In late August 2002, we received a call from a woman in Long Island, NY about a horse that she used to own nearly four years before. She told us this was a Percheron Cross mare ten years old and was in the Bath, NY area. She wondered if we could take the horse in. She owned Willow for the first seven years of her life and had given her up due to a divorce situation and could no longer afford to keep her. Marie had given Willow to a friend for safekeeping and as happens so many times, Willow was passed down to an acquaintance of this woman for breeding purposes. She bred Willow twice without any success and wanted to dump her. We agreed to go down and check on her. After arriving at the place Willow was stabled, we found the place to be a mess by our standards. There was trash strewn about and what was worse is that Willow was definitely not happy. Her mane and forelock were full of burrs and she was constantly pacing, oblivious to our presence. We decided right then and there that Willow needed to get out of there.
On September 4, 2002, Linda Brunton and Mike made the trip back down to pick her up. It was a two hour trip each way and was late afternoon before they got back to the Rescue. As soon as Willow got out of the trailer, her head picked up and she started whinneying to all the other horses and they talked to her in return. Her demeanor changed immediately. Her ears were forward and her eyes were bright. We walked her around a little, letting her eat some grass and took her to meet all the other horses. We put her in one of the pastures with four or five other horses and after the usual get acquainted squeals she settled right in. It didn't take her long to spot Jasper, our burro, and she stood looking at him over the fence. She wouldn't move away from from where she could see him and that started us wondering. Could she be pining for the twin foals that she had lost years before? We took a chance and put Jasper in with her and that is exactly what she wanted. She hovered over him and wouldn't let him out of her sight. Jasper was one of her dead babies and she wasn't going to let him go. It was cute to watch them over the next several months. Jasper, the clown and Willow the protective mother. You have to remember that Jasper was little and Willow is almost eighteen hands tall but she never put him in harm's way.
Over the next several months, Willow blossomed into the horse she used to be. The volunteers took her out on the trails and because of her size, you could always tell where she was. She gained weight and was happy for the first time in years. Meanwhile, Marie and her mother made the trip up from Long Island to see her and it was decided that Willow should go back home to her real mom. Marie's situation had changed drastically in the past three years. She went back to school and got her nursing degree and was engaged to be married. She could now take care of Willow. On April 4, 2003, Willow went home to Long Island. Marie will soon be getting a pony foal to keep Willow company. Another success story. All the staff and volunteers miss her badly but she is where she needs to be.
