'The Clydesdales'

A small herd of 16  Clydesdales showed up at a local horse dealer's in 2014.  We were told the six younger geldings were already sold to someone in the States to be trained for driving.    The remainder where going to ship to slaughter, so we purchased the 'leftovers' - 10 very thin, badly neglected horses with terrible feet, and most of them unhandled.     Their  story was pretty typical - a fellow died and his son 'took over' the horses but he didn't have a clue about caring for them and couldn't be bothered to learn.  A year later he had to get rid of the horses or be charged with neglect so he sold them, lock, stock and barrel, to the horse dealer, who also ships horses to slaughter if they are worth more as meat, which is where these poor souls were headed.

The horses consisted of 2 young stallions, 3  fillies, and 5 mares.  The mares were all pregnant and due to foal at any time.  When we returned the next day to pick up the horses, one of the mares, Philomena, had already foaled.  As soon as we got the horses back to the Rescue we noticed that Philomena was not well.  It turned out she had a retained placenta.    We immediately called our vet out to treat her, but sadly, in spite of daily treatments over the course of a week, she did not improve and continued to deteriorate and we had to have her euthanized.    Even though we weren't able to save her we know we did all we could, and her foal still had a chance.  Had Philomena  remained at the feedlot she would have died a more painful death, and the foal would not have survived either. 

Now we were left with a week old foal without a mom.  We immediately put the word out, looking for a nurse mare, and were lucky enough to find a lovely QH mare, Ima Bit Te, for sale.  as she had just lost her foal and her owner wanted to get rid of her.  A very generous supporter offered to haul Bitsy down to the Rescue and when she arrived we introduced Bitsy to Fonda, Philomena's foal.  We mildly sedated Bitsy the first time we introduced them, and then separated them overnight, feeding Fonda with a bottle.  By the next morning Bitsy was nickering to Fonda and they were bonded! 

All the Clydesdales improved with the proper feed and care we provided.  The older mares turned out to be halterbroke, which was a plus.  Happily, both Fonda and Bitsy were adopted together.    The other Clydesdales were adopted out to good homes as well, along with their foals. 

All too often people don't make plans for what may happen if they die and their animals are left behind.    We've seen so many large herds of horses going to slaughter because no one is there to take over their care and no one is able to step up and help on a large scale.

The Clydesdales on arrival.

Philomena and Fonda

So beautiful, in spite of their poor condition.

The 2 young stallions.

We're going to need a bigger feeder!

Treating Philomiena. Her uterus needed to be flushed to try and get rid of the toxins from her retained placenta. Mike built a little manifold for the tap that allowed water to be pumped in and then sucked back out.

Gabby and her foal Valour.

The gizmo Mike built.

Bitsy and Fonda, 2 days after losing Philomena.

Esperanza and her foal Isobel