Submitted by Allegiance Ranch and Equine Rescue
These two beauties, mother and son, inexplicably found themselves on a lot bound for slaughter. It was unlikely the colt would be sent to slaughter, but his mare was certainly at risk, and young horses on a lot such as that are susceptible to illness and injury. Although we were thousands of miles away on a rare and much needed vacation, we knew we had to do something as soon as these two came to our attention. We immediately took action to get these two to safety. We worked with another rescue to arrange bail and yet another to coordinate pick up and quarantine. Everything fell into place, as if destined. By the time we arrived back home, Victory and Valor were safe.
Victory was a young mom, only three years old. Her colt, Valor, was just shy of four months old. Both beautiful bays with star markings. When they arrived at Allegiance Ranch, they were scared and sick. Quite sick. And neither appeared to have had any handling and certainly no reason to trust humans. We nursed them to health, despite Valor being so sick we were told he might not live.
And slowly they began to trust us. Valor came around a little more quickly than his mom. We spent hours sitting in the paddock with them, allowing them to check us out. Victory gave us a wide berth but the curiosity was too much for Valor. Before long he was nuzzling us and “asking” for back scratches. Grain was the way to Victory’s heart. Before long, even she began allowing us to touch her and eventually halter her.
Now both of these gorgeous horses are full of health and vigor. They are permanent residents at Allegiance Ranch and Equine Rescue, wonderful ambassadors for the power of love and acceptance. Once unwilling to be touched by humans, they are the first to greet visitors to the ranch and quickly accept the touches of veterans and their families who come to the ranch seeking the healing power of horses.
