Mojo

Mojo is a 10 year old black and white Pinto/Quarterhorse cross gelding owned by Janet Rowe of Bracebridge, Ontario. Janet operates Saving Grace Horse Rescue.

"I found Mojo when I was looking for a quiet, small horse or pony that I could just have some fun with. He was described as having evented, foxhunted, showjumped, dressaged a bit, as well as Pony Club and some Western... sounded great to me! I called to make an appointment and the description the lady gave was such that I brought my truck and trailer along to take him home right away, should we click.

Well, he was smaller than I thought (14.1hh) but stocky, so he takes up leg well. He looked so cute in his stall.

We took him out and tacked him up. I noticed that he had VERY long toes, flaring and the tell-tale rings of having gone through a laminitic episode in the past. He also had a HUGE abcess hole in his right front hoof. Needless to say he was kind of off, but still game as anything. I still wanted to try him out on trial. I rode him for about 10 minutes, and it took about 10 seconds to fall in love with him.

Because of his feet and unsoundness I wanted to get him vetted etc., so we drew up a contract and he was on my trailer.

Upon getting him home, he settled right in and was fine. The vet came out - I have never had a horse fail a vetting so fast and so totally! He had foundered in the past, had some back issues (relating to the founder and their awkward stances) and we never got past his front feet.

Well, I called the lady up and said he would be coming back as he failed miserably... to which she responded "It was too hard for my son to be parted with the pony, you can have him for free...!" Well. Since I have my own place, it was no big deal to keep him, so he stayed till I could find him a new home (that was my original thought anyways!). I took some flak for it from folks, but hey... I knew that I really liked this pony and that he was something special. I go with my gut!

I am not a fan of putting shoes on a horse to mask issues. I felt that the best chance this horse had to get and stay sound, was for him to go barefoot and to offer him natural trimming. Kate Romanenko came out and in a matter of about 3-4 months he was back in the soundness books and was ready to start working again! His abcess hole grew out and his feet have resumed a normal shape with no flaring or long toes... We were so pleased that by trying the "last ditch method" first we were able to bring him back to 100% soundness!

So while I have had many horses over the years, who knew that the one who was the coolest and most fun would be a free pony who was lame and unwanted!!"

Congratulations to Mojo for being our June 2^nd, 2008 Horse of the Week!