Scotch

Scotch is a dun Appendix Quarterhorse. He is also the bravest horse I've ever known. He belongs to SHE Therapy.
He is also a part of our Ranch. So I thought I'd tell a little bit about his story.

He is currently 8 years old. In his "younger" days, he was a polo pony. And a good one. However, he had a terrible accident on a hunting trip in which his left hind leg got caught between a couple of rocks. He had to walk out nine miles with his leg laid bare to the bone before they could get him to a horse trailer. No one thought he could make it. In fact, the vet recommended that he be put down. But he wanted to live and his owner at the time knew it. She must have looked into his eyes and seen something and decided to give him a chance.

Fast forward to 3 years later. It was obvious that he could never be a polo pony again. The wound would open every so often and weep, it still does. He also walked with a string halt, and the leg wouldn't support the quick turns and speed necessary for him to play. But he was alive, could walk, trot, and canter. He was still a going concern. So the owner gave Willa a call. Would she like to try him out and see if he would work for the Therapy program? Willa said yes, and the rest is history.

Scotch is very fun loving. He enjoys people and escaping underneath fences, but he is easily caught--he just likes to go where he likes to go. This last summer, he and Dillon (Willa's Appaloosa) became really good friends even though Dillon thinks he is the herd stud. For awhile Scotch went around with a lot of nicks and bites in his hide. But he kept working at it until Dillon accepted him as his number one deputy. Although both he and Dillon are geldings, Scotch even talked a couple of the mares into being "his".

He always comes up to the fence whenever we're around to check on us and see how we're doing. He likes being petted and loves attention. He is very smart and likes to figure things out. And now that I think of it--I don't think I've ever seen him spooked.

Eleven of the fourteen horses on the ranch are part of the SHE Therapy program. In this program, we use Horse Therapy to help at risk and foster children learn some really good life skills. The horses also provide fund raisers for the program by providing lessons and being used for rentals.

In the picture above, Scotch is relearning some of his gaming skills at ring tilting. This is a medieval martial art training game. It is good exercise for both horse and rider. As you can tell, even though he walks with a string halt, when you put a rider on his back, he completely forgets that he was ever injured. He is a very smooth ride.

Though Scotch and the others are used as part of the fundraising for SHE, it is also possible to sponsor a SHE Therapy horse. This will contribute to their cost, food, health, vet, and grooming needs.

In future blogs, I hope to tell the stories of each of the citizens of Dream River Ranch. Each has their own story to tell. In this the first post about our Dream River and SHE Therapy horses, I wanted to tell Scotch's story. Because he truly is the bravest horse I've ever known and a lot of fun besides. I'm glad he made it through.