Residents | Happy Tails > Kaiser
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Kaiser with child
Photo credit: Molly Wald
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Kaiser: The Young Old Man
Kaiser came to Healing HEART Sanctuary (HHS) to be a therapy horse
for children. He was just a local horse that was very gentle and
needed a place to be and something to do, or so we thought. Little
did we know at the time that he needed Healing HEART Sanctuary
as much as we wanted him.
Kaiser’s back had been injured at some point in his life.
In addition, his feet were totally overgrown and had not been
trimmed in a very long time, causing more back problems. His
teeth had not been floated in years, if ever; and he was not
able to eat well, so he was underweight.
After having his feet trimmed we were told to bring in a railroad
tie or something for Kaiser to step over to help in his back
recovery, by lifting his legs high to get over it. Depending
on how that treatment would go would determine whether we needed
to bring him to a chiropractor. The closest chiropractor was
about a 3 hour ride away at the time, which would not have been
a comfortable trip for him. We both lucked out and with the specialty
trimming to his hooves, most of his back problems corrected and
he did not have to travel. His teeth were floated next; and he
could finally eat without pain.
These may seem like simple or obvious treatments that all horses
should be helped with. But to a horse that felt like he was 100
years old when he was in his mid-to-late teens, these were life-changing.
He got (or acted) younger and younger each day; and in a very
short period of time he was finally acting his age.
During his time at HHS, which was only a couple of months, his
transformation was uplifting.
When our horse trainer, who had fallen deeply in love with Kaiser,
needed to change the focus of her life she asked if she could
take Kaiser with her. The two had become inseparable and we agreed
that it was in his best interest to stay with her. Last we heard
he was doing great.
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