Special Needs this #Giving Tuesday - Can you help?

The Griffin's 1980's tractor November 29, 2022 is #GivingTuesday and your support over the years has been so wonderful. This year we really need help! The Griffin's have let the rescue use their tractor for over a decade, it hauls 1400 pound bales of hay out the various pastures to feed the 40+ horses, donkeys and minis. It is used to plow the snow so volunteers can get to the rescue, drag the manure in the enclosures, create furrows to reroute rain runoff and SO MUCH more. We have used it so much it is worn out and the hydrolics are not working properly making it unsafe. This year, thanks to an anonymous donor advised fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, we can match the first $5000 in donations. What does that mean? Your $20 now becomes $40, your $100 now becomes $200.

A newer used 4x4 tractor at auction There are several machinery auctions in December where we could purchase a newer used tractor that will run for decades more. Our goal is to raise $15,000 this #GivingTuesday to use to purchase the much needed tractor. We have tried to find grants to cover the purchase cost and there simply are none.

There are so many wonderful charities to consider this #GivingTuesday and we know times are tough for so many. We appreciate your support so very much whether you can help with $5, $50 or $500. Every donation is so meaningul and will make a huge difference to us. If you can help us this year just click the button below to make a tax-deductible donation via check, debit/credit card, PayPal or Venmo and have your donation doubled with the matching grant. There is no time limit to give to this fundraiser so if you are seeing this after the 29th your donation will still count.

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As winter approaches we are so hopeful we can meet our goal and purchase a tractor before the snow hits. We thank you. Rimson and Buddie thank you. Our volunteers thank you. All of the horses, donkeys and minis appreciate and thank you so very much!!!!

Rimson & Buddie say THANK YOU!

AMAZING Miss Maisie - Thank you for your love.

 

Maisie 11-15-22

11-15-22 Maisie Tuesday morning, we loaded Maisie up, so excited to be taking her back to Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center to discuss possible surgery on her front tendons to reduce the constriction to her front legs that was not allowing them to straighten as she grows. The next step in her long healing process now that the soles of her hooves are growing strong. Excited too that she has gained 160 pounds since arrival in Feb. 2022 emaciated with a body condition score of 1 and is now a normal weight for her age and size.

Upon arrival Dr D mentioned how good she looked from the last time she saw her in mid-April. Maisie was super good standing for her xrays as we waited to discuss the tendon surgery, what would be involved and how long her recovery would take. The xrays showed us something none of us were prepared for.... Maisie’s front coffin bones were resorbing, disintegrating. 1/3 to 1/2 of them were already gone. Gone! We had just done xrays a few month ago and they were 100% there, how could this be? At this rate of resorption, she would have no coffin bone at all before spring. Imagine no bone from your ankle down to support your foot, this is what was going to happen.

Maisie June 2022 Surgery on her tendons would do nothing to stop the resorption, it would only cause additional pain on top of the pain she was feeling with the bone inside of her hooves disintegrating. Questions were asked and answered, this was not something that could be fixed and very painful 24 hours a day. Maisie had already been on pain meds for months. The heartbreaking decision to end her pain, and I mean HEARTBREAKING, was made as we all stood there in tears knowing this was what was best for her.

I am sobbing as I write this because it hurts so badly and I know you are as shocked as we are. We know she was met at heaven's door by her mother who tragically died of starvation when Maisie was only a few months old. That mother and daughter are reunited, both whole with no pain is the bright light in such a sorrowful time.

Created by Michele for Maisie She was buried here at the ranch in a special spot and we know that she knew she was so LOVED every day she was in our care. She knew love!!! We cannot thank all of those involved in her care since February enough. You dedicated your time to helping her feel better and showed her kindness and love which I know she felt. Many others helped with donations and prayers and she felt your love too. She brought joy to so many through her antics and good nature and will be missed very deeply.

Run pain free, our beautiful and sweet girl, run in paradise at your mom's side. Together again, FOREVER

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Blind, orphaned foal....meet Forest!

 

I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to be left behind to fend for yourself when you can’t see, even worse, to be out in the high desert all alone….as an orphaned foal.

Forest

The park rangers put him in a stall till we could get there. When we were contacted to rescue this sweet little guy, he had been found by rangers at the Petrified Forest when he wandered near the machine shop, probably having heard noises coming from the building. They let me know his eyes were red and he was very disoriented. Our horses, Trooper and Gus came to us from the Petrified Forest when they closed their mounted ranger program a few years ago so we knew they had horse facilities. The guys caught the foal and set him up in one of the stalls till we could come pick him up. They sent us a few pictures so we had an idea of how big he was and from the picture we could tell he was very boney with no idea how long he had been separated from his mother. The rangers told us that free grazing horses sometimes wandered onto their land, migrating on and off as they grazed. They looked for other horses at the time and found none.

