Horse and Man

Yup, they lived here in this junkyard.

No shelter – wire and junk everywhere, no clean water…  a total “survive if you can” scenario.

It began with a neighbor who reported that there was a small herd of 10 horses trapped in this junkyard.  None of the males had been gelded and several of the females were pregnant.  There were three yearlings, three pregnant mares, and four studs of varying ages.  All were malnourished, very skinny and miserable.

 

THE OWNER

Clearly the owner was a hoarder or collector.   Of course, the owner wouldn’t surrender them.  He would prefer to sell them…  Sheesh.  Same old story, different venue.

And do you know the worst part?  These starving horses were owned by a hay broker.  In fact, his hay trailer was parked in the yard with his band of unfortunate horses.  The owner had containers of hay right there!!

 

THE CONDITIONS

From what I have been told, there was no clean water for the short horses.  They were forced to drink out of this gacky pond.  It is no wonder that they all have dysentery…

There was absolutely no shelter except the minis could hide under the hay trailer when it was parked in the yard.  There was no shelter for the pregnant Percheron and absolutely no food.

Junk scattered everywhere…

And, what just blows me away – when the Animal Control officer requested that the owner feed his horses some of the hay he was selling – do you know what the owner did?   He angrily opened the doors to the trailer and as expected, the very hungry horses were sniffing and putting their noses inside the trailer.  Do you know what happened…?  They were swiftly and directly smacked in the face by the hand that starved them.  “Get yer noses outta my hay!”

Lovely.

 

RESCUE

Luckily, Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Rescue was working behind the scenes with Animal Control to come up with a scheme to rescue these poor equines.

The owner finally agreed to give up 6 of his 10 horses.  BHFER immediately went into action placing them all into Foster Care.

 

THE 4 THAT REMAINED

The 4 that remained were in desperate condition.   One was a very skinny Percheron mare who is very pregnant.  The second is a mini stud, the next a very, very pregnant and skinny wormy mini mare with her wormy and belly distended yearling colt who was still nursing (no wonder the mini mare is so skinny…).

All of them looked horrible.   None of them had ever seen a farrier or a vet.  Ever.

Luckily, they appeared to be gentle.

 

FAITH, RED, GLORY AND TUCKER

Through powers of persuasion that lie secretly between the owner and the Animal Control officer, he agreed to surrender the last 4 horses a few days ago.

Yay!

BHFER swooped in and gathered them into their wide open arms…

The Percheron was named Faith.  The mini stud was called Red.  The mini mare was named Glory and her yearling colt became Tucker.

LET THE CARE BEGIN!

These four were just rescued this week (!) and already, all were given baths to get rid of the mountains of dingleballs and yuk they had acquired.  All of them were groomed voraciously.  The vet was already out to check their general health, take blood, check teeth, check hooves, ultrasound the pregnant mares, Red was gelded and every horse was given a game plan for recovery.

Wowee.  Moss doesn’t grow under their feet at BHFER!

 

All of them had to be trenched because the worms were so bad…

A job well done.

But, much care is still needed.  The mares are so underweight that delivery will be difficult.  The little mini mare is a wreck and her baby has been drinking what little colostrum she may have so BHFER needs to bank some more from somewhere – provided the baby survives.  All of them will require farrier service for a little while until they are fit.  They all need lots of groceries.  They all need their teeth done.

And, we cannot forget the babies that are due…  No one knows what will happen here.  Little Glory is going to deliver any day and she is in really poor weight.  Faith is hundreds of pounds underweight.

 

CAN WE OFFER HELP?

Can we add to the success of Faith, Glory, Red and Tucker by preparing for the births and helping them all have proper feed/care?  Can we help them with their dentistry so they can chew and digest the new feed?

Can we have the cushion ready when those foals drop?

Let’s cushion all the blows and help these lucky 4 (and the 2 on the way) lead a life they deserve!

 

For those of you who receive this via email, please donate here.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE THERMOMETER RISE!

 

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

Goodness gracious, how many hits can one rescue take?!

First of all, here is the initial Bucket Fund post which tells the Quadruple Whammy story of BHFER from a week ago.  That was just a week ago!  I’m so happy that BHFER is our Bucket Fund because this has really been a tough month for them – even though the rewards of helping all these fuzzy faces is great — there is a lot of stress here.   Let me recap for you the initial  4  Whammies:

1)  First Whammy:  BHFER takes in 7 malnourished, sick mares and babies.

