Todd

 

Arrival Date:  July 2020

 

Todd, U.S. Border Patrol, retired, arrived at the ranch in July 2020. Todd was one of the first mustangs in the U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector. His full name is Big Head Todd, as given to him by the prisoner that trained him in Colorado. He was quite a handful when he first came to San Diego, so Agent Slack, the mounted unit trainer, took a significant amount of time to gentle him. He was assigned three riders during his career. One rider was also a K9 handler, making Todd a part of a team of three. The K9 handler would work with his dog off leash, and the dog would walk in Todd’s shadow for shade while patrolling.

Todd was foaled in 2005 and captured as a yearling on August 20, 2006. He is from the Three Sisters Wild Horse Territory in Siskiyou, California. Large herds were found in this area since the early 1900’s.

Todd measures about 16.1, making him a big boy. At only fifteen years of age, retirement arrived early for him because of White Line Disease. White Line Disease is a fungal infection of the white line (or lamina) on the bottom of the horse’s hoof. This separation is then invaded by bacteria and fungi, leading to infection that progresses up towards the coronary band which produces a white or gray powdery material. In Todd’s case the infection lead to a slight rotation of the coffin bone in his right hind hoof.