Percheron

**Please review adoption costs and policies on our home page before inquiring about a horse. Thanks!** Captain hasn't been so lucky in the first 12 years of his life. He was found in a field with two other mares and a stallion. They literally terrorized the poor guy, and the owner did nothing to give Captain any relief. Some kind citizens stopped and expressed their concern for the terrible situation the battered horse was in. The owner replied, "He's useless, you can have him if you want". They located someone to help transport Captain that day. It took a full month to drain the abscessed area over his shoulder. He also had terrible bites and cuts on his legs and hind quarters that had not been tended to for so long, there were actually maggots in the wounds. Captain was nursed back to health and his rescuers loved him dearly. They were in a difficult position though because they really couldn't keep him long term, so they loaned him out to a farmer for a few years, who did use him to drive. He came back for some reason, I'm not sure exactly why. The original rescuers kept him for about 15 months trying to find another alternative before they found the Circle P Sanctuary. We were moved by their story and took on the promise and responsibility to find Captain a great new forever home. Captain does have a special need that requires him to be sedated before he has his farrier work done. When Captain came to us, he had not had his hooves trimmed for 14 months. Since Captain has been with us, he has had regular farrier care, no more than 8 weeks apart. His hooves are better, and he does not exhibit any long lasting trouble, but we do have him sedated prior to the work. He stands for the work and comes out of it relatively quickly. I think he can be worked with to learn how to stand, but we have not had the time to be able to accomplish that yet. Captain is extremely passive. We have orphan foals at the Sanctuary, and they even push Captain off when they want to. It is an awesome sight to watch his big guy play with the foals. He is so gentle. We do have professional horse trainers working with Sanctuary horses, but have not been able to establish a consistent schedule. We will come up with a plan in the next week or so to create better adoption opportunities and evaluate Captain further to see how he does under saddle. **Update 2/10/09**Captain was originally marked as a special needs horse due to his hoof handling issues but he is doing much better now and he was even able to make it through an entire farrier appointment without sedation. ****Update 11/9/09**** Captain is currently being worked under saddle and although we can not say he is rideable at this time he is taken huge strides towards being wonderful mount. He has a soft mouth and bends nicely. He will make a wonderful horse for someone one day. Please check back for pics of Captain under saddle. ****Update 12/13/09**** Captain is progressing quickly undersaddle for he is now trotting balanced and beautifully. Check him out in motion on attached video. He is very willing, easy to handle and very calm undersaddle. We have worked with desensatizing him to noises and at this point he could care less if you kicked balls around him or shake plastic bags within feet of him. He is a great horse and we proud of the progress he is making. We plan to try and take him out on trails in the spring if he has not already been adopted by then.