That is what I said, NO! And I meant it!
Honestly, we have no room for another horse. Period!
I was actually sending an email telling someone telling them, I can't take their horses right now, because we have no room, but that I would be happy to help in any way I can. I answered the knock at the door and that changed everything.
Then as my friends told me about a small, frail horse just moved to the pasture they lease, about 4 days ago, I had to find a place for him. It had to be immediately. I honestly think he would have died today sometime. Yes he was malnourished when he got to the 35 acre pasture. He was able to at least eat grass but the water is at a creek at the edge of the property. It seems he didn't make it there at all. He was extremely dehydrated, extremely weak. My friends have been giving him a little feed and they did last night, too. Then went around and feed their own horses. By the time all horses were fed, they came back to check on him and he had the grain stuck in his mouth. There wasn't enough moisture in his saliva to move the grain down his throat. They literally had to put their hand in his mouth and remove it. It make me want to cry. It made me say 'Yes'.
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| You can see how dehydrated he is here. |
The land owner called the owner of this horse and gave us permission to take him. I really should have it all in writing but it couldn't wait. We can really get in trouble for doing it all orally but we couldn't leave him there. Today, paperwork will be signed.
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| no muscle, not fat, no energy |
So just before dark, we hooked up the trailer and road up to Jasper. We found him standing in the clearing, head down, but happy to see us. I think he knew we were there to help. We slowly and steadily helped him down the hill to the gate. He wasn't able to walk in a straight line at all. He was that weak. He was covered with rain rot on his skin and has a sunburned nose. Once we got him to the trailer we dosed him with electrolytes to give him a much needed boost.
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| He was an emergency. He would have died. |
One the way home, I spoke with Dr Hugh Worsham from Foxdale Equine, about the condition of this guy. He was on call in case we needed him to come during the night if he wasn't hydrating.
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| Covered in rain rot. |
He road well as we slowly made the trip back to the farm. He was happy to see horses when he arrived. He's really sweet. We gave him a nice cool hosing in the wash rack to get his body temperature down. He had lice, too. The poor guy had no nutrition to fight anything. We put him in a stall with some nice alfalfa hay and a big bowl of alfalfa soup with minerals. He loved slurping on it.
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| This has to be painful. |
He is doing good this morning, bright eyed and whinnying. More soupy mix, more minerals, salts, vitamins and he will slowly recover unless his organs took a toll from the dehydration. The next few weeks will be touch and go. All we can do it our best and offering everything to overcome his poor condition. I am not sure the owner will give him up. Hopefully she will let us at least keep him until he is healthy and get a new start on life. We are time-sharing a stall for him, yes, imagine, Time-share stalls. Hey, it works!
The volunteers already all agreed his name should be Bugg. He has great big, sweet soft eyes that beg for love! He is getting lots of love today!
It is what we do. WE are Rescue!
(That is a collective WE, including you!)
Thank you for your constant help, support, prayers and good thoughts. They keep us going, they keep us strong.
