Horse of the Month - Brego

Brego is a very soft and tender hearted soul. He came to us in October 2008 as a very skinny three year old. Actually, we came home from a family outing to find Brego and Maverick in a pasture with some of the mares on a cold and rainy October evening. Brego was always a love even from the beginning.

 



I have a bit of a soft spot for Brego. I'm not sure why. I guess it's his expressions. He's such a meek and mild mannered gelding. He gets pushed around all the time, which drives me crazy. He'd rather stay in the shadows then get pushed around.

In his previous home, Brego went to a trainers but bucked his owner off right after coming home. I gave Brego a full year to recover from losing so much weight and at the age of five took him to our trainer. I warned our trainer that Brego was a bit "slow". He didn't really have the  mentality at the time to work or think through things. Or so I thought. But I gave the trainer a heads up. Thirty days later, the trainer said Brego was still not coming along like he wanted. We were going to do another 15 days (my pocket book is only so deep). On the 45th day, the trainer took him in to the round pen to get him to lope and Brego blew up. We have no idea why. He tried to jump the corral panels and crashed in to them instead. Luckily the trainer bailed and jumped onto the corral panels to avoid getting hurt. The trainer said to never get on Brego. And I've listened to his suggestion. I always thought there was something wrong with him but I couldn't place it. I thought maybe he was slow.

But after watching Brego in the herd and watching someone come up and bite him in the butt, Brego would buck straight into the air like someone hurt him. So I'm guessing it's not a mental thing with Brego but rather a back/hip pain issue. I've never gotten him checked out. Instead I officially retired him and he's a pasture puff and official greeter for the herd.  We will never get rid of him. I don't want anyone to think he's a good riding horse and get hurt. I have a feeling he has the same thing as Dude (hunters bump). But because he doesn't pack on the pounds, it's not as visible. But I'm really only grasping at straws. Until I get him officially checked out, he'll remain a pasture puff (and will even after being evaluated).

When I was pregnant with my son, Brego would come up to me and sniff my belly. He wanted to see what was going on because I wasn't "normal". He's a very intuitive horse and very sensitive to his surroundings.

He's also a VERY hard keeper. He always loses weight in early spring. We are battling the weight loss with a grain ration that will hopefully fix the issue. The only real problem is that Brego is a super slow eater. We had his teeth floated in the winter of 2014 to see if that was the problem and the vet said he had pretty decent teeth. So as always, Brego thinks slow, moves slow, and eats slow. I sometimes kid that I should start calling him "Bob". (Bob, the old Percheron, used to take an hour to eat his grain at night.)

Brego is best friends with Ivan. At first when we brought Sam home, Brego was best friend with Sam. But then we brought Ivan home and those two have been inseparable ever since.  Where one goes, the other follows. I never have to look far to find both horses. The only time they are separated is when Brego goes in the barn for his nightly grain and Ivan stands outside the door looking forlorn. When it comes to feeding time, Brego doesn't push to get to the barn. He's still reserved and won't push the horses higher in the pecking order. So it takes a bit of coaxing to get him there. But every time it's feeding time, he sees me and lets out a whinny that will melt your heart. He knows what I'm trying to ask him but those bully geldings are always in the way.

Other than being a hard keeper, Brego is a pretty easy gelding. He's probably one of the more sensitive geldings we have at the Sanctuary. I am so thankful that we saved him from heading to auction and to an unknown fate. With the issues he has with his weight problems and back/hips, I am 100 percent positive he wouldn't be on this earth right now if he weren't at the Sanctuary. Brego is a joy to have at the Sanctuary and I'm glad to call him a Sanctuary gelding.

(Sorry no recent pictures of Brego. These were all back when the pasture was lush and beautiful. These pictures were about six months after bringing Brego home and getting him back up to the proper weight.)