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Shiloh
Our first official "rescue" horse, and the inspiration for all that has followed. Read more about Shiloh's time with us on the "Shiloh's Story" page.
Moose July 2004 to July 2005
Moose was a very handsome, distinguished looking older Percheron who was bought by a kill buyer at a local sale barn in July of 2004.  He had endured a long journey from New York, from auction to auction making his way towards slaughter, because he had suffered a severe hip injury while working as a city carriage horse. I saw him at the sale barn as he was being picked up by the kill buyer, and after looking in his eyes I could not let him go to the fate he was headed towards. I convinced the kill buyer to sell him to me, and with a combination of medical treatment and acupuncture, he lived out the last year of his life mostly free of pain as a very much loved "pasture potato". When his condition worsened and his quality of life become questionable, we had him humanely euthanized on July 1st of 2005. Moose was one of the most amazing animals I have ever known, and I will miss him terribly.
Kassia August 2005
Kassia came from a kill auction in August of 2005. She was a beautiful little bay registered yearling Quarter Horse filly. Sadly, her front legs were so twisted that she already had severe arthritis, and some of the tendons under stress in her fetlocks were starting to tear. After confirming with the vet that there was nothing we could do to improve her quality of life, we had her humanely euthanized.
Chenoa October 2005
This poor mare went through the auction on October 19, 2005, and to date is still one of the saddest cases I have ever seen. She was so crippled and in so much pain that the thought of her living any longer like that, let alone make the arduous journey to the slaughterhouse she was destined for, was enough to make one cry.
This mare was unfortunate enough to have been born with deformities to her front limbs (which, according to the vet that euthanized her, might have been improved with prompt medical attention at a young age) and she was left to suffer her condition for 3 long years. Photos alone do not show how awful her legs were, nor how she struggled simply to walk the shortest of distances. In addition to having a severely twisted, arthritic right front limb and a twisted and "clubbed" left front, she also had contracted tendons in her back legs, which left her walking on the toes of her hind hooves and struggling to maintain balance. While her short life has ended and she is no longer in pain, she should never have been allowed to get to that point of suffering in the first place.
Champ Rescued & Euthanized 2/06
 
This little sorrel stud colt went through a local auction on February 8th in absolutely deplorable condition. He had such severe contraction of the digital flexor tendons in his front legs that he spent half of the time trying to balance on the toes of his hooves, and the other half actually rolled over and walking on the front of his hooves and pasterns. The poor little baby could barely manage to walk a few feet. This was most likely a birth defect, or a condition that developed early on in his life, and with prompt medical attention he might have been saved...But nothing was done to help him, and his previous owners left him in this painful condition for way too long before disposing of him at auction where he most certainly would be bought for slaughter. He was humanely euthanized by our vet since it was too late to do anything to help him.
Henry Rescued & Euthanized 6/06
Henry was a handsome old boy who was very hard to say goodbye to because he was just so sweet. He was very badly foundered, as well as arthritic and suffering from old leg injuries that hadn't healed right.
3 Unnamed Geldings Rescued & Euthanized 6/8/06
These first 2 geldings were part of a large group of horses that had apparently been shipped up to the US all the way from Mexico on their way to the slaughter plant in Illinois. They had been languishing on a feedlot for a few days when we came across them, and were scheduled to ship out to slaughter the next day. The sheer amount of neglect and injuries seen in this group of horses was staggering and heartbreaking. We suspect that several of the horses had been used in Mexican rodeos for the cruel sport of "horse tripping". These 2 gelding were the worst of the bunch, and suffering horribly. Both of these horses were very sweet, which made their situations even harder to bear. We felt certain that they would not survive the grueling trip to the slaughterhouse, so we bargained for their lives so that we could put them out of their misery.
Gelding 1:
Emaciated old black gelding with numerous infected wounds, as well as neurological problems (possibly from a stroke) that left him barely able to stand upright, and with his tongue perpetually hanging out.
Gelding 2:
 