2)  Second Whammy:  BHFER takes in a 28 yr old, very skinny mare who is Granny to the other young, skinny mare who is Mom to the 3 month old baby who is getting no milk from her Mamma so she clings to Granny.  All are very sick and skinny.

3)  Third Whammy:  BHFER  hears of a mare in poor condition who delivered a baby, alone, and that baby had a very bad eye injury.  BHFER takes in the mare and baby.  The baby colt’s eye had to be removed.

4)  Fourth Whammy:  BHFER knows that another sick mare gave birth back at the ranch where the initial 7 mal-nourished mares were discovered.  The newborn baby and mare were very, very sick and weak.  So, BHFER rescued them as well.

OK, so, if that wasn’t enough for one week, now here are the next whammies…

While BHFER was dealing with all the sickness, neglect, rain rot, diseases, mares not producting milk, babies not having enough milk/nutrition, eye surgery and the general mayhem of adding 14 new, unhealthy horses — one of the previously rescued mares from a few months ago, gave birth.

The mare’s name is Reva and her baby colt isn’t named yet.

Anyway, here is Whammy 5. Reva’s delivery was fast and everything seemed fine.  Yay.  All the Auntie’s who were watching on MareStare were thrilled and supportive.  But then, things went downhill.  Reva was uncomfortable and not letting the baby nurse.  After an awful 24 hours where the vet was called out and no amount of colic treatment was helping, the vet feared Reva had a twisted gut.

Here is some background on Reva.  When she was rescued a while back, she was abused, neglected, skinny and sick.  However, she had adopted an even sicker baby colt who had no mother anymore.  Reva was so bonded to this little foal that BHFER, who had come to rescue the foal, took Reva as well.  And, to top that, they had to PAY top dollar for both of them.  It was disgusting…  Anyway, Reva was the strength that kept Evan Almighty (the colt’s new name) alive.  According to the vet, EA was as close to death as he could have been and still be standing.

So, now, months after EA has regained his health, Reva was full term and she foaled.  Shortly thereafter, Reva is fighting for her life.  Teresa at BHFER could not bear losing such a wonderful, sweet, loving mare.  She wrote this heartfelt note as they were taking Reva and her new baby to the hospital two days ago:

“I can’t tell you how much Reva means to so many of us.  The first time I saw her I knew she had a heart of gold.  She mothered Evan Almighty and continues to play a mother role with Kami.  Reva’s baby and Kami have become friends.  Reva welcomes new arrivals (horses and humans) – she is just a wonderful and sweet mare that had lived a horrible life before finding her way to us.  She will always wear scars down her back which prove that she provided a service to man for quite awhile.  I love her so much – I cried many tears today at the thought of possibly losing her.  I’ve prayed to God, many times, to ease her pain and help her to heal and have asked that if he needs her in heaven to please reconsider – we just aren’t ready to let her go – her baby loves and needs her and she is so very much loved by us humans.

As I cried into her mane before loading her to go to the hospital I promised her we will do all we can for her – I didn’t give her a choice and told her she has to get better and that she will make it through this.

Reva’s eyes speak clear through to her soul – she is a strong mare and I have faith in her.  She loves her baby and isn’t ready to leave us.  Everyone that meets her falls in love with her.  She is beautiful inside and out and has a way of making you feel better just by being around her.  There is a big void tonight without her and her baby here – I miss them very much.”

The good news is that after a day, Reva turned around!  It was gas colic and Reva recovered.  Momma and Baby returned to the Rescue and will continue to thrive.

Whammy #6: Today, Theresa found out that 3 of the original 7 horses that were rescued last week, are pregnant.  Great.  More thoughtless breeding…  At least these babies will be brought into a world where they will be safe and loved.

Now for the next stomach punch.  Whammy #7:

You know Whammy #4 above… that is the malnourished mare who had a new baby that wasn’t doing very well.  Uh huh.  After five days of life, the vet thinks that the baby filly, Passion, may have an infection in her hips joints.  Passion is having difficulty getting up on her own and she continues to shift her weight once she is up.  So, today, they drew blood and here is a note from Theresa of the results:

“I don’t have good news on Passion.  Her blood work came back and it isn’t good.  She defiantly has an infection going on.  It could be an internal infection or something going on in her joints.  She has been up more today but hasn’t been able to get up on her own.

