Sisco is a very nice 16 year old bay gelding looking for a situation that would work better for him than what I can offer, preferably as a companion horse with limited to no pasture. My housemate’s horse had to be put down this spring, so he’s lonely, and the pasture I have him on, though not watered very much, is 15-20 acres, and he’s getting very, very fat on it. Though he doesn’t seem prone to founder, he is definitely an easy keeper. I’m trying my best to exercise him and/or keep him off the pasture for part of the day, but it’s been a losing battle. He’s not currently sound for riding, and I don’t know if he ever will be. He’s had chronic back pain for as long as I’ve known him, which I’ve tried to treat a variety of ways. Sometimes he’s better and sometimes he’s worse, but he definitely seems to be worse now that he’s overweight. Although, he was very fit when I got him, and his back pain got to the point soon after that where he started bucking every time he was asked to canter. It seemed to improve dramatically after my first attempt at a treatment, but, for a maddeningly discouraging number of reasons that have put us back to square one after finally feeling like we were starting to get somewhere (I broke my leg, he had several back or tendon flare-ups, we both had bouts of anxiety and trust issues to work through, my business got super busy, winter hitting just when I felt we could start going off-property, him being overweight, out of shape, and sore… the list goes on), I haven’t been able to work him back up to regular riding for anything more than short rides around the property. He is super calm when he’s feeling safe and super sweet and gentle with kids, but he can get very anxious and reactive if he’s not feeling safe. He is extremely sensitive and in-tune with you when he is calm, with excellent ground manners.
All I know about his history is that he had shorn heels when the ranch I got him from got him, so he requires frequent trims to keep him from getting out of balance; he may have tendon damage from that. He has white scar hair on top of his rump, so maybe he had an accident at some point. He is also slightly swayback and wide-shouldered, so nearly impossible to saddle-fit (which doesn’t help his back pain issues).

Would love to see this sweet boy go somewhere he could be loved and more useful than he is right now, with no expectations of riding.