Older bay gelding, with numerous SEVERE wounds on his legs and face that were infected. His right hind leg (with a large gangrenous wound) was actually broken, and his front two legs looked like they had been broken or dislocated in the past. He could barely walk, as he basically only had 1 "good" leg that wasn't extremely painful. From all the leg injuries, we suspect he may have been used for "horse tripping"...
Gelding 3:
This old gelding was a "downer", and couldn't be loaded on the truck for slaughter because he was simply too weak to even stand up on his own. He was very skinny, and had a badly infected, very deep cut to one of his fetlocks that went right into the joint. The bones of the joint were broken, and the infection had started to eat away at his whole leg. He was hurting so much that he couldn't tolerate standing even for short amounts of time. You could see in his face that he had given up.
Courage Rescued 6/24/06 Euthanized 6/25/06
This precious little baby was born on a feedlot to a very wild mare before she shipped to slaughter. The mare ended up rejecting this little foal and refusing to let him nurse. The feedlot owner was kind enough to just give him to us since it was obvious that he was doing very poorly, but it was too late to save him. He had gotten very little (if any) colostrum (the first antibody-rich milk that a mare produces for her foal) from his mom, and therefore bacteria had invaded his body that he was not strong enough to fight off. He became septic very quickly, and we had the vet out to humanely euthanize him. For the short time that we did have him, he was a loving baby who sought out the attention from us that his mother didn't give him. When he was put to sleep, he was surrounded by people who truly loved him.
Thank you to Jackie and Marty for their support and help with this little baby throughout it all.
Kodi Rescued 6/23/06 Euthanized
Absolutely stunning, red dun paint mare who was saved from the feedlot and placed in a wonderful home where she should have lived happily ever after... Sadly, she suffered a very severe colic several months later and had to be euthanized. Even sadder was the fact that she had been confirmed pregnant after getting bred by a stud out at the slaughter feedlot. Our deepest condolences go out to her owner, Amber. We hope everyone can take comfort in the fact that Kodi was VERY well loved during what ended up being the last months of her life.
Sage
Bella Rescued 5/24/06 Euthanized 5/25/06
Bella was suffering so much with an ailment that could have been managed, or even prevented to some degree with the proper care if caught early enough.
Bella arrived at a local auction with Athens, a matched Clydesdale gelding, and was on her way to being bought for slaughter. She had a very unique face like that of a sad puppy dog, due to the fact that her ears were permanently bent and flopped down from being frostbitten in the past. Like Athens, her hooves were extremely neglected, and she had horrible urine scalding down the backs of both hind legs due to her heavy, matted tail that she was too weak to lift up out of the way when she urinated. Both those issues we could have treated...but it was her severe case of "heaves" which we could not fix that ultimately led to us making the decision to have her euthanized. Her lungs were so damaged and filled with mucus that her body was working extra hard just to try and get the oxygen she needed. At rest, her heart was beating at 81 beats per minute (when it should have only been around 20-30 beats per minute) and she had lost weight from burning huge amounts of calories just from the effort that it took to try and BREATHE. We are so sad that we were unable to help her more, but at least she had a peaceful, dignified end to her life.
Neveah Rescued Passed away
Beautiful Perchern mare with the longest set of dreadlocks ever seen on a horse (all the way down to her knees!) and hooves that were badly overgrown. We rescued her off the feedlot and were looking forward to getting her back into shape after her obvious years of neglect, but she suddenly and unexpectedly passed away the second night at the rescue with no warning whatsoever. A necropsy was inconclusive but showed that she may have had a case of salmonella...
Foundered Morgan Mare Rescued & Euthanized 9/13/06
This poor little mare was on a slaughter feedlot in absolute agony from a bad case of founder. We suspected all along that there was nothing that could be done to save her, and thanks to the generous donations from some very caring individuals, we were able to pull her from the feedlot and have her euthanized. Afterwards, the vet did a quick exam on her and confirmed our worst fear: her coffin bones had begun to sink right out the bottom of her soles. The amount of pain she was in is unimaginable. Thankfully we were able to help end her suffering
Red Dun Filly Rescued 9/13/06 Passed away 9/16/06
This filly was pulled from a feedlot with a severe case of pneumonia. The vets gave her a poor prognosis, but we decided to try and treat her anyway with heavy duty anitbiotics back at the rescue. She seemed to improve and feel much better over the next few days...but unfortunately she passed away quietly during the third night.
Stella Rescued & Euthanized
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Stella was an older bay mare given to us when she broke her leg out on a slaughter feedlot. We had her immediately euthanized, and upon further examination afterwards the vet found that she had a spiral fracture that ran up the length of her hind leg. As sweet and well behaved as she was, it was likely that she had been someone's beloved horse at one time. It's sad to think that her life ended in such a horrible tragedy.
Kelly
(no photo available)
Kelly was an older Buckskin mare awaiting slaughter on a local feedlot. She was given to our rescue after she became stuck in a mud bog for several days. The feedlot owner pulled her out with a tractor and she was severely dehydrated, thin, and stiff with swollen legs when we went to pick her up. On the way back to the rescue with her, she went down in the trailer and was unable to get back up. It was very apparent that she was colicking and bloating. The vet met us at the rescue when we arrived, and despite our efforts to help her up and lots of drugs to help her with pain, we could see that she was going downhill and was not going to come out of it. She had simply been down in the mud for too long, so we euthanized her right there in the trailer.
Hoss Rescued & Euthanized 6/8/07
(no photo available)
Old Appaloosa gelding
Hoss was given to us off a slaughter feedlot, and was completely blind. Normally we would be able to deal with that (as we have had other blind or mostly blind horses that get along just fine), but Hoss had unfortunately had a hard run in with a fence while out at the feedlot and had shattered several of the bones in his face, including his cheek and eye socket. The vet didn't think we could fix him up again, so we unfortunately had to euthanize the poor old guy.
Joslyn Rescued 6/8/07 Euthanized 6/9/07
QH filly
Joslyn was dumped off at a slaughter feedlot (along with Mia, on our "Permanent Residents" page) because she was deformed and therefor considered "worthless". Sadly, her leg deformity was so severe (and untreatable) that it caused her quite a bit of pain which would only get worse as she continued to grow. She got to spend the night at our rescue in a nice clean stall with her friend Mia, and get brushed, babied, and fed all sorts of yummy treats. She was very skinny as well, and you could tell she really enjoyed the night of good food. We said our goodbyes to her the next morning, and had her humanely euthanized.
Honey Rescued & Euthanized 9/17/07
Yearling filly
We pulled Honey and Sarge (below) from a slaughter feedlot to spare them the suffering of being shipped to slaughter in their horrible conditions. Fortunately, the feedlot owner was kind enough to give them to us as it was obvious they were in pain and would most likely not even survive the trip to Mexico...
Honey had several different issues, the worst of which was a very severe wound in her left flank that was badly infected and went all the way into her stomach cavity. It pained her so much that she could barely manage to stumble around, and every step she took caused fluids from her intestines and stomach to ooze from the wound. She also had neurologic damage and paralyzed facial nerves that left half of her face droopy and unresponsive. She didn't appear to be very tame, but allowed us to get a halter on her and give her some comfort in her last moments at the vet's office.
Sarge Rescued & Euthanized 9/17/07
 
