$130 for Transportation or Meat (Horse Article)

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The Well-Tempered Pet, Madison Pet Gazette, September 1997

By Sharon Savage, M.S.

When we met in 1992, Titan was a three-year-old stallion of indeterminate ancestry living on the edge of a Costa Rican jungle. He shared the scarce fodder with a herd of three swaybacked mares and a plow mule. (See photo at bottom of page).

A leg cramp made Titan stumble occasionally, and his owners considered him too lazy and ill-mannered to ride much. The week before, he had savagely wounded a visiting colt. Since then, he'd been kept tied to a tree with a long rope. At the next auction, his owners would sell him by the pound.

At the time, I was a graduate student studying monkeys a few miles away. Although I had limited equine experience, I dreamed of crossing Costa Rica on horseback with my friend, Sergio, when I returned the following year. I needed a horse that could safely be tied out to graze during rest stops. Titan had plenty of rope experience and was cheap--$130 for riding or meat.

During our disastrous "test drive," however, Titan went about 2 mph, and even pedestrians easily passed us. When Titan's leg cramped up, passers-by would "helpfully" throw pebbles at him until he'd speed up…to 2.1 mph. Seconds later, he'd be plodding along as slowly as ever, sometimes veering off the road to graze.

I was starting to think that my trans-Costa Rica expedition might end up lasting years, rather than weeks! But since no other horses I met could be tied, I finally decided to buy Titan and try to rehabilitate him.

After moving him to his new home, Sergio and I sprayed Titan with some tick repellent. Interestingly, it seemed the spray wouldn't go into his ears. A quick examination revealed that they were full of what looked like raisins. In the next two days, we managed to extract nearly 300 engorged ticks. Titan's ribs were showing, and we suspected internal parasites, too. We spent a week inducing him to accept some grain and eventually spiked some with dewormer.

Our veterinarian trimmed Titan's hooves and taught us to control the leg cramps through daily massage. After just three weeks of TLC, Titan's personality had improved 500% and he was enthusiastically participating in trail rides.

After eight months of conditioning, Sergio and I rode Titan (gelded by then) and another horse across 370 miles of Costa Rica. The expedition took five weeks--19 days of riding--and included 80 river crossings. Titan's effortless gaited trot was so smooth that I sometimes literally fell asleep when riding. Titan's ancestry likely includes either Peruvian Paso (Paso Peruano) or Costa Rican Paso (Caballo Costariccense de Paso), both highly prized for their endurance and smooth gaits.

Titan is a wonderful horse who nearly lost his life due to treatable physical conditions. Animal behaviorists find that about 20% of behavior problems have an underlying physical cause, like hypothyroidism, diabetes or hip dysplasia.

Before assuming your pet's poor conduct is due to "spite" or "bad breeding," please visit your veterinarian and see if physical factors might be responsible.