On December 13, 2010 we picked up a very cute, but one hell of a mess, little Standardbred gelding around four years old named Ozzy. 

He was on his way to slaughter when the lady who runs the boarding facility stepped in and called us. When he arrived, he was very thin, especially in the shoulders, withers and neck. 

The boarding facility owner had started to up his feed and look out for him, so by the time we got him, he had already started to put some weight back on in his belly, but his ribs were easy to feel through his coat. Not to mention, he arrived completely covered in rain scald on almost every inch of his body.

Right from the moment he arrived at the rescue, we both fell in love with him. He is darling by nature despite everything that happened to him and was such a cuddly boy. 

By the end of December, Ozzy had begun to put more weight on and was starting to look a little better. His rain rot hung around for a long time, but things continued to improve for him. However, there was no interest in this darling little boy. 

I took him out on the trails one day when he was looking better. He had put more weight on and his toes were nicely trimmed and it was a nice day so we took advantage. He was just as darling under-saddle as everything else, but that information still didn't seem to get him any interest from other adopters. We didn't mind though as things were going well for him here and he was improving every day. 

He did have a few people come and see him over the months, but nothing stuck until April. Prancer and Remy's new Mom had been dying to take Ozzy from the beginning, but chose Prancer instead as she wasn't ready to take on an extra horse at the time. 

However, one weekend when we had a cancellation on a couple that was supposed to come out and meet him and, well, she couldn't stand it anymore and contacted me immediately saying that she wanted to take him home!

He has been home now since April 11, 2011 and has been doing wonderfully! His Mom gives him lots of one-on-one time and he gets along great with Prancer, Remy and the other horses kept at her farm.

Here is a letter from his new Mom:

Ozzy is just wonderful. I can't get over how sweet and loving he is. I'll go into the field and he'll come trotting over to me to say 'hi' and just rest his head on me for a good few minutes. Every time. That is one thing that will never get old.