Rylee Gets a Friend (it’s Garnet!)

Rylee is a cute Peruvian Paso who we rescued at the end of January. She has DSLD, which means the tendons in her hind legs are stretching out, which can cause discomfort, but she is on a daily pain medication to keep her comfortable. DSLD can be managed through proper hoof trims and pain medication, but there is no cure.

We originally put Rylee into a stall that was next to the paddock where we were keeping Grace, Hope and Garnet. We wanted to put her into a paddock, but when we put her down next to Jesse, she kept pacing up and down, and kept kicking and biting at him, and got Jesse so upset that I had to move her back to the stall (Jesse is fine, btw).

I kept trying to move different horses around, but nothing was working. I was thinking of putting Rylee in with Hope and Grace, but Rylee was a complete JERK when I brought her next to them, and was squealing and striking out, so I didn’t even bother with that. I did notice that she was completely calm when she was next to Garnet, however. I hadn’t really ever thought of putting those two together, but we thought, why not? So a few weeks ago we turned them out in the arena and watched to see how they would act.

They were perfect together.

We put them together in the arena a few more times, just to make sure they were still OK, and every single time there was no drama: no squealing, no striking out, and no kicking. It was like they had lived together for years!

We decided to put them together in the paddock, and moved Hope and Grace down by Jesse, and put Gypsy up in an open paddock. Hope and Grace had a few things to say about Jesse, but they seem to be getting along OK. Gypsy immediately told everyone around her to knock it off, and everyone immediately complied (Andromeda originally had a few opinions of her own, but she’s come around).

Rylee seems super happy now, and being in a paddock where she can move around a little all day is so much better for her than being in a stall and only getting turned out. We are also so happy that Rylee finally found a good friend!