Each one of the horses at our rescue & sanctuary, has a story to tell.... They have been through so much.... We are here to help them recover mentally and physically, and become healthy and happy again. Please take some time to get to know our rescued horses. Please consider a donation to help us provide for the needs of these horses in our care.
Worthy
We found Worthy at Kaufman Kill Pen in August 2021. He was terrified, running the pen looking for a way out. He tried to go under the fence, over the fence and through the fence - anything to evade the cruel man at the kill pen. As soon as we saw him, our founder immediately purchased him and called Melanie to get him out of there. How a breeder can dump a beautiful newly weaned colt like this, we do not know. He was said to be about 10 months old and a gelding.
Thankfully he did not get sick in quarantine and was able to come to the rescue after 30 days. He arrived frightened, but curious. It did not take too long before he was letting us touch him. He did not do what most untouched horses do, which is try to evade at all costs and attempt to jump out of the corral. Instead he would watch and freeze, and once we touch him, he is submissive and licks his lips.
Once in his presence, and seeing how much he wanted to trust us.... we decided on the name "Worthy" for him, as he is so "Worthy" of being rescued, and having a life of love and safety.
He is proving to be very smart and quite willing! We are looking forward to seeing what we can teach this pretty boy.
Worthy spends his days in the big pasture with the full sized horses. Ever since he was little, he identified with the bigger horses and did not want to be with horses his own age. Worthy is a stocky little guy, we tease him that he looks wider than he is tall, at about 14 hands. We love his cute little personality...he has a big personality.
Worthy had his first saddling and he did great! He didn't even buck! He will be riding soon and will be offered up for adoption once riding.
Update:
Worthy has done so incredibly well with his under saddle training that we have decided to keep him and have him be a part of our therapy program. He has already been in a parade and to a Fourth of July party with an hour long professional fireworks display being shot off 50 feet from him and he wasinflatable! He spent the evening giving children pony rides! He will be invaluable for our PTSD therapy program.
MAVERICK
5 month old Maverick was spotted at the auction weanlings and yearlings sale. One look into those big brown eyes reminded us of our first kill pen rescue, Chance. Little Maverick had similar breeding as Chance as well. He looked lost in that auction, we decided to rescue him instead of letting him end up in a kill pen being exploited or being placed back into the slaughter pipeline of auctions.
We brought this baby boy home to the rescue and put him in quarantine. He developed a bit of a snotty nose, but nothing serious, thankfully. After his quarantine stay was over, he joined weanling Zephyr in the weanlings paddock to grow up and just be a horse.
We had not noticed immediately after purchasing him, that he is sight impaired. It can only be seen at night with a light. Because little Maverick is sight impaired, he will remain at the rescue as a Sanctuary horse.
Little Maverick is doing well. His best friend and leader is Simon, who leads the way at night. Maverick can always be found right at Simon's flank most of the time, or next to him. They really like each other.
Maverick has just turned 2 years old. My how time flies!
It took him a long time to become friendly, but now he seeks attention and rubs from us, which is really nice. We made the right decision letting him stay in Sanctuary with us.
PERCILLA
We were contacted by a kind woman who had been in a tornado, which had damaged her horse areas. She desperately needed someone to take in her filly before she became hurt. Her filly Percilla had been in the barn when it was hit by a tornado and the filly has become very frightened. We decided to step up and help, and take in this filly to the rescue. You all stepped up to help us pay the transport cost from north Texas to Dale. Percilla is being picked up now, as I write this. We look forward to meeting her this evening.
Percilla has arrived at the rescue. What a beautiful girl she is! She will need time to settle in and to get over whatever trauma she has experienced as a result of being in the path of a tornado.
Percilla is currently in a round pen that we located inside of the yearling paddock so she can be near the yearlings and get to know them from the safety of the round pen before we let her out to join their herd. We will keep you updated.
We have found Percilla to be nervous and high energy. She is a big girl for her age, but acts mentally like a baby. Because she does not move very well, it is our guess that she has spent most of her life in a stall. We put Chance in the big round pen near the pasture with Percilla to help her calm some, the yearlings were not settling Percilla any. It worked beautifully, she bonded up to Chance, our sweet, calm, buckskin gelding, right away. After spending 2 weeks in the round pen with Chance, we let the 2 of them out into the big paddock and pasture area with Chance's herd. Percilla is learning to use her legs and run. She is doing better getting to stretch her legs and run and play. She is staying very close to Chance at all times which is really cute. We haven't worked with her yet, we are letting her learn how to be a horse. in s herd environment. She does walk up to us to be petted, which is great that she wants human interaction, too.
