"News" from the Ranch...

Livingston County, MI  Horse Rescue

4/21 We safely picked up the 8 remaining horses from Livingston County Animal Control.

Arriving on site at 9 am the physical work began... After accessing the situation volunteers from Horse North Rescue, Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition, Livingston County Animal Control, On site Veteranian and the tranquilizer crew from Livonia County Animal Contol all worked together to catch, tranquilize, halter, pull coggins, and load the remaining horses.

The site was aweful... We had to load the horses in a safe controlled area. There was so much junk around it could hardly be considered safe anywhere! The best place for loading happend to be only feet from the horse that had to be euthanized and was still laying under a tarp. Volunteers and the loading horses could smell the aweful stench. Nothing can prepare you for that.

(Please be aware some pictures are very, very graphic and heartbreaking...)

These photos were provided by Beryl Striewski Photography,

                       

Animal Control with "Olive Oil."                                        HNI volunteers catching the wild herd.

 

                       

Roy working on catching horses to halter.                      Vet checking Olive Oil for a tatoo.

 

                      

Popeye and Roxil                                                          The horse that had to be euthanized on site.

 

                     

Popeye and volunteer Terry.                                         TJ and Roy with Popeye.

 

                    

The wild and ungroomed crew.                                      One of the dead horses found on site.

 

                     

On site vet loading the tranqulizer darts.                       "Hope", Nancy and vet pulling blood for Coggins test.

 

                     

Load the last horse, after 4 hours of work.                    "Livingston" with Sue and volunteer.

 

It was an amazing effort by all parties involved and went really well considering the terriable circumstances... Everyone worked well together and all horses and people remained safe!

By 1:00 pm all the horses were safely loaded and in transit to their new destinations.

 

 

 

Sept, 8th 2010 - Latest Updates on Livingston County Horses

Hope

Hope is progressing very well. She had the futherest to go of all the horses. To start she had been eating over 21lbs of feed a day. Just in the last week have we started to back her down and make sure she still maintains weight. She is starting to look more like a horse than a rack of walking bones. As she is feeling better she has become more active and greets her hand walking volunteer "Pat" and gets really excited for her grain/pellets. She has been trimmed, had her teeth tended to by an equine dentist, has been wormed, sand cleared ect. She was adopted this past weekend!!!

  

Hope, mid April 2010                                           Hope in early September 2010! Amazing!!!!

Livingston/Winston

Winston is enjoying the high life. His new mom "Tina" has acres upon acres of beautiful pasture and only one "girlfriend" to share it all with. He also has a big pond to splash and play in. He is looking nice and healthy and filling out very nicely. He is another that has had a long way to go. Winston lives close to one of the Horse North Board Members.

Livingston, Day One

Livingston, a couple months after his rescue.

Livingston's pond, and his girlfriend.

Charity

Charity has had ground work, been wormed, sandcleared, checked by the vet and farrier. She also has been trail ridden and was placed in her new adoptive home this past weekend. She has 40 acres plus of pasture and one horse and a couple of donkeys to share it with. She also only lives around the corner from the Horse North Rescue main facility, so we can ride by and visit her frequently!

Charity, before loading from Livingston County, Day One

Charity, groundwork session

 

Popeye & Olive Oil

Being fostered in Otisville, MI. Updates yet to come.

 

Dart and Prince Harry

Ownership was transfered to local veternarian. Hopefully updates and pictures will come soon.

 

 

 

 

Older updates are listed in chronological order so you can see their progress...

April 22, 2010

We groomed horses for hours this afternoon. It was amazing how much better they look just being groomed and burdock free. They actually have some manes and tails under all that mess. The horses personalities are really starting to emerge. They all have names now... My big questions... What is their history? Who owned these horses before?

Some of the Old Crew prior to grooming...

"Hope" at Holly's temporary holding farm in Kingsley, MI.

 

Livingston and Hope enjoying fresh clean hay.

 

One of the old men with a tail full of burrs.

 

Livingston, Prince Harry, and Hope after hours of grooming and burr picking.

 

Later in the evening a local veternarian came out and did exams on the horses. (All but one who couldn't be caught "Roxil"... Darn that smart mare!) Decisions were made as to care and the next step for each horse.

 

Horse North and Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition are teaming up to support the following horses on their road to recovery: Donations can be made to either organization to help these horses with their vast up and coming vet bills and needs.

Popeye * Fostered for Horse North & MHWC by TJ and Terri of Ottisville, MI

This big Standardbred gelding and little side kick mare went to the thumb area to be fostered and rehabilitated by members of the Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition. Terry and TJ jumped in with both feet and the two horses they are fostering will be receiveing support from both the MHWC and Horse North Funds. Popeye is blind in one eye. An implant was placed in, and his lower eyelid was stretched and stitched over the eye.. which is how the name Popeye stuck.

