My mother and I rescued Sumis from an auction market when I was fourteen. He was very thin, and he was covered in blood because he was so weak that he fell down in the truck on the way to the auction and was stomped by the other horses. He had nerve damage at the base of his skull so that his head twitched uncontrollably for months. I don't know how some people live with themselves.

This photo was taken in a "Suitable to be a Dressage Horse" class. Isn't he lovely? Still too thin, but that took another year to fix completely.

I retired Sumis to live with an older lady who just wanted a gentleman to carry her on long hacks in the country. When we purchased him, he had a serious hoof abscess that had caused his heels to contract because he always limped on that leg. Even though we cured the infection, the heels were permanent, and he just couldn't get the extension I needed to go beyond the first Medium level in Dressage.

What a splendid old man he was.