EQUINE RESCUE- REHABILITATION, CENTERVIEW MISSOURI

We have a new member in our rescue Family. Harley was well taken care of by his prior family. They just didn't have the heart to put him down as suggested by a vet. He was obviously misdiagnosed.  Sometimes we have to give even the old ones a chance to heal. Harley is a aprox. 27 year old Arabian and as sweet and gentle as can be. He developed a small wound that grew into a huge ugly growth. Since the wound is on his belly right by the stifle it is hard to cover it up. we figured out a contraption and with some Prep. H and hydro culture treatment we have , after 2 days , already seen some positive results.  

ONE OF OUR TEENAGE VOLUNTEERS RECEIVED EDDIE FROM HER MOM AS A BIRTHDAY GIFT.

CONGRATULATIONS LEXI.. A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN

With great sorrow and a broken heart , we had to call our vet to help our old lady to better pasture. She couldn't get up anymore.

She was part of our family for almost 19 years. I have been trying to prepare myself for the last 1.5 years but it doesn't make the heart ache any easier.

My wild heart.

When born as a foal we first run free

then as I grew, with human to be,

I have chased cattle and ran like a wind

Until I was sent to my last human kid.

I had a great life, much loved and cared for,

My last years of senior in green pasture splendor

And so today, my bones were so tired ,

I had 32 years , my eyes gleaming fire.

In my life, I was born first running free,

Now I run with a herd and a steed

in never ending pasture, and again

I AM FREE !!

Natalia Keller

in loving memory of our beloved Mare " Buster lady " 32

Sammy has packed on a lot of weight and finally his spine is not protruding  any longer. He looks huge and intimidating but he is just a sweet and loving guy. He specially loves BJ, my disabled daughter. They have a very special bond and it shows.

 We found out that Sammy is smarter than a whip. Part of the pasture was reseeded just a few month back and the young grass sprouts are showing. We figured, since all the other horses respect the vinyl hot wire even if it has no electric run through , it would be ok just to run 2 strands of it on ea side of the pass over so the horses won't get into the newly reseeded area.

 Everybody but Sammy stood away from it. I noticed the wire being up but Sammy ending up daily in the new seed area enjoying the tasty young grass sprouts. I kept wondering how in the world he got in there.

For 1 week we opened the fence 2-3 or 4 times a day to get him back out into the main pasture.

Then finally today I caught the Houdini. Sammy would lower his head until he felt the top row slide past his neck then he would step with one front hoof onto the lower row to pin it down . Amazingly, one would think he would get caught up once he steps over, but NOOO.

 He would step over with the other front hoof, shift a little to the side and bring one hind leg over , step with the other hind exactly on the lower wire relieving the front hoof. He then marched on letting the upper row slide along his back.

I thought first : " NO WAY, THIS HAS TO BE A COINCIDENCE !! I coaxed him to come back over. ( You all know what the rattle of feed in a bucked does LOL ) Surely enough he did just the same.

We have seen Sammy just pushing against a  fence if the current is not very strong, specially when Sammy wants to be on the other side of the fence.

David enforced the lines today and hooked up 2 more chargers. While he was working, Sammy was dancing around him, watching closely and messing with David by stepping in and out of the new hot fence line.( before it had an electric charge )

So far I have not seen him in the reseeded pasture. I reckon, time will tell. LOL. It is impossible to be stern with Sammy. He is such a clown and a even bigger hugge bug. He makes us laugh and we love him dearly.

Look at new pictures posted of Sammy in our rescue album.

Although I have been around horses all my life, I never had a chance to watch herd behavior, until in the last 3 years. We have been able to show kids as well as parents how the herd reacts when we introduce a new horse. There is :

 The Messenger : this horse is sent to see how assertive the newcomer is.   The rest of the herd stays

                             close together watching.

The Enforcer    :   If the new horse is submissive, the enforcer is sent to start chasing the new one.

                             The game is on. Between the enforcer and the messenger, it is a tag team effort to

                             show the new horse that it shall stay away from the herd. ( for now )

                              The enforcer will keep on chasing until the rest of the herd walks off to graze.

                              Not to be fooled, The enforcer is keeping a constant eye on the newcomer .

                              The new horse wants to follow the her but ea time it comes to close, the enforcer

                             will chase it off again and again.

The Herd   :          Watches and once the order is established, they walk off not giving the newbie

                              the cold shoulder.