Percilla was slow to learn how to graze and how to function within a herd, but she has finally caught on. She has made good friends with Aria and Layla who are more her size and low on the pecking order. Percilla is not as round as I would like her to be, she doesn't seem to be in a hurry to eat anything, she likes to watch others eat, but she does look good. My momma hen attitude wishes she would love eating. Percilla has proved easy to halter break and is doing well learning how to balance for the farrier to trim her hooves. She is always happy go lucky and very friendly. I can't wait for her baby mind to catch up with her gangly legs, lol. She will be a stunner when she grows up.
Percilla does have some teeth issues, her jaw sits a little off so she doesn't wear down her teeth well. She will need frequent dental.
LAYLA
Layla & Serena were tiny two week old babies that found their way to Kaufman kill pen. They were so tiny and weak, lost....calling out to their mothers who had been stripped away from them, wandering a pen with much bigger horses......Our hearts were aching for them. We knew there was not much time before they would die without moms milk. We put up an "SOS" quickly and our wonderful donors stepped up quickly to help us get them out of there. Because they would require bottles of milk replacer every couple of hours round the clock, and very close monitoring, we chose to forego quarantine and bring them home to our isolation stall and take care of their needs ourselves.
The amount of cruelty we see, really takes a toll, but the ultimate worst for us is seeing newborn foals dumped into the hands of kill buyers who are waiting on baited breath to place a really high price tag on foals they know probably won't survive getting all at one time, the "Kill pen crud" combination of Strangles and other pathogens that have gone unchecked for so long, they have become "Superbugs." Babies have no immunity against disease, so any owner who dumps them at a kill pen or an auction is pretty much signing their death certificate. Those nasty places have no government oversight, no authority figures to make them sterilize or stop them from selling very sick horses that are transported all over the US. I could fill your ears about how angry I am that our government simply looks the other way while horses are being abused and neglected in these places and leave there to infect many more with the "Superbugs" they pick up there, but that is for another place and time.
First Layla succumbed to sickness she picked up from the kill pen, which immediately became pneumonia. We rushed her to the hospital at the first sign of nasal discharge and coughing. Babies die fast, so there is no time to waste. Layla required hospitalization at the equine hospital's ICU for 3 weeks and spent 2 months on heavy duty antibiotics to help clear her lungs. We had hoped that Serena had dodged the bullet and wouldn't get sick, but 3 weeks after Layla became sick, Serena started coughing. We rushed Serena to the hospital and she too had pneumonia. Serena spent 10 days in the ICU and 2 months on heavy duty antibiotics. These poor babies were so sick and weak, they did not even try to play for over 2 months. Diligent care, lots of love and God allowing it to be His WIll, helped these two precious babies pull through. Many are not as fortunate and we lose them. The road to recovery was long, but today we have two very precious, very loved, very special babies who we get the pleasure of caring for every day. We are so grateful they lived! These two are very bonded and will stay together until they start to choose other friends. They share a paddock fence with Lou and Bodie, who are close to their age and all are happy, healthy and thriving.
For about 6 months, Layla and Serena have been sharing a paddock with weanlings Lou and Bodie and all 4 have been getting along wonderfully. They enjoy playing together. Layla has drifted from Serena and is now closer to Lou and Serena have buddied up with Bodie. It is so nice getting to watch them grow together. Now that they are a year old and have become friendly and well adjusted, drifting from their once tight bond, we know it is time to begin searching for their forever homes, but it is going to be really hard letting them go. We are really going to miss them.
We are happy to announce that little Serena has found her forever home with a wonderful family. While it was hard to say goodbye, Serena has a little boy and a little girl who are so very excited to call Serena their own.
Her very special donor deserves to see her grow up.
My how time flies! Layla is now two years old! She is a beautiful frosted blueberry colored blue roan. I love this filly's little fiery temperament. She is quite a survivor, and she is thriving. TO think back about how we almost lost her....we are very happy she is still here with us.
Layla is in the big horse pasture now where she gets to sprint across the field and play with the other horses. Her best friends are Aria and Percilla and she still spends time with surrogate momma, Fancy. She is still a bit of a free spirit, not the easiest to catch, she likes to give us a run for our money. We know in time she will mentally grow up and be just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. For now, she likes to play keep away. ;) Honestly, I wonder if she is worried we will take her out of the big pasture and put her back in a paddock, and that is why she evades us. I think in time she will figure out she gets to stay in the big kids pasture and will be less evasive.
ARIA
ARIA
