Salem

This is Salem, a ten year old Dutch Harness horse. He's friendly and easy to work with, and loves people. Salem gives kisses. When he finds your face. He's blind. This is a photo that I took on one of our rides.

Blind horses are often euthanized because of the perceived severity of blindness as a disability, even though blind horses adapt very well. He was galloping and bucking in the pasture just a few weeks of arriving . Speaking of arriving... the girl who owned him texted me at 830 am on March 31 and said they were getting ready to make the two hour trek with him. Then she texted me and said he refused to get in the trailer. I have great success persuading horses to get into trailers, so I called her and told her every trick that I use and she said that not only would he not get in the trailer, but now he was rearing up and pulling back. It was already afternoon by then, and I had an Easter event to go to. It was the only day that they could bring him to my house, so I packed my gloves and my loading tools into my truck. I knew I was going to miss the event that I had already paid for if I drove two hours to the farm Salem was at, loaded him in the trailer and then drove two hours back. I closed my eyes and I said "Ok God, if you will just load this pony for me, I'll be able to go to the Easter reenactment tonight." And I sat there for maybe a minute or two minutes, and my phone vibrated and I looked over at it. It was Jillian, texting me that out of the clear blue, Salem had just walked right into the trailer quietly. When they arrived two hours later, she kept saying how weird it was that he went from refusing to just walking in on his own.

Since then, we've travelled lots of miles and he enjoys leaving the farm and going on the trails. I've been thinking of retiring him from riding and just letting him be a pasture pet, but he's fun to ride. So this is the story of a blind horse who's been given the chance to live a happy life, and hopefully more horse owners will see the light. Salem's story has saved one horse from euthanasia so far, and my mission is for people to not consider equine blindness as a disability- but an ability, to overcome it and live happy lives-