2 of our VolunTIERs spent time grooming Dear Virgil.  From his expression, I think he enjoyed every minute!

In late February, Virgil was sporting an impressive winter coat that rivaled that of a Wooly Mammoth!

4/12/2012, Virgil was thinking that if felt SO GOOD to finally get rid of his Winter Coat!  Of course, that was before the weather turned cold and rainy again.

It felt good to kick up his heels and show off.

Naturally, Pablo the Donkey was not impressed...Nor was Pablo fooled by the nice weather.  He is determined to keep HIS fuzzy coat!

Volunteers Audrie & Diana took time after a full day of cleaning pens & scrubbing water buckets to give Virgil a good brushing.  We don't know who enjoyed it more...Virgil?  or Diana & Audrie?

Virgil was none too pleased to see Phillip R. (Equine Dental).  It had probably been many years since anyone had his teeth taken care of.  Thanks to our supporters, Virgil will now be able to chew his hay and "Old Man Food" easier. (Even though he stuck his tongue out at Phillip--More Than Once!).

Just as we thought, Phillip estimated Virgil's age to be 28 - 30 yrs. old!!!  Although he is the oldest horse at TIER, he is full of himself and quite energetic.  Once all those sharp edges were removed and he was turned out in the round pen, he gave a few bucks and trotted away.  He is looking so much better than when he first arrived! 

Virgil & Dr. Don Moore had a pleasant visit during his chiropractic adjustment.  Virgil seemed to like what Dr. Don did for him.  In the beginning, Virgil's back was very tight/locked up.

His shoulders, ankles, stifles, knees, neck and poll were all adjusted and Virgil breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

When Dr. Moore was finished we left him in the arena overnight with BG to move around and limber up those old tight muscles.  The halter was taken off and we asked Virgil to move out a bit.  Amazingly, he took off and "gallumped" (old man phrase for galloped) down the arena.  It was great to see and he appeared to be having a good time as he kept it up for a bit.  He was given 1 Bute for soreness that night and another the next morning.

7/8/2011 The farrier made a surprise visit yesterday.  He had been out of town on family matters and we did not expect him out until this weekend.  Virgil was more than ready to have those awful feet done!

Virgil only had shoes on his right side.  When the farrier trimmed the hooves on his left side he was mystified because there were no old nail holes in hooves to indicate there had ever been shoes on that side.  The bars and frog on all his feet were terribly overgrown and curled under.  The left rear hoof was the worst and his ankle was really jacked up because of it. 

The right rear shoe only had 3 nails in it, right front shoe had 4 nails.  Right front shoe had come loose at one point and the nails folded over into his foot from the pressure of walking.  Frogs and bars were curled under on these feet too!  Poor guy must have been in a lot of discomfort.

Farrier felt that it had been a year or more since his last trim.  The shoes that were removed were paper thin.  Farrier said Virgil's feet have been pretty neglected for several years...if not his lifetime.  He did not want to trim him down too much as he will probably be pretty sore for a bit.

Virgil was turned out today (7/9/2011) so that his feet could adjust and also so that his body could adjust to not having one side higher than the other.  We hope to have Dr. Don Moore, Chiropractor, out soon to adjust Virgil's body and address that left rear ankle situation.

Of course it has only been 2 wks since his arrival.  He still needs to gain weight and tone up those old muscles.  Oddly, he is already getting some dapples on his hindquarters.  Thanks to Wendi N. for her purchase of fly masks from Ballard's Saddlery in Norco.  We love these masks!

We hope to be able to have his teeth floated soon and expect to see a big difference in weight gain.  Virgil is just the sweetest old man and absolutely loves his morning feeding of soaked pellets, PAWIER vitamins, beet pulp and a bit of Senior Feed.  He starts talking as soon as he sees the bucket and every morning we have a conversation about waiting until we have dumped his feed into his tub before he starts eating.  He gets really excited about breakfast!

(ABOVE:Virgil when he was found wandering the streets)

Received this note from the lady who found Virgil on the street in front of her home.  She saw he needed help and offered what she could.

Hi Gail,

Yes, he is a very sweet horse, loves hay, pellets, carrots, apples and ppears too.... he will eat all day long... trust me... I know.. he would follow me around in the morning when it was time for breakfast or if he saw my kids with something in their hands he would come to see what it was. My kids would give him carrots and fruit and he loved it.

Well thanks again for everything and please keep me posted on him. I like his new name... new name, new life! and this time will be a great one!

Virgil was brought to the road in front of the property where he had been staying for the past month.  He was found wandering in front of the property trying to eat dried vegetation.  He was brighte eyed, alert and interested in all that was going on.

He has shoes on his right front and right rear hooves.  The hooves on the left side do not have shoes so they have worn down, but have also grown to compensate for the imbalance.  His left rear hoof has grown a lot of heel.  As a result, the hooves on the right side are longer than on the left and he is horribily imbalanced.  This causes him to walk leaning to his left side.

Virgil needs farrier and dental care right away.  A call has been put in to our farrier.  Dental & Chiro will be scheduled when funds allow.  In the meantime he will get plenty of soaked pellets and fine stem hay.