Original post - We moved to a small village in France. There was a horse in the field across the street. Wife eventually found out it has been basically abandoned for years. Contacting all involved with no solution, and LPCC rep stating the horse would not last another winter in the current conditions, bought a horse and she has been in professional care ever since.
Update - after 3 weeks Versailles is in a stable with 6 other horses. She goes with them into Le Marcher every day. My wife visits her every day and stays with her, learning how to care for a horse from the professionals and other horse owners. I get to go a few times a week. Versailles got a good washing and brushing and is looking great.
The hoof-guy, dentist, and vet came in time and each had the same story: years of neglect has left its mark on her. She will eventually mostly recover and can live a good life if taken care of properly. Her hoofs were overgrown with cracks in them, but repairable. Her teeth showed signs of what I've heard is "wind sucking" and the edges needed upkeep and once that was done she started chewing easier. Her front teeth are a wreck but the dentist assured us it will not affect her quality of life. The vet was also concerned but found nothing major, just neglect. She recommended a few things and Santa will eventually bring them. (strikes here in France are delaying things).Versailles got all her shots and the process of us getting her official paperwork started. That's where things got even more interesting.
The Dark Side The big news from the vet is she was able to read her chip, so we know her SIRE number and more about her history. She was born 20 years ago in Hungary and brought to France when she was 7. Three of her grandparents are Americans, and the last being Irish. We know these things as I was able to find her in the Pedigree Online Thoroughbred Database. (The vet was excited to tell us she is "100% Sang", so I searched DuckDuckGo and found that website.) The knowledgeable man (who is taking care of Versailles) actually knows her Irish grandma and has a video of him riding her in a competition in the 90s! He was really excited to provide us her linage 8 generations back.
Her registered birth name is The Dark Side, but since she answers to Versailles we are going to keep calling her that. She's really sweet and everyone who meets her is enchanted by her and wants to help us. Maybe she is playing dark-side Jeti mind tricks on us all. :-) My wife pointed out that both names sound very similar to French speakers and is probably how she got the stable name of Versailles once she moved here.
Recovering I took her out of Le Marcher the other day and got her onto the scale. She has gained 14 kilos since we rescued her!. Still more to go but she is going in the right direction. She is also much more relaxed, even to the point of [laying down to relax]http://www.wuebbendesign.com/img/Versailles-relaxed.jpg). We heard that is a good thing. We also heard from the people around that she is happy to see us and is getting comfortable around us. It could be the apple and carrots I sometimes have in my pocket that we are permitted to give her, or the extra barley that she encourages me to 'steal' for her. That's permitted too; "stolen" barley is so much sweeter :-)
Eventually we will be able to take her out into the fields and woods for longer walks, once we learn more and she recovers fully.
Advice As I mentioned in the original post, we were not in any way expecting to take on a horse as we have neither the knowledge or finances. But we just couldn't let Versailles go through another winter, especially since she most likely would not have made it. So, a quick decision was made. At first I justified it by telling myself that when she is back in good health in a few months — if at that time we really can't financially afford her — we'd try to find her another home. But after a few days that 'story' disappeared from my mind and now we just have to find a way. The knowledgeable man is helping us through the winter but after that we need to come up with more funds. Any advise from those who were in a similar situation? Any other suggestions or advise you can give us would also be helpful.
Thanks for all the comments at the original post. I will update again in a few months.
