Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Help with hay funds and update on emaciation cases

The first malnourished horse we rescued was Gwen in December of 2007 and she is still with us today. Our first emaciated and very sick foal was Prince William (now Thor) who arrived at the rescue 12-31-09 he is now in a wonderful adoptive home with Marty who also adopted Peaches. Since that time we have provided emaciation rehab for over 30 horses with a new arrival already in 2019.

There is a scale from 1 - 9 that determines the body condition score called the Henneke Scale.

1 is extremely emaciated and 2 is emaciated, the two most at risk levels of body condition and also the ones that require special feeding protocols so they don't suffer from organ failure while regaining weight.

5-6 are where we like to have all the horses to be considered a healthy weight.

Here is our beautiful Noel after two months of rehab at the rescue.

This is Dove who came to the rescue with a foal at her side, BCS 2 and dehydrated with no water in sight at the place we found her. She and Raven both made a full recovery, we put them in training and are now part of Taylor's family in Tucson.

Precious came to us from the Riverside County Animal Control, she was abandoned and left to starve. Quite elderly she did make a full recover within 4 months. She has since passed.

In 2011 we help with a large rescue of orphaned foals off the Fallon, NV feedlot. Diesel arrived not only emaciated, he had strangles, a high fever, dehydration, high worm load and at one point was unable able to swallow anything almost dying in my arms. He pulled through with a complete recovery and is with the Niven family in Ramona where he enjoys trail riding and various riding competitions.

Mihi arrived almost a year ago with her daughter Peanut, both were BCS2 and Mihi was sick with a tooth that had been infected for many months needing surgical extraction. Don't let the winter fur fool you there wasn't much fat over her bones. Even with the surgery and its recovery she was still looking awesome in four months. Mihi is pending adoption by Ann.

Below is Peanut who was so malnourished she looks like she is about a year old, but she was five years old at the time. Her recovery took 3 months and last fall we started her training under saddle in hope we find her a wonderful adoptive home.

Princess arrived in 2015 and is currently our oldest resident turnign 29 this year. Many of her molar teeth are gone so she relies 100% on a diet of Senior Feed because she is no longer able to chew hay.

You probably all recognize Sydney who is the youngest equine at the ranch and arrived in a very malnourished state last June. We were able to rescue she and her mom who had been down for several days suffering the starvation effects of the drought last summer. Sadly Momma was too far gone for us to save. It broke our hearts to have to humanely euthanize her, but her organs were shutting down and there was nothing else we could do be release her from her pain.

The only other horse we were not able to save and rehabilitate was Hope. Her owners asked us to come get her after her stall mate died of starvation during the prior night. Hope's organs were already starting to fail and try as we did she passed within a day. Our world was tipped over when this happened, she was only five years old.

We immediately created an emergency equine food fund and named it Hope's Legacy. We offer feed, hay and supplements for families with an emergency need of assistance. We have recently assisted with euthanasia funds too. Since Christmas we have already spent $601.05 to assist families with 6 equine and one euthanasia.

Proper forage is so important in keeping the horses, donkeys and minis at the ranch healthy. The southwest suffered its worst drought in many decades last year, considered an 'exceptional drought' it is the driest category of drought. The cost of hay has gone up dramatically because of the many months with no water. It is time for us to purchase another load of 24- 900lb bales of orchard grass (the bales on the right in the photo above) at a cost of $150/bale, the entire purchase will be $3600.

Please consider helping us with a donation to cover those costs, with 34 equine here at the ranch those bales last about 8 weeks. We have many horses that we will start training as soon as winter is over, then will be available for adoption but in the meantime we need to keep them healthy. No donation is too small, so please help us keep them fat and healthy.

To make a tax deductible donation via PayPal, credit card or check, just click the button below and thank you very much for your support it is appreciated more than you will ever know.

Donate Now! Thank you SO much.

We are so blessed to be able to help all the equine at the rescue and others in the community through Hope's Legacy Emergency Equine Food & Euthanasia Fund. We are the only rescue in the 5000 square miles that makes up the White Mountains of Arizona and spans the two poorest counties in the State that offers this type of assistance. Our help is needed more then ever in the cold of winter so thank you all for supporting our mission and helping all the beloved equine.

Many, many thanks for all you do to help the rescue! Christine

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Getting a closer look - EqWBR facilities

Equine WellBeing Rescue - Snowflake AZ facility

The ranch sits on 20 acres with four 1 acre or more sized pastures allowing separation of the horses, donkeys and minis based on their needs. This will give you a snapshot of the barn, enclosures and pastures. Most pictures taken 2-5-19