In 2000, when I first rented the barn at Montcalm , I only had one horse-Rambo. I needed a pasture buddy for him so I started looking for a horse to adopt.
I put the word out and was contacted by someone by email, who knew of a guy with a percheron that was basically a � lawn ornament�. In my ignorance, I envisioned a plodding old bay draft horse,(didn�t even know that percherons are either gray or black!), which would�ve been just fine, but little did I know what was waiting for me.

It�s funny how we preconceive, often we overestimate and are let down. Not this time. I walked into the barn where the percheron was stabled and was struck speechless.
�No way� I eventually said to the owner. He looked puzzled and said � this is �Tiny�. Well , �Tiny� was anything but- he was massive and spectacular. I thought he was a stallion as he had such a well developed front end and was so expressive.
He was led into the barn aisle- I could see his feet were going to be a problem. They were very long and sloping, cracked up to the coronary band in places and he was in great discomfort if not pain. He rocked back on his hind legs to take the pressure off the front feet. Those immortal words, � No feet- No horse� ran through my mind, but I could only see what �could� be. After all, I wasn�t buying him, he was being given to me.

I told the man point blank that I wanted him and would love to try and �fix� his feet to get him comfortable. He called me a few days later and offered him to me on the condition I also take �Shorty� the miniature donkey!
What the heck, I thought, how much trouble can he be? Well, Shorty is a stallion and it took two weeks to get him in a trailer to bring him to me. Other than that, he�s no trouble at all and is known now as �Gilligan� (he was always called �little buddy�)

I renamed Tiny overnight.� Saxon� just fitted him perfectly and he comes running when I call him to dinner.

His feet have proved to be an ongoing challenge. I�ve gone through several farriers, spent thousands on them , but for over a year now, I�ve been trimming them myself. Not proud of it, but he�s been more consistently sound (or at least comfortable) since I stopped letting people cut away at him.

He does have chronic Laminitis, and a bought of white line disease caused rotation of the coffin bone, but he�s since been rideable and as long as I watch him carefully, I can keep on top of the quarter cracks that plague him. Part of the problem is his sheer size, so I try not to let him get too heavy. His one big love in life seems to be his grub! And I hate to deprive him of the few pleasures , but I have to consider all aspects of his quality of life. So, I try to balance things and give him a little of everything. He�s a very sweet and happy horse with a puppy dog personality, so he�s fun to be around even as a pet.
to be continued�������..