Pics of Lace

I'm taking advantage of my phone working (it's already starting to flake out again) and getting pics of the Sanctuary horses. Now that it's warmed up, my phone wont' freeze and I can post pics to Facebook and then post to our blog! Yay for finally  moving into the 21st century!

Way back in December 2015 we took in Lace. I have been terrible about posting pictures of her. So I'm making up for it by showing pictures today! I went out yesterday during early feeding and took pics specifically of Lace to show her off.

I hope you enjoy!

I hadn't been graining her but with Junior and Rabbit getting grain, she was giving me a pitiful look. So I caved and give her a scoop of sweet feed. She loves her grain. In fact, she's boss mare when it comes to grain (after Junior goes into his stall). She won't let Mayhem eat any grain. I was worried that Mayhem would take all of Lace's grain. Nope, Mayhem doesn't even come close to Lace when it's feeding time.

From what I gathered, Lace was once a barrel racer. I think that information is true. She loads into a trailer like a dream and refuses to turn around in a trailer. She insists on backing out.

She also loves to have her feet trimmed. Well, maybe love isn't the right word but she does LOVE attention and the farrier visit only gave her more time to be around people and handled. she loves to be around people. So I think she definitely was pampered in her early years as a barrel racer.

I'm not sure when she turned from a barrel racer to a broodmare. When we got her, she'd been at a breeders north of the Sanctuary for only about two months. I think she'd been with her previous, previous owner for a few years prior to that but I don't know for sure. I would love to know what babies are out there that came from Lace. I haven't done any digging but would love to know where they are and if we have the space and the funds and when they fit our criteria, open our doors to let them retire here as well. Although I doubt that any of her babies are old. Lace is only about 23 years old but I need to verify with her papers.

You can see in the above and below pictures that her right knee is enlarged. The farrier looked at it and said that part of it is hard and calcified and the other half is full of fluid. It doesn't typically bother her except when she's trimmed so we'll look at buting her before we do another trim. When we did trim her and the farrier stretched her leg out from, Lace did some stretches as well. So I do think she is used to the old barrel racer stretches. I need to remember to start stretching her legs out to see if that would help keep her limber.

There's just so much wisdom in Lace. She's seen so much and knows so much it's amazing. I think at some point she's going to be my heart horse. She seems to know when I need a little bit of encouragement. She isn't yet to Queen's heart horse standards but I haven't really given Lace the opportunity as I'm not around as much as I would like. But I don't think it will be much longer before she's my go-to heart horse for when I need a hug and a good cry into a mane.

I am so glad that we opened our doors to her and that we took the leap of faith to say yes to an older mare. There's something about these older mares that really grabs at my heart. I used to be an all gelding type of girl but these mares are really getting into my heart. So much wisdom. So much heart.