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 and filthy. He was said to be blind in one eye. Thankfully he was extremely brave and well-adjusted because he turned out to be blind in both eyes.
Sophia’s narrative starts out similarly. She had farmed her whole life and then the same old story of becoming unwanted played out. Even though she was a bit younger, sound, and jaw-droppingly beautiful, she went blind. So, nobody wanted her.
I would guess that Mike’s blindness happened more gradually. He has a very mellow personality. He seemed to be quite adjusted to his vision impairment by the time he arrived here with us.
But for Sophia, not being able to see was terrifying.
She was rescued from a kill pen scenario by another group in Vermont. Sophia just didn’t do well there, she never settled in. They asked if we could take her.
And as they say, the rest is history.
Mighty Mike and Sophia hit it off. They quickly started sharing the same hay basket, and they stuck pretty close together.
Sophia was able to relax. She had more space to move her body without bumping into things. She had a reliable friend to lean on. She was given the time she needed to settle in.
These days, we now refer to them as “an old married couple”. The eat together, they groom each other, they sunbathe together, stand in their barn together. It’s pretty cute to watch.
Mighty Mike is still the braver of the two. Sophia gets VERY worried when she can’t sense where Mike is.
When their hooves get trimmed, we stand them nose to nose so they can feel as safe as possible knowing where the other one is. It’s like the biggest horse ever with 8 legs. Ha!
They are two very lucky horses. There simply aren’t many options out there for senior draft horses. And considerably less for BLIND, senior draft horses.
Thank you for giving them the opportunity of their lifetime. The chance to be safe. The chance to be welcome. The chance to not be judged by their impairment.
They each deserve to live out the safe retirement they worked for so many years to earn.
And YOU made that happen. <3
