A Faithful Guardian
- Chestnut Mustang Gelding
- Entry Date – December 2011
- Type of rescue – Surrender to Jackson County Sheriff’s Department
- Reason – Severe neglect and starvation
Chance was once a wild and free horse. His story is painfully familiar; rounded up, sold, and ending up on the brink of death in captivity. Malnourished himself, Chance stood guard over his emaciated Appaloosa friend, Sassy. Both horses were put in jeopardy when their owner died and they were left with the elderly mother in the beginning stages of dementia. The two horses were left to starve in a pen not twenty feet from available food and water. And no one seemed to care until a visiting relative intervened by calling the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. At the scene, officers convinced the owner’s heirs to surrender the horses to Equamore volunteers, who trailered the horses from White City to the Sanctuary in Ashland. Chance needed special feeds until he gained back his body weight and strength.
For the two and one-half years that Sassy lived at the Sanctuary, Chance never went to the top of the field in which they grazed. Sassy was too frail and Chance never left her side, always guarding her, and keeping stronger more playful horses away.
Chance was easy to recognize with his very red chestnut coat and the scar on his nose from a halter neglectfully left on far too long. He was extremely gentle and loved human attention, especially grooming.
For having lost his freedom and family in the wild, to being neglected and starved, to losing Sassy, his constant companion for many years, to losing Bojingles, Chance was an amazingly kind and loving horse. When he peacefully passed away in his stall in late July of 2022, he was 32 years old and had 11 good years in sanctuary. He was loved mightily by Equamore staff, volunteers, and the horses he watched over.
