I had already sold the little Arab pony when a lady named Heather contacted me about her, having found one of my ads for Phoenix online. Heather owned a horse of similar breeding, Praire Park Ian ("Neeter"). She wasn't interested in purchasing Phoenix, but she knew my girl from before her days at the rescue. I had some inkling of Phoenix's story from the rescuer, but I wasn't absolutely certain about everything. The rescuer mentioned that I might not want to contact the breeder from what she'd heard about the condition the horses were in when Phoenix was purchased.
Heather sent me an email to explain how Phoenix ended up at the rescue. This is Phoenix's history, in Heather's words:
So, the scoop on Phoenix...no she wasn't started. We bought Neeter about 4 years ago from that lady in Chapman. A gal from a horse list I'm on was up here from MS after hurricane Katrina and fell in love with him and wanted his same breeding. We found that Praire Park was dispersing and headed out to see Phoenix based on that one pic you probably have. I tell you, when we got there I was just sick. I don't know what happened between us buying Neeter and then but her horses were starved. Phoenix was about a 2 on whatever scale the vets follow. There were 3 year olds that were tinier than my then 6 month old colt, all huddled around a round bale of black grass. I tried to take home one of those babies but she just wouldn't come down below $750. I guess it was for the best because they were severly stunted and I'm a big girl-never could have ridden them. I cried the whole way home but at least we got Phoenix out. We decided on Phoenix on the way home-rising from her past.
So my friend took her to a trainer to put weight on her and later get her started. They just couldn't put weight on her at all and she had a lump in her jaw. The vets finally found she had a broken tooth that was badly abcessed in her gums. They recommended putting her down because it was so severe. It was going to cost $3000 just for surgery, plus she'd need special care for the first 6 months at a huge cost. About this time my friend also had to decide whether to go back to MS or stay in IA. She finally got ahold of that rescue and they said they could get the surgery cheaper and handle the aftercare. That was the last I heard about Phoenix-I assume she did have the surgery finally.
I almost guarantee she never grew to her full potential due to the starving and tooth problem. Neeter is a shortie, but he's stout. I could probably ride him and not bother him too much with my weight, but I'd look silly sitting on that pony :)
Heather's email explained a lot of the things I had observed with Phoenix. She was one of the most narrow horses I had ever seen, most likely due to starvation during a critical growth phase. She was already fully mature by the time she came into my care, so it was too late to reverse the permanent damage. It was always difficult to keep weight on her, again most like due to the stunting of her growth that resulted from lack of proper nutrition.
I have no doubt about the veracity of Heather's version of events. I have no idea why the breeder allowed her horses to deteriorate so much between the time of Heather's purchase of Neeter and when she and Candice (the friend) returned to collect Phoenix. It sounds to me like a typical "hoarder" situation, where the breeder refused to believe that she no longer had the resources to care for her herd and would not ask for help. I'm just glad they were able to pull Phoenix and give her a chance at a new life. Phoenix taught me a lot and gave me the confidence to take on the challenge of training the rest of my ponies. I'll forever be indebted to that sweet red girl.
Phoenix now lives near Des Moines and has been renamed Bella. I recently viewed photos of her playing with her new herd in the falling snow. She will be trained for endurance and go on to compete, fulfilling the promise of her genetic heritage.
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