Category Archives: Updates

A Newsy Friday… Fire injured horses, the 25 Mustangs in the Feedlot – Saved!, and Good News about the Budweiser Clydes!

First of all, I stand corrected. Thank you, kind reader.

The Budweiser Clydesdales were NOT nixed from the circuit altogether, just nixed from the Draft Horse Classic. And, maybe they will be back next year. So, I am sorry for upsetting some of you by not getting clarity from my source at the Draft Horse Classic. My bad and I should know better – I graduated from Journalism school… Sheesh. I’m embarrassed by my gaff.

So, Yay! The Budweiser Clydes still exist – for now… There seems to be much Internet rumbling regarding their future, but no real threat coming from the new owner, InBev. So, I think we are good.

BURNED HORSES – Maya and Northstar

There were two horses who were burned recently.

The first was the mare who saved her baby from the fire. Remember her – Maya? Well, I found out from her owner, Kim, that all of her medical bills were paid (mostly through very generous donations!) and the mare is doing very well! A great ending to a tragic and sentimental story.

If you missed Maya’s story, here it is.

Maya has almost fully recovered! And, all of her medical bills have been paid!

NORTHSTAR…

Secondly, remember the poor gelding, Northstar, who had some sort of chemical poured on his neck and then he was set on fire – by vandals.

Oy.

(shudder).

If you missed the story, here is his website and here is a video that tells the story… (Clearly his family is devoted to his recovery.)

I just heard today that Northstar is doing better… not great, but way better. Northstar can now lower his head all the way to the ground to eat. And, he’s eating and drinking regularly. They’ve cut his pain meds.

If you’d like to follow his progress, here is a link to his website. His owner and vet keep a fairly regular blog here so it is a good source.

Here is the most recent update:

9/25/12-“Northstar is stable and being a wonderful patient. We are very
encouraged at yesterday’s dressing change in that the area where bone is exposed is almost covered with healthy granulation tissue. After some bone debridement, for which Northstar was a champion, we are hopeful that by the start of next week we should have

covered the bone completely. What’s even more impressive is that we didn’t even need to sedate or twitch him for this procedure; he is allowing us to treat his wounds with only bribes in the form of Apple Wafers :) As always, we are pleased with his progress, and even though baby steps are being made each day, we are seeing real and tangible improvement. His cells are growing in the lab and as each day passes we are getting closer to considering skin grafts and potentially cell based therapy. We wish to thank everyone for their support of Northstar, but also the team here at OSU. It is truly appreciated.” Sam Hurcombe
BSc BVMS MS DACVIM DACVECC

Poor Northstar… some sicko poured a chemical on his body and lit him on fire. He is recovering but it will be a long road. His family loves him dearly.

….Here is a link to the newest story from NBC.

And here is an excerpt:

“Northstar is recovering well. It’s truly amazing that every challenge he has faced so far he has overcome,” said Dr. Samuel Hurcombe. “We have also seen an improvement in how he moves around. He was previously unable to reach all the way down to the ground because of pain. As of two days ago, he has been able to graze from the ground seemingly with ease and without significant discomfort. Most importantly, Northstar’s personality is so endearing to all who work with him. He still has a wonderful attitude, eats well, enjoys treats whenever he can get them and is so tolerant of all we need to do with him. On a personal note, I am touched by the community support to Northstar and his owners by all who know of his story. This is truly a remarkable horse and the power of positivity cannot be discounted in a case like this.”

This is a recent photo of Northstar and you can see the deep burns on his face.

ALL THE MUSTANGS ON THE FEEDLOT WERE SAVED ON TUESDAY! – 23 ADULTS AND 7 FOALS!

GREAT NEWS! Through sheer willpower and human unification, all 30 terrified wild horses from the Virginia Range in Nevada – who were quietly captured and put directly into a feedlot for slaughter – were saved on Tuesday!

This is one of the foals who was rescued on Tuesday!

This is Sandy. She is one of the newly captured wild horses who was narrowly saved from ‘straight to slaughter’ with 29 other herdmates from the Virginia range.

Not only that, they were transported out of that horrible place and temporarily housed immediately.

Here is a video of the group in their safe pen…

Wow!

The below news story has a ton of information – all about the Nevada Range Horses, how to help and who is in charge.

This group is amazing. They’ve banded together to rescue their native horses – in hours. They had only hours! Click image to learn all about them and how to help or follow the progress!

Our Bucket Fund money will most likely go towards their vetting and food. 30 horses is A LOT to maintain. So, every drop really helps. THANK YOU for supporting these horses via the Bucket Fund!

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

Help Support the 30 Virginia Range mustangs who were just rescued this month and need groceries! Click image to read the story and donate!

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Your purchase with Riding Warehouse through this link helps the Bucket Fund!

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

Update on Finn and his socks, Knock-kneed Hope and Baby Autumn!

Today has turned out to be an update day…

Actually, today is a freezing-cold day inside the house. Do you ever have those days? The house is colder inside than it is outside? I am so bundled up today that I scared the Fed Ex guy. He was in shorts when he came to the door and I looked like Nanook of the North. Hubby told me that I look like a muppet. I’m not sure what he meant by that but I think it had to do with my fuzzy red scarf.

Anyway, today is update day!

