Mira's History, Part 3

The following story has been pieced together from a couple of sources. It so happens that a good friend of mine, who I met just before getting Mira, actually lived on the same road where I bought Mira! I did not know about that connection initially, and neither did she. I shared lots of stories and pictures though, and bragged about Mira to her :-) As well as to everyone else who would listen!

One of those days, we finally connected the dots, and that is when I found out more about Mira's history. You can bet we were excited to realize the connection - she to realize that "The Spoiled One" was actually the horse the whole road had been worrying about, and me to know more about Mira's past!

A couple of years before, Mira had been given to a certain person who turned out to be not really competent to care for a horse. The situation Mira ended up in was that of living in a small pen with one other horse, apparently without shelter. They had no regular grooming, no attention save for when they were fed, and I doubt they got any medical/farrier care. She was fed moldy hay at irregular intervals, and got skinnier and skinnier. My friend remembers that the whole neighborhood was upset about this, and hoping something would be done.

Fortunately for Mira, the vet I bought her from lived on that same road. She had to drive past every day and see what was happening, and she kept bugging the owner about taking better care of their horses. It seems like this situation did not last for more than a few months, but that was still long enough for Mira to get very skinny and weak. She started lying down most of the time, and this was probably the same time that she lost most of her teeth.

Eventually, the vet managed to get the people to surrender Mira to her (Yay vet!) and she began the process of rehabbing Mira. Once Mira was healthy, they realized she was still eager for a job, but they didn't have time to ride her much. They put an ad in the paper, and about a year after she was first rescued, I showed up in the picture. :-D

I feel privileged to be able to help make Mira forget that bad period in her life, and I hope she will be around for quite a few more years! One good thing about her life history, most of which I will never know, is that I can tell she was never hit or abused physically. I can also tell that whoever started her when she was a youngster did a good job, and gave her a lot of good first experiences. So it seems to me that most likely that one time in her life is the only really bad time she has gone through. She loves people, and gets mad if people come over and leave without visiting her! She shows off for the horses that live near us, and I doubt she knows she's an old horse! Hopefully, she will continue to NOT feel her age... :-)


L