I thought I'd rise to your challenge. I'm a strong believer in helping out where ever you can. We have "rescued" or helped several animals. We refer to them collectively as our "used animals" - pets that other people didn't want or couldn't use. It turns out that, by taking a chance on other people's rejects, we've assembled quite a collection of wonderful and loving pets.
I know your emphasis was on horse rescues, but I really believe that people should help where they can. If you don’t have the time/resources to save a horse, then save a cat, a dog, or a bird. There are always animals that need help and, it seems, now more than ever.
Anyhow, I'll start with the Terrorists. (Yeah, I'm the lady with the Terrorist donkeys). Fiona (aka Terrorist #1) was acquired from an equine rescue. She'd been there precisely one day. She was actually in good shape and was only sent to a rescue because her people were elderly and could no longer care for her. She is a perfect example of people understanding their limits and doing the right thing before the situation gets out of hand. That leads us to Terrorist #2. (Long story short....) It turns out that Fiona is a shockingly well conformed little donkey and I'd always wanted a baby, so we took her to a wonderful breeder to have her bred. (Thus the origins of Bailey (aka The Antichrist) who will be my performance/driving donkey in another two years.) The Donkey breeder had a Jennet that was left with her by her owners because she was un-breedable and needed to find a new home. So Chloe (aka Terrorist #2) came to live with us. Chloe started out as a very shy little girl. Now she'll take the carrots out of your hand and run you over to get a scritchin'!
Fiona - AKA Terrorist #1
Chloe - AKA Terrorist #2
Bailey at 3 weeks old (AKA the Antichrist) - how adorable!
Then there's the used cat, Janga. He's a Bengal. He belonged to a little old lady who'd had him declawed, which (for those who don't know about declawing) has a tendency to make them bite. Well, she didn't want a biting cat (at least not one that weighed 20 pounds!) so she sent him to the Humane Society. He was going to be put down as he was "hostile" and "antisocial". (If you don't understand Bengals, they can be misinterpreted that way.) Fortunately, as a last chance, the HS called a Bengal rescue and they took him in and fostered him until we found him. Janga is now a loving lap cat who, if you're not paying attention while he's playing, will bite you occasionally. We just pay attention. :-)
And then there's Bandit.... An ex-breeding dog, scheduled for a date with a bullet because he isn't trustworthy with strangers. But we knew him and he liked us, so home he came. He can't run loose on the property like our other heeler, but he has his own run and we spend time with him every day. He'll have a home with us until he passes.
Finally, there's Remedy. She is our rescue that was closest to death. As a 3 year old, 15.1 hh mare, TWO MEN locked arms, picked her up, and loaded her in a trailer because she was too weak to walk in on her own. She was most definitely in the same league as Faith - the people who saved her were pretty certain they were bringing her home to die in peace. But she didn't die – with a lot of antibiotics and hay, she pulled through. We bought her after she'd gained about 150 or so pounds. When we went to look at her, she was all head (it looked HUGE!) and too much white. But she was a pretty mover, so we decided to “take a risk” on her. (She was already safe from starvation, so we didn’t have to worry about that.) All we did after we got her home was feed and love her. I've included before and after pictures. The pictures don't do her justice. You can see her backbone, but you can't see how prominent it was and how wasted and skinny her neck was. Like Faith, she had a thick layer of hair, which was her last defense against the cold of starvation. But, after several months of food, she muscled back up. It took 6 months to get her looking decent. She had problems with tying up for a while after that - we think it was due to a chemical/mineral imbalance from the starvation. But she got over that too. Now she's a nice brick of a horse that you can put anyone on. All she needed was food and love. We're so glad we took the “risk” on her!
Thanks for everything you do for Faith, and for (more importantly) teaching kids about the consequences of animal abuse and neglect. It's one thing to fix it, it's quite another to arm the next generation with the tool to PREVENT it.
:-)
-Heather from Gaston, Oregon
Remedy, before and after
Remedy doing a drill routine (she is in red):
Heather, all of your animals look wonderful - great job! Remedy is quite a nice horse. She's pretty, a great mover and versatile - what a wonderful result for a rescue! I love the picture of her at the show - she is nicely turned out and it shows how much time and effort you have put into her. And those donkeys surely cannot be as deviant as you say - look how cute they are! :-) Keep up the great work, and thanks for the compliments!
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