In the beginning we were calling her Artemis. The recent loss of the very old Chipita though, and her resemblance to her, as she is also a Pindus mountain, “forced” us to name her after Chipita. Besides, we couldn’t imagine that we wouldn’t say this name again.
Chipita or Chipitoni has a blurred past. Someone owned money to a lawyer. In order to erase their dept he gave his horses (4-5 in total) and Artemis was among them. The lawyer sold them but as it always happens in Greece, he didn’t check the psychological and the financial situation of the new owner, nor his intentions. In our country selling animals is considered as a trade instead of a life responsibility.
All the horses died, one after the other, except of Artemis. She endured and ended up almost stray and to be fed by a whole village until mr. Aleksandros and his wonderful family, from Prokopi village, adopted her.
They moved her to a safe barn, with clean water and food, giving her the love, she was deprived of. However, Artemis developed a strange behavior. She was escaping. She was crossing the road and “traveling” 20 km in order to go meet two horses who were living in a barn. Mr. Aleksandros was moved by her need to be with other horses. He informed us about his intention to find her a horse family and like this Chipita jr became a member of Rancheros team!
In the beginning we were worried about how the other horses would react. She was a stranger and from another sub species – and these details are of high importance in horses’ world. Thus, we had her in a limited space for the first days but we understood that this could not last long: First of all, Photoula, who showed a protective behavior towards her like she did when we brought Elenitsa, the donkey, who was unwanted by all the other horses. Photoula was the first and the only one who welcomed her. This, apparently, was enough for new Chipita to show her courage and her nerve.
Today, she often eats even on the side of Seamoon, oh yes, next to the leader, she is claiming her food and her walk, she is scratching her back with Nefeli and she is of course hanging out with Photoula. She has proven to be a very gentle horse who is accepting with ease on her back small children, she enjoys our caresses and she knows how to pose.