The origional story on how Trooper & Promise came to be here can be found here and the folks who raised the money to help us purchase them can be found here.

UPDATE 6-7-05

Our vet has been out to see Trooper and Promise and has given them a clean bill of health so to speak. Given time both will heal and become well loved members of a family somewhere and hopefully forget all the hell they had to live through in their past. Some problems/issues with each of the horses were found and are documented below.

Trooper is a 25 yr old Belgium gelding (funny the coggins papers I got on him said he was a 15 yr old bay Haflinger). He is still thin but gaining steadily and our vet would like to see at least another 100/200 pounds on him to fill in his topline and through his sides. Because he is old and semi arthritic in his hind end he did advise that we not allow him to become rolling fat as it will make it hard on him to move around. His teeth are in good condition for his age as well. He does have several scars from a ill fitting harness on his shoulders/neck and along his hind legs as well as serious scarring on both sides of his mouth from a poor fitting bit. It has been determined that he most likely came out of Amish country through a kill sale when he was "used up"... He is the biggest love of them all and he is the happiest when he can lay his big ol head against your chest so that you can pet him.

Promise is also gaining steadily and has put on around 100 pounds since he came to us. His rainrot has almost cleared up and his eyes are becoming brighter. He has also cantered for the first time (ok so it was a few steps but he did it!) and he proved today that he was strong enough to pitch a fit when our vet was checking his teeth. He does however have a heart murmor and is missing one of his upper teeth on the right side but neither is life threatening for him and he should continue to improve rapidly. It has also been determined by checking the coggins papers that came with him that he ran through the Marshall kill sale. He loves attention and will stand for hours just for petting.

Both are happy and on their way to full health~