Doppler Pony

We recently adopted a 10 year old 14.3 hh Appaloosa Gelding.  His owner was looking to get rid of him because she knew he wasn't getting the time or attention he deserved or required.  On September 20th, 2012 Doppler along with John and the son of his previous owner, made the short mile long walk from his old home on S. Main St to our home.

We learned a lot about Doppler through his owner, she had owned him for three years after getting him from a man in Harwinton.  Other than giving the kids rides around the yard on his back...Doppler really hasn't done much in the way of "work" we will call him green broke.  It was said ... He's not athletic, he doesn't run, he wont jump, he hates to lunge... the list of things Doppler couldn't do far outweighed the things he could.  But Abi wanted a horse and the list of "can't do's" really didn't matter.

This is how Doppler looked prior to coming to live here.  You can see his bones are sticking out and he really looks like a very slight horse.  Not much to him, not very impressive.  But what his previous owner saw as a "non athletic" horse ... I saw a project pony with potential to be loved.  Not sure why...but I knew we could do better and give him a more exciting existence then just a pasture mate to three goats.

The first day after Doppler arrived at our house Abi groomed him for probably an hour.  Soon after he would RUN after Abi, as she would run from one end of the paddock to the other he would RUN after mane blowing in the wind! The sounds of his hooves hitting grass and dirt was amazing.  His previous owner stopped in to see how he was doing and sat mouth gaping as she saw him run for the first time ever.  She stopped mid-sentence as he took off at a run and said "I've never seen him run before!".  She was truly shocked.  It was at that moment i knew they really had not given this pony a chance to exist.

This photo was taken not long after he got to us, you can still see his ribs, his back...and while its cut off you can see how hollow his hips are.  I would say he needed to gain a couple hundred pounds.  Not a day goes by that this boy does not receive attention...even if only during feeding time, which happens three times a day.  That is three more times the attention than he was being given at his old home.  

Please keep in mind, I am not speaking ill of the previous owner...she knew she wasn't taking care of him and she waited to find the right home before placing him.  She had mentioned that a couple other people came around asking about him, but they did not give her the right vibe and she did not let them have him.  When she met Abi she knew it was the right fit.  It was at that time that she knew she found his future home. After seeing Doppler run that day, she revealed that someone she worked with said "you did not Abi, he picked Abi"...and I believe he did.

To see how happy he gets when he sees Abi coming...its like no one else in the world exists.  He is in love with her...and she with him.  You can tell in his eyes he trusts her and wants to make her happy.  He is such a good boy.