In
1998, we took in our very first rescued draft horse, 12 year old Nick
the Clydesdale, and we sucessfully rehabilitated this starved and abused
18.2 hand horse that was on his way to be slaughtered. Nick's
former groom heard we had him and emailed us to tell us he was in a 6 up
hitch accident and had a horse climb on his back and go down. We learned
he was sent to many "trainers" when he refused to go back in harness.
These "trainers" beat him with whips, his own lead rope, chained his
ears and lips, and used an electric prod on him. When he reacted
to this maltreatment, he was given a the death sentence. Horribly
malnourished and with a broken spirit, it took us more than two years to
gentle him and convince him to trust humans again. 12 year old Drake,
Ron & Clairese's youngest son, taught him to ride Western and English
and even neck rein. They won ribbons at many shows, even the Ocala
Draft horse show and a special commendation from 4-H
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Can you be sure this horse is being neglected or abused like this emaciated Belgian? Many people call us when they see horses they feel are in trouble and we welcome your calls too. But how do you know if a horse is abused or neglected? While at HorseSisters THE HORSE always comes first, before you call us or the authorities, you better be able to back up your claims, or you may cause the owner's a lot of grief. If you safely can, and certainly without TRESPASSING, observe the horse at different times of the day to verify if it is being cared for at all. Many aging horses lose flesh and muscle mass that cannot be replaced, just as when humans age. Interview the neighbors to see if you can to find out how old the horse is that you are concerned about. If you can verify that the horses do not seem to be cared for properly with clean water and hay and grain, take a series of photos at different times of the day with confirmations on the date taken. Surprisingly, there is also no law in Brevard County that livestock must have shelter, so while it seems horrid that horses may be standing in the harsh Florida weather, it is not considered cruel or neglectful by the authorities. Make sure you take a photo of the horse's water source, but remember, here in Florida, photosynthesis can make water green in a few days. You must photograph black or green slime on the sides of the tubs, proof they have not been scrubbed clean. Then contact us or your local Animal Control or Sheriff's Department as soon as you can. If you do not get the results you wish, contact a local television station or newspaper. Take care in what you report, in fact, as in other counties, paying for county services is a becoming a reality today. Here in Brevard County, HorseSister's has written a proposal to the County Commissioners asking them to consider a new statute to stop allowing anonymous calls to Animal Control and ticket and charge a caller for making any nuisance or unfounded calls.
Meet Buddy, a story you won't believe!
A gorgeous gaited Morgan donated to HorseSisters, we could not utilize him in our therapy program and traded him to a family in Hog Valley for a cute pony their children had outgrown. Seems drugs came into the adults world and Buddy was neglected. Then this family moved away and left him to fend for himself. Animal Control took him and he went to a loving barn in Cocoa. They found he was once ours and called and we took him back and this is what he looks like now and he is over thirty years old.
This is Clairese riding Buddy before
And on the right is Buddy today, slowly re-fed correctly through more than twelve months to gain his weight back slowly as recommended by all veterinarians used to rescuing and reputable rescues. |
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HOW TO RATE A RESCUE The State of Florida is third in the nation for the number of horse that reside in our state. With over 500 Thoroughbred farms and over 400 other horse ranches, and the high risk of injuries to polo and speed event horses, Florida has thousands of injured, unwanted, and neglected horses right here to fill all the rescue facilities. What does it take to be a rescue? Surprisingly, nothing at all! There are no certifications or regulations governing equine rescues. "Rescues" come and go, and with the 2008 economy, more are closing. Just this summer, four national, established rescues, each in business over 10 years, have closed their doors. But please beware! Some are merely shameless shams, with uneducated people with little or no horse experience looking for a break on their own horse hobby. With public pleas for help on their property and vehicle payments and taxes, to pleading for feed and hay for their own "collection", or finding people to do their horse care and barn chores for free. Even many of those that file for non-profit status with the IRS and the State, have no business sense, cannot produce board meeting minutes or requests for financial statements and or fill their board of directors with family members so no one can scrutinize their actions. This information is public record. Ask to see it all. Ask how much of their donations go to administrative fees and fundraising fees, verses to the program itself. Then there are the "horse brokers" that prey upon people's hearts with threats that the horses will be taken to slaughter if they are not saved by a certain date. These "rescues" then