Meet Saint, the Lively Horse
Over the summer, Peace Mountain Ranch has acquired several new horses to help with our equine therapy. When Veterans visit the Ranch they have the opportunity to work with horses. Whether exercising the horses in the ring, or grooming them afterward, working with horses requires the Veteran to get out of his or her own head, and be in the moment. Horses are able to assess the person working with them and can respond based on what they sense. Some horses are more gentle than others, some horses more challenging. Today we will meet Saint, who is definitely in the second category!
Saint is a high spirited three-year-old Grulla (also spelled Grullo) American Horse. For those of you who may not be familiar with all of the color terms in the world of horses, Grulla means that Saint’s color is in the dun category, characterized by a mouse color or tan-gray color on the body sometimes sporting stripes on the shoulder or down the back and black bars on the lower part of the legs. All this means is that Saint is a gorgeous horse!
Being a highly spirited three-year-old, Saint can be a handful! Currently on loan to Peace Mountain Ranch, Saint provides more of a challenge to our Veterans over our older, more seasoned horses. Challenges are a good thing. Since none of our Veterans, volunteers, or staff speak horse, (and Saint doesn’t speak English) it takes a firm hand, and patience to get Saint to do what is needed in the exercise ring or on a trail ride. It also means anyone grooming Saint has to be fully aware of what is happening as Saint can get playful.
We are so fortunate to have a horse like Saint as a part of our therapy and are so thankful his owner agreed to let us keep him for a while. Saint, like all of our horses, likes to eat and with winter coming, that means hay and grain as the grass has gone dormant until spring. It costs us $250 in hay and grain to feed one horse for a month and with six horses, that is quite the bill. If you love horses, would you be willing to sponsor a horse? Please consider pledging $250 or more a month to help us care for our therapy herd, their contribution to the care of Veterans is priceless. Click here to donate: https://www.peacemtnranch.org/?page_id=2415
