Chauncey
He makes us laugh! You can’t look at this little fur ball of a horse and not laugh. His long forelock completely covers his eyes, and he likes it that way. When he first came to Mystic Mountain, we thought we would do him a big favor and allow him the privilege of actually seeing his world. So, his forelock was banded in the center thereby exposing his beautiful brown eyes. Once free, he promptly went over to a tree and rubbed until the banding broke, shook his forelock free, and trotted happily off.
This little guy was a mess when he arrived. Pus oozed from his chest, all over his underside, and shoulders. He could barely walk on hooves that had not been trimmed in a very long time. Parts of his mane and tail had been rubbed raw. Jillian, one of the teen horse staff, fell in love with him. She came nearly every day to bath him with medicated soap and to shower him with love. In fact she was the one responsible for his new name. On a class field trip to Gettysburg, Jillian had seen the name Chauncey on a tombstone and really liked it. So the little horse, originally from Iceland, had found a new home, a new friend, and a new name!
It took over a year to heal his skin infections and his cracked hooves so that he could be ridden. This was our first experience here with a horse that performs a gaited movement called a “tolt”. For each of us the first time we rode him, we nearly laughed ourselves off the saddle as Chauncey went flying around the arena in doing his tolt. It is so much fun! As a trail horse, Chauncey is fearless and bulldozes through golden rod as if he never sees it!
