A Look Back: Calypso's First Few Months Rescued

These photos are from August 2016 through January 1st of 2017

Hello Friends!

Today we look back on the first few months I had Calypso Home. When I met her in May I had no intention of buying her but instead working with her on the side at the farm she was at. However in August I had the option to find a new horse after my previous horse Jewels had to be retired. I intended on buying a new horse that was completely trained but 5 days Before Calypso came home I made a last second decision to buy her instead, despite all the issues that she came with. At 16 I took on my first ever solo equine rescue and rehab (with the support of friends and family of course).

Something about meeting her that day in May just clicked. I was not comfortable buying a trained horse with a good life knowing this sad little mare would still be stuck in an uncaring, unfit situation.

When we got her off the trailer she had no energy to fight and was hardly halter trained. In fact she stepped off the trailer and went straight for the green grass under her. Her previous home had large rocks and pits of mud with no shelter and broken down unsafe fencing. She is rather small and low man in the herd. So what little hay they did get, Calypso was left with near to nothing. At one point they had been giving her chicken feed as "grain". For the people who are unaware, chicken feed is extremely bad for horses and should never be given. They had no watering system and at one point they broke through barbed wire to get to a small creek area with water.

As you can see from the photo to the bottom right her face and entire body were covered in hair loss, yellow crusty patches and mange. (Check out an upcoming blog of reviews of anti fungal shampoo's sprays and ointments) She had a large barrel (stomach) but her hip bones and spine were visible, this was due to the large number of worms she harbored. Her mane and tail were essentially one large mat of hair, and due to her lack of handling I was unable to stand around her head or rear end for long periods of time to try and hand pick out the mat. I made the decision to save her the stress and pain and cut her tail and mane down to nearly nothing. (Check out my review of the product BioMane to see how we fixed this)

I spent nearly 3 weeks sitting in her stall with her, touching her, brushing her, hand feeding her and practicing putting the halter on and off. (In hind-site this may be why she is so attached to me). When she was strong enough and trusting enough we took walks around the arena and property, allowing her to smell and see everything around her.

On December 24th 2016 while spending time in the arena I sat on Calypso for the first time. With just her blanket and halter she was excellent, didn't move a muscle. It was only about 3 minutes that I sat on her, however this gave both of us the confidence to begin working and improved our bond greatly. In January we began ponying her with a saddle and doing more ground work. All while continuing to help her skin and overall body condition improve.

At only 5 years old, with only 6 months of handling under her belt, Calypso and I were striving to reach new goals.

Stay Tuned for more posts of continuing explaining how we got where we are today.

-Tiffany and Calypso

Contact me on my page, email, or Facebook and I will return to you as soon as possible.