Your Rescue: Mercy (and company!)

Back on May 10th, I received this wonderful story about a pony that was picked up at auction:

"I have three paint mares. We were looking at buying a well trained pony for my younger sisters, who are 8 and 10. They outgrew their little Shetland pony a year ago, so she got a new home.

I was looking all winter, but even with the bad economy, well trained ponies still sell for more than we could afford-even though we were just looking for a trail riding and walk trot pony. I checked a few auctions out, nothing grabbed me or went for over our price limit.

Then the beginning of April, I want to a pony and riding horse auction. There were a lot of well trained, shiny ponies for sale. Then a pony caught my eye in the catalog-just a bit before she was to be sold. (She was 10 in a lineup of over 150 horses and ponies.)

White pony mare, 12 years old, kid broke to ride, easy to catch.

So, I finally found the little girl. She was pretty pitiful looking. Huge, fat, wormy belly, yet very ribby with her backbone and hips protruding, and hooves that needed a trim. Dirty and dusty coat - a far cry from most of the ponies with gleaming coats and ribbons in their manes.

They had two kids on her bareback to ride her in. She took it without complaint, and when they trotted her, I saw that she was sound. I won the bid at $50.

She was mine! I called my dad, who was a bit surprised since he didn't even know I was at an auction, but he brought the trailer and we took her home.

She's since gotten a hoof trim, lots of grooming, and a bath that made her coat a lot better. She gets hay and a pasture with all the grass she can eat. And several small meals of grain and beet pulp a day. And, I started deworming her slowly-with just half doses at a time. She has some welsh pony in her for sure. My farrier loved her when he did her feet. She may be a bit older than 12, but can't be over 15-16...

She's gained enough weight to be ridden now. She's proved to be a very safe kids pony-they can do virtually anything with her, and though she has a bit of a pony attitude, she's never tried to bite, kick, buck or any of the sort. For several weeks the girls had to feed her three times a day and handwalk and handgraze her twice a day, and that helped them to bond.

She's just what we was looking for in a pony. Though she hasn't trail ridden, she is so quiet I know she'll be fine. The girls want to do contesting with her, so I set up some barrels and she walked the pattern today like she's been doing it her whole life. She was a barrel pony at some point in her life.

In another month or two nobody will even reconize her that saw her at first. I bet I could easily sell her for $800 or so. But she's not going anywhere!

Her name? It was "Snowy"-but with a new beginning, she needed a new name, so we decided to call her "Mercy"."

But wait, the story doesn't end there! This is the email I received a few days ago...

"I emailed you my rescue story of Mercy, the little white pony I got at an auction about two months again. Well, Mercy had a big surprise! She gave birth to a little colt Saturday night. About a week prior she started bagging, then waxing. Turns out her potbelly was NOT just from worms and malnutrition. Mom and baby are doing fine, though Mercy us still thin and eats three-four times that of our 15.2 hh paint. So I rescued not just one pony, but two. Colt is still nameless! Looks like he'll be gray.

They're doing fine. Mom is still skinny, but eating like crazy so there's not a whole lot else we can do. She gets free choice hay and pasture and a grain mash three times a day that I'm still increasing slowly. She seems to still be gaining weight everyday. But now with producing milk, it's gonna take more. This is why she was so thin in the first place. The colt is perfect. He's a little rebel and is one naughty little baby. Mercy has a good milk flow and is an excellent mother so there's no worries there."

Mercy's colt is currently nameless. Can anyone help his owner think of a cute name for the little guy? Post your ideas in the comments section!

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