In 2017 a friend saw a video on Facebook of this horse and sent it to us knowing Letha was looking for a Rocky Mountain horse due to their reputation for very calm minds and her confidence issues after being thrown a couple times by a previous horse. Letha saw it and was immediately excited; she called and based on what she saw in the video made a deal for her that night. A while later we met them in Salt Lake City, part way to where she was in Montana, and brought her home. Velvet wasn't as calm and confident at first as she was in the video, but we took into consideration she had had her world turned upside down overnight. New people, new environment, new feed, a complete change from her comfort zone. The previous owner is 6 foot 3 and Letha 5 foot 5, so the cueing points were physically different as were his techniques too from what Letha was used to. Letha and him talked on the phone and he sent her videos to help her with how Velvet was trained after watching videos she sent him of her riding Velvet. Velvet is a sweetheart and settled in to her new home with plenty of TLC.

Unfortunately, Not too long after Letha began riding Velvet we noticed she would stumble occasinally for no apparent reason. As time went on it got worse and more so when she gaited with any speed. We spent a lot of effort taking her to vets trying to determine what was wrong and how to fix it, one of whom ultrasounded her, our equine massage therapist worked on her, and some thought she just had a weak hind end and needed those muscles exercised and built up. Letha did those exercises for a couple months and it seemed she was getting better.Then a lady who was considering buying her, after Letha got her Rocky Mountain gelding, Rhapsody, came to see her and wanted her but was concerned when she started tripping again when she was asked to gait. She did some research and concluded Velvet had "coon foot", also known as DSLD. Letha did some research on that as well and discovered the symptoms fit Velvet to a tee, including swollen fetlocks in the rear; steeper angle of the hoof wall compared to the angle of the pastern, fetlocks slightly dropped, and all the tripping. The consensus was she was in the early stages of the disease, and not sound or safe to ride.

We were heart broke; she is such a sweetheart and Letha did not want to put her down and started looking for a home for her. Our barefoot trimmer and good friend, Courney Vincent, was trimming horses for the owner of Gift Horse, an equine rescue and therapy organization in Tucson, and talked to them about Velvet. they got in touch with Letha and they discused Velvet, and she was thrilled with the possibility of being Velvet's new home. Dan delivered her to them and they had a professional photographer film her arrival all the way from driving down the drive way, Dan giving her hugs goodby with her head tucked in his arms, and until she was settled in her stall and eating while looking at us watching her. They were very excited to give her a new home and have her work with their patients. Velvet will get lots of personal attention there and do good things with their patients as well; and we have an open invitation to come visit her any time. We think she is in good hands.