A good man will take care of his horses and dogs, not
only while they are young, but when old and past service.
-Plutarch Symposiaca c.100 CE

The Beasts of Dùn Sgàthan now have a Facebook page

Along with the hound, the horse was an important animal in the lives of the Celts, from the Bronze Age through the present.  The use of the horse in many ways defines all the Indo-European peoples, they depended on this animal for survival, migration, and trade.

We are very lucky to have the chance to have horses, and hope to use this good fortune to give a good life to horses that, due to the overpopulation, might have otherwise ended up meat on the table of the wealthy in another country.  Saigh grew up with horses,  but this is a new adventure for Aaron. We came back to Saigh’s home largely to have horses again,  Macha called.

We considered a PMU (Pregnant Mares’ Urine farm –Premarin) foal as well, but wanted an adult horse for our first together. And frankly, any horse that is within “meat price” is potentially a rescue, because if we buy it a kill buyer can’t get that one.

So we had looked at a couple, rather far away…but on my (Saigh again) birthday a ride “just too look at” some horses nearby with my father, we found Saoradh, a severely underweight elderly bay Arabian gelding.  He was not starving out of any intentional cruelty on a human’s part, but instead plain stupidity —bad teeth coupled with pasture mates who bullied him meant that while he was given a lot of food he just wasn’t getting it in and the belief that “he’d just come around in the spring.”   His pasture mates were fat and sassy…and one was a Standardbred pacer, the very thing I was looking for.  But of course, the one in the most need was the one I had to have. You can read more about Saoradh (Su ra –more or less …long “u” short “a”) on his page.

Saoradh came a long way since he arrived here a walking skeleton with a bad attitude, on May 5, 2001. He was healthy until his last few weeks and only showed his 32 years in his teeth and slight arthritis. As he showed he was healthy enough to ride, he also showed that he suffered a lot of trauma in the past. Through Natural Horsemanship methods, however, he became a sweet and loving riding companion…there are more details on his page. But his age did finally catch up with him, sooner than we’d hoped, and we lost him on March 18, 2007

Our next horse was to be a “husband” horse for Aaron, however, as Saoradh died before we were able to get one, we have decided to return to our plans to get a PMU foal. We both did not feel ready to have another adult horse in Saoradh’s pasture and believe that starting with a youngster in the fall would let us have a new start. Well, it was a bit more complicated than that too, as we feel that we needed to open our home to a foal in need to honor Saoradh, and that perhaps he’d return.

We were at one point hoping we’d not get a chance to adopt a PMU foal, as in 2003 Wyeth-Ayerst stopped contracts with 1/3 of the farms and the rest have to cut production by 1/3! It was our hope that Premarin would be a thing of the past within a few years. This is an important step both for the horses and for the health of women! Sadly, W-A started up a new campaign and production continues. So there is still much need for homes for this “by-product.”

On October 18, 2007 we brought home Saorsa, a PMU filly, born on May 5, 2007. Although she was reluctant to load and then unload, and was still unwilling to be touched, once out of the trailer at our place she walked calmly down our makeshift chute to the stall Saoradh had died in and made herself at home. This is our next chapter, you can read about her on her page.

In October of 2008, we inherited Saigh’s father’s Mini Horse herd. Shortly after, we lost one, Topper, to complications of Cushing’s and a broken heart, the following spring we lost Willow. Cimarron and Iceman were with us for over another decade, dying in Jan. 2021.

In the Spring of 2010 we got two  goats, Randvér and Elína. We lost Randvér in 2011 and Elína in 2019.

In October  of 2011 we brought Morganx mare Misty home. We lost her in 2017.

For those Pagans interested in horses, please join us at the Sacred Horse Facebook Goup

We have been honored with these awards on Dec. 3, 03 for this site and our work with Saoradh and Phoenix . Sadly, these wonderful sites only seem to exist now on the Geocities archives

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