Vinny joined the Morstone Acres family March 1, 2020. After losing Stampede in August of 2019 we had been keeping a friend’s horse, but he sadly turned out to be a poor match for Phoenix.
The weekend before, my husband and I drove to a local rescue to look at long term foster options. I liked two of the horses, but one in particular was companion only which meant he probably had less chance of finding a home.
As expected, we were approved to bring Vinny home. When I arrived at the rescue to pick him up someone was trying to catch him unsuccessfully, but with some patience and cookies I had him haltered in a few minutes. Similarly, he was slow to start getting on the trailer, but once he decided it was okay he popped right on and settled right in to some hay.
We arrived home to a fairly calm horse who after looking around stepped off the trailer nicely. He was a bit unsure about going in the barn and the stall, but a couple clucks from my husband standing behind him and he complied. After getting Cabby (Phoenix’s former short term buddy) loaded and off, we let the horses out together. Honestly it was pretty hilarious. Vinny just wanted to wander and investigate and P just really wanted to introduce himself. So P was following Vinny all over. They did the occasional trot or canter but in a chill senior horse manner, lol. Within minutes they were just standing together (picture below). After that the old men got a drink and got down to eating hay. Just how I like it!
The rescue estimated Vinny to be around 25 years old, but my vet as well as my equine dentist both think he’s more like 20 years old. He is 14 hands tall and I believe some type of Arab cross.
By the middle of July I realized Vinny is the pony I never knew I needed in my life. He has become a real social butterfly and designated watch horse (Stampede’s former position). He has learned to approach scary things with more curiosity and no longer jumps out of his skin at the sounds of cross ties hitting the wall, velcro, or fly spray bottles. We are still working on the hose. 😉
While I haven’t made it official with the rescue, there is no intention to send Vinny back to the rescue ever.
