So sorry. He looks gorgeous and sounds like he had a lovely life once he met you and your family.
So long Joey. Canter free.
Thank You!
I wish I could say that I knew his full story.
From what we were told, Joey started out as a polo pony. When he went lame, rather than give him the rest he needed to recover, he was sent to auction, where he ended up in a kill-buyer's pen. He was pulled and rehabbed, by a local stable where he was a lesson pony for years.
That's where he and DD met - and the connection was instantaneous. For anyone else, Joey was a lazybones, but he'd do anything DD asked of him, becoming the lively athlete we know he once was. They were definitely "A Thing!" When the old injury cropped up again, the stable sold him to us. Six months of good farrier work got him up off his heels (and officially bumped him to 14.2) and the lameness disappeared for good!
Joey's been part of the family ever since. I'll never forget the night we surprised her with him. We faked an emergency with DS's mare and DD went out to help ... and standing there in the headlights was her Joey. Without a word, she went straight to him, put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his mane. They stood like that for a very long time and I swear he hugged her back.
That night, as I tucked her in, she turned to me teary-eyed and said, "I can't believe Joey's really at Aunt D's and he's really
mine!"
It's one of those crystal clear moments that will live in my heart until the day I die!