The Beginnings of Fred

<--Fred when he was first rescued

Since this is the first post on Fred I will let everyone know what little background information I have on this gentleman. Fred was rescued by a lady in Lake Helen named Monica, she found his ad on Craigslist. She said the picture was of this skinny, lanky saddlebred hooked up to a cart by someone who obviously had no idea what they were doing. She knew he had to be a decent horse to tolerate someone else's stupidness. When she actually went to see him she was appalled by what was standing in front of her. He was about a 2 on the emaciated scale but still had enough will to trot when being led. When she confronted the man who had him as to why he was so skinny, he simply said because he didn't have enough money to feed all of his horses so he figured he would let Fred starve. At that point Monica handed him $100 and loaded Fred up.

The following is all we know about Fred:

- He is a 20 yr old Saddlebred Gelding (5 gaited)

- His name was originally "Rouge" by the owners that starved him. Rouge is french for Red which then evolved into Fred

- He is registered but have no idea what his name is maybe something with "Rouge" in it

- Rides and Drives with the best attitude

What we are assuming:

- He has obviously been shown before, knows how to set his head...has a total show horse mentality

When Monica had the vet out the day after getting him he said he was probably a week away from dieing. She gave him all of his shots, had his feet done, and has slowly been bringing him back. I saw a post on the flahorse board about Fred and decided to email Monica since I had been keeping my eyes out for lesson horses for the new farm. I had seen her orginal posts when she first got him and remember thinking about how much he reminded me of my old Saddlebred Sonny. Needless to say I set up a time for myself and Chris to go take a look. We got to the barn a little bit before Monica and stood on the fence and watched him for a bit. After about 5 minutes he finally decided to come check us out. He had just gotten a new hay roll so he was much more enthused with eating then us! When Monica got there we went into his pasture and he stood there and hungout with us for about 15 minutes and let us rub all over him.

Leading him out of the pasture he pranced along side of me, not trying to get away or anything, just being happy. He stood perfectly to be saddled and perfectly to get on. He was a perfect gentleman and listened and tried his hardest. Needless to say there was no way I couldn't offer him a home to complete his recovery. He will come to his new home and meet his new herd this Saturday.

He needs about 100 or so more pounds and of course some muscle, to look his best. But what amazes me is that even though he was a week away from dieing he seems to hold no grudges. He has the spirit of a true Saddlebred, and has proved that it is unbreakable. I look forward to helping him with his Journey, and keeping ya'll posted along the way.