An update on Joy. Not an unexpected one mind, but still an update I'd rather give you. Some of you may have been following Joy's story, our blind lippizaner stallion. Well he's had his vet check, and we've at least got a reason for his blindness. Turns out he has Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and if he has any vision left it's only going to deteriorate.
We are going to book him into the vets to be gelded at some point soon, but we want him to be proof that he can do anything. While maybe we'd have liked if it's something that could be cured, he's got his forever home with us, and he's got a thankfully sensible head.
While we don't know his full backstory, what we do know is he was found wandering along the edge of a cliff, but he let Tobias catch him and lead him to safety, the dapple gray stallion leaning into him and trusting him almost instantly even with the lack of sight (something we weren't aware of then). Tobias took him back to his place, got him comfortable in a stable and promptly sent out a few advertisements in the newspapers to check he hadn't strayed.
It was during this waiting period that we realised the blindness - if only because he was bumping into everything - and was easily spooked - until the exmoor - Brat - snuck into his stall. With no response to the newspaper advertisements, and Brat bonding to him, Tobias has taken over his care, with Brat often being seen leading him around the pasture - or following him out on rides - the plucky little exmoor acting as the eyes that the lippizanner has lost use of.
