One of Hanaeleh’s Rescues is Famous!

Jesse, one of Hanaeleh’s rescued horses, is famous- he is featured with his owner in ShowBiz magazine!

Here’s what the article DIDN’T say:

Jesse was bought at Mike’s auction for $300.  He was “broke” to ride, although his owner was displeased that he did not buck or rear because he wanted to see if he could “ride it out.”  He was so aggressive with Jesse that he literally gave the horse an ulcer.  Jesse would colic often because the owner would neither give him his medication regularly, nor would he change Jesse’s diet of alfalfa cubes.  The veterinarian finally stopped coming out as the owner owed him over $8,000 in medical bills.  Jesse was given to Hanaeleh after he almost died from a colic and the trainer suggested that he could be a good tax write-off.

At Hanaeleh, we treated his ulcer, but during the fires, Jesse colicced again.  We called the vet, paging her several times, but with no response.  We called another vet, who did finally come out.  Past midnight, Jesse continued to get worse even after giving him several pain medications.  The vet looked at him. “Please,” she told him, “you’re so young.”  We decided that with his worsening condition, he would have to go to the hospital, so Lori left to drop off her very sleepy daughter and pick up our trailer.  It was around 2am when she returned, but things had gotten worse. Jesse lay straight out, heaving in pain as we stood over him in the freezing October evening. The vet looked at us, and we knew what her answer was. “Give him a minute,” we pleaded. 

A few minutes was all he needed.  For no apparent reason, he stood up, looked around, and seemed fine.  After a few moments, however, he began to try to lie down again.  We immediately put him into the trailer and drove as quickly as we could to the hospital in Chino, where Jesse stepped out, and the vets looked at us as if we had gone insane- he was showing no signs of colic at all.  Still, he was kept for two days (and $2,000) under observation, and then we took him home.

Jesse is a very special guy, and a very sensitive one, too.  When Isabella fell in love with him, we were concerned that a green horse and rider were not a good combination, but he was so sweet and willing, and Isabella’s family was so wonderful and wanted to help make him an incredible horse, that we allowed the adoption with the stipulation that they would need a trainer.  Isabella paid for him with her own money she had saved up. 

Unfortunately, they ended up first with a trainer who refused to work with him, then a trainer who was so aggressive that he began to rear (she used twisted wire snaffles and spurs on a horse who had never been in anything but a baby snaffle bit).  Still, Isabella’s family did not give up.  He came back to Hanaeleh for a few short months, while Isabella’s family looked for another trainer, and we rode him around the creek and the property with no rearing or other behavior that he had exhibited at the previous barn.   The next trainer tried to push Jesse onto high jumps very quickly, without taking the time to really train him for jumping, and that decision almost cost Isabella her life.  Still, Isabella and her family did not give up.

Finally, both Isabella and Jesse found a trainer that made sense for the both of them.  It still took a lot of time, effort, and, yes- money, but the result is that they are both successes.  Obviously we can see that Jesse is a success in the show ring, but he is also a dear friend and family member.  He seems very attached to Isabella and will run to her across the arena just to say hello.

Jesse is a horse who had been given up on by his original owner and several trainers.  We always thought he was a very special horse, and he is so very lucky that Isabella and her family thought this as well.

Elizabeth