put ransoms on each horse and then overcharge their adopters for them, most especially in shipping fees. There are many "rescues" that ask the public for funds to save horses from feed lots where they are being fattened for slaughter. Sometimes an aged or sick or injured horse is purchased, then hundreds of dollars are spent on care and transportation in a futile attempt to "SAVE" the horse. Then the pleas to the public begin to pay for this gross error in judgment. The quality of life for this horse has to come first, which a reputable rescue will measure and assess. $1000.00 could save the lives of many young, healthy horses. Recently over 100 horses were "rescued" from the auction in New Holland, PA and shipped to a Florida rescue. There are hundreds of horses here in Florida that need us. Rescuing should never be profitable or a way to grandstand in "saving" a horse. Then there are the "rescues" that seem to be unable to survive without constantly begging everyone for assistance. Annual budgets are impossible to maintain when a rescue tries to COUNT on donations to pay expenses. Consider anytime a tragedy strikes our state, our nation or our world. Donors naturally place more importance on helping humans over animals and many animal rescues suffer as a result. Rescues that apply for grants are often asked to respond to the question, "How will you support your endeavors after the grant money is spent?" In 2007 and 2008, even sponsors that have supported rescues for many years have either gone out of business or downsized as a result of the economy. A competent Board of Directors is responsible for securing donors and sponsors constantly to assure the changing needs of the economy and the community. Sadly while it is done often, and just done recently locally, no "RESCUE" should ever adopt to ANYONE who cannot physically or financially care for an equine. If someone must show proof of income for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, a rescue that does not ask for a tax return and last three months proof of income does not care about the equine. Do you believe a person attempting to adopt an equine with absolutely NO experience owning a horse, or a clear understanding of equine behavior and equine health, plus has little confidence in themselves and their ability to make decisions without constantly asking for help, should be the responsible person for the care, feeding and constant training of equine? We don't. Reputable rescues also need an emergency veterinary fund to cover expenses. HorseSisters has $9500.00 for emergency care at any given time in a secure savings account. The American Association of Equine Practitioners, AAEP, has a 54 page tool - "Care Guidelines for Equine Rescue & Retirement Facilities" which we subscribe to and follow. Rescuing is no easy task and even after TEN years, we learn something new with each and every horse we take in. Some horses are beyond much help when we get them and it is all we can do but provide a safe, quiet sanctuary for them to live out the rest of their days in dignity, all the while making them as comfortable as possible. Our Board develops policies and procedures for all aspects of the conduct of our agency, including caring for each equine. We look towards each horse's future and assess their quality of life by developing a treatment care plan. We are careful to consider the costs involved and the end result for the HORSE. Instead of spending $4000.00 on procedures that cannot guarantee the successful treatment or survival of a horse, we believe with $1000.00 we could save FIVE young and healthy horses. HorseSister's understands, as many rescues do, that when we are offered an old or ill horse, the former owner may have done all they can for them.
While we rescue any breed of horses, most know we specialize in rescuing draft horse breeds and long ears too.
Meet adorable LeeRoy, the spotted mule. |
Often called the "Gentle Giants", draft, or "working" horses such as the bay or black heavy horse with hairy or "feathered" feet, the Clydesdales from Scotland, the blond or sorrel bodied with cream manes and tailed Belgians from Belgium, the mighty Percherons from the Perch area of France, who are all born black, but only a small percentage stay black, most go on to become dapple gray and then white with age, or the handsome Shires from Britain, which can resemble Clydesdales or also be white or roan, the hearty Haflinger, a stout sorrel pony from Austria that has a white mane and tale, and the ever popular solid black Friesian, the draft horse of the Netherlands, slightly lighter than the heavy horse and known for their abundant manes and tails. Our own native draft horse is quite rare, the American Cream, a light sorrel, almost Palomino color that is making a popular comeback as a favorite breed. Some countries such as Russia, have many draft horses but because they are not exported, few can recognize them or have much knowledge of their breed. We will attempt to showcase a draft horse breed on our site periodically so we can educate and inform our followers of the "heavy" horses we love so very much.
One of our 2007 draft horse rescues has caused great controversy for HorseSisters. The following story about Gentleman, or G'man as he is called by some, is an attempt for us to verify we took the best care of this horse as possible, based upon the condition he was in when he came to us, as our photos show.
