Our Golden Patriarch

January 22, 2009

Not a whole lot to say, other than "Can you believe this gelding will turn 38 this spring?"

This, of course, is Sonny, our herd patriarch. Sonny regularly defies the notion that old horses are sedate, passive creatures. He gallops in for meals, moves the other horses out of his way with "a look," and bucks his way across the field after tolerating annoying things like farrier or vet visits. Sonny has been undergoing treatment for Lyme Disease for the last several months (more on that in a future post) but to look at him today, its hard to tell he was ill at all.

Presenting.......In Person.........

That 15 hand bundle of dynamite.............

Country Sunshine!

Sonny is one of the sanctuary's older residents, turning 36 this spring. Don't let this sedate picture fool you, though. This horse is king of all he surveys. When Sonny arrived, we took some time deciding which group of horses would be best suited to his temperament. He seemed a little timid, so we wanted to be certain he would not be intimidated by more dominant horses.

Apparently we were worried about nothing. The moment Sonny was introduced to his current small herd, he took charge. Now, before you think "Well, yeah, he took charge of a group of feeble old horses," you should know that the previous herd leader is a 17 year old Thoroughbred gelding. The coup was peaceful, but unquestionable.

Sonny is in good health, but does have one unique feature. He has, literally, no molars in his upper jaw. The bottom teeth are all there, but not one molar on top. This, of course, means the bottom molars have nothing to grind against so are basically useless. Sonny eats a diet of softened feed and soaked alfalfa cubes.

Sonny will soon face the challenge of "taming" our newest arrival, a 32 year old Arab mare named Belle. They are like peas in a pod except for their color, so it remains to be seen whether or not one field is big enough for the both of them.