Hello, gorgeous. Offer accepted, photo sent by her owner. I have the best friends who were willing to drive up and pick her up with me.

She was, it goes, originally owned by an Amish family out east. The husband passed away and the family liquidated much of the farm, sending her off to auction. She ended up (started?) at Bastrop in Louisiana at just five months old. Bastrop is a somewhat well-known kill pen.

It’s probably important to note that I’m not a big fan of buying horses from kill pens. The kill pens make lots of money off of it and plenty of these horses are never at risk of shipping to slaughter. If you want to rescue a horse, try either your local auction or even Craigslist for horses that could use a better situation.

Her owner purchased her, had her quarantined, and then shipped her out to California. The mare has just turned two and the last year and a half have been spent in a hilly pasture growing up and learning basic ground manners.

We picked her up at an unfamiliar place for best trailer navigating abilities. She looked at the hay bag going in the trailer, hesitated a second, but then hopped on in. Foooood. Very Haflinger. Several long hours later we made it home.