Soldier was a discarded buggy horse languishing in a kill pen five hours away from me. I tried to drum a home up for him with zero interest. He was too plain, too beat up, not type-y enough. I couldn’t get any bites to save him.

I didn’t have the room, but something about those eyes just gripped me and wouldn’t let go. Next thing I knew I had paid for him and was driving my truck and trailer on a ten-hour roundtrip to bring him home. Nothing felt better than watching that meat truck get smaller in my side mirrors. Soldier wasn’t sure what was going on, but handled it all with his usual stoic nature. (Hence how he got the name.)

It has been two years and I couldn’t have picked a better horse, even had I been purposely looking for one. It has taken a long time to get those feet in better shape. He had gone a long time with too little farrier care between trims and was clubby on the foot that was missing a shoe. I’m a patient person and he needed the time to heal physically and mentally. He was never skittish, but wasn’t sure what I was about. We had some bad colic bouts the first year, with me in tears at the thoughts of losing him. After checking him for ulcers and changing his diet, he has not colicked again in over a year. I’m confident that we’ve left it behind us.

Soldier is a real gem; kind, patient, loving. Even though he has never been trained to ride, I can hop on him with no issue at all. He’s always following me around to see what I’m doing. Not once has he ever pinned an ear or offered to kick. I just started lunge training him and bringing him along slowly. I can see a difference. He’s ready now. I always say he could be a halter model with his expressive, kind face. His ears are constantly forward; his eyes forever soft and grateful.

A #RightHorse means finding value in every horse and seeing beyond what they may be currently presented to be. All horses can have a purpose. Even if it’s not what you want in a horse, someone will. There is a job out there for every horse and they should get the chance to perform.