What's Your Ailment?

What's your ailment? We all have some aches and pains. Me, I have exercise induced asthma, tendinitis in both ankles and one wrist, I had difficulty giving birth to my first child so went a different route for the second (so I wouldn't consider myself a great broodmare), and I have super dry skin which causes problems every once in a while.

They aren't bad ailments, at least not yet. They don't render me useless.

In the horse world, I'd still be "useable".

I was looking through the horses posted on the Washington feedlot and read about one they posted that wouldn't normally. She has an arthiritic knee and wouldn't be good for anything but very light riding. Her personality is what got her posted in the first place. I'd wondered why some of these really nice looking horses were being posted and yet wanted to know where the banged up horses are at. They are at the feedlots, just not given a chance.

We are all banged up. We all have some type of ailment. But should that exclude them from having  home? I don't know how many times I've been asked to take a horse because they can no longer be ridden and are therefore "un-useable". I've guaranteed the horses at the Sanctuary a permanent home. Some have never worked for me a day since arriving. Some have worked their entire life for others and we had an opening to offer them retirement. I wish others would give the same to their horses. Mayhem is now blind in the one eye but I don't consider her useless. In fact, even if she can't be ridden, she's fantastic for getting the older horses spirits up. Just the other day I put Junior back into he pasture. I keep him separated at night so he can eat his grain and hay. When I put him back in, Mayhem was right there and those two took off bucking and running around the pasture. Mayhem also kept the other two old mares fairly spry.

We all have our ailments. Some worse than others, but we aren't pushed to the sidelines by our friends and family because we have a health issue. Work may push us to the side because of an ailment (I've seen it before). With winter fast approaching, I wonder and worry about those horses with ailments and that can no longer be "useable". Hopefully I'll be able to get into the swing of life again and we can do a bit more here at the Sanctuary for a deserving senior who needs to retire.

Who's with me to bring a senior horse home to retire?