Sheila the Draft Horse spreads joy in the community and on social media
Ready has been raising Sheila at their home in rural Eastman since 2014.
Residents at Great River Care Center enjoyed Sheila’s visit in May.
By Peyton Meisner
Sheila is a 16-year-old, 17-plus hand, Belgian draft mare, owned by Shannon Ready since 2014. Ready, who grew up with a love for horses, said she always wanted a draft horse. When she saw an ad on Facebook about a draft horse for sale, she decided to buy the horse. That horse was Sheila, and four years later Ready is very glad they bought her. “You couldn’t ask for a better horse. Sheila has been a blessing to our family. It’s nice for my kids to have the experience of being around a draft horse,” she said.
Sheila is one of the few draft horses in the area, which makes her a unique figure in the community. Sheila currently has her own Facebook page with over 2.8 thousand followers. Ready started the page in 2016 just for fun, but the page has since taken off and drawn a lot of loyal followers.
On May 25, 2018, Sheila welcomed her first foal, Fauna, who is expected to mature at 16-plus hands.
Sheila is also currently over 40 days pregnant and is expected to have an early May 2020 due date. Ready anticipates that the foal will be very much like Sheila, including four white stockings, blaze, family-friendly disposition, as well as being purebred Belgian. When Sheila is close to her delivery date, there will be a live stream made available for all her fans to watch.
In May, Sheila visited the Great River Care Center in McGregor, Iowa.
“I was a little nervous at first about how she would react, but as soon as we got there she put her head down and the residents absolutely loved her,” Ready recalled.” She hopes Sheila can make another return to the care center again this year.
In the future, Ready said she would like to take Sheila to shows and potentially put her in some parades.
You can follow Sheila on facebook @SheilatheDraft or visit her website www.sheilathedraft.weebly.com/