It doesn't always work that way. For example , as I was watching habiba  ( our little Egyptian Arabian )

The day I turned her out in pasture, she displayed right away a leader attitude. Tail flagged, prancing and warning with loud snorting over and over.

The herd was clumped together watching with big eyes and one could see how a couple of horses tried to nudge the messenger to go and do its job. Funny but true, the messenger flat out refused as if saying : " Are you nuts, I'm not going close to this one ." Habiba was trotting, prancing and snorting along the fence line. she made sure to be seen and heard by the herd.

Even the enforcer took 2 steps back and didn't attempt to start a chase. It took for Habiba to disappear over the hill in order for the herd to star moving but with caution.

It is truly fascinating to watch. Kids same as parents learn how to read horses body language which comes in handy at lessons.

I can truly say that I am blessed to be able to live in harmony with such wonderful creatures and I hope that our efforts are not wasted and that we make and keep on making a difference in horses and children's life's

Sammy is thriving and almost at this full weight. Maybe another 50 lbs to fill ea side of the spine, but other than that he has become massive. Now he looks HUGE. Sammy is such a enchanting guy who loves to hug and get lots of attention. Everybody loves him and his cuddly ways. Pretty soon we will saddle him up for his first ride since he arrived here. Please watch the short video we made of Sammy. Enjoy !

It never ceases to amaze me how horses can change and express the liking for something they have never done before. At this time we are teaching the advanced riders to jump over small obstacles.

Choosing the right horse was not easy since neither of the horses had jumping experience. Since Gizmo was one of our most reliable horses, we decided to do a test run. Gizmo instantly loved it. Ever since that first time jump, Gizmo has made a enormous change. He always was a little on the plump side but a bit of a belly, just like a old man ( which he really is at 24 ). Now he looks like he has turned 10 years younger and he looks great.

Horses will use a totally different muscle combination in different disciplines. For example : racehorses one retrained for adoption, have to build up muscles they had not used intensively before. It changes the whole conformation visibly.

Gizmo now looks so different that our riding-moms asked me who the new horse is and pointing to Gizmo. His belly is gone, every muscle in his hind is visibly very strong, his shoulder and chest muscles have thickened as well.  He looks GEAT !!

Low and behold, Ginger found her love for jumping too. It doesn't take but a second in the arena and she is ready. It brings a smile out in all of us watching her. The old girl perks up and one can almost see the wooohoooo she must be feeling each time she jumps.

The proof is in the pudding : " you can teach an old horse new tricks.! "

Sammy is the newest member of our family. Sammy has always been very loved. He used to be a therapeutic riding horse and then was given to some folks who love him very much. He displays a slight tendon and weight problem which is easy fixable . Sammy is about a sweet, 16 hand, gentle Tennessee Walker. It didn't take but a soft whinny for him to sneak into all of our hearts. At this time we are concentrating on having him gain weight and he sure is. A 3 acre pasture full of sweet clover and good grass as well as a twice a day sweet feed with weight gainer and bran is what he surely loves. He doesn't even miss the other horses. He is too busy getting spoiled by the kids. They feed him carrots, some cucumber and even my apple tree got raided. Sammy is also making friends with the dogs, cats and the neighbors pig.

Sammy is NOT open for adoption. He has a forever home with us.

Pictures of Sammy are displayed in our photo category.

Our old lady is now 31 and suffering from artheritis. She might be still able to carry the very beginners in a walk untill the rest of her days ( she would not like it otherwise ) but it is time for her to be lazy and just hang out untill she goes off to better pastures. With this we had a need for a lesson horse. Thanks to Julie, we recieved a surrender / donation and her name is Ginger ( view photo album ) Ginger has made herself at home already. Some of our lesson kids came over and gave her much love and lots of treats. Ginger seemed to be in hog heaven enjoying the attention. Ginger was in an accident a few years back and has a slight muscle injury which does not inable her much at all. Ginger is very experienced in western pleasure and will also suit my disabled daughter as a riding horse in small competitions. Due to major snowfall we decided to let ginger out into the big pasture. it took her 5 minutes to cliam the leadership and she is grasing peacefully with the other horses now. We want to extend our gratitude to Julie . The lesson horses make it possible to feed all the rescues. Ginger is not up for adoption and has a home with us for the rest of her life.

Thanks to all that donated something we were able to sell in order to get funds for winter hay.

We did great and hope to do well again next saturday in front of Orscheln in Holden MO.