Our good friend and amazing hauler, Marlene Dodge of Valley View Ranch, told me about her mare that has recovered from a total break above the hock. Before Marlene received this horse at her Rescue, the mare and her herd was run over a cattle guard. This mare, along with many other youngsters, had feet small enough to fall through the grate. Clearly, she pulled herself out and kept running – with a fractured leg.
The good news is that a few years later, Marlene can report that the mare healed. Hopefully, this might help someone out there…
Meet ‘Auntie’, a 5-6 year old paint draft cross who was unhandled from a breeder who was running them through a meat auction in Nevada 4-5 years ago.
Here is a view of Auntie’s healed (and disfigured) leg.
She’s just fine!
Amazing.
VALLEY VIEW RANCH – a place of healing for little Auntie.
Valley View Ranch and Rescue is located about an hour from me in King City, CA.
They call this mare, Auntie, because she mothered her mother/sister (?)’s baby.
Here is Auntie’s story given to me via Marlene:
My beautiful wild girls
Ok so I’ve been asked to tell their story.
About four years ago I was asked if we could rescue a herd of horses that had been confiscated by SO in Fallon NV. Many babies. Yearlings preg moms and stallions. We had someone at the auction buy each group that were run in loose. I believe in total there were over 30. When our hauler got there. He just started loading them up and taking them over I-50 to another rescue to hold them until we could get them sorted out.
We received a call from the rescue that was heartbreaking. At least four of the youngsters had horrendous injuries. Obviously from being run over a cattle guard. They had multiple fractures that the “ hauler” hadn’t “noticed” we were all sick and disgusted that 1) the owner had caused such horrible injuries. 2) that the auction had let these poor babies go thru that auction. And 3) that the idiot hauler didn’t even notice the extent of injuries. Needless to say we had those little guys euthanized
One group of ten were coming here so we set about getting our isolation pasture ready and another hauler delivered our group of ten.
These guys were pretty wild and unhandled so we let them just relax together for a week or so before even bothering them at all. We noticed that a few of the mares were bred and that the black mare was always standing against the sorrel, yearling filly. Might be daughter. Sister ? Anyway she shielded her from other horses and by the time we got a really good look at the filly, we noticed that she was walking but really favoring a back leg. It was hard to get close enough to get a really good assessment of her condition because the whole herd would blast away and we didn’t want to cause her more pain. Our dilemma was running her into a small corral thus causing the now healing fracture to become unstable – Just to put her down. Or to wait and see how she gets along…knowing that we would probably have to put her down sometime in the future as she grows, fills out and gets heavier. So we decided that since the black mare was in foal and that when she foals that her attention would be on her newborn, at that time we could separate the sorrel filly and make our final decision then. Well, I guess it’s obvious what happened. But the part that is not obvious is that when the black mare foaled, that colt would nurse from her. But he was completely and totally bonded to the sorrel filly. You would never see the three apart. When he turned two he basically became pretty independent and at two and half he was adopted by the kindest man that keeps him not far from here. So, the sorrel has a complete fracture above the hock from falling through a cattle guard at the breeder’s ranch. But she recovered and is living her best life getting lots of hugs and scratches. And these two have such a message to give about friendship. Love. Family. Loyalty. Not all horses fit exactly into our cookie cutter picture that we have of the perfectly trained riding horse. Some just remind us that we can conquer just about anything with love and patience.
She is approximately 5-6 years old. Gorgeous survivor.
SHE IS ADOPTABLE…
Although Marlene and Valley View Ranch and Rescue are very attached to Auntie, she is adoptable to the perfect forever home. If Auntie is adopted, Valley View Ranch will make room for another, of course. She would only be a pasture pal – and hopefully a pasture pal with her best friend, the black mare.
Auntie and her mother or sister, (no one is sure), Beauty, are very bonded. If they could be adopted together, that would be even better.
Auntie and her sister or mother “Beauty” (no one is sure since they were found at a feedlot). They are bonded and it would be great for them to be adopted together. These ladies are located in King City, CA.
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