Update of 4 mares rescue 7-13-23

On July 13, 2023 we were contacted to help with four horses.   We provided food, hay, hay nets, supplements, even buckets to soak their feed in and measured scoops to be sure they were feeding the correct amount.   We also spent time explaining how to read the feeding instructions on the feed bag and proper way to measure the feed.  With our plans to be out of town, they took everything home and started the refeeding program at their house.  Based on pictures taken on the 13th, two of the horses were body condition scores 2 (emaciated) and the other two were body condition score 3 (thin).   We received daily text updates and on 7/31/23 we were able to go to their place to assess how they were doing after two weeks in our refeeding program.  The horses had started to lose their winter fur and their coats starting to shine and had gained weight, but we saw other issues the people did not tell us about.  The pictures to the left are (top to bottom) Coco, Layla, Kashmier and Amy.   Coco and Layla had great difficulty walking, Coco due to prior founder and inability to put weight on her right front foot, and Layla severe arthritis causing her to walk unbalanced and draggin her toes.  The owners never considered they were in pain, said they had always been that way. We gave them much needed pain medication and made arrangements to pick them up the next day and bring them to the rescue for vet examination.     Shortly after the horses arrived, both Dr Secor and Dr Laird arrived.  Even with pain medication the horses had difficulty walking, putting any more weight on would cause further pain and Coco's founder was so bad she was probably walking on the tip of her coffin bone.  With their age (both over 25yrs old), arthritis in many locations and obvious pain, the very difficult decsion to let Coco and Layla go was made.  Tears were shed as they were released from their pain.  It has taken me all this time to even be able to speak about it, trying to deal with my anger and heartbreak for these sweet mares.     We picked up Amy and Kashmire the following day and brought them to the rescue.  Amy is 24 and Kashmier is 25.  We adjusted their diet to senior feed and continued the free feed bermuda and have seen slow weight gain.  All their winter fur is gone and new, shiny hair is coming in.

Yesterday, Dr Laird gave Kashmier and Amy each a through exam.  Both have effusion of their left stiffles (fluid around the hind knee) and arthritis.  Amy's worst arthritis is along her spine (seen in the picture to the left the bumps along her spine), coupled with the bad stiffle she drags her left hind foot toe when she walks.  As she builds her muscle back on her hind end that may change.     While Kashmier has had slow, steady weight gain, Amy has not.  Blood was pulled on both mares to run a series of tests to determine if there is organ damage related to the long-term malnutrition.     Dr Laird also noticed Kashmier can't see as well as Amy.  Her left eye has what she called a "Star Cataract", which you can visibly see as the white spot on the center of her left eye.  She also has cloudiness in her right eye making focusing on anything difficult but she can see a bit, just blurry objects.      Amy also has a significant dental issue, called an underjet.  Her lower jaw and teeth stick out further than her upper jaw and teeth.  This may make dentistry difficult as we may not be able to get a speculum in her mouth.  Dr Laird felt they were both healthy enought to be sedated for a complete dental.    Since they have had access to free feed bermuda, which does a great job of flushing any sand in their system through, they had very little sand in their manure, so one round of sand treatment should remove that.     We will continue our refeeding program,  do a round of psyllium to treat any sand, schedule their dentistry and further hoof care.  Once the blood work comes back we will have a better idea of what additonal needs they each will have.    The rescue of these four mares came at a time when we brought two other horses into the rescue, Hank and Jazzy, whose owners took awesome care of them, but can no longer ride and wanted us to find new, loving homes for them.  Two of our volunteers will make that perfect home.     We also had two ranger horses donated to the rescue from the National Forest Service, both of which we found homes for too.     We were so saddened by the loss of Coco and Layla, but knowing they are no longer in such pain eases their loss a little bit and we know though it was a very hard decision, it was the right one for them.     Your generosity to help the girls and all of the horses, donkeys and minis at the rescue is such a blessing and appreciated more than you could imagine.    Your friendship, prayers and financial support allow us to help so many in need and this year it seems the need is so great!!!!   Thank you, thank you so very much!!!! CLICK TO DONATE NOW!

Volunteers & Walmart build a shelter.

