find themselves in the same predicament.  What happens to these horses?  Here is Charlie’s story, it’s not his alone, many many horses share his fate, and worse.  You see Charlie is actually one of the lucky ones.

Charlie grew up on an enormous farm, where he and his herd walked freely.  His father was an oddly shaped stallion with a bad attitude, as he too was subjected to a ruthless breaking in method.  His mother was small, but her attitude made her one of the top horses in the hierarchy.  Although the farmer had no use for all these horses he never made a decision to geld the stallions.  He started with 4 horses that he bought for his children, they were all mares and they were all pregnant.  3 out of the 4 threw colts.  The children grew up and moved away and the herd grew,  it was all inbreeding.  Now with 30 horses and the realization that they eat 5 times what a cow eats, he decided to get rid of them.  He arranged an auction, mostly slaughter house representatives showed up – they knew it was cheap meat they’d make a killing from these horses.  Charlie was bought by another farmer who was looking for a horse to work his cattle.  Although he was wild and a bit young, the farmer had a worker on the farm who knew “just what to do with him”.

A month later Charlie was working cattle.  He was pushed excessively hard every day, he had sores on his back, and he was infested with worms, his mouth was ripped at each end by a cutting wire bit and the unforgiving hands of his rider.  If he resisted he got a beating that resulted in welts all over his small body.  His legs ached all the time as he was not yet properly developed before they began his work of heavy loads and long hours.  Years passed and Charlie began to get weaker and regardless of the beatings he just couldn’t keep up.  The farmer was done with him he was to be sold to the slaughter house.

We found Charlie, in this awfully sad state and rescued him.  It would have been a dreadful end.  We have brought him to the farm for healing and rehabilitation; he is now being loved and cared for and hopefully his story will make a difference.