So, meet Gentleman, a black Percheron that came to us March 16, 2007 from another rescue
If you compare this photo to the photos of any of our draft horses, especially Thunder, our black Percheron, you will notice this is a very emaciated and starved draft horse. Despite his long winter coat, his ribs are protruding, as is the angular bones of his upper front legs. His spine is visible, his hip bones jutting up and his loin area completely caved in. His coat is extremely dull, a clear sign of poor nutrition. You can also notice the very poor shape his feet are in by the rounded areas above the tip of his hooves. This area should be a straight line to his first leg joint. This horse has had his heels cut so low, he is walking back on his pasterns, causing a stunted gait. We noticed he also was quite lame, as we could not only hear the popping sounds but see the ligaments rolling over his hocks as he walked. He was very depressed. We could only assume he might have been an Amish plow horse based upon the scars on his face from his bridle and the white hairs on his legs from having his feet chained in stocks so he could be shod to work. Perhaps this horse has lived out his usefulness to the farmer, either in his advanced age, which is so noticeable in his face structure, or his lameness.
Gentleman reportedly came from New Holland Pennsylvania's notorious weekly auction wherein horses no longer wanted are brought and owners hope to get the best possible price for them. Since many bidders are owners of feed lots, the auction has been named a KILL LOT. Horses not bid on by the general public are picked up by these "kill buyers" for pennies and then sold to be slaughtered. While the three foreign owned horse slaughter houses in America were recently shut down by well meaning but misguided legislation, these horses are now being shipped to long distances inhumanely to slaughter plants in Canada and Mexico. Here they die a cruel death to be someone's dinner, be that the French restaurant owners, where "cheval" is still on menus when I visited France last January, or for the Belgians, who have been eating horse for centuries, or to the Japanese, who's equine motto, "from the stable to the table in eight hours" is touted widely and that delicacy and the meat of a young foal is often hundreds of American dollars per plate to the restaurant owner.
Here is the story of Gentleman...
In this 3/16/07 arrival photo, you can clearly see Gentleman's lack of muscle mass.
Very noticeable in his chest and his sides, in the draft horse world, this is called being "slab sided". The wasting of muscle mass is a clear indication that G'man's nutritional needs were not met and his body could only survive on the breakdown of protein in his muscles and tissues. Since starvation cannot choose which tissue protein to take to metabolize energy, his heart and gastrointestinal tissues can also be affected. We were quite concerned of this. On his sad and depressed face, you cannot miss the glaring sign of his advanced age in the deep clefts above his eyes. His eyes have no sparkle, but are lifeless. I have truly not seen a more abused and neglected horse since 1966, when I saved my first rescue "Troubles" the Quarter horse, in Alaska.
When new horses come to our facility, in order to a) protect our other horses and b) to provide the new horse with a safe introduction period to his new caregivers and new surroundings, we keep them in solitude for two weeks. In this photo the day he arrived, as Gentleman is stretching over the fence, you can see the entire bottom line of his ribcage, something I have only seen in horses that have respiratory issues and are often called "heave lines" in those horses. We had no idea what Gentleman was bringing to us. Since Gentleman came from a rescue and I saw he was vetted and received his immunizations, I had trusted we would just have to help G'man slowly put on groceries and help him feel valuable and loved. With our 80 or so volunteers and 42 clients, this is easy for us.
As you change a horse's diet when rescuing starved horses, one thing to watch out for specifically in bringing back any horse back that has been starved is a situation called "refeeding syndrome" when they are given concentrated calories. The affect can lead to heart, liver and kidney failure. After two weeks of carefully feeding Gentleman slowly, we began to allow him to have more alfalfa until he was eating as much as he wanted and walked away from his food. We were also fully aware that this process can take up to six months and even longer for an aged horse.
Here
is a photo of him May 14 in one of the pastures, clearly feeling better.
He is trotting off. You can see his body has thickened with some
muscle definition returning. We had his feet looked at and our
farrier rolled his toes over and his lameness was not so pronounced.
He had been introduced to the lower horses in the herd hierarchy at small intervals and we found he really had seemed to enjoy the youngsters.
Later when we brought the "delta" mare, June, our Belgian, in with him, she took an immediate liking to him. All went smoothly when the two dominant Percherons were added to the pasture. Gentleman enjoyed being near them, as you can see in the photos below.