Hubby says I look like a Muppet in my red, fuzzy scarf. I think I scared the Fed Ex guy...

FINN AND HIS SOCKS

So after my disastrous ride last week (linked here), I needed to take Finn out again by ourselves. Of course, he was perfect. Well, not p-e-r-f-e-c-t but pretty close. I mean, he still had his ‘are you sure we should go on that trail’ moments as well as his ‘I’m invincible horse’ spasms. But all in all, a pretty good day!

However, today, it wasn’t all about the ride. I was supposed to be demoing Cavallo socks. Actually, their technical name is The Cavallo Wrap. But, they work like socks inside Cavallo boots – or any boot, I’d imagine.

Cavallo wraps (socks)

I wanted to get socks for him because in my mind, socks would make wearing boots more comfortable for a horse. To me, the socks would keep little trail dirt items from falling inside the boots and irritating his skin or hooves. I also think they would help keep the boots from rubbing against his skin. Dunno, just seemed logical to me. So, we had a pair to try.

During the ride, all was fine. Finn never slipped or fussed. He was happy. And, as I’ve said before, he goes downhill with much more confidence in boots. So, that’s all good.

But, when we got back to the trailer, he was stomping his feet.

Unusual.

When I took off the boots he was still stomping. I took off the socks and he stopped.

I think they bugged him. I don’t know if they were hot or too tight or what… So, I immediately rode him without the socks but with the boots (he was fine – not stomping) and I also have to ride with the sock/boot combo again to see if he stomps again.

Hmmmm.

On a happier and somewhat embarrassing note…

Finn in his Cavallo wraps and Sport boots

I EMBARRASSED POOR FINN…

As we were coming back to the trailer (Finn in his socks and boot and me in my mismatched riding apparel), we came across a horse and rider out of a fairytale romance book.

I swear.

I looked up and there was this beautiful, sleek black Fresian mare carrying a very handsome ~~prince~~ man in tall black boots and perfect equestrian attire. They were prancing in the parking lot in the way that only Fresians can. Gorgeous picture.

I wanted to hide. Finn wanted to hide. Instead, I took off his tack and threw on a matching and clean jacket.

So embarrassing.

As I emerged from my trailer, Fairytale Duo was also untacked and walking around to cooling off. I asked if I could take a photo of his lovely mare and the rider said yes as he ducked behind her. Here they are.

She was very pretty. He is standing behind her.

UPDATE ON KNOCK-KNEED SEPTEMBER BUCKET FUND BABY, HOPE!

I checked in on Hope (Hope’s story here) and they say that one leg is healing really well and is almost straight! The other is coming around more slowly which is to be expected.

Knock-kneed Hope was left in a field for the coyotes to eat before she was rescued.

After surgery, Hope's right leg is almost straight and her sores are nearly gone!

The great news is that she is running and bucking!! This is a first! Her sores are almost all gone and she can lay down and stand without having to flop and fight. The folks from Alder Hill say that she runs up to them every morning!

This is from the Alder Hill Farm FB page:

Our lil filly is doing great after her surgery a few weeks ago! She is running, bucking and kicking every morning at grain time!

Hope will probably have one or two more surgeries before she is good to go. But these changes so far are remarkable! She is truly a happier little filly!

Hope playing with her buddy. Her right leg is so much better that she can now run and buck!

UPDATE ON AUTUMN

Autumn is doing better! (Her story is linked here.) Autumn is our Bucket Fund filly for November. She had a very rough start to life, born and orphaned in an auction yard, left alone for 18 hours without food… but finally rescued by Hope For Horses.

Here is the report from Jenny, her human mom at Hope for Horses:

I have some great pictures from this afternoon that you can put up on Monday (or sooner if you like). Autumn has had two good days in a row! She still is fighting diarrhea; we’re thinking she may have an allergy to the milk replacement so are switching her to half goat’s milk with an eye toward transitioning her off formula altogether. She has a slightly elevated white cell count which indicates there’s some sort of low grade infection working, but she was in high spirits when we visited this afternoon.

Autumn is pan feeding! Yay! (Since she is a preemie, her sucking mechanism was not working well...)

They were feeding when we arrived, and had turned her into the full stall and she actually nickered at us as we approached her door. So cool! She scampered around a bit while we were in her stall, kicking up her heels for the first time in her little life. I would say that developmentally she’s about where a four-seven day foal would be (she’ll be two weeks old tomorrow). So we are cautiously optimistic at this point.

Look at her tiny nose all curled up!

(We are hoping to find a Nurse Mare however) Nursing mares at this time of year are hard to come by, but two people have come forward. One we have already had to reject after talking with her vet cause it’s a young mare that’s already a bit hard to handle. The other mare is very experienced, having had 11 foals. She’s a Trakehner which means she will be ginormous next to Autumn. The challenge there is that her baby is self-weaning as we speak, so her milk is starting to dry up.

She's in a bigger stall now that the IVs are out.

Another thought is to contact a PMU farm in Canada to see if they have any possibilities. We’re scrambling a bit to make it happen. Worst case we will pair her with one of the older, very stable mares in our barn and continue pan feeding her on goat’s milk.

I will keep you all posted! If you’d like to donate to Autumn’s ICU expenses, click here. Thank you!