Who doesn't find miniature horses and little ponies absolutely adorable? We most certainly do!
We feel very sorry for these tiny tots that end up at auctions and kill pens. When purchased by kill buyers, they get stuffed into stock trailers with full sized horses and get injured. It doesn't get any better when they arrive at the kill pens; they get shoved in with full sized horses and get beat up and starved down. Those that are not lucky enough to get saved, are sold by the kill pens to feed the carnivores at zoos. We try to help as many of these tiny ones as we can.
We found this tiny little guy at Elkhart horse auction on 6-6-2020. He was made to carry around a child way too big for him, and he really struggled. Awful! We noticed right away that he had something wrong with his back leg. We felt like he would surely become severely injured on a kill buyer's trailer stuffed on with full sized horses. We decided we were going to do what it took to win the bid, and get him examined by a vet.
We won the bid and had our quarantine provider, Melanie Witherspoon, pick him up and take him to her professional quarantine facility. The vet was called out to examine our new little guy. The vet found him to be healthy and friendly. The vet said that our little boy had two injuries, one that would heal and one that would not, sadly. His back was very sore, from carrying the heavy child and his leg.....The vet said that his rear leg had been broken in the past and was not braced or treated by a vet, healing crookedly on its own. The vet did not feel that he was hurting in any way, and probably wouldn't under light activity, It was advised that we limit his activity level so that he may remain free of pain and not put strain on his leg.
We named this sweet little guy Buckwheat.
Buckwheat remained healthy in quarantine and arrived at our rescue on 7-29-2020. My oh my what an adorable little guy he is! Absolutely huggable and lovable! We could see right away, his crooked leg, and understood why the vet felt Buckwheat's activity should be limited. We built little Buckwheat his own corral next to the other miniature horses so he could be near them but not be injured by them. We absolutely love Buckwheat. He is such a sweet boy, loves people and is just wonderful, He will be with us in Sanctuary for the rest of his days,
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9-3-2020
Lily is feeling better, thank God! She is eating again, fortunately. We hope she continues to eat well and starts to gain some weight.
8-27-2020
Lily has not been feeling well. She has not shown signs of sickness, other than being off her food. The quarantine provider said that he does not feel it is colic, just that she does not feel well enough to want to eat. She lost more weight when her appetite was poor for a week and she wouldn't eat much. We are hoping that she improves and gets her appetite back.
8-20-2020
Lily was picked up today from the auction with Jasmine. Our transporter has said Lily looks okay, just thin. He does not see anything needing a vet or farrier right now, which is always good to hear! She is frightened and hopefully settles in at quarantine soon and can relax.
8-19-2020
Lily was seen at the Cleburne auction on August 19, 2020. Because we raised more than we needed to save Jasmine, and Jasmine went through the ring first, our guy at the auction, knowing how much we had raised to save Jasmine, bid on and saved Lily too! Lily was seen in the auction pen with Jasmine, they had paired up in such a stressful time. We are so happy this little one could be spared from going to a kill pen too.