This is the 1 week update for the 10 emaciated horses we rescued on the 6th. We got their photos at 1 week but were unable to write it up and send it out until now, we apologize for the delay. Below you will see their progress in only 7 days since being rescued.
This is Chip, a 3 year old TB gelding. You could clearly see every rib in his body, his spine and hip bones were sticking out too. We always wonder when we rescue animals like this if there is an underlying medical reason for why they are so skinny, or is it truly just a heartless lack of food?
This photo shows Chip’s emaciation a little more clearly. As you can tell, he is really skinny.
After only 7 days of food Chip is looking like a completely different horse thanks to your support. It is hard to believe that this is the same bedraggled horse seen above.
This is Honey, a year old filly who has decided that the world is an evil place and people are the ones that have made it that way. She has a pretty bad temper towards humans and will kick you if you try to get close to her. She has just tried to defend herself so she can stay alive and doesn’t know that there are humans that have a soul and want to help her.
She is doing much better now, she is still extremely distrustful of humans but has a happy, hopeful look in her eyes. We are hoping that with her young age she will come around and be able to be adopted into an experienced family.
This is Dakota, a wild unbroke approximately 3 year old Mustang. She too like Honey strikes out at humans without provocation. She has had to defend herself for every scrap of food and as you can tell she is pretty good at defending herself. She had the most weight of any of the horses. They said that you can pen her in panels and that is how they got the halter on her.
She is enjoying eating and not having to fight for her food. Her belly is getting bigger too, it’s amazing what some simple nutrition can do. If there is an experienced adopter who is interested in her, please contact us as soon as possible as there are very few qualified homes who are willing to take a wild, aggressive horse. The lady said if we didn’t take her she was going to the sale where no doubt she would have ended up in Mexico or Canada to be butchered.
Monique is a 16 year old TB mare. She is very skinny and had such a sad look of hopelessness to her.
One week later her tummy is filling out and she has a happy look to her face.
Request is a 12 year old TB mare. Both Monique and Request were exposed to a stallion at the ‘rescue’ where we saved them we were told.
As you can see Request’s tummy is filling out and she too really enjoys eating. They are both going to be getting ultrasounds to see if they are pregnant or not. In their condition, let’s all hope it’s a big “Not!”
Sassy is the oldest horse in the group at 17 years old. The note with her says that she can’t get pregnant with a 🙁 penned in after the statement. We don’t think it’s a bad thing that she didn’t get pregnant at all. 🙂
One week later Sassy is gaining weight and has the happy horse look to her for the first time in who knows how long.
This is Buz, a 3 year old gelding. He was the most emaciated horse in the group and his sad plea for help was heartbreaking.
He was a walking skeleton with skin stretched over his feeble bones. Sadly he was too far gone to save. The morning after the rescue he passed peacefully away under humane euthanasia. He was 15-20% dehydrated, 12% is considered a life threatening medical emergency. There was no way to get enough fluid into him to revive him and his organs were shutting down. He was a body score of 1, being the skinniest a horse can get. He was, in essence, starved and dehydrated to death at the ‘rescue’ gone bad. The only reason this horse died is because someone chose to withhold water and food.
This is Felony, a 4 year old TB gelding. He was a very tall horse and extremely emaciated as well with a belly that looked like it was full of worms and parasites.
He was also nothing but bones with skin tightly stretched over his feeble frame.
At the vet every effort was made to save his life. He too was horribly dehydrated, 15-20%. IV fluids, food, water, everything was given to him but his body kept shutting down. He was so dehydrated he was urinating blood. His life was slipping from him and he was humanely euthanized.
Gumpy is a year old gelding. The poor little baby is so skinny!
Despite it all, he is the sweetest little love bug ever. He loves to snuggle with people and not only was he starving for food and water, he was starving for love and attention. He sure is soaking it all up now!
Gumby and Honey are so cute together, we are hoping that some of Gumby’s love for humans will wear off on Honey. He can show her that there are some good people left in this world.
Mater is a 4 year old TB gelding. He was extremely emaciated and dehydrated, thankfully not to the point of Felony and Buz and his life was able to be saved.
He had a few good days at the vet but then had to be put into intensive care in the hospital.
His left front fetlock developed severe swelling and he could barely walk.
It was cleaned and drained. The vet believes there is a severe infection going on and it needs to be investigated through ultrasounds to see what is going on. She said it may be an old injury that has gotten infected.
Mater’s leg was wrapped and the vet staff is doing everything they can to make him comfortable. We need your help! The vet says we are looking at an additional $800 to save this guys life. He has a strong will to live and is a very sweet boy, but he is in a lot of pain. We need your help to get him the additional medical attention he needs!
We raised the initial funds for the rescue and rehab for the horses, but now Mater has an unexpected medical emergency pop up. All of these horses are still at the vet receiving costly daily vet care for their rehab so they can get healthy enough to come to the shelter. Despite how well they are doing, it is still a very long road ahead for them. Thank you all so much for your support! You are truly these horses hero. Please help us help Mater, click here.