Free at last, Free at last and yes, the grass is greener on the other side.
Meet the three geldings that came home with us on Saturday to enjoy a new life of leisure after years of pulling around and entertaining tourists. Two others are at a friends rescue in Imperial Beach after a very difficult time loading in the trailer. The poor horses were so nervous about the trailer and their surroundings she had to call in a vet to sedate the horses. Once unloaded though at their new destination and safe, they relaxed and quickly got acquainted with their stable mates.
The donations we received were enough to pay the "bail" on all five horses and cover our fuel to go up into Orange county to get them. Thank the Lord! Here I thought they would be easy to handle, dead broke horses, and we got big and bulky boys who were jumpy at any noise or movement. Clearly they were not happy with their circumstances.
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| Meet Marshall |
This big bay was one of the lead harness horses, I am guessing this because Sheriff runs behind him in the pasture. He stands 16.0 hand high (64" at the shoulder) - my height and probably weighs 1200-1300 pounds. He still has shoes on and his feet should have been done a few weeks ago so his hooves are too long. There was so much dirt and manure in the bottoms of his feet, collected by the shoes, that he couldn't put his feet flat on the ground. We cleaned it out this morning and he has a severe case of thrush (bacterial infection on the bottom of their feet that causes the tissue to die off and smell foul), especially in his left front hoof, that I think that may be contributing to his difficulty walking (he looks sore when he walks).
I think they are unaccustomed to water troughs because they were very timid in their approach and started splashing the water inside around with their faces. As you can see from the picture above, he felt the need to play with the hose. Fun to watch them explore their new surroundings.
Below is Piston (we called him Deputy at first, but Pistol fits him better) the smallest of the horses at 15.2 hands high (62 inches at the shoulder) and he probably only weighs about 1100 pounds, only!!! He is chestnut in color with a small star on his forehead and his is the easiest to approach of the three right now and other than his color is a carbon copy of Manzanita. Both him and the bay above look to be Quarter horses based on their big chests and hind ends. Beefy boys. He is in the best shape of all. Though he still has his shoes on and had mud and manure packed in, it was not bad and there was very little thrush. He really doesn't have many scars, a few here and there typical for a horse his age 12-15 years old. He does seem a little sore at the walk, but that could be from the trailering and his long hooves that also need to be trimmed.
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| Meet Deputy |
Below is the big red horse we called Marshall. He was in the center in the very first picture so you could get a perspective of how tall he is in comparison to the others. I think this guy is a Thoroughbred (TB) or a TB cross with a Quarter horse which is called an Appendix. He stands 17 hands high (68" at the shoulders). He doesn't have a tatoo on his inner lip so we know he was never raced on the TB tracks. He follows the bay around like they were still harnessed to a buggy.
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| Meet the Sheriff |
When we unloaded them into their stalls it was clear that they were not used to wide open spaces. They spent much of their time standing along the fence closest to the pasture just looking out over our little valley. Things like the tarps moving in the breeze and the goats made them nervous. I wonder if they have ever seen a goat or sheep? They let us handle them pretty well this morning and I was able to put new halters on each of them.
Thank you Lisa H, who sent halters to us (small ones for Diesel and the babies and 3 large one for whoever) before we new these guys would need them. I think I picked the perfect colored one for each horse. Then we cleaned their feet and measured their height. They were all nervous about the height stick so I didn't even try using the weight tape. We can do that tomorrow.
A quick look at the dried blood trail on the Sheriff's left hind leg showed it was just a little nick that is healing nicely and doesn't look like we need to worry about infection or anything like that. He does have a nasty scrape on his back and white hairs on this stomach on his left side, the type of hairs that grow out after an injury, but there is no scar under the white hairs that we can see. Not sure what scraped his back, but it is healing OK and will just take a while for hair to grow back in and that too will probably grow in white.
We decided to put them out in the pasture for a few hours and let them eat real grasses. You need to start them on real grasses slowly so it doesn't affect their metabolic system. It didn't take long before they realized they could move around freely. Mostly trotting, but an occasional canter. They were having FUN.
Heads up, tails up, flashy movement to their feet.....FREEDOM!!!! What a sight to see. They checked out the trees, the round pen, the goats, the other horses and had no interest in the grass what so ever. Our horses practically knock each other down to get to the real grass and these guys didn't know how to eat it out of the ground. Well guess we don't have to worry much about their over eating. They had to sneak up on the water trough too and it took quite a while before they actually put their mouth in and tried drinking.
I can't tell you how awesome it is to sit and watch them in their new found freedom. My husband and I pulled up chairs under the big fruitless mulberry tree in the front yard, grabbed a beverage and just watched them go. Little power plays across the fence with our horse, but no more than touching noses and squealing. Leroy, my big (what I think is big 15.3hands high) Tennessee Walking Horse, ran along the fence line with the chestnut, back and forth, back and forth, for a good fifteen minutes. Lots of horse talk followed over the fence after that. Then they saw the girls across the drive way and all stopped. I just happened to catch that in the video below. Are they having fun or what??
We still have a lot of work ahead of us with these guys. Getting their feet trimmed, treating the thrush, they will each need a bath and general grooming to get the filth from the place they were at off of them, they will get dewormed, vaccinated, complete dentistry done and a check with the chiropractor. Mini Me needs some additional weight so we will probably put him on some pellets and then we will need to find them each homes.
Additional donations to help cover those expenses are still needed and also for the hay. At a bale a day between the three of them, that's $600 for a month over and above everything else. We appreciate your spreading the word and helping support the cause. The two young fillies, Miya and Little Miss are still recovering. Miya has a corneal ulcer requiring drops and ointment twice a day and severe alopecia (she has lost over half of her body hair) and Little Miss was bitten by a snake or spider a month ago and has a wound still healing on her neck. So all help is greatly appreciated.
I placed an urgent call for help two days ago and so many people sent in donations to pay to help these guys. We can't thank you enough. They can't thank you enough. These guys put in years of service giving tourists the enjoyment of a horse drawn ride and they deserve the kind and easy going years ahead we hope to find for them. You all have such big hearts it truly brings tears to my eyes the support we see helping horses in need. You gave these guys a future and the gift of life.
If you would like to stop by and visit them or the fillies, please give me a call or send me an email. We love to let people meet the horses they are helping and we love to meet you ourselves.
Christine
President
Equine WellBeing Rescue Inc.
PO Box 324
Ramona, CA 92065
Click to donate via PayPal use email address: Donate@EquineWellBeing.org Use the 'Personal' tab and click 'gift'. They won't charge a fee if it's a gift. Credit Cards are also accepted via PayPal
Wow, Christine,
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Thank you so much for saving these guys! I know they will get the best of care from now on in your capable hands...heartwarming story, sharing!
Cathy Ritlaw