|
BLUEBONNET EQUINE HUMANE SOCIETY |
|
|
Horses |
2006 Rainbow Bridge Equines
|
Rainbow Bridge 2/25/2006
1985 Black Paso Fino mare
Camille was a beautiful 20 year old, Paso
Fino mare. She was donated to BEHS by a children's ranch. She
had been given to them, but she was too hot for the children to
handle. When she arrived at BEHS, she was severely foundered and
suffered from undiagnosed pain in her hind legs. She was also
very scared of people and she often acted out violently when she
felt threatened. Although she was scared of adults, she loved
little girls and would hang over the fence, begging for
attention, whenever one was around. Her foster home patiently
worked with her, and over time her feet began to heal and her
attitude began to change. She lost her wariness and began to
trust people. She even learned to like petting and scratching.
We lost Camille on February 25 - the vet was unsure whether she
had a severe colic or a tumor wrapped around her intestine.
Camille's foster home will miss her, but we are so happy that
Camille had a few great months and learned to trust people again
before she left us.
|
||
Rainbow Bridge 9/4/2006 1988 Bay Tennessee Walking Horse Gelding Dusty was surrendered by his owners when they were investigated for neglect. He was reported to be impossible to catch or load in a trailer and the volunteers that went to pick him up went prepared for the worst. As it turned out, Dusty was an amazingly sweet older gelding who loved grooming, scratches and any other attention he could get from his humans. Dusty had COPD, which is similar to asthma in humans. He spent several months in BEHS foster care in relative comfort, however as the heat and humidity of the Texas summer moved in it became more and more difficult for Dusty to breath. He was treated with numerous medications in an attempt to make him comfortable enough to make it through the summer but unfortunately nothing could bring him relief. The vet that last examined Dusty determined he had severe scaring in his lungs from years of living with the COPD and that he simply could not exhale any longer. The decision was made to not make him suffer any longer and Dusty crossed the rainbow bridge on Labor Day. Dusty was a very sweet boy with wonderful manners and a loving personality. He will be missed by all that knew and loved him.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 8/27/2006
1995 Chocolate Palomino Shetland Gelding
A little over a year ago, we received a
neglect complaint involving six horses. The horses were in
horrible shape and had absolutely no water - and it seemed they
may have been without water for days. The horses were seized and
awarded to BHES, Jasper was one of those horses. Jasper got
kicked while en route from the seizure to the holding facility.
He was rushed to the veterinarian' s office where he stayed a
week. He quickly won over the heart of the veterinary staff -
and the veterinarian discovered that he was blind in both eyes.
One of the
volunteers that coordinated the seizure, prepared the court case
and testified agreed the foster Jasper. She fell in love with
the pony - and although she had no plans to add a pony to her
life, she decided to give him his forever home. She set up a pen
with "cues" to tell him where his feed bucket, water trough and
the fence lines were. She studied about blind horses and learned
that they often do well with a companion, so she bought a little
donkey (Pepe) to live with Jasper. Jasper had a
fabulous life with Jodi. He quickly grew fat and healthy and
learned to trust her and relax in his special home. Jodi loved
him dearly and did everything she could to make him happy and
comfortable. Sadly, Jasper crossed the Rainbow
Bridge this morning. Three weeks ago, he turned up lame; the vet
thought he cracked his hip and recommended that he be confined
to a small pen - another examination this morning revealed that
he had actually broken his femur. His muscles atrophied and he
lost weight, and he was in constant pain. Jodi looked at him
yesterday and knew it was time for him to go. So today with
Jodi at his side, Jasper left this world. He joins other horses
Jodi has known and loved - and he joins a herd of rescue horses
who are waiting for all of us when it is our time to go. Jasper
now has perfect vision and a hip that no longer hurts. He'll
always have plenty of green grass and fresh water - and the poor
care he suffered over a year ago will fade from his memory,
leaving only good memories of his time at Jodi's where he was
loved.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 9/7/2006
1987 Bay Thoroughbred Gelding
He stood under the tree dozing in the warm summer afternoon. He
dreamed of a time long ago when he was young and strong. When he
ran like the wind and nothing could catch him. Where once he ran
free without a care, now he hobbled along at a slow pace
carefully gauging each step. His life had been filled with many
hardships and they had finally taken their toll. She startled him from his sleep and
for a brief moment he imagined he was young again. He held his
head high, snorting, ready to flee from this intruder. Then he
remembered why she was here and lowered his head for the halter.
Caressing his face as she lovingly placed the halter over his
ears, she whispered... "Its time, I have come to make your
dreams come true." They walked side by side and as
they reached his final resting place, he nuzzled her and said
Thank you for everything. Run wild and pain free Magic Man,
and tell Toby hi for me. I told you one day you would be
together again. 1987 - 9-06-06
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 2/27/2006
2006 Dun Grade Filly
A Short Lived Miracle Our wonderful
Arkansas Member Representative, Tina, was called by a sheriff’s
office and asked to help them investigate a report of horse
neglect. When she arrived, she found a filthy place with one fat
horse and three emaciated horses. As she stopped over pieces of
wire, metal, and trash laying on the ground, the horses’ owner
told her about them. He pointed to a red mare and said she was
pregnant and due in March. He was so proud of his horses, but
Tina could only look around and cringe at their living
conditions. He offered to surrender one horse, and she gave him
an outline of what needed to be done for the remaining horses if
he was to be able to keep them. The list included proper
veterinary work, farrier care, and a good feeding program.
