PHASE 1: First Impressions

#11104 had once lived on a nearby farm, owned by Mr and Mrs. Jones. He was their grandson’s trail horse. But one day, without warning, the grandson moved out of the country and cut contact with his family, leaving #11104 behind. No one at the Center knew why he left and such thing was too private to ask the old couple about.

Despite trying for a years, Mr. and Mrs. Jones found themselves unable to manage the farm and it’s many animals due to their age, eventually having to make the painful decision to sell a few and surrender their family's beloved horse to the rescue as it felt wrong taking money for him — “a good and dependable soul. Never gave us any trouble” were some of Mrs. Jones last words used to described him as sh and her hunsband got back in their truck after dropping him off.

#11104 would then spend quite some time at the Center, this unkown place with all this unkown people and animals. Days went by, passing so quietly — very quietly as the poor thing barely ever moved unless needed or asked to. And hee now carried such sadness in his eyes but he was still incredibly gentle with people, always welcoming of any human interaction, be it the vet’s hands checking his legs and poking him with needles, the staff brushing his coat, or even strangers who stopped by looking for a new horse. He accepted every touch, every pat, never spooked nor coiled at anything.

Then one day the people from The Ranch arrived, looking over the horses available for adoption, they were immediately drawn to #11104 who even with his obvious health issues and sadness still radiated gentleness. 

The staff shared his story: How he’d been a good trail horse, going on several rides through various terrains and conditions through the years. How he’d ended up here at the Center through no fault of his own. How Mr. and Mrs. "Previous Owners" would feed him ANYTHING they were having as soon as Mr. Horse here "blinked all cute and so lonely” at them as “he missed their grandson so much”… even if the horse was all the way across the property and well… not even looking at them nor their general direction, prompting them to cross the fields and share random snacks and “Meals. Full meals, mind you!! Even cakes and pies they made! They even brought a farwell cake slice when they came to drop him off... We had to stop them. Cake was great tho!” and how they would add more and more extra feed for him day by day "as if trying to fill the empty space left by the grandson with grass".

“Combine that with less — near zero exercise, really — compared to what he once had with the grandson and on trails, and is no surprise this boy here got like this... We know they never meant any harm to him; It honestly seemed like they simply really wanted to make sure he still felt loved after getting left behind by the grandson.” added the staff. "In the end, I guess they were reflecting their own sadness on him".

They listened carefully, reading his paperwork, watching him stand patiently in the pen, surrounded and unbothered by other horses, with his head low and his soft eyes following every movement they made, just waiting for a signal. There was no question in their minds. And that was the signal #11104 was waiting for. That was the horse they were bringing home.

Putting on a halter and loading him onto the trailer couldn’t have gone any more smoothly. He went right in as he had done a million times before, but even more willingly now as he knewn this was the moment he’d been waiting for for months, the time to finally go home, wherever that was, and meet his new family, whoever they were.