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Brokenmoon Latifa, or Tee as we call her, is one of our rescue mares. This lovely lady came to us via Tennessee, courtesy of the now defunct Mr. Horse email group. I had been wanting to fulfill a lifelong wish of having a horse farm for some time, and after getting my Arabian gelding, Star, I knew it had to be Arabians. A Mr. Horse subscriber posted about some Arabian horses in Tennessee that the owner could no longer care for. She wanted to find them homes. We are forever grateful that she recognized the need for her animals and selected us to have the mares. They have been wonderful additions to our lives. I contacted the owner, described our farm and the care the horses would get. Of her seven horses, I offered to take the two mares, Tee and her daughter, Shakeela Lee. New to Arabians, we had no idea what we were getting, whether the mares would be of sound conformation or if their pedigrees would be good. We lucked out. Under the bony exteriors, were two fine horses, with wonderful bloodlines, mostly Polish and Crabbett breeding, along the CMK (Crabbett-Maynesboro-Kellogg) lines.
My husband and I made arrangements to travel there. With our little Dodge Dakota and our little two-horse trailer, we drove for 12 hours to the place where the mares were. We spent the night and brought the mares back to Kansas the next day, a 14-hour journey back home. The horses were pitifully thin.
They had been in a 40-acre woods, with no pasture and had been fed no hay, just some sweet feed. We had little trouble getting the horses in the little trailer. They were anxious for the hay in the mangers. At every stop along the way, we offered food and water. When we finally got home and opened the trailer doors, it took nearly 40 minutes to get the girls out. They must have thought they would spend the rest of their lives in that trailer! Then they saw the green pasture in Kansas. I'm sure they thought they had died and gone to heaven. Of course Star, my old horse Cisco, and our pony, Honey, were quite excited about the new arrivals. The next day, we had a steady stream of visitors, just as if we had brought home a new baby! Everyone wanted to see "the girls." In the light of day, they looked pitiful -- scraggly manes and tails, rough coats, ribs showing, crawling lice in their manes. But they still had a gleam in their eyes. It took days of coaxing and patience on my part before they finally ventured close to be handled. Tee was first.I could see she had kind eyes and wanted attention. She loved to be brushed and fussed over, and she even stood for a bath. But she hated having her back feet handled. The first time the farrier arrived, she exploded when he reached for her back feet. Ray and I got to work desensitizing her. It took hours. We worked in short spurts, Ray at her head with a pocketful of horse treats, me at her tail end. I would rub her haunches until she relaxed. When her muscles relaxed, he would give her a treat and praise. Slowly, we repeated this exercise as I moved my hands down her leg, until I could reach her hoof and pick it up. Then we had to repeat the exercises with the other leg. In just a couple of months with good groceries, deworming, baths and grooming, we had two beautiful mares. That summer, after Tee had regained her health,I went stallion shopping for a suitable mate. I found a handsome Thoroughbred stallion named Gold to the Max.
On June 2, 1999, she gave birth to a handsome, strong colt, we named BRA T-Max Azeem.Though she is small, only 13.3 hands, she is sturdy and throws amazing foals. She's now had five foals for us. The latest is BRA Gold Flame Szybki sired by Corary Szybki.
I learned a little about Tee's history when I read a copy of an Arabian horse magazine which featured a remarkable young woman named Erin Andrews. The picture of her horse looked almost like my Tee. I read the name. It was Tee's dam, SW Letitia! I sent Erin some email. She was thrilled to learn what happened to one of her mare's progeny. She told me that Tee had been born on a farm in Michigan. The owner mysteriously left the country and left his horses locked up in a barn, presumably to die. Tee and her dam escaped somehow. The neighbors discovered the problem and the horses were sold at auction. Eventually, Tee found her way from Michigan, to Tennessee to Kansas, rescued from hunger twice in her short life. Tee won't go hungry here. She has a home for life. As she has settled in to life in Kansas, she has relaxed and become a sweet and kind Arabian mare. We love her dearly. |
