Janet Culley – My Horse was Depressed – Abused –

Life is Back After 9 years – Happy – Majestic – Running and Playing

 

John Dowdy:     Hello and welcome to this week's Equinety Podcast. We're going to swing up into Alabama. We've got Jan Coley on the podcast this week, and I'm going to tell you this story is... I'm just going to say it's unbelievable. If you're dealing with this scenario, a situation with your horse that you believe you're boxed in a corner and you don't have anywhere to go, you got to listen to this story. It's absolutely amazing and might even bring a tear or two, because this is the ultimate comeback story, I would say. So without further ado, Jan Coley, welcome to the Equinety Podcast.

Jan Culley:        Well thank you, and thank you for allowing me to tell my story.

John Dowdy:     Well, we're excited. As every week, I'm excited to have guests on and to share these stories, and I think this one is probably one of the most intense ones that we've had on. So let's just start from the beginning. Tell us about this horse. Well, let's just start from the beginning.

Jan Culley:        Okay. I bought Chino in 2006 I believe it was, beautiful horse. And I worked with him every day basically. Then I had someone come up and say, "Well, I know a good person who can train him." He was still a stallion. He was two years old, two and a half years old. I should have queried it more, but he was a farrier. The farrier was a farrier of mine who was very good, and it was his brother that supposedly trained horses. I just took it as it was a good thing.

John Dowdy:     Sure.

Jan Culley:        Of course we asked where do we take him, and everything, and made the arrangements and he loaded on the trailer without a problem. He was good as gold and went to this place where there was other horses but nobody around. And I thought, well, this is really strange. I hated to leave him, but they told me to put him in a stall and that they'd be there to work with him. Well, as far as I knew, that's where he was. Of course we took with us two big tubs, the huge tubs of grain for him, what he was having, plus bales of [inaudible 00:02:48]. So he had plenty of food and everything, and I never heard anything. So I called the farrier and I said, "Hey, your brother, is your brother working with Chino? What's going on?" And he says, "well, yeah, I said he had to move him." And I said, "really? Now where to?" And he said, "well to where he lived which was even... which was quite a ways away.

Jan Culley:        So I said, "well, I'd like to come and see him." Well he said, "well, he needs to just have at least a week to work with them, et cetera and so on." And he said, "and then after that it you are more than welcome to go and see him." So I guess some people they don't like anybody to be there that first week. So I said, "well okay, would you ask him to call me please?" And anyway, never got a call. And then I called the guy again and I said, "look, I need to go and see the horse. And he said, "well, here's my dad's number if you call him first and then he can give you directions." Well, I called the father and he said, "well, can you leave it another week?" He said, "we're really working with him right now." And I said, "no." I said, "I need to come and see him right now." This was like three weeks after.

John Dowdy:     Wow.

Jan Culley:        Must have been going on the fourth week. And so I got the address and everything and he says, "why don't you just leave it a few more days?" I said, "no, I'm coming right now." And we left and got there and I was almost sick. He was skin and bone. He was stood this cage like thing. I don't know what they used it for. It's still a lot. And he had a saddle on and that saddle had apparently been on him for days.

John Dowdy:     Holy cow.