 

Volunteers and Walmart collaborate to build a shelter for a rescued horse

·         By Merri Taylor Special to the Independent 

·         Aug 2, 2023 White Mountain Independent Newspaper

Equine WellBeing Rescue recently received a $1,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation and the Taylor Walmart store. The funds were used to buy many of the materials needed to construct a shelter for a blind orphaned colt that was found wandering alone in the Petrified Forest last year.

Petrified Forest employees contacted Christine Griffin, founder of Equine WellBeing Rescue, for help. Griffin jumped into action.

“He was emaciated and extremely dehydrated,” she said. “That’s why he was wobbling around so much. He probably would have perished, especially if he hadn’t shown up at the machine shop there; he would have just died out in the out in the wild.” The colt, named Forest, is nearly a year old now and is thriving at the Rescue, east of Snowflake.

“We did a DNA test on Forest and he turns out to be half quarter horse, half Rocky Mountain horse mix, which could mean that somebody probably dumped him,” Griffin said. “There aren’t really herds of this DNA in the Petrified Forest; once in a while other horses may come in. We consider him an orphan because he wasn’t with his mother or the herd may have culled him because of his health condition, or he just couldn’t keep up, we’ll never know.”

On July 25, volunteers gathered to build a shelter for Forest and his new companion, Shooter.

“We couldn’t put Forest in with our herd because of his blindness, so we ended up purchasing a colt that was close to the same age as him and already had training,” Griffin said. “He was of a gentle demeanor and his feet could be trimmed and things of that nature. We went to Colorado and got him in February.

“Then we made an enclosure that’s a little over 30 feet wide by 280 feet long, so that they both have room to run. Even with his limited eyesight, Forest has really good perception of his surroundings, so he does run and play like a typical colt his age.

“We were so excited to work side-by-side with the volunteers on this project. We thought that we really should build a shelter for Shooter and Forest. That way, if we’re not here, or a storm comes up, the monsoons come up, at least they can get into the shelter or if we can’t get them into the barn.”

Griffin explained that one of their volunteers, who works at Walmart, found out about the Volunteerism Always Pays program, which provides grants to eligible organizations when Walmart or Sam’s Club associates volunteer. The program encourages full and part-time employees to volunteer their time to various non-profits in their local communities.

“Her supervisor at Walmart knew that she volunteered here, so they said let’s do a volunteer program out there. So when they contacted us, it had just coincided with a grant request that we had made separate from that. It kind of all happened at the same time,” Griffin said.

Forest does fairly well despite having essentially no vision, Griffin said. “He actually was paying attention to the noises going on during the construction; some of it was really noisy, they were using drills and things. By the time we put it together, he could smell the new wood. So he walked right over to where the new smell was.

“The first thing we noticed was him walking over sniffing the wood, so he went inside and sniffed the wood all the way around inside and out. That’s how he learns where something new is. Also, he realized he was in shade, because of the difference in the temperature.”

Considering the size of a horse’s ears, it’s no surprise hearing is important to Forest’s understanding of his world and his new shelter. “The shelter has a tin roof, so the first time it rained, it was different because it was noisy,” Griffin said. “Even though Shooter was inside, he wasn’t sure about going inside with the noise. The barn also has a tin roof, so once he gets used to that, then it won’t matter at all. I do see him going in for the shade. They do have a juniper tree and he loves to stand in the shade of the juniper tree.”

Walmart also sent the rescue a $75 gift card to purchase flowers and soil for their Memory Garden. “Walmart volunteers, along with our volunteers, cleaned up that whole area and planted the new flowers,” Griffin said. “They did an awesome job. We really appreciate the support from the Taylor Walmart. Justin Johnson is the manager there and we appreciate him and his employees and their support of the rescue.”

Griffin added that there were 22 hours of preparation time for the shelter build, with a total of 69 volunteer hours. She said, “We have a lot of really wonderful volunteers. I always want to give them credit, because they do come here and volunteer their time and its much appreciated.”

Forest with Shooter behind, taking shelter from the rain.

To learn more about the rescue or to make a donation, visit equinewellbeing.org, call (760) 703-4860, or email christine@equinewellbeing.com. To learn more about Walmart’s Volunteerism Always Pays program, go to walmart.org/how-we-give/volunteerism-always-pays.