When You Count Your Blessings Count HorsesTwice

When I decided to keep him, Bob supported me. He said you can keep him if you want,but you have to realize with this one it will be one hour ,one day one week at a time. It has been one year

After a walk we put Jake in a stall with water and I got him a banana.Nickel loves bananas I have fed them to him forever and he eats them peel and all.Jake did not eat the banana at first , it sat in his bucket for 2 days.
Jake did not urinate for two days , I now know he was dehydrated in addition to all else.
When Jake finlay produced a pile of manure, Bob went in the stall to pick it up and what we witnessed then spoke volumes.
Jake coward in the corner clearly he was afraid of "the man with the rake".
On day two Jake started to cough. Bob called a friend for advise. Dick F. came at the end of the week with some sulfur for the cough. He took one look at Jake and said " I wouldn't of paid 50.00 for him". Bob and I estimated Jake to be at least 400lbs under wait, probably closer to 600 if you figure a 17 hand Belgian can easily weigh 2000lbs.Bobby and Keri took a ride to Meaders with us and we bought a halter that fit. The halter that scared him we threw away.
It took weeks of adding sulfur to his food to clear that cough. The first time we had his feet trimmed we were told by the trimmer it had probably been a year sense Jake's feet were cared for. If you look at old posts you will see his broken hooves and the foot baths that fallowed. The first time I tried to get on Jake's back I went for a ride in an ambulance after hitting the frozen ground and being stepped on.One year later , I can now ride Jake.I know he does not like feet on him so I ride him differently than I do Nick , but I enjoy riding him. Jake now gets his hooves done every 6 weeks and Matt his trimmer says he stands better then any other draft he's trimmed. Jake's diet is supplemented with Smart Packs of vitamins and he enjoys many bananas, apples cranberries and candy canes.I can now scratch Jake's back with the rake, although he displays less of a passion for this than Nick. I have learned Nick and Jake have been brought up very different, and so they are different. Jake on his own is a huge part of the miracle that is my farm.