ISABEL

Welcomed to the Santuary — July 2017
Acros the Rainbow Bridge — August 2021

Isabel wass:

• a black draft mare, possibly a Percheron and Friesian cross
• welcomed to The Sanctuary as an owner surrender
• a member of “The Black Hills Gang”
• life partner to Cole
• honory grandmother to Ella

“The Grandma”

Born to a life of work, one can only imagine that this mare succeeded, and survived. Only as a senior, no longer able to work, with a dropped back, marks on her face, and health issues, was she sold at auction. Fortune smiled upon her, and in 2017 she found her way to love and care at Rosemary Farm Sanctuary. Always quiet, always willing, Isabel's health issues were complex and not fully curable, but they were managed.

With a long black mane and forelock one imagines on a fairytale steed, this massive mare had such body control she could complete a “zero turn” in the smallest of spaces. Isabel was shy, often the case with horses not used to being loose with other horses, and she bore a striking resemblance to another mare here, named Ella, who came from the same auction a few months prior. Both had unusual physical traits that seem to indicate a draft cross breed, possibly Percheron/Fresian, and they became friends. Everyone liked to imagine they were grandmother and granddaughter, finding each other in sanctuary.

Isabel grew closest to another senior horse, a black Saddlebred named Cole. The pair spent several years inseparable until Cole crossed the Rainbow Bridge in December 2020. After Cole, as Isabel became more frail, she found new friendship in the mini's who arrived on the same day that Cole departed, and was often found asleep in the sun with her little friends nearby.

Isabel crossed the Rainbow Bridge in August 2021. We hope she is with Cole now, happy and whole again. Fare thee well sweet girl.