“One More Chance” was obtained at the behest of the Curly Horse Action Team, which is an organization managed by Angie Gaines of Golden Curls Ranch and Cherie Thaut to make sure that no Curly horse ever goes to kill (“no Curly left behind”).  These great ladies literally “passed the hat” during the Curly Registry’s annual meeting and raised enough funds on the spot to save this wild young Curly and one other (who went to a different foster home) out of an Oklahoma kill pen this past summer. 

 

He was so sick upon arrival he had to be quarantined for nearly three weeks.  He was listless and depressed and snot was coming out of both nostrils and both eyes.  I am sure he had a fever, but he was too wild to be able to take his temperature to know for sure.  It took a few days even to teach him to eat grain, but then he caught on fast, so at least antibiotics (and wormer) could be fed to him, that way.

 

It was pretty remarkable the way he self-loaded into my trailer out of the kill pen.  The other Curly had been removed, first:  maybe  he figured that if his buddy had disappeared into a trailer and never come back, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go the same way, himself. At any rate he rushed right past me and the pan of grain I was offering and leapt right into the depths of my trailer.   So I just dropped the grain pan and slammed the trailer door shut; and that was that.

 

He has been on similar “auto-pilot” with just about all the rest of his training, too.  Once he figured out I wasn’t planning to eat him, that sweet feed tasted sweet, and that being scratched and petted was not so bad either, he has learned things by leaps and bounds.

 

While getting his blood drawn to obtain his negative Coggins test; the vet reckoned he is about four years old, by his teeth.  He is already completely catchable and halterable out of the big pasture, and is coming along nicely on yielding his feet for trimming.  And as we already know, he loads well!  He is sweet and quiet.  And VERY Curly.   He will stay pony-sized, so he will be perfect for anyone’s child.  Snap him up now, to start out your summer right:  he will be a blank slate for you to put your own saddle-training upon.“