Sampson is a 21 year old dark bay mini gelding. He was actually one of our first official adoptions way back in 2014, having come to our farm as a 10 year old stallion when his owner could no longer care for him. Along with pals Mini Cooper and Mr Tom, Sampson was owned for many years by a wonderful family who ran a children’s therapy program. When a life-changing illness forced the family to find new homes for their beloved herd, these three adorable boys joined our program through partnership with the MSSPA. Sampson can pull a cart and is great with children, goats and other equines. This very sociable and friendly little guy will make a wonderful addition to any family or program. Sampson will be available for adoption in May.
UPDATE: During his initial evaluation period we noticed that Sampson’s breathing sounded abnormally loud, and we would hear it whenever he moved around. Assuming it was an allergic type of response, we tried several different antihistimines per our vet and also oral steroids. When none of this seemed to help and we were noticing a worsening of the symptoms, we had our vet do a scope to investigate further. She discovered that as Sampson breathed, his airway was literally collapsing on itself, which is not supposed to happen at all. Unfortunately, there is currently nothing which can be done for this type of issue, and it meant that Sampson was literally struggling to breath at times. It is something that gets progressively worse with age, and we noticed that Sampson already kept movement to a minimum and appeared lethargic much of the time. Given his age, and the rate at which his breathing seemed to be deteriorating we made the heartbreaking decision to lay Sampson to rest. This is without a doubt the hardest part of caring for horses, but we take comfort in knowing that Sampson left peacefully, on a warm sunny day, before his symptoms progressed to a point that would cause him significant stress or pain. Thank you, Sampson, for all the wonderful years you gave to your loving family and all of the children who passed through your therapy program. You were deeply loved, and will be missed.
