One of our many success stories!Chip is a Pony Of America (POA) gelding, standing at a whopping 12.2 hands. He was surrendered in
June 2008 with his pasture-mate Dude. Chip came in with a BCS of 2, Dude with a BCS of a 1.5. I would consider them both emaciated. First of all, how do you starve a POA? In my experience they are a very hardy breed, and very easy keepers. His background was a little sketchy, he was surrendered by a woman who claims to have rescued them from a 'crack house' type of situation. She then quickly realized she could not care for them due to lack of resources and facility--a small dirt hotwired paddock in a group of trees was all she had, much to small for three horses. When she tried to reach out to various rescues she was turned away due to lack of space. SAFE collected donations and had Dr. Hannah examine the horses, and a kind hearted person donated a few bales of hay. Eventually the horses were forwarded to me, and having learned to ride on a cute little POA, I decided Chip may be a good prospect for my lesson program.
June 2008 with his pasture-mate Dude. Chip came in with a BCS of 2, Dude with a BCS of a 1.5. I would consider them both emaciated. First of all, how do you starve a POA? In my experience they are a very hardy breed, and very easy keepers. His background was a little sketchy, he was surrendered by a woman who claims to have rescued them from a 'crack house' type of situation. She then quickly realized she could not care for them due to lack of resources and facility--a small dirt hotwired paddock in a group of trees was all she had, much to small for three horses. When she tried to reach out to various rescues she was turned away due to lack of space. SAFE collected donations and had Dr. Hannah examine the horses, and a kind hearted person donated a few bales of hay. Eventually the horses were forwarded to me, and having learned to ride on a cute little POA, I decided Chip may be a good prospect for my lesson program. My first impression of Chip was that he had been handled well in the past. He was easy to catch and load, and didn't bat an eyelash at our first clipper session. He was pretty good with his feet, and he tied and cross tied. Where did this cute little pony fall through the cracks? I started the re-feeding process and he stayed in quarantine for the first few weeks. When I would turn him out in the arena, he would roll and leave a coating of hair and an impression of his skeleton in the dirt. This was both heartbreaking and adorable as he would get up and throw out one good buck--which was about all the energy he had.
It took about three good grooming sessions to get Chip's hair under control. And I began to start the conditioning process to get him ready to start under saddle. After two months of work and a decent foundation, I decided to turn him out to pasture and let him grow up a little. Two months of lush hilly pasture and I had a very handsome almost chunky little pony ready to focus on his education. I put a total of thirty days under saddle on him, and he even got ridden by a few qualified students.
Chip was featured on the Fugly blog just before Christmas which is where his forever home first saw him. I delivered Chip and DID he win the horsey lottery! He is now very healthy and happy and 
living the life of luxury. I get frequent updates and am told he is doing fantastic!
living the life of luxury. I get frequent updates and am told he is doing fantastic!
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