🤍 Hoss & Little Joe 🤍

Aged Bonded Brothers

Breed: Halflinger

Welcomed to Unbrided on October 15, 2022

Hoss & Little Joe joined the Unbridled Family on October 15, 2022.  Earlier on that same day, we traveled to the last Unadilla Auction of the season in search of Thoroughbreds who would need a Lifeline. When none could be found, we sought the next most vulnerable on the lot. Tethered in a corner amid a sea of horses,  we discovered two Halflingers. The bigger one protecting the frailer from the surrounding horses.

The story told, and the photo shown was of two brothers who had worked side-by-side for two decades. Aged, bonded, and selling without reserve, they hadn't any protection, nor a prayer to stay together.

At the Auction, every horse is sold individually.  Bonded horses are led or ridden into the ring together to keep them calm. In the deafening  banter between the auctioneer, bidders, spotters, and audience they look to one another -- to look out for each other. For horses, the environment is terrifying. 

No matter the depth nor length of relationship between horses, when the highest bid is reached, the buyer has the option to take one or both. Most horses leave the ring one by one, never to see each other again. The violence of separation can be heard in the soul piercing sound of their cries.   

Hoss & Little Joe stepped and turned in unison when it was their turn on the auction block. Eye-to-eye from one end of the pen to the other. No one bid but the local horse meat broker. Thanks to the generosity of compassionate people who donated to Unbridled before the Auction, we outbid the 'kill' broker. But for us, these two brothers would have been separated and shipped off to a slaughter plant in Canada, or Mexico, or for zoo food right here in the United States. 

The calloused crowd in the stands softened for a moment and broke out in cheer, when we told the Auctioneer that the old boys were staying together. Forever together in Sanctuary at Unbridled.

We're so grateful for our supporters who make it possible to save the lives of horses like Hoss & Little Joe -- horses who haven't a prayer for a safe future.  To be a champion of care, fairy barn mother, friend, guardian partner, lifesaver and sustainer of Hoss & Little Joe, send them a little love with a monthly gift to help meet their required needs. The boys require $40 per day to attend to their feed, supplements, hay, grain, bedding, dental, hoof, and health care. Any contribution to help meets their needs is deeply appreciated.