My friend had been looking for a horse of her own for quite sometime. I was helping look by searching the internet for a horse she could afford which was under $400. She didn't have much of a budget. So I started to look for horses that needed help, older horses no one would buy, or weanlings that need a new home.  After days of searching the net, I came across an ad for a horse named Marshmellow. The ad said,  good childrens horse great price! $150 or best offer. I read on. 17 year old palomino Appaloosa mare with limited vision. Needs good fencing. I knew right away in my mind that this horse needed some kind of help. I sent an e-mail. I heard back from the owner right away. I told her we'd like to come see the mare and maybe put a small deposit on her.  The owner responded, " just come get her and take her home. You can have her. I need her gone because I am moving." So my friend and I packed up the horse trailer knowing we were in for a sad situation to come. We drove for an hour and a half when we finally pulled into her driveway. The mare was mud caked and wounded all over her body. She had kick and bite marks everywhere. Her right eye was seeping and had a very visible grey film covering it. She was so skinny that you could count all her bones. I opened her mouth and saw that her front row of top teeth were almost gone. some were knocked out and others were worn down to almost nothing. I haltered her with the new halter my friend bought for her and I lead her to the trailer. From that point I knew she was totally blind. She had a very hard time following me as if she had never been led before. Once at the trailer I placed her left front hoof into the trailer and in she went.  She wobbeled in the trailer alot on the way to the barn but she made it safe and sound. We unloaded her at the barn and brushed her out. She loved the brushes running over her coat. She twisted her neck to the side and stuck out her top lip. She must have forgotten what a good brushin felt like. Once free of mud, we treated her wounds. There was one on her back that was huge! It was the size of my hand. I later found out from the owner that she had flipped over backwards over a fence and injured herself there. She stood tied to the post while my friend and I prepped a nice cozy stall for her. Her head hung almost to the ground and her bottom lip sagged and showed her bottom row of front teeth. What a sorry sight. We put her into her stall for the night and gave her a little hay to munch on and we left eager to return the next day.

      In the morning we turned her out into her new turn out corral and place three small piles of hay along the fence line. At first she bumped into the rails and the gate over and over trying to figure out her new surrondings. But soon she was setteled in eating her breakfast. We mixed some grain up for her and add a weight gain solution and some very badly need electro-lites to it. At first she wouldn't eat it but she did after her hay was gone. Every day we took care of her in the very same way and soon she had her stall and her corral down pat. She knew were her hay would be and her water and the gate. The rails she feels for knowing they are there. We introuced her to one of my broodmares through the fence and then started to stall them next to each other and turning them out in neighboring corral so they could always touch noses. It was love at first nussel for Raja. Now they are the very best of friends!

      If there was any horse that I have ever loved the most out of the rescues of the past, it would Raja. The people at the bran were certin she was going to die. But live she did and live she will. She is a very wonderful horse and I hope she will stay in my life for a very long time. My friend kept her and she still lives at the barn so I get to see and care for her on a regular basis. We love you Raja, from the Saddle Rock Equine Rescue.