First Post- A (not so brief) Introduction

Ok, so here goes. Allow me to introduce my girls : Gem (Gemini), a 12 year old dark bay TB and Lola (no show name as of yet- all ideas welcome as i'm struggling), a 4 year old 3/4 TB 1/4 Appaloosa. I first met them in October 2009 and finally purchased them on New Years Day 2010 and we haven't looked back since. It's been a long road back to health, for Gem in particular, but we're getting there now.

Firstly, some pictures of when i brought them:

Gem:

Lola:

Both were brought from a particularly unscrupulous dealer who had practically left them to starve. By the time the above photos had been taken Lola had started to put weight back on, i'm quite greatful i don't have any of her at her worse as she really was a sorry sight. The intention was only ever to buy Lola, but Gem was her field companion and the last one said dealer had to sell of their latest 'batch'. Their words were "I'm moving fields next week, if she doesn't sell by then i'll leave her here. She won't fetch anything for meat." Now i know they probably said that thinking i'd buy her, and it worked, but i couldn't have left her in that field on her own. They were sold to me with the names 'Number 6' and 'Number 7', which just about sums up how much they cared about their horses.

I moved Gem to her current yard on Jan 16th 2010, and Lola went to my friends yard to play with the other babies for a few months before coming into work. They are both back together now, on a wonderful yard a few miles from home and are as happy as pigs in poo! Gem has put so much weight back on and is looking quite good again, although still lacks a lot of muscle and top line as she's still not ready to come back into work. Lola also looks well, has gone from 14.1hh last October when i first saw her to 15.3hh today, and finally looks more like a 4 year old than a skinny, bedragled yearling.

And now for some up-to-date photos:

Gem: (not the best, can't find any nice recent ones, she always looks like a donkey in photos!)

Lola

and finally:

So, thats the story of how i aquired my girls. I shall post more about their individual stories in the next few days as there's so much more to tell.

Oh, and if anybody recognises Gem or even thinks they may know her, please get in touch. I would love to know her history, what she's done in the past, where she came from etc... You may not know her as Gem as the dealer didn't even know her real name, but if anyone can shed any light on her past it would help lots. She has several issues, both mental and physical that i think would be much easier to overcome if i knew more of her past...