Meet Ellie

A call went out on one of the sites we follow that a big rescue operation was going to happen to remove seven horses from a very bad situation. The horses ranged in age and breed, and had been in their stalls for most of two years. When we arrived, the red and white paint that we were picking up was standing up past her knees in manure and filth and we thought she was brown and white. She walked out from her stall very carefully, and we could tell her back legs were very weak. When she was led to the barn door, she stopped and looked around and up at the sky as if she had never seen it. She loaded right into the trailer and we brought her back to the Healing Barn to quarantine and rest. We decided to name her Elios, the Greek Goddess of Mercy, and we call her Ellie.

We first gave her a bath, and discovered she had the markings of a giraffe, not brown at all! So beautiful! She was so weak, though, that we had to section off the quarantine field so that she wouldn't try to walk too much. It was time to get her fattened up, rested, and let her just enjoy the outdoors and sunshine.

It did not take long for her to get healthy and stronger. Over time she was introduced to the herd, and became good friends with Apollo. Then, she started to look awfully round!!! We were afraid maybe in one of the few times she had been out of the stall one of the stallions had gotten to her! We did blood work, and she was NOT pregnant, but that told us we needed to get her food under control and stop feeding her like she was starving. Within a couple weeks she reached a very healthy weight.

Ellie does fantastic with people, children, and being hand led. But she does NOT want anyone touching her face, so getting a halter on her is very difficult. We believe Ellie has so much potential and we want her to become one of our horses that offer therapy to broken people through riding, brushing, trails, and more. So we decided to send Ellie off to a cowboy for 90 days of training. We get weekly updates and are super excited to hear about her progress.

Her cowboy trainer agrees that something traumatic happened to her at some point in her face, and it could be something that she is always quirky about. BUT, he has ridden her several times and says she is beautiful under saddle. Stay tuned for updates on Ellie. Plan to come meet her when she gets back, and if you can help with her training financially, please consider a donation.