Our team headed to Arizona to do a 1-Day Open Door Shelter. We have done a lot of traveling to help horses across the nation doing these events this year. So far we have held 1-Day Open Door Shelters in California, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Mississippi, Wisconsin and this one was in Arizona. 330 horses came into the 1-Day Shelters this year!
After landing the first thing to be done was to check out the facilities that were going to be accepting horses at this 1-Day Open Door Shelter. The main event was scheduled to be held at WestWorld in Scottsdale. WestWorld failed to communicate their internal rules about Coggins while we were setting up plans for the event. At the last minute, they informed us every horse that stepped foot on their property had to have negative Coggins. We were faced with either having to cancel the event or move forward and find a separate location for horses that did not have current Coggins.
Corral West contacted us and graciously offered the use of their facility for horses that did not have Coggins. Our team visited their facility and everything looked great.
Any horses surrendered into the 1-Day Open Door Shelter would be put at the other end of the arena away from their horses in case any horses came in sick.
Then they headed to WestWorld to figure out how the event would flow on Sunday. WestWorld has a beautiful entryway and their horse sculptures are stunning.
As we suspected, the WestWorld facility was absolutely immaculate! It is an amazing facility.
Sunday morning found our team hanging banners and getting ready for the event. We had 12 horses pre-registered, and we were hopeful that with our aggressive advertising and the broad social media networking in Arizona many more horses would show up for the event. Typically double the horses show up that are pre-registered.
WestWorld was very diligent about making sure every horse had Coggins. Two men were assigned by WestWorld to check every horse coming in to make sure their papers were in order. We had volunteers at the event with trailers that could haul horses to Corral West if their owners couldn’t make the drive, and a stack of maps printed up to direct people without Coggins to Corral West.
Around noon the trailers finally started coming, and the team got busy.
At Corral West horses began arriving too.
One horse came to WestWorld with cancer in both eyes. She could barely see over the cancerous tumors in her eyelids, and it was very heartbreaking.
Dr. Anastasia Keyser of Chaparral Veterinary Medical Center got right to work evaluating horses.
Several of our long-time donors came to the event. One of them wanted to purchase lunch for our staff and the other volunteers. They got lunch orders from everyone and soon were back with boxes of pizza and salads.
We can’t thank Jackie and her girls enough for their thoughtfulness! They got food for everyone, even vegan Daiya cheese pizza’s for the vegans on our staff.
Jackie was the first person who volunteered to help with this event. We can’t thank her enough for all of her help and generosity.
One by one the horses came to the event. This gelding was a very beautiful horse whose owner could no longer keep him, but didn’t want to screen people for selling him.
After his vet evaluation, Kristen got to work evaluating his riding ability. He did really good for her. To watch his evaluation, click here.
Two more horses came in, the family was really sad to be surrendering them. They could no longer keep them due to health and lameness issues.
One of the horses was suffering from Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis, which was causing him a lot of issues.
He was also suffering from arthritis in his knees and joints. The vet said the kindest thing to do was relieve his suffering and let him pass on with his friend who was also suffering from chronic pain and health issues.
We were very happy that one of our adoption partners stepped up to take the horse that has cancer in both her eyelids into their program and get her treated. The vet explained the procedure, to watch the video, click here.
We had a professional photographer attend the event, and donate her time to document the event. Many thanks to Laura Mcclure for lending her expertise and time. To see the photos she took at our event, click here.
The next day our team headed to Corral West Horse Adventures. We had another vet scheduled to evaluate the horses that afternoon and we were meeting with an adoption partner.
One of the adoption partners was taking a 25-year-old QH.
She loaded up in their trailer, and soon they were on their way.
Dr Loomer from Durango Equine Veterinary Clinic came out to evaluate the remaining horses. We had adoption partners lined up for any horse that passed the veterinarian examination.
This horse had serious neurological problems, caused by EPM, cervical arthritis or an old injury, and was a danger to himself and others. His owners stated he has a sore back and requested that he was humanely euthanized, and with his neurological issues the vet could not pass him for adoptability.
The other horse was experiencing a lot of pain from severe arthritis in his front legs. Every step he took you could see the pain in his face.
Both his knees had a lot of arthritis build up in them, which caused chronic pain and suffering.
The vet and vet techs gave the horses lots of treats and cookies while they were sedated and we said goodbye to them. It’s always the hardest part of this program, saying “Goodbye” to the horses that cannot be placed with adoption partners, but we are so thankful that because of this program they are no longer living in chronic pain.
We would like you to meet all the horses. Dottie, a 17-year-old mare, was placed with Healing Hearts Animal Rescue.
Gunner, a 12-year-old Morgan / QH gelding, was also placed with Healing Hearts Animal Rescue.
Big Bay, a 12-year-old TB gelding, was placed with Agape Acres. He has some lameness issues that the vet believes could be rehabilitated and Agape Acres has a full-time farrier that will be working with him. They plan to use him in their therapy program once he recovers.
This horse was a 25-year-old gelding suffering from Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis. He was also suffering from arthritis and the veterinarian said he should be given the last act of kindness to relieve his chronic suffering.
This is a 20-year-old mare that was suffering from ringbone and hip problems. The vet recommended humane euthanasia with her friend, above. They were sedated and humanely euthanized together.
This is a 15-year-old gelding. He was suffering from extremely painful arthritis in his front knees. He was given the last act of kindness to relieve his chronic suffering.
This gelding was 25-years-old. He was suffering from neurological problems and the vet agreed with the owner’s request for humane euthanasia.
This 25-year-old mare was placed with Echo Canyon Equine Foundation.
We would like to thank the Right Horse Initiative for making this event possible. We would like to thank our staff and volunteers for their hard work and dedication. The Last Act of Kindness Foundation was our contact for local resources and they did an amazing job helping us make this event a success. A huge “Thank you!” goes to our adoption partners who participated in this event: Healing Hearts Animal Rescue | Agape Acres | Echo Canyon Equine Foundation.