Some may say that Kizzy’s story is just another example of the way people anthropomorphize animals, imagining that they react like people instead of like animals. At Equamore Sanctuary, we encourage such imaginings as a way to help our rescued horses get over neglect and abuse. It is one of our strengths that we know our horses, that we use patience and common sense when we deal with them, and that we understand that horses, like people, have post-traumatic stress reactions that can be triggered by what seems an insignificant set of circumstances. After reading Kizzy’s story here, take this opportunity to sponsor our After Derby Party, “Beyond the Finish Line.”

Kizzy’s Story 

Many of the horses who live in safe and secure retirement at The Equamore Sanctuary along Route 66 outside of Ashland, Oregon have run their last race, carried their last rider, completed their last dressage test. For some, however, the memory of past abuse or neglect remains. Sometimes, those memories are triggered into reality by a sight, sound, or gesture once associated with cruelty or neglect. When that happens, as it did recently with Kizzy, Equamore horse handlers need all their skills to reassure a frightened animal whose normal reaction is to run away as fast as she can no matter who or what is in the way.

The day started out as it normally does for Kizzy, who spends her days in the mare field looking for a friend who will be her BFF for more than a few days. Kizzy is a little like those unfortunate kids you used to see on the playground who wanted a friend so badly that they ended up alienating anyone who applied for the job. It’s the story of her life: whenever she’s found a friend, human or horse, and become confident that the friendship will last, it suddenly ends. Her past, and even her present, is filled with such promise and disappointment. Because Kizzy looks able to do more than she actually can, and because she is so willing to try, she was bought frequently for purposes to which she was unsuited, sold when she could not perform as expected, and moved again and again before being brought to Equamore Sanctuary. Even here, she has been disappointed, having been befriended and then abandoned by no fewer than three of the mares she lives with in the mare field.

With each new broken promise, Kizzy becomes visibly depressed with “that look” in her eyes we horse rescuers know and hate to see. On this particular day, Kizzy was due for a vet check. She was fed in her stall, as usual, haltered and lead out of the barn, as usual, and then turned and lead away from the gate into the parking lot, not usual at all. For Kizzy, the unusual is always a prelude to the story that has been repeated in her life so many times. People, cars, and horse trailers she wasn’t used to seeing could mean only one thing: she was going to be taken away from this safe haven to who knows where, to be asked to do who knows what, to try her best and fail to please who knows whom, only to be moved who knows how many more times to who knows how many more places.

PURE PANIC! But not on the part of Equamore volunteers, who saw almost immediately what was causing this normally calm, silent, and sedate mare to react with such agitation.

WHAT DID WE DO?? Unafraid of those who would accuse us of giving unwarranted human feelings to unfeeling animals, we recognized panic for what it was, ascribed a cause, and got rid of the cause. We went back to the usual routine, leading Kizzy to the mare field, as usual, opening the gate, as usual, taking off her halter, as usual, and letting her join her herd mates, as usual. Like Kizzy, we’re hoping that some day, there will be a BFF for her in that field or in the heart of a volunteer who would like to sponsor her and expect nothing more of her beyond the finish line than to enjoy the friendship she’s looked for all her life.