We are going to give her a few more days on the antibiotics, run blood work again on Monday, and go from there.  I can’t stress enough how hard this baby is trying – she wants to run and play.  She deserves a normal life.  When I looked at her blood work this afternoon I saw numbers and a trend that reminded me so much of Legacy.  We worked a miracle with him – let’s all pray that this baby too will be ok.  The difference between the two is that Legacy likely got the colostrum he needed after birth – Passion likely didn’t.  Please pray for Passion.  Her momma loves her so much – and so do we.  I have to go now to help her up again.  I was very proud of her through the night last night – she got up twice without assistance.”

Well, the next two days were a roller coaster.  First Passion was treated for an infection in her joints.  They flushed her hocks and did everything they could to help her.  Unfortunately, the infection had spread.  This precious little filly succumbed to septicemia.  Theresa and Dr. Ryan and all who were involved did everything possible for this little girl.  My heart breaks for everyone at BHFER who worked so hard to save this sweet filly.

Passion passed on Saturday afternoon.  Tragic.  All because of neglect from the previous owners.  At least her short life was filled with love and compassion.

Please say your prayers for baby Passion.

And, if you understand what it is like to be Sevendoupled Whammied, and have some extra pennies, please donate to our Bucket Fund by clicking the Pay Pal donate button below.   BHFER has had enormous vet and hospital bills this month.  Thank you in advance.  (If you are receiving this post via email, click this link to donate.)

THIS JUST IN  –  TO WOMEN’S HORSE INDUSTRY ASSOC MEMBERS FROM NANCY AT HORSESHOE GIFT PACKAGING:

“For any WHIA member who contributes to Horse and Man’s Bucket Fund for Beauty’s Haven Farm & Equine Rescue during the next two weeks, $50 or greater per donation, I’ll send a selection of HGP gift packaging items to the WHIA member/donors—and I’ll even pay the freight to ship them.  HERE IS THE HORSESHOE GIFT PACKAGING WEBSITE.”

THANK YOU, NANCY, for your generous offer!  H&M

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!

And boy, do they need us…!

BHFER (Beauty’s Haven Farm & Rescue Rescue, Inc.)

I’ve written about BHFER previously.  (link to previous post)  This is the rescue in Florida which is run by a woman, Theresa,  who has great passion but no feeling – which is an awful pun to explain that she literally

CANNOT FEEL due to a spinal injury.  So, talk about trust… This woman recovered by taking care of an injured horse, Beauty (hence the rescue’s name), and then went on to devote her life to helping horses in need.  BHFER is one of the rescue sites I watch daily although I have never been there or met Theresa personally.

Last week is when this all started… Theresa got a call from the local authorities for her to please come help with several starving horses.  The details are not available as there will be charges here, but suffice it to say that there were at least 30 horses (stallions, mares, babies)  in awful conditions.  From what I understand, their only drinking water was this awful pond I have pictured.  They were not fed or cared for and I think they were housed together in unhealthy combinations.

Evidently, many of the mares were too skinny to provide adequate milk and the stallions were not helping, if you know what I mean.

BHFER agreed to take 7 on the spot.  They took the skinniest mares and babies.  However, deciding who to take was the easy part, getting them into the trailer and also making sure they were able to handle a

3 hour trailer ride was a different story!  You can imagine the loading process… These are horses that were not handled often and not moved, well… ever.

So, the first 7 arrived at the rescue and they were called the “Lucky 7″.  Here are photos.  As you can see, very skinny and malnourished looking.  But, at BHFER they were given wonderful care, easily digestable foods, they had their feet done, a bath and each horse got lots of love and a fly mask.  Life was looking good…

BUT THEN, THE NEXT WHAMMY.

As I stated previously, there were many more horses from the neglectful farm.  While she was at the farm, Theresa noticed a very old (28 yrs) and

very skinny Arab mare who had a baby at her side… but that was basically impossible… and then Theresa noticed a skinny young mare a few feet away.  The young mare was the mother whose milk

had dried up.  The older mare was acting like Granny to the baby and all three moved about together.  It was tragic to see all three in such bad shape but trying to make it together.  Of course, Theresa gathered these three into her nurturing arms.

(As a side note, on this visit, Theresa notices a young mare that has just given birth…)

Anyway, back to the new three… Granny, now named Asiya (one who comforts) and the young mare (Shaker) and the little filly have moved into the fine digs of BHFER.  The young mare is still not producing milk but the filly is old enough to eat solid food so they should be OK in time.

The Lucky 7 has turned into the Lucky 10…

THIRD WHAMMY

Now, as you can imagine,

BHFER was pretty busy at this point.  There were 10 new horses that required extra care as well as 110 degree heat with humidity.  Ugh.  The poor

new horses who were so stressed from the everything thus far started to have trouble breathing in the extreme heat and humidity.  Theresa and all of her

wonderful volunteers were working around the clock keeping all the horses cool and comforted.

