Can a horse be autistic? The books say no, but they can certainly display autistic behaviors. Having an “autistic” horse presents some real challenges, and it takes a special owner to be able to handle such a horse with the care and love that they require. We have such a horse. Enter Chance.

Chance was our fourth rescue. His history prior to a couple of months before we got him is completely unknown to us. He’s a 16-ish year old Paso Fino with enough skeletons in his mental closet to fill a graveyard. When we got him, he was seriously underweight, with a body score of around two or three and he was just mentally closed off.

His hip bones jutted out, his topline was terribly sunken, and his coat was one big tangled mat. He had foundered sometime in the past, and could barely walk without limping.

His previous owner had fitted him with “orthopedic” shoes on his front feet, but they weren’t maintained, so by the time we got him, one had fallen off and the other was split so bad it was useless.

He was terrified of everything. This little horse was scared of barn paint. We placed a large water trough in his pasture, he gingerly walked over to it, took one look and ran (as best as he could.) Twice. He distrusted people completely, was terrified of other horses even more so, and would go into a melt down panic at the slightest routine change.

His first farrier visit didn’t go well…he reared and bolted seven times before the farrier was able to finish examining and trimming. The prognosis wasn’t good…he’ll probably be lame the rest of his life, would never be able to be ridden, and might require special shoes to correct the damage to his feet.

Within four months of being on proper nutrition, the limp was gone. He was beginning to trot and canter like a true Paso Fino. Our farrier was amazed at the recovery and said he could even be ridden lightly.

We were told he hated being ridden by the person we got him from. I think the photo above would be a great argument against that statement! Look at those happy ears!

His coat grew out, and muscle was starting to come back. But those were the physical issues…the mental ones were much deeper.

Thunderstorms would panic him so badly, that he would shake and tremble so violently his legs would nearly collapse. Other horses sent him running.

Sudden movements, loud noises, the mere sight of a lunge whip would cause a melt down. Any disruption of his normal routine would freak him out and it would take hours or days for him to recover.

Over the past year, we have worked with Chance, treating him as the delicate horse that he is. We’re careful to avoid disrupting his routine. Any changes, even a new feeding location, have to be introduced carefully. He has learned to trust us as his safe place.

Our 15 year old daughter is one of “his people” and has really been instrumental in his drastic improvement. When we were first working with him on his rainstorm fears, she would stand next to him, petting him and playing instrumental piano music for him on her cell phone. She would stand there for however long the storm lasted, even if it was hours.

To this day, whenever he is particularly upset, she plays his favorite piano song and you can see a noticeable change in his demeanor. He loves her and she loves him too. He is her first horse and even though she is too tall to ever ride him, she adores him.

As his confidence got better, he began to get a little braver…snorting and dancing in anger when other horses were in eyesight. He doesn’t kick or bite…well, he’ll bite the side of the barn to prove how tough he is to other horses! Yes, you read that right…he will bite the side of the barn. 🙂

He hasn’t gotten up the nerve to actually try to bite any other horses, but he is brave enough to defend his spot in the herd now.  Something very new for him.

He can be moody at times, but he now “tolerates” other horses within 20 feet without too much posturing. We even got a rare photo of him nose to nose with one of our other rescue babies, Kahlua.

We’ve learned that he will lunge on automatic…start him off and he will circle the ring continuously until told to stop, with no action, or encouragement needed on our part.

He’s like a little energizer bunny.  Lunging gets him all excited and he will need a little bit of time to unwind so we give him “spa day” in his stall for a few hours so he can just relax and calm down after his “aerobics”.

He enjoys spa days! One day he decided to lunge himself on one of his non-lunging days and was all ready to have a spa day to reward himself. Of course he got one! 🙂

The funny thing about his love of spa days is that we were ALSO told that he HATED stalls.  Well, of course he would hate being locked in a dark, filthy stall with filthy water, no hay, little to no food and never talked to which is what he had been getting.

Stalls with us involve lots of clean bedding so he can roll and lie down if he chooses, plenty of fresh water and all the hay he can eat.  If he could he’d climb in the back window of his stall to get in now.  No “hating stalls” here.  He’s happy as can be as you can see below. 🙂

Recently, he was being chased by an out-of-control stallion that had gotten away from another boarder. Poor Chance was in a total panic, but when we got there, stood in the pasture and called him, he ran right to us, trusting that we will keep him safe.

Now, instead of just randomly running away, he runs TO us.  His trust in us is absolute and we will NEVER do anything to break that or let him down.

Chance is a people horse…he prefers the company of humans over other horses. He loves to be hand fed. When he’s scared or nervous, he will tuck his nose under our arm for security. And this little scared horse, who a year ago bolted seven times for the farrier, will now lift his hoof for picking by himself, without being held!

Chance still has a lot of emotional baggage, and we probably will never find it all. But he had come SO FAR in a year. During a recent storm, the lightning was flashing and thunder was rolling…and Chance merely pricked up his ears while eating his grain in the company of his people. He knew he was safe and that is our goal.

We are still working with him on his fears and still adding weight to him slowly so it doesn’t stress his feet as they continue to heal but he is a different horse in every way; mentally, emotionally and physically. He is our baby and he will be with us for the rest of his life!