Meet Chaos

Meet Chaos

Chaos has been with us from almost the beginning (ok, so he's actually the official beginning to the Sanctuary). We had moved into our acreage about six months earlier and had recently brought my horses home (they stayed in Madison for the winter so we could figure out what it was like to live on an acreage for the first time without having to worry about animals).

A coworker at the time was going to take a yearling stud he'd bred and raised to a local auction unless I wanted him. Free was knew to me so of course I said yes. I was in for a surprise when I discovered that this new yearling was not halter broke and had very minimal handling (if any). So we loaded him up and that was the end of it.

Luckily for me, even with Chaos being site unseen welcomed into the Sanctuary, he was a laid back horse that fit my personality. I had more time back then so I could mess around with him, handle him, and eventually put him in with the little herd of four we had at the time. I always said older horses do wonders for these younger horses and I think that was true of Chaos.

He's currently 12 years old and is a breeding stock paint. As always, there was a problem with his papers so he's unregisterable. But that doesn't matter to me. This guy has 9 lives. He's been through a few little mishaps and come out the wiser for them (or so I like to say, but I think I'm the wiser out of the incidents).


Chaos is a laidback horse who doesn't let much get to him. He is starting to get a stubborn streak lately. He' starting to not respect fences so we'll have to give him an education on what REAL electric is all about soon (most of our fences at the Sanctuary are "courtesy" fences anyway).

Chaos is second in command and is typically Dude's shadow but goes it alone when he thinks Dude is doing it wrong. Chaos is my go-to horse for putting new riders on (even though it should be Maverick). Everyone seems to fall in love with Chaos. It could be because he's a hunk (although these pictures don't do him justice).


The only horse to push him around is Rain. Dude does his thing and Chaos has learned to stay out of his way. But Rain can pin his ears and Chaos will move. No one else has that authority. And yet, Rain can't and wont' be heard boss when Dude is gone. It's odd. Chaos has always looked to see who's in charge or who's number one in his books and goes after them to either test their authority or to become their side kick. He's learned how to position himself within the herd well.


Chaos is a terrible drill team horse but a wonderful trail riding horse. He'd rather mosey along on a trail than run hell bent in an arena. His preferred speed is a walk if he MUST do anything. He is the absolute perfect horse for trail riding and I'd rank him up there with the type of trail riding horse that people are looking for. I'm pretty blessed to have him as a good trail riding horse (after having so many that didn't really work as trail riding horses).

People have asked if we have any that would work in their programs, and Chaos would be one of them, but we gave our promise and our word that he would be with us forever. Thankfully he's a easy going guy so it's pretty easy to keep that promise. And now with my family deciding they want to get into horses, Chaos is the go-to horse. It seems all of my family has taken claim to Chaos as their own. First it was Dad who stole him from me as a riding horse, then it was my nephew, and now it's my daughter.

Chaos is definitely one of those "one in a million" types of horses. I'm glad I took the chance and brought him home. At the time, we didn't have criteria and weren't focused on old horses but he's still here to stay and we are so blessed to have him in our lives.