*Horses in Training:*

Devon     Rescued August 15th, 2007

6+ year old black Shire gelding

Approx. 17.2 hands

Devon came from a slaughter feedlot and is a very handsome, flashy horse.  We are pretty sure he is broke to drive, as he had remnants of shoes on him when we got him and seems to respond well to voice commands.  However, he is extremely spooky around people and needs lots more socialization and desensitizing before he is ready for a home.  We also hope to get him going under saddle before he leaves.

Kaia & Denali     Rescued March 30th, 2006

7+ and 4+ year old cremello mustang-type ponies

Approx. 13 hands

Kaia and her son Denali were rescued off a slaughter feedlot in horrid condition.  They were both extremely emaciated, infested with ticks and lice, and very anemic.  They were wild and have been very challenging to work with.  We suspect they have been abused in the past, or at the very least handled very roughly (as evidenced by the 2 huge homemade "barb wire" brands each of them has).  They are both halter trained now, and Denali will let you trim his hooves.  Kaia is more emotionally damaged than Denali, and still needs a lot more work even though she has already improved tremendously.

Both were adopted out to different homes in 2007 but neither worked out because they just had too many issues.  Once they came back, we decided that we will only adopt them out if we can get them over all of their fear and trust issues and going under saddle.  If they never reach that point, they will stay here at the rescue permanently.

*Horses in Rehabilitation:*

Jezebelle     Rescued May 2nd, 2007

4 year old white Donkey jenny

Poor Jezzie is having just about as horrible a time as it gets...  We rescued her at auction when the only other bidders were a kill buyer and a man who wanted to use her for roping in a Mexican Rodeo.  We could tell she was very sore from badly overgrown and foundered-looking hooves when she went through the ring, but we didn't realize until we got her home that her soreness was also stemming from problems a lot higher up...  The vet came out and confirmed that Jezzie's pelvis is broken (very recently too) in at least 2 places, which in and of itself is by no means a death sentance, as they usually heal pretty well on their own. But complicating the matter is the fact that she is PREGNANT, and pretty far along in her gestation.  If she weren't pregnant, her pelvis could heal with a few months of stall rest and supportive care.  But in Jezzie's case, she has a baby due very, very soon, which adds strain to her pelvis and will most likes refracture it when she gives birth.  It's a horrible situation.

Right now we are keeping her as comfortable as we can with bute and acupuncture treatments for pain.  She is on strict stall rest, and while bored of seeing the same 4 walls every day, she seems to be doing ok...

I have talked with several vets at the CSU vet hospital, and they seem to think that she will physically be able to give birth; it will just be A LOT more painful.  A cesarian section (c-section) is an option we are looking into, but unfortunately it would be very expensive (about $5000-$6000+) and is very dangerous to perform in Donkeys because they apparently have more of a tendancy to hemorrhage and bleed out during surgery. 

For now the game plan is to watch her very closely, and when birth looks immanent take her in to the vet hospital where she can have 24-hour monitering and then assistance when she finally goes into labor.  The vets can administer an epidural (spinal nerve block) to make the actual birth as painfree as possible, and we will keep our fingers crossed that the baby does not get lodged in her pelvis and require an emergency c-section.  If the birth goes alright, then she and the baby can come back home, and through more stall rest her pelvis should begin to heal again, but easier this time without the weight of a baby pressing on it from the inside.

Whew.  Its very stressfull, and we are all praying for a happy outcome to the situation...

Update June 20th:  Jezzie is starting to bag up and produce some milk.  At this point it could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks before she shows signs of going into labor...

Update July 23rd:  Jezzie has a healthy new baby!!  Despite keeping a close eye on her and waiting to wisk her away to the vet hospital before she delivered, Jezebelle pulled a fast one on us and dropped a healthy foal on the ground the morning of Thursday the 19th.   Fortunately, both mom and baby are doing GREAT!!  Jezzie is walking around 100% better, and is even able to trot around after her mischievous baby.  Apparently her pelvis feels MUCH better now that there is no longer the weight of a baby putting strain on it.  Her front feet also don't appear to be bothering her anymore. 

