8-3-10

Notice: unexpected rescue near the end of the day, you must read the whole blog!

Monday was spent getting ready for the first euthanasia clinic at Phoenix Fields. We are so excited that horses that come in early for the clinic will no longer have to be trailered to the vet. This will make it more comfortable and safe for the horses and our staff. April and Larry worked hard making the euthanasia pen seem safe and private.

Soon it was done, hay was scattered here and there, making the euthanasia pen very comforting with all the yummies laying around.

First thing Tuesday morning we were going to have an owner present euthanasia with this precious elderly mare. This mare was purchased 15 years ago when she was 28 years old. Do the math, that makes her 43 years old! When her owner got her, she thought she could give this sweet mare a few more good years. Those few years just kept coming and coming, for the last 10 years she has had to have mash because she lost all of her back teethe. Look at the condition of this horse, this is how a well cared for senior horse looks. There is no excuse for "It's old, that's why it is skinny."

Her owner really truly loved her, and they spent some time together as she reminisced about the past years with this precious girl. It was a hard goodbye, but her owner knew that her time had come due to medical complications. She lived a great life!

It was really nice having the clinic at the rescue, it was such a blessing not having to haul the horses to the vet that had come in previously for the clinic. After all the "Goodbyes" where said, it was comforting knowing those horses would never know the fear of a slaughter house or a double decker trailer headed to Mexico.

While the vet was out, she needed to do some procedures on Mr T. Mr T's horn continually grows, and the big problem is, if it was left unattended it would grow right into his eye. It was getting closer and closer to that, so it was time for his horn shortening procedure to take place once again.

Cookie Dough looked on with wonder, thankful that his horns don't have that issue in the least.

Soon the procedure was over and Mr T seemed to think it wasn't that bad after all. He likes his vision not being obstructed by his horn too.

Euthanasia clinics are always hard and finally it was time for Tawnee and the rest of the staff and volunteers to get off work. When she arrived home she found Jason working on getting the donated jewelry up on eBay. As she was watching Jason take the photo's, the phone rang. On the other end was the killer buyer. The kb said he had 4 horses in the trailer from the staging area that were too weak or were unable to make the trip all the way to Mexico. He said he had them in the trailer and that he was heading our way.

So, Tawnee got back in the truck and headed back to work. April and Alex headed to the rescue too, happy to help. You may think you're off work, but when you rescue animals, you are on call 24/7.

April and Alex beat Tawnee to the rescue, and the KB almost beat her too. Tawnee pulled in right behind him.

The KB had said there was an injury on one of the horses that was pretty bad. Everyone held their breath as the trailer backed up to the round pen for unloading.

Soon the trailer door was opened and one by one they started coming out.

Seeing these horses step out of the trailer onto Phoenix Fields is such an invigorating moment. Horses that were in the slaughter pipeline with no hope, pulled to safety.

The kb had managed to get a flat tire on the way, guess we're not the only ones. We haven't had nearly as many flat tires for about the last year, it's strange how the number of flat tires went from 1-2 a week to every month or two. We sure are glad the tires are holding air on the rescue's rigs! A lot of you long time blog readers no doubt remember those good ol' flat tire days, well, today was the kb's turn. Soon his tire was changed and he was gone.

These new horses are so bedraggled. You can definitely tell they have had a very hard go of it recently.

Meet Trooper, an older mare that was more than happy to dive into the food.

She is extremely emaciated and you can count every rib.
Poor poor girl. It is so sad that 'someone' let her get into this condition and then threw her away.
She was too weak to make the final leg of the trip to slaughter, so even the slaughter industry threw her away. At least now she knows someone wants her and will give her food and love.

Meet Snowy, an older mare with a terrible looking injury to her shoulder.

She too is extremely emaciated. She was strong enough to make the trip, but due to the injury to her shoulder, they decided to pull her off just in case they were caught taking injured horses to slaughter.

Snowy has a very expressive eyes, as Tawnee took her picture she looked at her with sad, pleading eyes. She seemed to be saying "Will someone please love me, will someone please care for me?"

Meet Ginger, an elderly mare who is swaybacked. Out of the 4 horses, she is in the best body condition.

She does have a terrible eye infection that needs treatment.

She too is skinny, but no where near as skinny as Trooper and Snowy.

Mystic is a bucking horse. The kb recognized him at the slaughter staging area as a bucking horse he had seen at 30-40 rodeos over the years. He said he is one of the best bucking horses he ever saw.

He must have been caught in a barbed wire fence or had some other accident as he has a terrible wound with proud flesh hanging off of it and puss oozing out on his back leg. The wound wraps nearly all the way around his leg. The kb suspects that he was taken to the staging area to avoid costly vet bills. He is extremely wild and expects that all humans plan to torture him in some way or another. Poor guy, we want to help him so bad, but he has many years of emotional and physical abuse behind him.

Snowy was begging for help. Tawnee started cleaning up the wound area. It smelled terrible and had been oozing down her shoulder for quite some time.

As Tawnee was cleaning it, she could tell the fluid had been oozing so long it caused a lot of irritation on her skin.

As Tawnee was working on her shoulder, Snowy was standing there soaking all the attention in. Her big eyes softened and you could tell she was thinking "Finally, someone noticed that I need help."

The wound area was shaved down and the irritated areas were cleaned and shaved as well.

The puncture hole is quite large, it goes way up by her withers. There was a lot of junk in there, hopefully all of it was cleaned and flushed out.

Soon her whole shoulder was lathered up with medicines and now the oozing fluid is not oozing directly on her skin.

She was such a good patient, she stood there patiently and quietly, knowing that she was finally getting the tender loving care she needed.

Finally all 4 of the horses were settled in for their first night at Phoenix Fields.

Ginger definitely had a new look to her with her face cleaned and her eyes a lot clearer. This is the horse with the double eye infection. She looked around at her new surroundings, wondering what was going on.

The sun was slipping away as Tawnee prepared to go off work for the 2nd time today. We weren't sure exactly when the kb was coming, and todays call was really unexpected. We need your help in caring for these lovely horses. Please make a donation right now in honor of Ginger, Snowy, Mystic and Trooper, in memory of Dano. The only way we are able to bring in horses like these beautiful horses in with your support. We can't do it without you, with this unexpected rescue we are counting on your support. Please make your donation now, it is greatly appreciated and needed. Click here.

The next couple days are training days for our staff, the next scheduled blog is on Friday, please keep an eye on our Facebook page for any interesting events. Click here. We would like to thank our Facebook readers for helping to name the new horses too!

Many thanks to: Cindy R., Dena L., and Gail G. for their generous donations!