OUR MARCH BUCKET FUND HORSES ARE IN CRISIS!

BAD NEWS – THIS JUST IN! Colitis has struck! One Junkyard horse passed and two are very, very ill!

The JUNKYARD 4 (rescued from a horrible junkyard), our Bucket Fund horses for March (story linked here), have had a major setback and things are not looking good!

Sadly for Indy – one of the 4 other junkyard horses rescued at the same time (there were a total of 8 horses in the junkyard who were rescued) who seemed to be OK, passed today. Every possible treatment was given to him last night and people were with him throughout the night. But, his gut just couldn’t adjust and he contracted colitis – either the bad water or the starvation.

And, horribly for BHFER (the Rescue managing them and caring for them), our ‘Little Red’ Junkyard mini gelding AND the adorable mini Junkyard baby ‘Tucker’ are exhibiting the SAME SYMPTOMS as Indy before he passed.

The vet has already arrived and is doing everything he can.

These horses will be watched non-stop and every possible treatment and medicine will be administered. Colitis is a very tough battle! With the wormy and starved pregnant mini mare about to foal, Indy’s treatment and failure as well as little Red’s and Tiny Tucker’s emergencies today and tonight, BHFER really needs our support!!! Please help, if you can!

Please, if you can, donate to the Bucket Fund to help the remaining JUNKYARD 4 including LITTLE RED and BABY TUCKER who are very sick right now!!! They sure need support and prayers.

(Click here to donate)

This is Indy when he was still in the Junkyard...

Heartbreaking image of Theresa from BHFER, kissing Indy 'Farewell' as he passed early in the evening.

: This was their water source in the junkyard!

: Now Little Red is exhibiting the same symptoms and the vet is already doing all he can...

: And sweet baby mini Tucker is also sick! THIS IS AWFUL!; The vets and BHFER are doing everything they can. They are administering every drug possible and every remedy or helpful idea – but we can only wait. Colitis is a very bad, bad disease.; Please, if you can, either pray or donate to help our Bucket Fund horses! The emergency vet bills are enormous and the fight is not over!

Our Bucket Fund horses are in crisis! Click here to donate!

Watch the donation thermometer rise here.

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4 Junkyard horses… Starved while owned by a HAY BROKER! Sheesh. Our March Bucket Fund Charity.

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.

No one could do anything to help them...

Here is the very preggers and skinny Momma, followed by her skinny colt.

A photo from Animal Control...

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!!

They were eating the scraps from the hay container. See the jutting hip bones... this is the only 'shelter' available. The minis stood under it. The Percheron had none.

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.

This is the water source. it is no wonder that they are all sick.

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.

These two were left behind for the owner to make money. She is very pregnant...

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.

This is the very pregnant draft, Faith, who was finally give a small amount of hay... note the yuk water ponds.

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.

This is poor Glory after her bath - so skinny and pregnant

Faith snorfeling grass at the rescue

This is sweet Red with his wormy belly, scours on his backend and a mouth full of food

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!

Red having his surgery with Tucker in the background

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

Tubing Red to get rid of all the worms safely

Glory being checked by the vet - notice her nice grooming!

Tucker receiving much love and a bath

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.

Tucker and Glory wolfing down some feed

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!

The two pregnant mares, finally rescued and grazing together

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

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

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Exploring the bond between equines and their people.

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