DOLLY
What a Night!
Well over 200 horses were consigned at the end of summer “Camp Horse Auction” , which dragged into nine hours. Our early possible choices sold for $1,700 and up, so we set our sights on the horses at the end of the auction. These are the horses not advertised in advance and for good reason.
There wasn’t much time to evaluate the line of last choices, but we were drawn to a group of old draft horses. Worn out, lame, half blind, each was used up and sent off, and at 12:30 am, it was us or the dealer and we were able to save three lives beore it was all over.
Meet Dolly, an early 20’s Belgian mare with a lot more spunk than we observed at auction!
Dolly is delighted to have a big field and is in charge of the trio in their shared quarantine paddock. She is in poor condition physically and may be missing sight in her right eye. It appears that her forelock and mane were recently chopped off, presumably to get our burdocks. They will grow back! Dolly was likely a plow horse that aged out of work, but perhaps not recently, as she is barefoot.
We are easing into soaked food with care, as we source out the reason for their conditions (we do not think they were from the same seller). Dental and parasite load are often the reason for thinness, so we begin there. Of course a lack of food can be the cause, we must take caution to not overwhelm their systems with changes.
Perhaps you want to be one of Dolly’s first sponsors, and help her on the journey in her new lie at Rosemary Farm! We can’t wait to see who she turns out to be.
Dolly is:
• a senior Belgian mare
• welcomed to The Sanctuary in August 2026
• a New Intake
• in transition *
• fun fact; named in honor of Dolly Parton!
* Any equine that we are still evaluating and getting to know following arrival, is in training, or is changing in some way, is in transition. Please feel free to send an email to inquire about their status and future possibilities.