My mom and I went to go see him shortly after I’d emailed to book an appointment. We were supposed to see him at the same time as another potential adopter, but luck was with us. They didn’t show. The chestnut gelding was skittish, still quite skinny and very stunted in growth compared to what he probably should’ve been, standing a mere 14.2 or 14.3 hands. But, despite his poor start, he was incredibly curious of people and had an interest in learning and meeting us. After seeing how beautiful his natural movement was, along with his natural curiosity of things, even if he was nervous of them, we were sold. We filled out an adoption application and were accepted after the SPCA performed a home check. Prior to bringing him home, we had the vet out to vaccinate him and do a basic sales exam on him. We found out that he was, in fact, not a yearling. He was two! We brought him home on July 21st, 2014 for an adoption fee of $400

We change his name pretty much immediately, I did not think Bandit suited him and didn’t particularly like the fact that the name had come with him from his previous, neglectful home. We called him Milo. Milo was a small package but full of personality… And stubbornness, attitude, fight and many other unpleasant qualities. He was hard to catch, hard to lead, impossible to hose, impossible to blanket, impossible to fly spray… The list went on. He was nervous and afraid of a lot of things and outright stubborn about others. He’d be fine with something one day and then would rear straight up or lash out the next. He was incredibly difficult and soon I grew very frustrated with him and even considered giving him up. I took a few days’ break from the barn and my mom worked with him. When I came back with a refreshed outlook and a horse who was slightly more desensitized than the last time I saw him, we got to work and boy it was work. By the beginning of fall, he tolerated hosing (though he made sure we knew he did not like it), barely tolerated being fly sprayed, would lead and lunge, was easy to catch and would blanket; but still, Milo was always sure to remind us that he had a mind of his own. Milo was also a lot different than other horses I’d worked with in that his fight reflex was a lot stronger than most. If he ever felt cornered or threatened in anyway, he would strike out or threaten to charge. He was a lot more cautious this way of strangers and still is.

Not too long after adopting this stunning gelding, I sought out more information about his previous life in an attempt to better understand him, so let's rewind in the life of this crazy chestnut horse just a couple years. From information I was able to gather from both the SPCA and an alleged neighbour of the people who'd previously owned him (the neighbour reached out to me after recognizing Milo from a social media post), Milo's story became all the more sad. The SPCA had first come out to check out the property after numerous calls from neighbours and passersby, their first visit was prior to Milo's birth but while his dam was heavily pregnant. The owners were issued a warning but legally, the SPCA could not perform a seizure just yet. They wouldn't be able to for almost another two years, shortly before Milo turned two. According to the neighbour of these people, the stud was just left to run loose with several mares. Most of the horses, including Milo, were not halter broke until they'd been seized and handled by the SPCA. Milo likely was essentially feral due to the immense lack of handling at this place. There was another colt that was about a year older than Milo and then a standardbred gelding, a couple mares and a stud. The neighbour had inquired about the amount of horses being seized and to their knowledge, there were a few that were unaccounted for, this led me to wondering where they may have gone, the thought terrifies me. I was never able to find out.