Sighs of Relief on Sunday!

Violette: Pretty neighs everyone. Violette here. So, it seems that you were quite intrigued by that last photo on Friday's post...The photo was actually taken a few weeks ago, and I have quite a tale to tell you about the boy in it.

Please meet my cousin, UREY DE VANOISE!

He truly is my cousin as our dams had the same sire, i.e., we have the same grandfather! Urey is a jet black 4-year old entire pure-bred Percheron. He is an absolute sweetie. #1 "discovered" him a few months ago when she was first contacted by a Danish woman who was looking for an entire male that she could use for dressage. She worked with this woman for months to find just the right horse, offering the woman several properly schooled horses. But the woman decided that she wanted Urey, who was unschooled and whom she nicknamed the "young rebel." He had been barely handled and, at age 4, was already pretty big and strong. He came to our place for a test-schooling, to see what might be done with him, and he passed everything with flying colors. As I said before, he is really sweet and he is bright and eager to learn.

Both Ms. S and Mr. E worked with him:

And everyone fell in love with the big black horse!

So, we were all a little sad to see him leave on Monday of last week to go up to his new owner. His journey was supposed to take 36 hours but ended up taking almost 4 days because the (cheap) transport company parked him somewhere along the way. On arrival, he was tired and stressed and his new owner hated him on sight. She never even gave him a chance. He was called "The Monster" as soon as he arrived and deemed unapproachable and unhandlable. He was put in a box that was never mucked out, he was never allowed to exercise, and he was barely fed and watered. Only 24 hours after his arrival, his new owner put him up for sale.

We were all horrified at what was happening to our sweet pal and #1 and Ms. S and Mr. E decided he simply had to be rescued. To get a transport company to go get him would probably need 2-3 weeks wait as there is no regular horse transit between France and Denmark. What's more, the woman was being a total bitch and, having agreed on a price, then tried to increase it after the money had been paid. Days of delicate negotiating (when you want to kill someone but try your hardest to be nice so they do what you want) and finally, she said OK. We were not going to leave our buddy up there one moment longer than necessary, so...

... Mr. E hitched up his horse van and with another friend, they drove 1,400km (almost 900 miles) each way to get Urey and bring him home. This is how they found him:

Apparently, the poor guy almost jumped into Mr. E's arms when he saw him, so happy was he at the sight! He ran into the van and never moved during the entire journey. The heroic Mr. E and Mr. R drove almost 40 hours, with just short stops along the way, to bring our big guy home. Since his arrival back in France, he has been principally seeking cuddles from all those he knows love him.

Urey is now a temporary member of the Poupounette Gang. You could say he is our Rescue/Foster. #1 bought him but Ms. S and Mr. E are boarding him and will school him for free, and we have sworn that we will find him the best home possible once he is ready to go. But first, he is going to have a holiday! Bring on the straw bedding!!!

#1 sometimes shakes her head when we are chatting, saying "why is it that some people manage to rescue 500 gramme kittens and I always end up with 800kg horses?" We know why. Big horses need rescuing too!

Anyway, today is Sunday so we must leave you with come snuggle pics, featuring Urey of course! These were taken yesterday afternoon, a few hours after his return:

Look who's smiling: