KINJI is our second rescue horse. He is a 17 year old polish Arabian gelding. He endured much more physical and mental abuse than the others; therefore, the journey to his healing is taking much longer. He loves our whole family and has built a trust with all of us. When visitors come out, he is very apprehensive, but with a little coaxing, he will usually come around. Although we may never be able to use him for the riding program, he will always have a safe home with us.
When we first met Kinji (we named him that because we knew he would be 'King'), he stood in the corner of a small outside "stall" with the hot sun beating down on him day after day. When he ate, he would put his head to the side so he could keep watch of anyone or anything that might come near him. He had whip marks all over his chest and terrible fear in his beautiful big brown eyes.
When we first saw him, he broke our hearts. He was so fearful and sad. We asked if we could try to touch him and were told it was ok - at our own risk. After very carefully getting the leadrope on him, I took him walking around the big pasture. Day after day we came to visit him, walking him in the pasture and talking to him. We also continued praying over him and talking to God about what a magnificent animal he was. One day I went by to see him and one of the 'pseudo-cowboys' who took care of the horses, hit one of the other animals out there with a glass beer bottle. We knew we immediately had to get Kinji out of where he was. The only problem was that he wasn’t free. We did have to pay to get him out of where he was living. We didn't have the money, but we did get it scraped together. Fortunately, Kinji had built a trust with us, so it wasn't too difficult to move him.
We continue to work with him to keep the trust and unconditional love building. I have been able to get up on him to ride both with a saddle and bareback, but only under supervision. As expected, Kinji is ‘king of the pasture’ and so incredibly beautiful when he is watching over his herd. When startled, he stands totally erect with his beautiful Arabian head held high, tail high and he sounds an alarming snort as a warning. The journey to complete healing will be a longer one with Kinji - but we have the time and patience and most of all, the unconditional love.
