Spoiled Acres Rescue

“Susie’s Story”

Susie was born a beautiful roan TB. She spent her time learning to run. When Susie was three, she got to race. While racing was fun, Susie only won once. This meant that racing was not her cup of tea. Susie did find something she was good at…she foaled some beautiful babies. When Susie was ten, she was sold to a new owner and had to leave her home.

Susie then spent three years living with a new family. When that family was unable to care for her, she found a great new home. One morning before school, a girl named Sierra came to pick up Susie. She moved her to a barn with a lot of other horses. This was great because Susie loves being with other horses. Sierra worked had to care for Susie. She helped Susie gain some weight and try to get her figure back. Sierra rode her and helped her get some exercise. The barn where Sierra kept Susie had some problems though. This was a big problem for both of them.

Sierra decided it was better to find Susie another home than to keep her in a bad place. While she didn’t want to give up someone that she loved, she knew it was best for both of them. Sierra started a search to find Susie a new home. As time was running out and they needed to get her out of the barn and into a new home, some help was enlisted. Sierra’s mom told some of her co-workers. The co-workers then told friends and family.

This is where Jamie comes into the story; Jamie’s mother works with Sierra’s mother. Jamie knew about a horse rescue run by someone that she has contact with at work. She contacted the rescue with Susie’s story. It took a week of searching, but Spoiled Acres Rescue found a couple of people interested in giving Susie a good home. Spoiled Acres Rescue board members decided who they thought would give Susie the best home.

A phone call was made to Rhonda and Jason. They were asked if they would be interested in going to see Susie. Rhonda brought along her daughter Ashley. Ashley loves horses. She is a leukemia patient that doesn’t get to do what the other kids do. On her good days, she just likes to spend time with horses. Ashley wanted another horses more than anything. Her horse was too sick for her family to care for right now. They had found her a new home and left Ashley without a horse.

On the way to see Susie, Ashley was excited. She got to the barn full of horses and just wanted to have them all. Then she saw Susie. Susie watched Ashley walk around the barn. Susie seemed to know there was something different about Ashley. They seemed like a perfect match. A little girl in need of giving love, and a horse in need of love.

Spoiled Acres Rescue had to call in their best horse hauler, for it was a long trip to get Susie to the farm. Danny was called in to go get Susie. The day was very stressful for Sierra and Susie. It is hard to give up some thing that you love. Susie didn’t want to leave Sierra. Once Susie got into the horse trailer and knew she was going somewhere, she started to get upset. She really loves Sierra.

Susie made the trip to Spoiled Acres Rescue without a problem. She got out of the trailer, grabbed a bite of grass, and then she heard the worst noise she has ever heard….”heehaw” yelled the donkey. Sierra came to attention and tried to located the source of the noise. As she walked towards the horse pastures, there it was, the funniest looking horse anyone has every seen! Dinky the donkey was at the fence to greet the newcomer right. All of the goats chimed in with a “baaa”.

Susie looked to the left to see a herd of horses waiting for her. She walked into her temporary pasture and ran right to the fence line to greet everyone. It didn’t take long to find a friend. While Buck seemed to be in love with her beauty, Susie wanted play with Sugar. Susie talked over the fence to each and every horse. It was nice to have a lot of new friends.

Only about an hour after getting settled in, there was a commotion in the barnyard. What was that terrible “baaa”? Now there is a little “baaa”…. and another little “baaa”. I guess all of the excitement of a new barnyard friend has caused Skittles to go into labor. She had twins! Lee and Ann must have wanted to meet Susie too.

Susie stayed in her temporary pasture for a few days getting to know everyone. The weather got bad and Spoiled Acres Rescue staff got a little worried about Susie not having a good shelter, so it was time to move in with her new friends. It was raining and the lightning was cracking. Susie walked from one pasture into the next like she knew it was for the best. She got to move in with Stormy and Romeo.

Romeo really likes Susie. Stormy doesn’t really like anyone, so things went pretty much like everyone thought they would. Romeo invited Susie to share his hay and Stormy tried to show off. As Stormy almost ran into the barn being a show off, Susie looked like she was laughing pretty hard at him. She seemed to be thinking he was not very intimidating, just pretty stupid. That is what all of the other horses think too. Within an hour, Susie was settled into the barn with everyone else. The barn was cleaned and re-bedded just before she moved in, so it was nice and cozy. What better way to spend a rainy day than in a cozy barn with new friends.

Susie seems to be happy at Spoiled Acres Rescue, but you can tell that she misses Sierra. I think she always will.

If you are interested in donating to help Ashley's family pay for some of the hay and feed, please contact Julie at Spoiled Acres, jhammond@comcast.net.