Update: This 32+ years old spunky and beautiful pony has passed on.
Sassy
Sassy was saved by Peaceful Acres Horses from a NY livestock auction as a senior and former pony ride horse. As a matter of fact, Sassy and Apache were the first horses we saved from auction, my mom and I were like two fish out of water in those days and I feel relieved knowing we were able to navigate the auction and saved them both! How my mom did not save them all – I will never know, maybe because we only had a 2 horse trailer!
According to Sassy’s records, she was born in 1979 – yes that makes her 42 years old this year! (We can not be absolutely certain of Sassy’s age, but she was certainly an incredible old gal!) Sassy came into our emotionally supportive program to work with at-risk and emotionally traumatized children. At the time I had my 4 Quarter Horses and needed a smaller horse to work with smaller children. Sassy was spectacular to say the least. She did earn her name and to this day she is sassy and does not at all act like an old-timer. Her students from way back in the day have now all graduated from college, are starting families of their own or are adulting in some way or another. They all have fun stories about Sassy and ways she helped them to learn about boundaries, accountability, personal responsibility and care for self and others. Sassy is our old teacher who today if asked she would still teach the same lessons. She is now retired and enjoys her time with her little mule friends and her giant mule buddy Duke. She is just about toothless, but still maintains a beautiful body condition and is alert and sassy. (photo taken June 2021)
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Sassy had confidence, attitude and gentleness all-in-one small package. She was easy to become friends with and even had a coolness about her that I can remember respecting and often would make me chuckle too, because she would sometimes be pushy to much bigger and younger herd-mates, especially around mealtimes. She was old and grey, yet gorgeous still and she impacted me in a way that I didn’t quite understand until years later upon reflecting on her life at PAH and the unique role she played in the rescue herd. -SL 3/14/2024
