It has been extremely busy since my last email. Many of you know I had knee repair surgery on March 17th, not my typical way of spending St. Patricks Day. It went very well and after 8 weeks of physical therapy I am back to my normal routine with only a smidgen of healing pain that will fade over time. The surgery was a great success! I am not sure WHAT is going on this year but the need of horses and donkeys has been so great. So far this year we have rescue 20 equines. The most recent intake was April 17, 2025, during a huge storm with winds as high as 50mph. Arizona's Department of Agriculture's Livestock division, seized 10 horses, donkeys and mini donkeys from a previously convicted animal abuser and brought them to the rescue for rehabilitation. All were in bad condition. |
Many had gone over a year without having their feet trimmed, all were malnourished and had been found with no food or water on one of our 80+ degree days. Conditions were so bad that the Assistant State Veterinarian went to the location and saw the horrendous place theey were living. All 10 confined in a small enclosure, with a miniature donkey stallion in with the females. |
I found the above photo of the offender of her 2017 arrest in Maricopa County, where over 100 animals were confiscated, she was prosecuted and is not allowed to own any animals in Maricopa county, so she and her daughter, Kendall, moved to Apache County and started doing the same thing up here. She surrendered the equines that came to us to avoid prosecution locally. The authorities continue to watch her place to monitor any animals she may get. Hopefully, that will be none! |
One of the oldest that came to us that day is Heidi, 28 years old and they claimed she just wouldn't gain weight. Above is her arrival picture and what she looked like after 30 days on our refeeding program. She had gained over 100 pounds and continues to gain weight weekly. Within the first 30 days assessed everyone and starting good nutritious diets, got their feet trimmed, the intact males were castrated, everyone got psyllium treatment for sand in their stomachs since when they did eat, their food had just been thrown on the ground for them to fight over. The vet checked the mini donkey females for pregnancy, 2 were confirmed, 2 were probable. We also found that a 3 year old colt had an infected jaw from a fractured tooth. We just finished up his Ozone injections and antibiotics. He is doing much better and also putting on weight. Gunner is a very sweet horse and the vet said because of the long-term malnutrition, his teeth aren't as strong as they should be. We suspect it fractured because he was so hungry he was eating what he could find and probably chewed on a rock. Everyone has been dewormed and thank so Kittle's Fine Art & Supply Company, they were all vaccinated too. On April 25, 2025, they hosted a Paint and Sip fundraiser where we all painted a really cute donkey. $200 was raised and that was enough to purchase the vaccines for all 10 of the rescued horses, donkeys and minis. We had a great time and we can't thank John, Julie and Colton enough for doing the fundraiser for the rescue. |
On May 1, 2025, the kids from White Mountain Learning Center in Vernon, Arizona, made the trek to the rescue for the kids to meet the equines and help with chores. Many of the kids had never been around a horse or a donkey and they loved them all. They were such a big help and we totally enjoyed their visit. They promised to schedule another trip out they had so much fun. It just makes us so happy, to share these wonderful animals with kids and help teach them about all of their needs. |
Over the last year our precipitaion has been so low. We got hardly any monsoonal rain last summer and over the winter our Snowflake, snow fall was only about 10 inches While the local forest had more snow, it was still not a normal accumulation. This has caused many of the earthen tanks that provide water for the animals, including the free-roaming horses, to dry up. One of the earthen tanks we put water in during the last drought, Decker Wash, in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, had not completely dried up but had turned to a mud bog causeing 3 full sized horses and one foal to get totaly stuck in the mud. Citizen's who noticed what happend, reached out to Betty Nixon, a local photographer who knows the forest like the back of her hand, and they were able to get the first one out. Betty started going to the earthen tank to be sure no more got stuck, she and friend Deb and Zeke pulled two more mares and a foal out at separate times. Because this was a concern we offered our help in monitoring the Decker tank and we spent the weekend of May 8 - 11th camped out just up the road and would montior the horses coming in and leaving and text Betty updates of how things were going. The tank has since dried up forcing the horses and other animals to go farther into the forest to find water. If the forest service allows water to be brought in, we stand ready with our trailer that hauls almost 600 gallons of water with each trip. The trailer was donated to the rescue by a local resident during the last drought water haul and this year, thanks to the generosity of Dennis Azevedo, we now have a motorized pump to make it easier and quicker to get the water out of the totes and into the earthen tank or water troughs, whichever we will be using. Pictured is Betty on the left and Christine on the right. |
Now contained at 100%, the Greer Fire, which started on May 13, 2025, in the small town of Greer, winds were so high that day it went from a small blaze to out of control in a matter of hours. This caused evacuation orders for Greer and other areas east of the fire as the extreme winds persisted for days. On the 15th, Good Dog Rez-Q, who took the lead on the evacuation site and whom we supported the effort of equines needing help by brining 128 bales of hay to the evacuation site, along with $500 of medical and other health care supplies, halters, muck carts and muck rakes. We made serveral trips over to the Apache County Fair Grounds in St Johns during the evacuation period. |
We would like to thank the Homes for Horses Coalition, which we have been members of since 2007, for their $2000 HHC Emergency Fund grant to help us with the costs related to helping the equines during the evacuation. We would also like to thank Forever Home Donkey Rescue, Double H Equine Foundation and Sanctuary, and so many of you who reached out to us with donations to help during the fire. We would also like to extend a big thank you to Elaine Nash and Marlene Dodge, who quickly shipped us small animal and equine nebulizers from Fleet of Angels, whom we have also worked with for SO many years. Fleet of Angels respond to fire, weather, and other related emergencies around the country and provided us with the use of their nebulizers, should any of the incoming animals suffer from smoke inhalation. That sort of support is invaluable. Thanks also goes to Jineane Ford and iTalk radio for helping us spread the word of volunteers needed and other needs on location throughout the evacuation. By Tuesday, the 20th, everyone got clearance to go back to their homes and the evacuation ended. |
During the month of May, national adoption month, we also found homes for eight horses, donkeys and mini donkeys and we welcome the new adopters to the Equine WellBeing Family and thank them each for opening up their homes to give love to one of our fur babies. Lastly, we are on baby watch. Ellie, who came to us in January with a group of 9 others from TX, is ready to give birth very soon. With all that has gone on, we are so looking forward to having a healthy baby soon. She came to us with no prenatal care and working with our veterinarians, we have given her everything she needs to get healthy and help that little one she is carrying. We have cameras in the barn so we can keep an eye on her throughout the day and night. Please say prayers for an easy delivery and a healthy babe. We really want to thank everyone for following what we do here at the rescue. None of it would be possible withou ut the FABULOUS volunteers that make everything happen. Everyone has really stepped up these past many months with all the new intakes and other things that have been happening. Each and every volunteer is the life-line of this organization and we simply cannot say enough about how wonderful each and every one of them are. For now, we will say...stay tuned, our next email should have pictures of a new baby that will make everyone's day! Thanks to all of you for your continued support. Without you, we would not be able to help so many horses, donkeys and minis in need. YOU make all the difference in the world. Christine & All of us at EqWBR |
|
|