So, of course the phone rings… again.

A woman from far away said that she needed Theresa.  because she noticed a very sick mare with a very sick baby at a nearby farm.  This mare had been bred to an important stud but then just left

out in pasture and made to fend for herself.  The mare was alone, she delivered the baby alone (a colt) a few months ago and had no support or food.  The neighbor asked the owner about the mare and the owner said that the mare was in such bad shape that she really didn’t want the horse any more.  Go figure.  That’s what happens when you throw them out to fend for themselves…

Anyway, the kindly neighbor offered to take the two.  She was told

by the owner that the baby had a runny eye but was OK.   But, in reality, the runny eye was much worse.  The vet came out and said the eye would need around the clock care.  Since this kindly neighbor didn’t have the time for this, she called Theresa…

Well, what are you

going to do if you are Theresa?  How can you turn down a baby in pain?  So, Theresa had her vet go out there for a second opinion and the vet said that the baby’s eye was terminal.  There was no way to save it.  From his estimation, the eye had been damaged for a very long time, probably just after his birth, and the poor colt had been suffering for a very,

very long time.  Well, that is all Theresa needed to hear.  That little baby was going to be helped.  And 24 hours later, his eye was out and the little guy, now named Bandit, was on the road to recovery.

His dam, Trisha, was at the hospital,

too, and the DRs all agreed that she was in bad shape.  The poor mare was skinny, had skin diseases, her milk was not sufficient and she was horribly stressed.  Hopefully, once she is back at BHFER (which is in process today), both the the Trisha and Bandit will recover.

From the reports about Bandit today,

they say he is active and happy.  I’m sure having the painful eye removed (can you imagine the flies?!) was the best thing for him.

So, that makes 12 newbies at BHFER…

WHAMMY NUMBER 4

Ugh.  So, here is the heartbreaker.  This baby may not make it.

Theresa gets yet ANOTHER call.  Remember that mare who had just had a baby three days ago from the neglectful farm full of horses?  Well, the owner was on the line saying that the mare and baby were not doing well.

Gee, y’think?  They have no food or water… Well, that’s not true… As soon as the authorities got involved, hay, grain and water were brought in for the remaining horses until they could all be placed.  But, still, if you do not feed or water a pregnant mare, the baby will not be very strong, if he makes it through birth.

So, the neglectful

owner did the right thing and called Theresa.  Theresa remembered this baby.  Theresa cannot turn her back.  So, they arrange for Momma and baby to be transported to the nearby equine hospital.  Mama is weak, baby is weaker.  They name the mare, Starla, and immediately tend to her and give her nutrition and health to hopefully boost her milk production.

The baby, now named Passion, is given milk but she wants her Mama’s milk instead.  Oy.  The little filly refuses.  So, they let Passion nurse from her Mom (what little she has) and then give the filly IV fluids/support.  The hard part is that the filly cannot stand on her own.  She is so weak, she cannot get up.  Humans have to get her up every 2 hours to feed.  Hmmmmmm.

This is not looking good.  It has been determined that Starla and Passion should leave the hospital and go back to BHFER because there are more people at BHFER to tend to the baby around the clock.  So, this is where we are now… We have a very weak baby who is on 24 hour care.

14 NEW AND NEEDY HORSES, and a NEW BABY this very morning!!!…

So, what we have is a rescue that was already full, has now taken on 14 new, needy horses, 4 of which were in the hospital and now a baby that needs 24 hour care.  The initial, mal-nourished, rain-rotted, long hooved scallawags that were the Lucky 7 seem like a picture of health (kidding) compared to the next 7 that arrived.  Can you imagine if this happened at your farm?  The vet bills must be staggering let alone the extra feed, farrier and horse care items.  Addendum:  There is a new baby this  morning!  One of the mares that Theresa saved earlier in the year, Reva, just foaled a healthy (thank goodness) baby!  Good news in the sea of hardships!

CAN YOU HELP VIA THIS PAY PAL BUTTON BELOW? (If you find this button does not work, click here)

Can you help via the Pay Pal “donate” button below?   BEAUTY’S HAVEN FARM & EQUINE RESCUE is our Bucket Fund Equine Charity for August.  No amount is too small for the Bucket Fund.

I will try to keep you updated on these horses and babies.  I can also tell you that the last horse was removed from the negligent farm on Sunday.  So, all are gone to better homes and fosters.  Thank goodness.

It has been a very tough week…