A month later,
Tina and our Arkansas Veterinary Hero Teresa Miller went back to
the property. The two mares had lost weight, but the healthy
stallion was as fat as ever. Tina told the owner she would be
speaking with him in a few days and that she believed that the
rescue would seize all three remaining horses. Less than 24
hours later, he called her and told her to come get the two
mares. He just wanted to keep his healthy stallion. So Hope and
Sweet Pea were quickly loaded on the trailer and hauled out of
the horrible pasture. Tina warned the owner that she would be
checking up on the stallion and that if he lost weight, she
would be back with a deputy and warrant to seize. She also
warned him that if he got other horses, she would be keeping an
eye on them. Hope settled
into her foster home at Dr. Miller’s farm quickly. And Dr.
Miller and Tina waited for her to foal. We were worried because
Hope was so very thin, but all we could do was feed her and
wait. Saturday (Feb.
25), Teresa called to say that the baby was on her way – Hope
was restless, biting at her sides, and standoffish. A few hours
later, Tina called with the bad news – Hope’s delivery was not
going well. She had been in labor two hours (long for a horse!)
and seemed to have given up. They were trying to help her, and
we were all worried for both mom and foal. The baby was
weak, and Hope was even weaker. The placenta had been infected,
and we were worried. The next morning
dawned and Hope was slowly improving. The baby, Miracle, was
still struggling. She could not stand on her own and she had
little desire to eat. She received IVs and Tina and Teresa spent
all day with the foal. Tina reported that when they held her up
and helped her walk around, Miracle would stomp her foot with
impatience – it seemed she was irritated at her own limitations! It is so hard
for a foal to have a chance when her mom was so badly starved.
We all so badly wanted a happy, healthy baby, but it was not to
be. Just two days after her birth, Miracle began to crash and
the decision was made to euthanize her. The vet felt she had
tried everything she could, but Miracle’s liver was failing, she
could not eat, and she was slowly fading. It is so hard to
lose a baby – only Tina and Teresa got to know her, and they’re
both devastated.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 10/24/2006 1999 Palomino Welsh Mountain Pony Gelding This past March, BEHS members and volunteers gathered in North Texas for The Great Wild Pony Roundup. A family had purchased two mares and one stallion several years earlier, turned them out, and one day realized that they had almost 30 ponies - many of which had never been handled! They had to cut their herd down, and one of their options was to send them all to an auction or to the slaughterhouse. Luckily a rescue got involved and then asked for our help. We agreed to take ten, another rescue took 12, and a sanctuary got the remaining stallion gelded. The round up was rough - the ponies had to be run into pens, separated, and then run down an alley way onto trailers. When they got to their new homes, they were given time to settle in and then the foster homes began taming them. Three of those ponies (Red Cloud, Smokey and Peanut) came around quickly and were adopted into loving homes. Others are progressing more slowly. One pony, Moontan, had been a stallion but he was coming around. He was getting easy to catch, he was letting people touch/pet him, and he was doing well. Moontan's foster mom hoped that he would soon get to go up for adoption. Unfortunately this morning his foster mom found him with a broken leg. No one knows how it happened - sometimes freak accidents happen that no one can prevent. The break was one that could not be repaired, so Moontan crossed the Rainbow Bridge to join Trinket and the others in the Bluebonnet herd beyond.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 11/1/2006
2006 Sorrel Grade Mare
Letting go is one of the hardest parts of rescue.
Unfortunately there are so many of us out there that know this
first hand. Muffin came to BEHS
Oct. 2nd along with 4 others including Trinket. They were the
last 5 remaining starved ones after 2 others from their pasture
were rescued the week before. So many babies unloved and
unwanted until someone made a call to BEHS. It was such a short
amount of time for Muffin to be loved but I loved her anyway.
When the five were brought in she was the last to be spoken for
but I didn’t care she was my pick of them all. She knew right
off that she liked these new people that came to get her and
followed me everywhere I walked in the pasture with her. I’d
stop, scratch her head, love a minute and she’d sigh and we’d
both walk on. A little habit we both feel into right away.
Visions of what a lovely awesome mare she would one day be were
already flowing through my mind. It was a Sunday
afternoon when Trinket got so sick and we lost her the next day.
