Sweet Georgia
I am in desperate need of a new laptop so I've been cleaning up all my photos on my old one before I decommission it. Doing this has been a fun jaunt through my past life, bringing up all sorts of fun memories. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to tell the story behind these photos!
One of my favorite jobs ever was being the Equestrian Department Head at Camp Vega. The owners were great to work for and I always had the very best staff a head trainer could wish for. One of the challenges was that we didn't keep the horses year-round, we rented them from a local horse trader. These horses had seen hard lives - they are all purchased at the auction for ridiculously low prices. Most of the time through no fault of their own.
When I went to select horses, I would get just a few seconds to assess them on the ground, and then a few minutes to ride them in a round pen if I wanted to. Over the 5 years I worked at camp, I got really good at assessing a horse's temperament very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I always had to exchange out horses that weren't going to hold up to the demands of camp life, but I was lucky to get some real winners. Georgia was one of those diamonds in the rough.....
When they pulled this horse out, I immediate said absolutely not! She was ridiculously underweight, clearly had a skin condition and was very, very, very old. They insisted I try her. I really didn't want to, but they threw the heavy western saddle on her and led her out. Every step she took was so *aware*. She knew where the little kittens were and where the dogs were and where I was. Not an ounce of spook, either.
I gave in and hopped on. Oh, my! I've been lucky enough to have ridden some world-class horses in my life and riding this run down old horse was a real joy. As much hardness as she'd seen in her life she was just happy to put in her paces in a tiny round pen for a perfect stranger. I decided to take her - along with 15 others.
For these horses, getting to go to Camp Vega was like someone who lives on the street getting to stay at the
Ritz-Carlton! Upon arrival, we assessed each horses vitals and injuries and then started in on the grooming, baths, treatments and training. There was always one or two with strangles that we had to isolate and get them through it (or send them back) and there was once a pretty big lice issue in the whole herd. We didn't give them names until we got to know them a bit. One horse never shed the #2 name (it was her stall number) - we called her #2 for 3 years!
When the old, skinny, broken horse stepped lightly off the trailer, I instantly named her Georgia, Sweet Georgia. Her vitals were (surprisingly) good and aside from the weight and skin issue, she seemed sound and healthy. We discovered she didn't have all her teeth and that she was likely over 30!
After her medicated bath, we immediately started her on a regular feeding of soaked beet pulp, oil, supplements and soaked hay cubes (she could only wad her hay). I fed the heck out of this horse. The camp owners were amazing souls and agreed to let me get some of the horses' teeth floated (filed down) as they were great horses and worth the expenditure. So Georgia got her teeth done for the first time, in likely, a decade. Her feet were amazing and only needed a trim. She did require 2 saddle pads and we bought a summer sheet to put on her to hide her skinny body from passers by. While doing her teeth we discovered a tattoo (she was a racehorse!!). While we couldn't read the whole thing (we tried and tried) we did find out that she was likely in her late 30's.
She was a favorite of the timid kids - the ones who were intuitive and sweet, just like Georgia. She could carry kids around the arena all day long. She LOVED being groomed by 5 young kids at a time. If a braver kid popped on her and made a demand, she'd put in the cutest little buck. Nothing that says "get off", but more like "straighten up child, you're learning from me!". She was, and has always been, my absolute favorite horse to teach on.
At the end of the summer, the hardest thing we have to do is send the horses back They all get loaded into a 12 horse stock trailer...packed in like sardines. To the horse traders, they are a commodity to be traded. They're good people, they just view horses differently than I. Some will go to back to auction, some will be thrown out to a field waiting for next year's camp, some will get sold off, and some find local winter homes. Georgia found a winter home that first year. Unfortunately, Maine winters are hard and her new home didn't understand about her teeth, so when I went to pick her up the following year, she was as bad as before.
So, once I had fed her up again, I started negotiations to buy her. They wanted an obscene amount of money for her ($1400 for a 30+ horse that I was the only one feeding!). I worked and worked and eventually convinced them to be reasonable and by the end of the summer, I had purchased her and found her a retirement home that agreed to keep using her as part of their youth program. She lived the last year of her life being the favorite horse of a group of 5-10 year olds. She passed that winter, never making it back up to Camp Vega. I was so glad that she never had to be put back on that overfull stock trailer being hauled off to an unknown life. Her last year was full of camp and grooming and little girls and pastures. Thanks for everything, Sweet Georgia.
One of my favorite jobs ever was being the Equestrian Department Head at Camp Vega. The owners were great to work for and I always had the very best staff a head trainer could wish for. One of the challenges was that we didn't keep the horses year-round, we rented them from a local horse trader. These horses had seen hard lives - they are all purchased at the auction for ridiculously low prices. Most of the time through no fault of their own.
When I went to select horses, I would get just a few seconds to assess them on the ground, and then a few minutes to ride them in a round pen if I wanted to. Over the 5 years I worked at camp, I got really good at assessing a horse's temperament very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I always had to exchange out horses that weren't going to hold up to the demands of camp life, but I was lucky to get some real winners. Georgia was one of those diamonds in the rough.....
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| The day she stepped off the trailer |
When they pulled this horse out, I immediate said absolutely not! She was ridiculously underweight, clearly had a skin condition and was very, very, very old. They insisted I try her. I really didn't want to, but they threw the heavy western saddle on her and led her out. Every step she took was so *aware*. She knew where the little kittens were and where the dogs were and where I was. Not an ounce of spook, either.
I gave in and hopped on. Oh, my! I've been lucky enough to have ridden some world-class horses in my life and riding this run down old horse was a real joy. As much hardness as she'd seen in her life she was just happy to put in her paces in a tiny round pen for a perfect stranger. I decided to take her - along with 15 others.
For these horses, getting to go to Camp Vega was like someone who lives on the street getting to stay at the
Ritz-Carlton! Upon arrival, we assessed each horses vitals and injuries and then started in on the grooming, baths, treatments and training. There was always one or two with strangles that we had to isolate and get them through it (or send them back) and there was once a pretty big lice issue in the whole herd. We didn't give them names until we got to know them a bit. One horse never shed the #2 name (it was her stall number) - we called her #2 for 3 years!
When the old, skinny, broken horse stepped lightly off the trailer, I instantly named her Georgia, Sweet Georgia. Her vitals were (surprisingly) good and aside from the weight and skin issue, she seemed sound and healthy. We discovered she didn't have all her teeth and that she was likely over 30!
She was a favorite of the timid kids - the ones who were intuitive and sweet, just like Georgia. She could carry kids around the arena all day long. She LOVED being groomed by 5 young kids at a time. If a braver kid popped on her and made a demand, she'd put in the cutest little buck. Nothing that says "get off", but more like "straighten up child, you're learning from me!". She was, and has always been, my absolute favorite horse to teach on.
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| Georgia half-way through the summer |
So, once I had fed her up again, I started negotiations to buy her. They wanted an obscene amount of money for her ($1400 for a 30+ horse that I was the only one feeding!). I worked and worked and eventually convinced them to be reasonable and by the end of the summer, I had purchased her and found her a retirement home that agreed to keep using her as part of their youth program. She lived the last year of her life being the favorite horse of a group of 5-10 year olds. She passed that winter, never making it back up to Camp Vega. I was so glad that she never had to be put back on that overfull stock trailer being hauled off to an unknown life. Her last year was full of camp and grooming and little girls and pastures. Thanks for everything, Sweet Georgia.
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