Middle-aged Palomino gelding
Sarge was housed on a slaughter feedlot, where he was one of the few horses set aside to resell at auction because he was such a good riding horse. He was never supposed to go to slaughter, but after he broke his leg while at the feedlot, that became his fate. We came upon him after he had been at the feedlot for several days and was in very bad shape. We had no idea how we would be able to get him onto the trailer and to the vet's, as his leg was so swollen, infected and painful that he could no longer bear weight on it. We got the trailer as close to him as we could, and he surprised us all when he actually PULLED me to the trailer and hopped on, all without any prodding. He seemed to want nothing more than to leave the feedlot right away...
There was obviously no saving his leg, as it had a bad compound fracture and a large splinter of bone was protruding from the skin. He was so sweet and brave despite his pain, and the fact that he had shoes on and had obviously been well cared for in the past made it all the more sad that his life ended so horribly.
Sister Rescued 5/25/07 Euthanized
18 year old Shire mare
Sister came to us from Texas, and had the worst case of scratches (a bacterial and fungal infection that commonly afflicts the legs of draft horses) that both we and our vets had ever seen... It was obviously a chronic condition that had been going on for many years, as she had layers and folds of scar tissue and fibrosis on her legs (especially in the hind end) that severely limited her joint mobility. Despite keeping her feathers shaved off, her legs clean, dry and medicated, as well as being on antibiotics for months at a time, the scratches sores would never heal because there was just so much scar tissue and the folding of the skin didn't allow for any airflow or circulation. We worked very hard on her, and she just never got any better. She was thin when we got her as well, and we could never get her to put on weight because of the stress her body was going through to constantly try and fight the infections.
We finally made the decision to euthanize her as she was in constant pain, and the vet agreed that she would probably never improve. The vet also suspected that she might have an underlying disorder that affected her immune system and made it hard for her body to fight off the infections in the first place.
It was very frustrating, because had she received proper care and maintenance early on when she very first developed the scratches, she probably never would have gotten this bad.
Serafine Rescued 6/12/07 Euthanized 1/16/08
 
5 year old grulla Spanish Mustang mare
Serafine came from a local auction where we outbid the kill buyers for her. She was a stunningly beautiful mare, who unfortunately was very badly foundered. We worked with vets and farriers for many months to try and bring her back from it, but after some initial improvements it became clear that she would never get to a point where she could live at a managable pain level. We sadly had to euthanize this wonderful horse in January 2008.
Millie Rescued 6/21/06 Euthanized 1/30/08
 
30+ year old Appaloosa mare
Millie, to this day, is still one of the skinniest, still living horses we have ever come across. We rescued her at auction in 2006, where she weighed in at 660 pounds for a 15.2 hands horse. She was still spry and  energetic, and the only problem was that she didn't have many teeth left so she couldn't really eat hay any longer. After a few months on senior and pelleted feed, she was back to a normal weight and we were able to ride her. Mostly, though, she just hung out in the pasture and enjoyed retirement with her friends.
We don't know for sure what happened, but we suspect she had either a stroke or a heart attack the evening of January 8th, as she was up and eating from her feeder one minute, and the next layed out on the ground and fading fast. We attempted to get her back to her feet, but it was obvious that she just couldn't do it...so we called the vet out to euthanize her. We were stunned by the unexpected loss of one of the most colorful personalities here at our barn. She will be greatly missed.
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