Joey San Martin was a cutting horse with super Quarterhorse bloodlines.  Like many human athletes, his knees finally gave out due to the strain on them and he was sent to the slaughter auction.  There he was rescued by a person who kept him in his backyard until the neighbors objected.  Having no where else to go, Joey was signed over to Habitat. 

Joey was put on the Habitat website with his list of physical problems and his actual birth year of 1986.  Unfortunately, few folks were looking for an older horse whose knees were shot and needed an occasional pick-me-up of cortisone for pain. 

For five years Joey watched other horses come to the Habitat ranch and end up with new owners to love them.  He had a small harem of mares to keep him company and his terrific personality won over lots of the volunteers, but a new forever home eluded him. 

What Joey was unaware of was that there was a couple out there in cyberspace (us!) who were tracking Habitat horses who had been waiting for a retirement home.  Joey was on our list to bring to their new barn when things took a turn for the worse.

Joey was always a notoriously hard keeper but he began to drop weight and his knees problem seemed to get worse.  In addition, he developed a fungus that beat him down even more.  Joey looked and felt terrible by the time we were ready to take him.  We were advised to substitute another deserving horse for Joey.

Joeys condition was so precarious that there was talk of having him put down, something no one at the Habitat ranch wanted to have happen.  The head of Habitat was out of state dealing with a massive seizure of over two hundred mustangs so the decision was put aside until his return.

Since the barn was now ready, Larry began a series of drives to fetch the eight new horses we had room for.  Since our trailer holds three, he was going to make three trips over five weekends.  When he got to the Habitat ranch on the first trip, he sought out Joey to apologize to him for not being able to take him.  He also assured Joey that if he would try to get better, we would find a way to bring him home with us.

Two weeks later, Larry drove south again and found that Joey was looking a little better.  He still had the fungus and sore knees, but he had perked up some.  By now the Habitat vet had decided Joey was not bad enough to be put down but he was still too bad to travel six hours in a trailer.  On that second trip, Larry ran into the Habitat vet and had a long discussion with him about Joey, his medical situation, and what we were prepared to do for him.  Larry also assured Joey that we were still trying to find a way to help him.  He brought three more horses home with him leaving just two empty stalls in the barn.

Before the last trip to pick up the two remaining horses on the list, we were contacted and told that the vet had decided that under the conditions Larry had specified, Joey could make the long trip here.  Now there was a small problem.

The question was this: should we pass over one of the two horses we had already decided upon or build an addition especially for Joey?  There was no doubt we couldn't leave one of the horses we had already promised a home.  We decided the solution was to build a special run-in stall for Joey and locate it right next to his friends already in the barn.

Joey came home in Larry's third trip south and immediately took to his new digs.  Larry assured him he had a single family home while his pals were sharing a condo but Joey didn't care since he had people to love and take care of him. 

By the end of Joey's first week here, it was apparent that there was a problem.  All the equines here eat soaked feed and Joey gobbled his down just fine.  However, he was leaving his hay untouched on the mat.  We tried serving him the alfalfa hay normally reserved for the llamas but he wouldn't touch that, either.  Since the vet was coming to float teeth, we had him take a look at Joey to see if there was a problem.  Sure enough, Joey was missing upper molars on one side and his lower molars had grown into the gap making grinding impossible.  Joey had his teeth filed but the vet thought that it would not help much.  He recommended doubling Joeys beet pulp ration for more fiber. 

Joey still wouldn't eat hay but at least now he tried to graze.  His attempts generally resulted in making a huge gob of grass that he took delight in spitting into the cleanest water trough he could find.  Life was good for Joey and he knew it.

Then there was another setback for Joey.  We decided to mix everyone in one herd and all seventeen were in a twenty-five acre pasture one Saturday when the accident happened.  Larry and I were in that pasture working on cutting low limbs off the oak trees when we saw it happen.  Locksley, the youngest herd member at just over three years old, was playing chase with two of the others when he plowed into Joey at full speed as if he hadn't seen him standing there.  Joey had been happily watching the action when he went flying like a cartoon character.  When he landed, he managed to pick himself up although he was dazed.  He was also drooling blood.  We rushed him to the vet who xrayed his jaw and found it was broken.  His concern was that Joeys condition did not make him a good candidate for a surgical implant of a metal plate.  He recommended rest, antibiotics, and painkillers.  His concern was that if Joey did not eat, he would spiral rapidly downhill. 

We left Joey with the vet but returned later with food and supplements that Joey was used to eating.  Later that day we received a happy call from the vet announcing that Joey was eating just fine.  The next morning we were called again and asked to bring even more food since Joey was going through his rations very rapidly.  Everyone was very pleased at this turn of events.  After a few days, Joey would be allowed to go home if we could learn to give shots.  Larry volunteered for that duty and Joey came home.

Except for one small setback in the form of an abscess that appeared at the site of the break, Joeys jaw healed steadily and well.  Just over three months after the accident, an xray showed that the jaw was fine again.