Christmas Confidential - 7. Dan and Safe Haven Rescue

Dan and Safe Haven Rescue

By Valkyrie

Voices carried down the barn aisle, but they meant nothing to the skinny bay horse. In the dim recesses of its memory, there was a voice it used to look forward to hearing, but that was a long time ago. Its head hung low, close to a pile full of fragrant, clean hay, but it had no appetite, despite being deprived of such sustenance for so long. The only thing keeping it on its feet was a sling hung from the rafters above the clean, sizeable stall. At least the voices here were kind, but the horse had experienced kindness before, only to go to a new place where the people were less so.

“Tell me about this place.”

“I founded Safe Haven Rescue ten years ago after seeing the suffering horses go through at auction. People dump their old and injured horses there instead of doing the kind thing and letting them go or getting them treatment. We try to save as many as possible and get them into good homes. We rehab the ones we can, and humanely end the suffering of those we can’t.”

“But they’re not all old and injured, right?”

“Unfortunately not, Mr. Murray. Sometimes they have behavior issues, or they’re racehorses who can no longer race. We get ponies that children have outgrown and the family no longer wants. It’s heartbreaking to see, but it’s equally as rewarding seeing a horse rehabilitated and adopted into a loving, caring home.”

“And you’ve been at this property the entire time?”

“Yes, but I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to stay.”

They stopped in front of the old horse’s stall. A tall man with graying hair leaned his arms on top of the stall door.

“What do you mean? Why not?”

“Well, Mr. Murray—”

“Please, call me Gabe.”

“Well, Gabe, the man we lease the property from recently passed away, and his children have expressed interest in selling the place. I can’t afford to buy it, as much as I’d like to. I simply don’t make enough money. And the donations we get are just enough to keep things running and to buy a few horses every month at the auction. With the current state of affairs, donations have dropped off. So asking for the amount I’d need to buy… well, I can’t do that.”

“You’ve put a lot into this place.”

The man nodded. “Yeah. This place is my life. I’ve put so much into making this a full-service rescue for horses. We’ve got separate barns and pastures for quarantined horses, adoptable horses, and now we’ve got the ICU barn set up. We built this barn just last year for our worst cases so we can give them the best treatment possible. It’s got a heated vet room/office where we can spend the night if a horse needs round-the-clock care. All the stalls have a sling set-up like we’re using for this horse here, in case they’re too weak to stand on their own. Horses need to stand. Laying down too much damages their organs. Giving this all up… well, I just can’t imagine….” He stopped and wiped his eyes.

“Tell me about this horse.”

The man opened the stall door and stepped inside. Normally, horses flicked their ears or whickered or acknowledged him in some way. This horse kept its head down and ears still, even when the man gently patted its neck. “We picked this poor ol’ boy up at the auction just a few days ago. We don’t know much about him, other than he’s about twenty years old and has been neglected for a long time. He’s skinny, but usually horses perk up after being here for a few days and getting regular food and water. We’ve been giving him IV fluids, but he hasn’t shown any improvement since we got him. It’s like he’s given up. I’m not sure we’ll be able to do much more for him, unfortunately.”

Gabe stepped into the stall and stopped in front of the horse. “Is there any horse in particular that’s had an impact on your life?”

The man nodded, clenching his jaw. “When I was about ten, a neighbor had a mare give birth to a beautiful little foal. I was a horse-crazy little kid, and they were kind enough to take me under their wing and teach me about horses. That foal and I grew up together. They taught me how to break it to halter, and eventually to ride. We went all over the place, that horse and I—trail riding, horse shows… we did it all. Then, when Storm Cloud was seven and I was seventeen, the neighbors fell on hard times. They had no choice but to sell off their stock. Stormy was a purebred Morgan and worth a lot of money, especially since we had done so well in the show ring. My family barely scraped by, so there was no way we could afford any horse, let alone a purebred Morgan. I was heartbroken.”

He rubbed the bay horse’s neck and ran his hand along its back.

“Sounds like Stormy was a special horse.” Gabe smiled and petted the horse’s forehead.

“Yeah, he was. I still miss him.” He turned away from the horse. “There’s a lot more to show you. Let’s head to the adoptions barn next.”

“Dan, wait,” Gabe said softly.

Dan turned back toward Gabe and the bay horse. The animal stood, bearing its weight on its legs instead of the sling. It looked at Dan with bright eyes, head held high. Its nostrils flared as Dan held out his hand for the animal to sniff. The horse nickered softly and stamped its foot. “Well, would you look at that? A minute ago, he didn’t even know we were here!”

“Did Stormy have any distinguishing marks?”

“He had a scar on the top of his neck from when he cut it trying to get grass on the other side of the fence.” Dan looked at Gabe, disbelief crossing his features. “No… it can’t be….”

“Stormy was a bay gelding too, wasn’t he?”

“How did you know—”

Dan smoothed the mane away from the horse’s neck and gasped when he saw the jagged scar. “Stormy! Oh my God….” He threw his arms around the animal’s neck as he sobbed into the dark brown fur. Stormy nuzzled his head against Dan, bobbing his neck up and down.

“There’s one more thing, Dan. I hope you don’t mind a little deception on my part. I’m not here to adopt a horse; I’m with the local news station to deliver a gift from an anonymous benefactor. I have some good news for you.” He held out a small, wrapped box.

Dan sniffled and stepped slightly away from Stormy. “What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Dan took the box and pried off the lid, then removed a piece of paper. He smiled and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. “Wow! This will really help. Thank you!”

“We’ve paid your feed bill for the next year. That should give you more money to save more horses. There’s one more thing.” Gabe handed Dan a plain, white envelope.

“Wow… I’m already blown away by your generosity.” He slid his finger along the edge of the envelope, opening it. He read the highlighted paragraph of a photocopied document. “What… I don’t understand.”

“It’s a copy of the portion of Mr. Blanchard’s last will and testament that affects you. He wanted your good work to continue, so left you the farm in his will. There’s no need for the rescue to relocate.”

Dan gasped and stood, opening and closing his mouth, at a complete loss for words. Stormy reached over and lipped the paper, then lowered his head to the pile and hay and began eating. Dan stroked the horse’s neck, then turned toward Gabe to thank him, but the man was gone.

Three more days to go!  Thank you all for the lovely comments.  It makes our day reading them.