48 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
Saving Lives –
One Horse At
A Time
e
Chief enjoying his new life.
By Megan Blanchard
G
rowing up I was fortunate enough to ride horses that
knew their jobs and I was able to accumulate show miles
from some of the top shows in the country. Because
of this, I thought the only thing the sport was about was
riding,
jumping, showing and winning
.
I didn’t realize there was a whole other world out there when it
came to riding until I rescued my first off-the-track Thoroughbred,
Yourturntoyield, now known as Gadget’s Gone Gold. When I
walked onto that track I saw a lonely and sad looking dappled gray
horse with a sliced tongue and who was also lame from consistent
abscesses. With his eyes glassed over, I just knew that I couldn’t
leave without him. That was in 2007 and that trip to the track
started my love affair with rescuing OTTB’s. Now, I am doing what
was once considered the impossible and I’ve re-homed almost 70
horses since.
Gadget taught me what it truly meant to look past the surface,
and to give every horse a chance, no matter how bad their legs
looked or how much patience it took just to understand something
as silly as not falling on top of jumps. A few short months into
owning Gadget, he somehow ingested copper and was considered
critical. After days of antibiotics, we were finally in the clear. It was
at that point that I knew no matter what happened he was going to
be a horse I would keep forever.
When we first started him over fences he barely made it without
crashing and I thought for sure he would just be a pet for the rest
of his life. Little did I know that he was going to turn out to be
such a superstar over fences. Within a year he went from barely
being able to walk from abscessing and depression, to getting top
ribbons at Princeton and Monmouth County “A” shows.
Each and every horse I have rescued has taught me something
different, whether on the ground or on their back. I learned more
about tendons, ligaments and strains from working with these
Continued on page 50
Megan enjoys a morning kiss from Chief.
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