ANTHONY, New Mexico — Michele Sleighel gave Pinto a fond smile as the horse dipped its head for a nuzzle. The 30-year-old retired therapy horse probably missed the children that used to pet him, she said.
As Sleighel continued to talk, Pinto attempted to reroute her back to the truck bed full of hay he was eating earlier. Here at River Thunder Ranch, these retired horses are allowed to be brats, she joked.
Pinto is one of several horses on the ranch, which serves as a sanctuary for unwanted, neglected and retired horses to live out their twilight years…