Olive Oil * Fostered for Horse North & MHWC by TJ and Terri of Ottisville, MI

Olive oil only seemed approriate for his little pasture mate mare. She is a sweet little mare who was the first to be caught out of the younger wilder group of horses. She and Popeye have lost their unicorn horns (from solid burdocks) and are settling in well to their new surroundings.

HOPE * Housed at Horse North's main facility

 

Hope the day we picked her up. Look at how under muscled and scruffy looking she is.

 

 

Hope after about 1 1/2 weeks of specialized care at Horse North.

Hope is a very malnutitioned little mare. Horse North Rescue will be housing her on their main farm in Fife Lake while she is on her very, very long journey to recovery. She was given her a body score of 1 by a local veternarian whom also said she would not have made it much longer under the conditions she was in. We are all hoping that she will be able to make a successful recovery. She is a spunky sweet little thing that has endeared herself to the hearts of her rescuers. She has the most grim prognosis. Her teeth are in desperate need of being done but her body condition will need to improve before that can happen. We named her "Hope" because it is our hope to work with other groups around the state to improve the lives of Michigan horses. That name also fits because her recovery will be such a long road, especially at her age that we hope to see her recover! 

Update: Hope is eating us out of house and home and being excercised regularly with walks in the yard. She is eating 8 times the amount of a normal horse right now. She is being wormed, has had her feet trimmed and has been started on sand clear. 

Update: Dr. Rabb DVM is came out Monday May 10th to do her equine dental work and access her progress.

CHARITY * Housed at Horse North Rescue's main facility

Charity the day we picked her up from the home in Fowlerville.

 

Charity will require less physical recovery. She needs to gain a little weight as most of her belly is assumed to be worms. Then she can begin conditioning and training and access if she has even had any training in the past. Her teeth are very bad and in need of dental work which will need to happen soon. After recovering she should be avaliable for adoption and should make someone a really nice mare.

 

Prince Harry * Fostered by his new mom Barb of Northport, MI

Is an old Standardbred gelding with a body score of one. He is estimated to be 25-30 years old. He is a sweety like his pasturemates in the old crew. He got this name because his halter says "Prince Harry"

 

Livingston * Fostered/Adopted by his new mom Tina Evans of Kingsley, MI

This big old guy is another old Standardbred gelding also 25-30 yrs old.  He is also a big lover. We named him Livingston because he came from Livingston County.  

DART * Fostered/Adopted by her new mom Barb of Northport, MI

 

Dart is a big beautiful Standardbred or TB mare in need of a little weight and some training. She is a very beautiful horse with a really intellegent mind. She was named Dart because she was a challange for the tranqulizer crew to dart. She would position herself between the other horses and behind them making her quite a challange for a little while. It took numerous tranqulizer darts to even catch her and halter her.

 

PEACE Ranch of Traverse City, MI has agreed to commit to this Roxil (pictured below) and her training for 90 days. Horse North has agreed to cover her costs of hay, feed, wormer, hoof trimming ect. Donations can be made to Horse North Rescue or Peace Ranch Directly. http://www.PeaceRanchTC.com

ROXIL (ROXY) * Under accessment for Horse North by PEACE Ranch.

This is the most beautiful horse in the entire rescue. But she is very very suspecious of humans. She was the boss mare and was the hardest to catch. Horse North Volunteers worked with the attending Vet for quite a while to get this mare even haltered. The AC officer and a helper began to lead her to the trailer. She had two full grown men on leads and was dragging them all over. Once the rescuers started using natural horsemanship tecniques she began to respond very quickly to pressure and release and was loaded. She is in desperate need of appropriate handling and training.

Update: Roxy is making huge leaps in her level of trust with humans!!! Please click the link above to PEACE Ranch for updates on her! Jackie and PEACE Ranch, you are awesome!!!

All donations can be sent to Horse North Rescue or Michigan Horse Welfare Coalition... Paypal buttons are on the websites, or donations can be sent via snail mail.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in supporting these horses and their recoveries.

 

4/23

It is amazing to us how quickly the horses change. Each day brings a little more perky behavior. With feeling better, comes acting like "normal" horses.

                

Today the old guys got their feet trimmed by farrier Dave VanderLind. He could see the lines in their hooves showing the nutritional changes. He accessed the older ones we waited on the other ones. Even the "wild childen" are starting to warm up and trust. The most challanging dominate mare Roxil is really beginning to grow on many of us. She is too smart for her own good and still illusive.  ** Thank You Dave VanderLind for donating those trims!