Meet and Greet with Mayhem

If you were on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BorderlandsHorseSanctuary/) last night, you might have noticed we did a Monday Meet and Greet with Mayhem. For those that might not want to listen to me ramble (and watch the poor video), let me introduce you to Mayhem.

We brought Mayhem in to the Sanctuary as a twofer deal. We really wanted her mother Rabbit but the owner wasn't willing to hang on to the pair until weaning and wanted us to take Mayhem and bring her back when weaning was ready. I wasn't thrilled with the idea so I gave him $50 for Mayhem and she's been with us ever since. That was in September 2011.

At the time Mayhem was only three months old. By no fault of her own, she's always been on the back burner. And that's my fault and cross to bare.

We weaned her in November and I put her in with the ponies. I've been a little shocked as the pictures in this blog post are from Mayhem this week, standing in a pasture by herself. It's something that's never been done. She's always been with someone else and ALWAYS been herd bound. She has always freaked out before now. But with the heat and being stuck with the ponies, I think maybe she was ready for a break. Or she's finally come to an age where she can handle alone time. I think she realizes Rabbit is never coming back and I hope she knows that Lace and Junior will return at the end of the month. But I'm not sure. She seems a little different these days.

Mayhem has had many strikes against her. I guess that's why I never considered putting her up for adoption. The previous owner had bought Rabbit when she was pregnant. She'd been breed to a blue roan stallion and was guaranteed a blue roan. As you can tell, Mayhem is NOT a blue roan. She is the spitting image of her mother, Rabbit.  Both Mayhem's parents were registered but there was a mishap with the signatures on the stallions papers so we never did get Mayhem registered. I should have pushed the issue but I didn't. But Rabbit was only "needed" for the foal and when the foal wasn't what the owner wanted (color only), she too was no longer "wanted". I can't come to terms with throwing away a life because one isnt' the right color and the other only needed to serve a purpose for a short period of time and then was no longer wanted.


When she came to us, Mayhem had no name. I tossed around a few ideas and was going to call her Havoc but my sister suggested Mayhem and it stuck. You see, when we name animals, it always seems to be odd names. Our first little dog, a minpin, we ended up naming Trouble (and it fit). We also named our first rescue, Chaos (and it fit). So if you have a Trouble and a Chaos, why not have a Mayhem as well. It doesnt' really fit her but that's ok. I was told once by an old cowboy that horses with mean and wicked names were the best horses and those with fluffy names were the worst to ride. So far, it holds true!

So besides being born a sorrel rather than a blue roan, Mayhem also had an umbilical hernia. Because she was always pushed to the back burner, I never got it fixed. We have about half the money set aside for the surgery but I still  hesitate. I'm sure people think I'm insane for not getting it done but Mayhem has had a rash of illnesses. I thought she was colicing so I called the vet. Our vet was out of town so I hauled Mayhem to Dakota Large Vet Clinic only to discover that she had colitis. She's recovered from that without any ill effects but it was a learning realization for me because we trailered her there. She'd only been in a trailer two times. Once to come to the Sanctuary and once to go to the vet. You see, she really HAS been on the back burner. I'd only ever taught her to be halter broke and to stand tied...and that's it! Bad horse mom! But in talking with DLVC, the surgery was double the amount that we were told by our normal vet so I was again taken aback and have struggled to come up with the money. There is a big difference between $400 and $800. To some it's just a drop in the bucket, but to us, it's a lot of money that can buy hay.

While we were at the vets during that episode, we discovered that Mayhem also has a heart murmur. So that's why I question doing surgery. Will her heart give out during the surgery and kill her or will the hernia kill her? Which is the lesser of the two evils. For now, I'm still saving up money. I know it sounds ridiculous as we've had her for seven years but every time there was money in my pocket to care for her, someone else got sick. She's always been on the back burner so there she sits. Again, me being a bad horse mom.

I also had her out in the trees one summer and she poked her eye. So now she also has a spot in her left eye that I am sure will give her problems when she gets older. It doesn't seem to bother her right now (she can see perfectly out of it) but I have no doubt that later on it will bother her.

Mayhem is a good horse, she's just been shafted by me putting her on the back burner for so many years. I want to send her to a trainer but that has to be out of my own pocket rather than the Sanctuary's. I also thought it would be neat to take her and Maverick and get them trained to drive because they are a matched pair. I sometimes do a double take and think that Maverick is Mayhem or vice versa (that's how much they look alike). She's a typical red mare and things need to be her way. She's not as easy going as others but she's still fairly easy going.

After she was weaned, I did put her in with the older mares (Queen and Babe). It seemed that by putting Mayhem in with the old mares, Mayhem became old. She learned from all that knowledge and wisdom. I love putting a young one in with the old. It keeps the old ones active and vital and it gives the young ones wisdom and a sense of balance. It's a bit of a game to figure out who to pair with who as far as young and old because we dont' typically have any young ones but when we do, we have to figure out who fits with who and I think the balance worked out for Mayhem (and Babe and Queen).

So that's Mayhem in a nutshell. She's been shafted in life but doesn't seem to let that bother her (she doesn't know).  She's patiently waiting for her boyfriend, Junior, to return but I'm sure Lace will have something to about it.

Mayhem is a fairly easy keeper but we would still love to have her sponsored. You can sponsor for a month ($100), half a month ($50), or a one time sponsorship. You can donate at www.paypal.me/Borderlands. Or if you'd like to help with her training, either donate or come and spend some time with her so she has more handling, other than just me. Mayhem really should be worked and messed with more than what I can do. If you'd like to donate towards her surgery, that would be very helpful. I wouldnt' feel like such a failure for letting her down if we could get the surgery done. Until then, she'll continue to be on the back burner.