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Lukas Rescued December 4th 2007
 
6-7 year old black Percheron gelding
19++ hands
This massive horse escaped slaughter by the hairs on his nose... When we found out about him, he was already loaded onto the slaughter truck and headed for Canada. As we have a special soft spot in our hearts for draft horses here at Shiloh Acres (especially the BIG ones) we managed to work a deal with the feedlot owner to have him returned to the feedlot instead of being delivered off the truck at the slaughter plant.
Lukas is an incredible example of the draft breed, and we are overjoyed to have saved him. By some bit of luck we were able to peice together his history even though we knew absolutely nothing about him when we first got him. It turns out he has a very interesting past, and was even owned at one time by a large, nationally known company famous for its driving team of draft horses...
Lukas is well broke to drive and ride, and we look forward to doing alot of both with him in the future. We are a bit concerned about his soundness on one front leg as the hoof is noticably different and contracted compared to the other... So far we haven't noticed any obvious lameness, but we are keeping a close eye on him and will probably get him in for radiographs soon just to be safe.
Mia Rescued June 10th, 2007
 
Long yearling sorrel QH filly
Approx. 13 hands
We found Mia on a slaughter feedlot, where she had been abandoned with another filly because of their severe deformities. Her friend, Joslynn, had to be euthanized because her deformity was untreatable and causing her enormous amounts of pain. We thought we may have to euthanize Mia as well, but the initial signs of discomfort and lethargy were only the result of a bad case of strangles. After she recovered from the strangles, she didn't show any signs of pain and has been happy and playful like any other horse her age.
As seen somewhat in the photos, she was very strange deformities to her spine and rib cage. The vets are not sure if it is the result of a birth defect, or a bad injury sustained when she was VERY young (she may have been stepped on by another horse?...). Regardless, it is very bizzare looking and she definitely will never have a career as a riding horse. We keep an eye on her to make sure she continues to grow OK and be pain-free. Once she reaches adulthood, we may consider the possibility of training her to drive, since she motors around just fine and is sound. That of course would only happen if we were 100% positive she could handle driving without it causing her any problems or pain.
Mia may be offered up for adoption in the future once we are assured that she will mature to adulthood problem free. Until then, she gets lots of love and attention here from both us humans, and her buddies Caden (below) and Macy. We consider her to be a good mascot that reminds people that even if someone/something is different, they can still lead a happy, fullfilling life.
Caden Rescued April 16th, 2007
Approx. 13+ year old roan/white Clydesdale gelding
Approx. 17.2 hands
Caden was saved from the slaughter feedlot along with his teammate Roman (another roan Clydesdale) thanks in part to some generous donations. We pulled him fearing that he would have to be euthanized...
Caden was 3-legged lame, and radiographs showed that his left front leg was an absolute mess: the suspensory ligament was pretty much demolished, leaving his pastern and fetlock joints sub-luxated (out of joint), which in turn led to severe arthritis. He also had several bone spurs along the area, and a few had broken off and were floating free inside his leg. We decided to try a few treatment options, despite a poor prognosis. The vet injected what was left of his joints with H.A. and cortisone, and put him on a daily regimen of bute. After about 3 weeks of no improvement we sadly decided to have him euthanized...and the morning of the appointment he was miraculously walking around and grazing in the pasture like his leg barely bothered him at all!
So for now we just take each day as it comes, and hope that his treatment will keep working for a while so he can just hang out and be horse. His leg definitely won't hold up forever...but until then he will get lots of love and treats.
Update February 24th, 2008: Caden is doing so miraculously well that he may just make it to a ripe old age after all! He no longer requires bute for pain, and he walks pretty much sound. He will even voluntarily trot and canter a bit out on the field for fun. He is definitely "off" at those gates, but the fact that he chooses to run makes us think that he must not be in much pain anymore :-)
Chessa Rescued September 26th, 2006
25+ year old bay Thoroughbred mare
Approx. 16.2 hands
Chessa was rescued off a feedlot with a group of other TB's. She is very well trained to ride, extremely sweet, and FULL of personality. She is a lovely horse that we were really looking forward to getting placed into a good home... but it has been a constant battle to try and get her to (and maintain) a healthy weight. After trying every trick in the book, we finally had bloodwork done on her and it reveals what the vet strongly suspects is cancer. She still is full of spunk and seems to feel great, but she won't gain weight (but fortunately doesn't seem to lose any more past a certain point) and her legs have started to get some fluid build-up in them.
For now we just watch Chessa and let her hang out and enjoy the company of the other horses. She absolutely adores Lukas (below) and I think he helps to keep her feeling young and spry :-)
Even though she doesn't always look very good, as long as she feels good we will keep fighting for her. Hopefully she will have much more quality time left.
Lucian Rescued January 5th, 2005
 
Approx. 20 year old black Percheron gelding
16.2 hands
Lucian has been a long and very rewarding rehabilitation case and he is very dear to our hearts. We tried placing him up for adoption for awhile, but found that we just couldn't stand the idea of parting with him.
Lucian supposedly was a carriage and sleigh horse in a Colorado ski resort town until he was retired and then neglected for many years. We rescued him from a kill buyer in the winter of 2005, and he was very underweight with severely neglected hooves, and a very unfriendly and untrusting attitude. After having his feet trimmed (with the use of sedation and an electric saw) and getting good food and lots of love, he has turned into a cuddly, sweet horse who loves nothing more than a good scratching from his people.
He is broke to ride, but due to his advanced age and moderate arthritis from years of hard work, he spends most of his time as a much-loved pasture potato.
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