Give senior working horses the safe retirement they've earned.
Royal is a stunning Belgian draft mare who has an undeniable presence. After many years of hard work, she’s earned her spot here at Draft Gratitude. She’s not one for being overly affectionate, but that’s just part of her independent charm. Feeding time is definitely her favorite part of the day, and she always knows […]
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Veterinary care is like a puzzle. When horses arrive here, their veterinary care has almost always been neglected for a long time. There are many puzzle pieces that need to get put back together. We know that senior draft horses that need us are going to come to us with a “something”… we don’t often know what it is until they are here. We get
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Visitors always want to know… Where do the horses come from? Here is my standard answer: Most come directly off working farms. Occasionally we grab some from auctions. In our earlier years we had a few come from “kill-pens”. We have taken some as owner-surrenders. And on a few occasions we have helped our state veterinarian’s office with neglect cases. Since our mission is to help senior working horses,
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The Love Story That Started It All An old Belgian mare ended up at an auction. She had worked for many years on a farm. Had many foals. Had arthritis. And had very painful hind legs that were constantly itchy. As one of the last horses to go thru the sale, there weren’t many buyers
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Draft Horse Love Story – Mighty Mike & Sophia Mighty Mike joined us first. He had farmed his whole life until he became unable to keep up with the workload of a younger horse. Mighty Mike is huge— the cost of feeding him was the tipping point of him becoming unwanted. Mike arrived very thin
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Draft Horse Love Story – Patty and Bertina Some people say a horse is just a horse. Or an animal is just animal. That say they won’t notice or they won’t mind changes. I, for one, disagree. Each and every horse that has its own personality. We are lucky enough to get to see it
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Draft Horse Love Story – Big Ben & Jetstar Big Ben and Jetstar arrived within about 6 months of each other. Big Ben first, and then Jetstar. Big Ben was and is the definition of a “gentle giant”. Calm, cool, collected, easy going, kind, willing. Jetstar was a bit more nervous. He was well trained
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Get To Know Me – Bertina Bertina joined us off a farm in New York. She is a smaller Belgian mare. She is blind in her left eye and has severe ring bone arthritis in her right hind. She has definitely put her time in work wise. Bertina is pals with Patty and is happier
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Get To Know Me – Patty Patty joined us in February 2020. She is a Belgian mare somewhere in her 20’s. She was one of those phone calls that you just say yes to and then hang up wondering if you will ever know the rest of the story. She ended up in the
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Get To Know Me – Anne Draft Gratitude’s Anne Anne has been with us since January 2017. She came directly off a farm in western New York when she became too sore to work. She came with her name. We are always happy to know their name when they arrive, at least that can
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