Our journey with Maverick started in January of 2013 when we received a communication from Donna Caplan, a long time volunteer at Riverside Animal Services (animal control), who was trying to save the life of a horse found abandoned and starving in Riverside. Being unadoptable, he was on the 'to be euthanized' list.
Though we were in Arizona, the horses were still at the ranch in Ramona so we stepped in to save his life. With the help of our dear friend Jen at Baker Ranch Equine Rescue, we got him transported to her for triage, initial vet care from Dr. Garfinkel and to start the proper feeding for an emaciated horse. This picture shows his condition upon his arrival 1-31-13, emaciated and depressed.
A few weeks later with some weight on, he joined the oldsters at our Ramona ranch. Even though his knees were cripplingly big and his legs no longer straight, he loved to run and it was a joy to see him take off in those short bursts where he was seemingly remembering the agility of his younger days.
April 2013, all the horses were transported to our Snowflake, AZ facility where they had even more room to roam. In late May we noticed that Maverick was not able to straighten his left hind foot. With no obvious new injury we got x-rays and several veterinary opinions and applied various homemade splints to slowly straighten it so he could put weight on it again. After about a week, he was able to walk normally again. I figured out later while giving him therapeutic massage, that the pressure he was putting on his hind end to take the weight off his knees caused the muscles, tendons and ligaments to tighten, resulting in his bent foot.
During the winter we covered him with a long blanket to help keep his legs warm and gave him Previcox to help with long term pain management. We were blessed in December receiving a gift from Sox For Your Horse with two sets of Whinny Warmers to help keep his arthritic knees warm. He seemed to like them and enjoyed the time I spent daily pulling up or changing his socks. I know they made a difference for him. We also received a few more sets in various colors from Casey at The Golden Carrot. He sported gray, red and purple socks.
As they days passed I noticed Mav spending more time resting. He had several spots where there was deep sand that were his favorites. Standing or lying down he enjoyed the massages that contained and the application of liniment. When I was putting it on his knees he would always reach down with his face and give my hands a kiss.
This last few weeks we noticed he spent time laying down and was much stiffer walking when he got up. The vet was out 10 days ago and we decide to add a topical medication called Surpass to his therapy regimen and we upped his pain medicine giving the topical pain relief time to kick in. His saucy side still came out even at rest. Seems he is sticking his tongue out at the world as if to say "living the good life even with bad knees".
After seeing no real change and knowing that things would only get more difficult we made the heartbreaking decision to let him. Never wanting him to suffer, last night he was laid to rest. To his final minutes he had short bursts of frivolity, still the flirt, sticking his tongue out at the world saying, "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was!"
We have been totally blessed to have him with us these last 15 months and we will always cherish his antics. As the sun was going down on his final day, I snapped a picture of the western sky which was blazing colors of magenta, red and gold as though the sky were on fire. To the south soft, cotton candy clouds and when I looked at the pictures this morning, I couldn't believe what I saw. There he is, our Maverick running across the heavens. Head held high and four legs running pain free.
From the bottoms of our hearts we thank you all for your support the horses. You save lives, you change them and make them better.
You are a true blessing!
Christine
To read his other blog post, just click the title:
Maverick's one year anniversary
Maverick's left hind leg injury
Meet Maverick
Gelding in jeopardy
Christine Griffin, Founder & President
Equine WellBeing Rescue Inc.
A 501c3 Public Charity
760-703-4860
Checks can be sent to PO Box 2722, Snowflake, AZ 85937.
We are a 501c3 Public Charity #45-2835562 so your donations are tax-deductible.
Members of: Unwanted Horse Coalition, Homes for Horses Coalition, A Home for Every Horse program, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Assoc., Fleet of Angels and many more.
Please rate EqWBR in 2014 to help us maintain our 'Top Rated' status by clicking the link below.
Recipient of $2000 food grant in 2013.
ASPCA (link)
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