our animals

Traditionally, horse stables do not mix mares with geldings, so of course that’s exactly what we wanted to do! We want to replicate as close to possible a natural horse herd, so we put the call out to Tara Nicholson of  Hayburner Haven Horse Rescue (where we got Badger and Chase from) that we were looking for a mare to add to our herd of two geldings.

Tara decided that Secret would be a perfect fit for Badger and Chase.  Secret is an 18 year old thoroughbred who raced a bit when she was younger.  When it was time to “put her out to pasture,” she became a brood mare for the race industry (pregnant-baby-loss-repeat).  We have no idea how many babies she had when she was considered no longer useful.  Thankfully, she was rescued by Hayburner Haven.  

When Secret first arrived at SALI’s Farm, she was in heat, and this caused a dynamic shift in Badger and Chase’s bond.  Badger gravitated to Secret and even started guarding her from Chase.  For a whole week Badger kept Chase away from the horse shelter, was very unfriendly to him and we thought the horse stables were right in the end to keep mares and geldings separate.

This only lasted a week, and now we have a beautiful herd of three who do everything together!  It makes our hearts so full to not only have provided a home for Secret but also a horse family for her.  This fairy tale will be complete if we could ever find one of her babies and reunite them.