I was so sad and heart broken that she didn’t make it. 8 days
later I came home to find my Muffin in her forever sleep and
gone from me. I guess Trinket was lonely without her. I know it
is not for me to question why but to try to accept the things we
can’t change but one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my
life was to say goodbye to 2 babies so soon. It’s been 2 weeks
since she left and I thought I was ready to write this but the
tears still flow. It was the first time in my 5 years with
rescue I thought of quitting BUT without us there would be so
many more Muffin’s and Trinkets that won’t make it. In the end
it has given me a renewed determination to do my best to ensure
that there will come a day when no horse suffers neglect again. I know it wasn’t but
a few short weeks that you were safe and fed but Muffin and
Trinket you were loved, loved by me and so many good people you
never got to meet.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 12/3/2006
Approximately 1988, Thoroughbred gelding
Nickers came to BEHS in early 2006 - starving and severely emmaciated. A volunteer
had received a complaint of a starving horse, and when she and the sheriff's
deputy arrived, they were appalled. They immediately seized Nickers and took
him to the veterinarian's office.
Amazingly he made a complete recovery, and his foster "dad" fell in love with him.
Nicker's foster "mom" adopted him as a gift for her husband - a very special gift.
Unfortunately Nickers' stay with them was only a few short months - but during
that time he was loved and he loved them. He is greatly missed.
|
||
Rainbow Bridge 6/8/2006 1984 Grade Mare Farewell Oreo If you have never been on a neglect investigation or a seizure, you cannot imagine the conditions some of the horses live in. Fences falling down, crowds of horses who fight for what scraps of food they receive, bare pastures with only dirt to offer, thick trees and underbrush that tangle manes and tails and scrape the skin, and filthy water you can smell from yards away. When we look at our pampered horses that we consider pets and companions, we sometimes find it hard to believe that anyone would treat their horses any differently. But this is just the situation that Oreo walked out of one day. The property was crowded with too many horses who fought continually. They pushed Oreo around and kept her away from what little food was available. She was hundreds of pounds underweight and no one seemed to care until Joanne and a deputy arrived with a trailer - determined to make a difference in her life. They carefully loaded the starving mare into the trailer and slowly drove down the bumpy driveway - carrying Oreo forward into a new life. At her new home, she discovered that people do care - she received many small meals each day, had a clean stall to call home and spent time turned out with horses who would not beat up on her. Her foster mom carefully cleaned her face and inspected her for cuts and injuries. Fly spray protected her from bugs and a fly mask helped keep the flies out of her weepy eyes. She was brushed and groomed and loved. For several months Oreo gained weight. But the years of poor care had taken their toll. Old injuries left her unsound in three legs, and she could not trot or canter - she simply hobbled along. Even after she gained weight, she was unsteady on her feet. A veterinary examination revealed likely neurological damage - possibly from an untreated disease. Oreo left us for the 'great horse pastures' beyond. She joins her foster mom's personal horses, many BEHS horses and all the horses we have all loved and lost. Thank you to Joanne for giving Oreo many good months and letting her know she was loved. And thank you for letting many of us meet, pet and adore Oreo - and remember why we do what we do.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 10/24/2006
2006 Sorrel Grade Mare
At the end of September, we received a call about
several neglected and dead horses. What our investigator found
was horrifying. The owner agreed to release the worst horses,
and Trinket and her pasturemates were loaded on a trailer and
taken to safety. Trinkets foster home provided fresh water and good food, but two weeks after she came to BEHS, Trinket was in distress. Her foster mom found her on the ground, unable to rise. They got her to the vet clinic and began treating her. Monday morning things were looking grim. Then before noon on Monday. Dr. Miller called me to let me know - it was time to let her go. She had stopped struggling to rise and she was barely breathing. No matter what we did, we could not save her - all we could do was spare her a slow death. So we sent her "over the rainbow bridge". It is always hard to lose a horse - it is just heart-wrenching to lose a baby. Trinket was less than a year old, and it seems her short life knew little happiness. I don't know how people can be as heartless as to let a little baby suffer... I'm just thankful that we could be there for her in the end.
|
||
|
Rainbow Bridge 7/10/2006
1994 Bay Thoroughbred Gelding
Zeek was the second horse to come to BEHS.
His owner, a young woman, was getting ready to go to college and
could no longer keep him. He had lameness issues, and she
worried that if she sold him, someone would misuse him, so she
asked BEHS to take him. Luckily Leslie took him in and even
helped find him a long-term foster home. That foster home, Jo,
quickly fell in love with this gentle giant and decided to adopt
him and give him a home for life. She spent time with her vet
and chiropractor, working to make Zeek more comfortable, and she
set out to give him the best life possible. Zeek was the second
horse into BEHS - and the second horse who was adopted out (on
July 26, 2006). Yesterday, Zeek
left his adoptive mom to cross the Rainbow Bridge. He had been
diagnosed with EPM and his adoptive mom started treatment
immediately. Unfortunately Zeek did not respond well. In fact,
he got worse. And yesterday, his "mom" tearfully said goodbye.
His adopter reports that her foster
horse, tried his best to help his friend get up. Whenever Zeek
would lay down and try to get up, Frazer would get behind him
and get down on his knees and help push him up. When Zeek would
stop trying and lay his head down, Frazer would get up, bite at
Zeeks ear to make him put his head back up and then get back
down on his knees and try pushing him back up again. All of our sympathies go out to Jo
on her loss - and we all mourn that Zeek's time with his adopter
was not longer.
|
||
|
Contact us |
Guest Book
© 2005 Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society. All rights reserved |
P.O. Box 15 |