Saying, "yes", can be life changing for a family. With the pending influx of donkeys coming to the rescue in April, I have responded to many phone calls for help by networking to find homes for horses and a few times coordinated with other rescues to help.
However, a local family has been struggling for a while now and their efforts to rehome their horses simply were not successful. We all know how long-term illness can affect a family and needed changes are not always easy, especially when it comes to losing a pet family member that has been with you for more than a decade.
Meet Dunnie & Katniss.
Dunnie
Katniss
In the last few months we provided hay in exchange for some volunteer time helping feed and doing chores at the rescue while the family advertised and tried to find good homes for the horses. Those efforts were not fruitful and funds are pinched too tight, so we offered to take both mares. Many tears were shed, but knowing the horses needs will be met makes the sorrow a little easier to bear. We brought them here yesterday with the help of friends Teri and Taylor and I thank them very much for taking time out of their day to do it.
Dunnie is a 13 year old Grullo colored mare with lameness issues in her hind end and rear hooves that have grown abnormally for many years. Lack of funds to provide regular trims have added to that problem. Her lameness initially appeared worse than we now think it is, to the point that we even discussed humane euthanasia.
It is a little hard to see, but she turns her legs outwards when she stands, tucks her legs underneath herself and takes very short steps when she walks. Her hooves grow with an outward angle, were over long and flared. She has only been ridden bareback over the years and at age 13, a non-rideable, lame horse is very difficult to find a home for. We have our work cut out for us.
Luckily we were able to get the farrier over here yesterday and immediately started to address her feet. She had deep thrush in all four feet, some dried blood indicating possible mild founder in the last year, deep soles that were like plastic and her heels have collapsed. This abnormal growth causes her awkward stance and pain. We put her on a 4 week schedule for consistent correction in hopes that her muscular-skeletal system can reset itself as the feet are corrected and she will no longer be lame.
Hoof rehab can take quite a long time and we definitely want to give her that chance. As a yearling she was saved from a hoarding situation at a local ranch that had hundreds of horses they could no longer feed. A huge percentage of those horses perished, but she was one of the lucky ones to survive. She had a rough start to life, a recent bump in the road due to family health issues and now her well-being is in our hands.
In addition to the immediate hoof care, we started her on herbs and supplements to help deal with any pain issues, and to help rebuild healthy feet. We used essential oils yesterday and found her responsive so we will continue their use too. Good diet, supplements, herbs, oils and TLC should all help her through this recovery.
We are looking for monthly sponsors for her feed and care. $20 a month will cover her herbs, $20 a month will cover her supplements (Enrich Plus), $30 a month will cover her hoof trims, $100 for hay and general care. If you can help with a monthly donation, it can be done by clicking this link for PayPal and checking the "recurring (monthly)" box or sending a check each month. Some financial institutions will allow people to set up recurring payments and they will send a check directly to us in the mail. Both are great ways to help. Truly any donation is greatly appreciated.