Forest settling into his stall at EqWBR When we arrived, the first thing I realized when we entered the stall is that the foal could not see us. After having hay and water he was not as disoriented as he had been when they first caught him. We were able to get him into a stall and carefully put a halter on him making it easier to get him in the trailer. With the rangers help we got him in the trailer very carefully and with little fuss. We thanked the rangers and headed straight to the rescue. The ride was a little stressful, but he unloaded ok and went right into a stall. A little hay, fresh water and he was good for the night. Now he just needed to decompress and realize he was safe.

Forest left eye has a ventral strabismus The vet came out to give him a thorough examination, pull bloodwork and check his eyes to see if he was totally blind or if perhaps he could recover from the eye issues. We have been consulting with an equine optometrist to determine what his current and future needs will be. The specialist is in the valley and we are hoping to get him to her as soon as he is otherwise healthy enough to make the 3-hour trip.

Forest's right eye - luxated lens Both of his eyes have luxated (dislocated) lenses and his left eye has a ventral strabismus, his eye points downwards, Dr G feels they have been that way since birth. We are hoping there may be surgery or some sort of treatment that can help him gain some sight. Right now, he can only see light and dark and we have noticed he can usually stop before hitting something so he has not injured himself.

Petrified forest is high desert with no trees We named the colt “Forest”, in honor of the rangers who saw him wandering the Petrified Forest. For those of you who don’t know, there are no living trees there, it is high desert so there is a bit of desert grasses, but mostly tumbleweeds and other bushes. Forest has large scars on his back and other places we assume from the herd stallion culling him from the herd.

You can see the scars all over his back and neck. Upon arrival he only weighed 236 pounds and was a body condition score of 2. He has gained almost 30 pounds since then; his scars are healing and he is getting his winter coat. We have done a slow deworming process and also check for sand in his intestines as he didn’t gain any weight the first two weeks. He is currently getting eye drops and ointment twice a day. His diet includes a blend of alfalfa and Bermuda pellets, Mare & Foal feed, ration balancer and probiotics.

Gary in 2019 with Buddie and Rimson Barbara Hackney contacted me the other night. Her husband Gary, who donated the funds to save Buddie as a friend for Rimson in 2019 and was here when Buddie arrived, has a birthday, today November 10th. To celebrate he has offered to match $500 in donations to help us raise funds for Forest. Our goal is to raise $3000 for his vet, eye and health care so we can provide this little blind, orphaned foal all that he needs to grow healthy and hopefully gain some eyesight. We have met the $500 matching donations and more, but if you would like to help with a donation for Forest please click the Donated button below.

Forest - safe and loved at last!!!!

As we head into fall and winter, yesterday we got our first snow and we have had several nights below freezing, we want to get this sweet baby as healthy as we can as quickly as we can. We have an appointment on Dec. 20th to have his eyes examined by a veterinary ophthalmologist and we will be meeting her at Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center (where Maisie has been treated) which is 360 miles round trip, so it will be a very long day with a long drive. We will then know if Forest can see more than we think, if there is surgery to help his eyes, what his future will be! EVERY donation is so appreciated. We also want to thank Gary & Barbara for this $500 matching donation to help Forest. Happy, Happy Birthday Gary!!!!!! Thank you all for your continued support of the rescue and helping us help those in such great need. We currently have 40 horses, donkeys and minis at the rescue and 5 in training so all donations are such a big help to those in our care and others that may be in need......like Forest!

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And the raffle winner is..........

 

THE WINNER WAS......... Ed Cadenhead of Snowflake. Congratulations!!!! This fundraiser was to help us raise funds for our next load of hay which was delivered on 10-18-22. With funds raised via this raffle and others who donated to help us cover the cost of the hay we were able to raise $2400.00 to go towards the $12,116.70 which was the cost of the hay. We can't thank everyone enough for donating and participating in the raffle. Thanks to the Wallis family, who donated the brand new Cannon safe with all the packaging which was picked up by the winner on the 19th of October. We apologize for the delay in getting this to you but my mom was hospitalized on 9-30-22 and this is the first chance I have had to get this out to everyone. Thank you all again so very much!!!

We appreciate so much how you help us make so many lives better and simply can't thank you enough for all you do to help the 43 horses, donkeys and minis in our care and others in need. YOU make all the difference in their lives. THANK YOU from all of us at Equine WellBeing Rescue!!!!