Meet Fiona and Troubadour.  :-)  ~Declan

Rescue horse winning at a new life

Posted: 10/04/2013 on WPTV.com

By: James Wieland

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. - Meet Fiona and her son Troubadour. They have a happy life out in Loxahatchee where they can run and play together.

Just 6 months ago, their future wasn't so bright. When Fiona was pregnant, she wasn't in a good place.

"She was at New Holland, which is the largest horse slaughter site in the country, it's where all the horses go before they are shipped to slaughter, " said Maat Van Uitert, horse trainer, and owner.

Being a horse trainer and horse lover, Maat couldn't let that happen. 

"I said to my husband, let's just buy her! This poor horse is pregnant and in this kill buyer pen, let's just buy her. So we pulled out our credit card and just bought her," said Maat.

A week later Troubadour was born and two months later, the pair were on their way to Florida.

Raising Troubadour, they saw he was something special.

"We saw how awesome the foal is, he's just a great little character, and he's a very nice horse, and that's when we decided to take him to the breed shows and to show the world, " said Maat.

And guess what?  He is a winner!

"They had perpetual trophies, and plaques, and all kinds of prizes and awards for us and we had no idea that that was going to happen, so that was very exciting," he said.

These are the three awards Troubadour got for winning first place in his breed class, now he's trying not the let the fame get to him, but he's going to certainly try again.

"We're going to continue to show him and take him to breed competitions and we'll just see what the future holds for him," said Maat.

A future now with a purpose.

"We wanted to show that rescues can also be valuable. That even though they are rescues and in the slaughter pen in New Holland, that they can also win, and they're still good horses," said Maat.