During all the public holidays with the fireworks
the parades and the crowds, this horse was dragging tree trunks through the woods
– working month in, month out - 950 kg of power.
Three years ago, he came to me. Initially to treat him as he had stopped eating; we call that active euthanasia - he wanted to live no more!
Since Lars was a horse that had a certain value to his investors – they wanted him to choose to live again. When I came into the picture he was brought to me, I pulled him out the trailer and loved him immediately.
He was less than half an hour here on my small yard when he got a new appetite, eating as easily as a drinking bucket of water.
Lars had been kept his whole life, in a meadow with only one other horse beside him; that horse died, and no one who thought maybe he was now lonely.
The story is long and it is story about a lot of patience, and still more patience - how I got to see him slowly gain meaning to himself as a horse. But it succeeded, and Lars was no longer lonely.
When the owner called me to say Lars would be picked up Monday morning at 5 am, I found that a very strange time - and I would not agree.
The real reason turned out to be was that the "therapy" that I was asked to give Lars was only to fatten him to a nice round slaughter weight!
THAT was all the thanks Lars got for the years that he had worked and earned them money. I felt their attitude disgusting. Madness is the first word that comes to mind when I think of my reaction! And angry when I think some more!
I won't bore you with stories of how you create my place to be an impenetrable fortress of a farmyard. The thick chains I used to barricade my fence were so strong so even the army could not get through!
Anyway, I got Lars for the same kilo price that he would have fetched from the slaughterer – that was 1.30/ kg! Lars is big and heavy and thanks to me and the herd here again weighs a beautiful 950 kg landed.
I knew he was old and used up, his body totally ruined by the heavy burdens that he had to pull from one year to the next. And I wanted only one thing for him - the happiness of an idyllic life and perfect enjoyment and to never again be lonely.
Norma
Three years ago, he came to me. Initially to treat him as he had stopped eating; we call that active euthanasia - he wanted to live no more!
Since Lars was a horse that had a certain value to his investors – they wanted him to choose to live again. When I came into the picture he was brought to me, I pulled him out the trailer and loved him immediately.
He was less than half an hour here on my small yard when he got a new appetite, eating as easily as a drinking bucket of water.
Lars had been kept his whole life, in a meadow with only one other horse beside him; that horse died, and no one who thought maybe he was now lonely.
The story is long and it is story about a lot of patience, and still more patience - how I got to see him slowly gain meaning to himself as a horse. But it succeeded, and Lars was no longer lonely.
When the owner called me to say Lars would be picked up Monday morning at 5 am, I found that a very strange time - and I would not agree.
The real reason turned out to be was that the "therapy" that I was asked to give Lars was only to fatten him to a nice round slaughter weight!
THAT was all the thanks Lars got for the years that he had worked and earned them money. I felt their attitude disgusting. Madness is the first word that comes to mind when I think of my reaction! And angry when I think some more!
I won't bore you with stories of how you create my place to be an impenetrable fortress of a farmyard. The thick chains I used to barricade my fence were so strong so even the army could not get through!
Anyway, I got Lars for the same kilo price that he would have fetched from the slaughterer – that was 1.30/ kg! Lars is big and heavy and thanks to me and the herd here again weighs a beautiful 950 kg landed.
I knew he was old and used up, his body totally ruined by the heavy burdens that he had to pull from one year to the next. And I wanted only one thing for him - the happiness of an idyllic life and perfect enjoyment and to never again be lonely.
Norma