Paris joins us for continued training through a new partnership with Bagaduce River Equine Rescue in Brooksville, Maine. She is a 17 year old, 15 hh Thoroughbred cross mare. In March of 2023, Paris was rescued from near starvation. At the time she was also suffering from an injury to her right hind limb, which rendered her nearly three legged lame. The wonderful folks at Bagaduce took their time gaining her trust and rebuilding her confidence in humans. Once her physical rehabilitation was complete, Paris entered our program for further evaluation and training.
After working with Paris for several months, we can report that she is a sweet, sensible mare with excellent ground manners. The one exception to this is a tendency to make nasty faces around feeding time, but she is respectful of our space and we hope to help her let go of this behavior in future. Paris stands quietly for the farrier, was good for the vet after a few cookies to sweeten the deal, and cross ties, bathes, lunges and ground drives.
Paris is currently working lightly under saddle. She has some unevenness in her gait, likely due to her previous right hind limb injury, and we are hoping that increased hind end strengthening will help her come sound. Paris has clearly been ridden in her past and knows a thing or two, but it remains to be seen whether her body will be up for the added challenge. Stay tuned for further updates as we continue gentle conditioning, and work closely with our vet to determine the best path for Paris.
August 2024 Update: Paris has been thriving under a consistent training program, and is ready to go to a forever home! This spring, we took her through a dedicated six weeks of conditioning to help her relearn to use her body correctly. Front shoes have helped her be more comfortable, too. She had spent a long time protecting her old injury to her right hind, but now has three sound, even gaits. She enjoys arena work (you can’t say that about too many horses!), goes W/T/C in and out of the ring, and comes up to meet you when it’s time to go to work. She is not spooky at all, which makes her well suited to trail rides. She formerly preferred to go with a friend, but has recently started hacking out alone and is doing very well with it. Paris has also let go of a lot of the defensiveness around feeding time– she has learned to wait at her “target” (a mooring buoy tied to the fence), which seems to have helped her feel like she has control over the situation and has thus removed some of the anxiety she used to feel. Paris has made some incredible transformations, and has clearly decided that she was ready to let go of a lot of negative experiences. We are very proud to say that she no longer needs us, and is ready to move on.
UPDATE: Paris has been adopted! We were thrilled when the sister of a recent adopter reached out in hopes of finding her own horse, as we knew it would be an experienced and loving home. After looking at a few of our younger trainees, she met Paris and the rest is history! This lovely mare made such an incredible transformation during her year here, and we are thrilled that she will now be living a relaxed life of trail riding and other fun activities with her new partner, Bridie. She will also be sharing a farm with our recent alum, Asher, along with a herd of other new buddies. We wish Bridie and Paris many happy trails together, and congratulations!
