I have had two very depressed horses. The first was an unbroke six year old TB mare that had spent her entire life on open range in Eastern Oregon. She really went into a decline for several weeks when we brought her home. We offered up a choice of delightful food and allowed her the space and time she needed to grieve.
The second is Twist, an off-track Standardbred who is 12 years old and has had 8 homes that we know of. There may be more. I moved him from here to a nearby boarding facility in early summer because I thought he'd like all the beautiful pastures and he is a nice safe extra horse. We talked and talked about how unhappy he was. A friend suggested "his spirit had been broken by rough handling at the track." So, summer over, I moved him back home and he is a new horse. We think now that even though I was around, he felt like he'd lost still another home. He is bright-eyed and happy on his big old hillside dry lot. Nancy