Update Dec. 6th: Unfortunately, Jezzie is no longer doing as well as she was.  About a month after Loki was born she started to act painful in her pelvis again, as well as sore on her front feet.  Loki was weaned a bit early (and sorry, he is already adopted!) since he was growing HUGE and giving his mom a really hard time.  Now we are just taking things one day at a time with Jezzie, and hoping that through more supportive care she will bounce back again.

Update February 24th 2008: We ended up taking Jezzie into the vet for an exam and radiographs in January.  The good news was that her pelvis felt completely healed upon palpations, but the soreness in her front end is the result of the suspected founder that we saw in her when we first got her.  Radiographs confirmed that she has some rotation and sinking of her coffin bones, but we did some corrective trimming and that seems to be helping her.  The vet gave her a decent prognosis, and said that she will probably always have days here and there that are slightly painful, and that she will require long term maintenance through careful trimming and occasional pain medication.  When asked why she seemed so miraculously cured of all her ailments after Loki was born, the vet said that he had seen the same thing happen in other pregnant mares, and that nature and biology has a way of blocking pain in animals after they give birth so they can devote all their energy to their young.  Basically, her body and mind were so focused on Loki for a time that she "forgot" about her pain.  After Loki started to grow up and become more independant, her problems resurfaced.

We are working more to try and get her as sound as possible and hopefully to a point where she could be adopted by a special family willing to invest the extra care in her.  She is a sweetheart and has had such a rough life already.  Fortunately, she seems to be recovering slowly, and is in pretty good spirits most days.

Mercedes     Rescued November 28th, 2006

Approx. 5-7 year old bay/white tri-colored paint mare

Approx. 14.3 hands

Mercedes was originally rescued off the slaughter feedlot by Lauren of Ahimsa Ranch Animal Rescue (where she was known as "Misty") and resided there for a few days before being transferred to Shiloh Acres.

She is a cute and petite, flashy mare with a super sweet and level-headed personality.  We suspect that she is broke to ride, as she has evidence of having had shoes on recently, but whoever did her farrier work in the past has absolutely mangled her front feet!  They are naturally on the upright, "clubby" side, but they have also been contracted by bad trimming which leaves her kind of sore on her front end.  We have had her trimmed up, and will be putting shoes on her front to keep her comfortable and help her hooves to grow out into their normal shape.  The farrier believes that, while her hooves will never be 100% normal in shape, she should be able to be kept riding-sound with proper trimming and perhaps shoes. 

Update March 27th:  I have saddled and bridled Mercedes, and do know for sure that she is broke to some degree...  She did just great with the saddle but was not thrilled about the snaffle bit, so we are having her teeth checked and will try her out with either a different type of bit, or even a bitless bridle to see if she is more comfortable with that.  I did actually get up on her, but did not feel that we should actually do any riding as she was so distracted and upset by the bit in her mouth.  So in the next week or 2, we should  get her bridle situation figured out and actually be able to RIDE her and get her up for adoption!

Update June 20th: Mercedes was doing just great and was just ready to go up for adoption... and then she went lame again on her front feet.  We are still working at getting her sound, and have put front shoes on her which seems to be helping.  More updates to come.

Update Nov. 27th: We are still struggling to try and get Mercedes sound on her front end.  We have switched to trying natural barefoot trimming on her when the shoes didn't seem to be helping anymore. Hopefully with this new approach she will continue to get better.

Update Feb. 24th ,2008:  Well, Mercedes has been doing pretty well soundness-wise (still not 100%, but close!) but she unfortunately had a freak injury where she sliced her right hind leg up running through an electric fence.  While the cut was not bad and only required 5 stitches, she managed to completely sever her extensor tendon.  She is currently on stall rest and wearing a splint to allow the tendon to scar down, and the good news is that the vet said she should recover completely from the injury and be sound on that leg.