Early Sunday morning the rescue rig was hooked up and heading out. Thanks to your donations to the Auction Rescue Fund, Saturday night our rescuer was at an auction saving horses. She was able to save a total of 9 horses, and first thing Sunday it was time to go pick them up and take them to the shelter.
On the way to the auction Jason and Tawnee stopped to pick up a horse that was privately saved from a previous auction. They wanted to try and find a home for her on their own, but then decided to surrender her into the shelter so we can find her a home. Foxy is a well trained Paso mare, 12 years old and very pretty.
Foxy loaded right up into the trailer without a moments hesitation.
After a short drive they arrived at the auction and met the horses. The horses were so grateful that someone came who cared for them. This older horse just leaned her face into Tawnee, you could tell she was saying “Thank you, please take me away from this place.”
We would like you to meet all of the horses that were rescued from the auction. Felicity is a 5 year old Paint mare.
Darla is a sweet little 5 year old mare.
This little pony is about 8 years old, and is named Viking.
Belle is a 7 year old Paint mare who is said to be green broke.
Pirate is a thin gelding who has an injured eye.
It looks like he gouged it or something, we will be getting it checked out.
Candy is a 21 year old registered Oldenburg. A note with her registration papers says her name is Candy and she was professionally trained in dressage and jumping – good on the trails. Candy is a very sweet horse.
Braveheart is a 3 year old stallion who is somewhat shy.
Ironman is a 2 year old stallion.
Fae is a 1 1/2 year old filly.
One by one the horses were loaded up into the big trailer. Foxy didn’t mind having a few more companions traveling with her.
Candy was happy to be led to the trailer. She is such a big girl.
Viking is a good little boy. He was the last to be loaded, he was wide eyed, no doubt wondering where he was going next.
Candy took one last look at the auction yard as the trailer pulled away. Don’t worry girl, you’ll never be at an auction again.
The big trailer pulled into the shelter about 3:00 pm. It had been a long day since leaving before daybreak.
Everyone was excited to see the horses inside. The big trailer was backed up to the unloading area.
One by one the horses unloaded. Their ears were up, eyes shining, it was easy to tell they were excited.
The three unhandled horses unloaded and were put into the round pen before Fae was separated from the stallions, Braveheart and Ironman. They came into the auction together and it was time to get Fae away from the boys.
Felicity was the last to unload. After she unloaded she hopped back into the trailer. It was her safety zone and she wanted to stay there. Of course she got back out and realized that the shelter isn’t a scary place.
One by one the horses settled into their new pens.
As the big trailer was being parked another truck and trailer was pulling in with a horse to surrender.
The horse that was being surrendered has melanoma cancer riddled throughout his body. It is very sad when cancer ravishes a horse.
After that trailer pulled away another trailer pulled into the shelter with yet another horse. This horse makes horse #12 coming to the shelter on just Sunday! The person who brought this horse was not the owner, the owner had been deported and the horse was left without any care. This person was extremely concerned about her and wanted to get her help as soon as possible.
As she came out of the trailer everyone was absolutely shocked by how much pain she was obviously in. Her hooves were severely foundered, she had oozing body sores and skin scalding covering her body.
The trailer pulled away and Cordelia wasn’t even able to take a step.
She was so thin it was easy to see every bone in her poor body.
Her hooves were extremely rotated and her coffin bones were starting to protrude from the bottom of her hooves.
Poor Cordelia was standing there with her head hung low in severe pain and agony. Who knows how long she had been in this condition, but we know it has been quite some time from the length of her hooves and the condition of her body. Tawnee started pulling up grass and giving it to her, trying to cheer her up.
Then she got a bucket of grain and gave it to her. We knew there was no way Cordelia could go on living in her condition, but we wanted to make her last moments as happy as they could be.
She was given medication to help relieve her pain and she was given an entire bag of grain that she could happily munch on as much as she wanted. That is every horses dream! We backed the trailer up to her to give her a table to eat from so she wouldn’t have to bend down so far.
She was also extremely dehydrated, no doubt due to her hooves she had a terribly painful time just walking to the water trough to get a drink.
Every time she drank a bucket of water, and she heard the bucket being refilled, she got a happy look on her face as she waited for it to come back.
She drank bucket after bucket.
Finally she had drank all she wanted and enjoyed some more grain. We loved on her, and we take comfort that in her last moments she knew that someone cared before she was humanely euthanized. It was a hard ending to the day for all of our staff, but knowing that her suffering is over was a relief.
We have been offering the Last Act of Kindness program locally since 2008, but it is time to take it national. Slaughter is not the option for elderly or unwanted horses, we don’t slaughter dogs or cats, and we should not slaughter horses either. We need to let the country know that there is a viable option, and we as horse lovers need to stand up and protect our horses. Please help us help horses across the nation by making a donation today. To learn more about the National Last Act of Kindness Fund, click here.
Thank you all for your support as we continue to fight against horse abuse. Even $5 helps a lot, please consider making a donation to the Last Act of Kindness program: click here.