Update on Bader
A Handsome Gentleman
Finds a Lifelong Friend
by Colleen Dumont
At 59 years old, the last thing a beginning rider like me needed was to fall in love with a starved, wary, Arabian stallion. But the heart has its own rhythm. So Bader and I began our journey.
In Arabic his name means “handsome man,” but Bader looked far from that. His eyes reflected only hopelessness. So emaciated that he staggered from weakness on his pencil thin legs and horribly overgrown hooves, even the effort of breathing seemed beyond endurance.
Human beings had been the source of his agony and suffering for so long that my encouraging whispers meant nothing to him. I was a symbol of a long and dreadful period of hunger and isolation that had forced the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department to intervene. Bader had been kept interminably in a six-by-eight kennel with his 3-year-old son next to him in a duplicate enclosure. His daughter and her dam were in a field grazing on stickers and weeds where Bader’s sire lay dead. The four living horses were within days, even hours, of also starving to death. For several days following the seizure, the rescued horses were fed on site before gaining enough strength to walk even as far as the trailer to be taken by Equamore volunteers to the Foundation’s sanctuary at Eden Farm.
For six months, Bader showed no interest in me. Then slowly, as his beautiful red coat began to shine, so did his eyes. Soon, but warily, he allowed me into his stall, where I was able, also warily, to touch him. It was then I decided to sponsor him and give him security for the rest of his life.
After Bader had recovered and was gelded, Linda Davis, Equamore Foundation’s Executive Director, began his retraining. Shortly after, I began riding him with Linda’s patient guidance. Bader has proved to be a smart, willing, level headed—and, yes, handsome—gentleman. I am committed to seeing that he has a forever home here at Eden Farm under the continued protection of the Equamore Foundation.
Now as I watch him run in Equamore’s upper field, with the sun shining through his mane, my heart lifts. I encourage anyone to become a sponsor of one of Equamore’s incredible horses. You do not have to be a rider or even local. These horses deserve a soft place to land after a lifetime of service to us.
