A Horse in Need

UPDATED: 02/13/2008

_______________________________________________

This is Angel!!!

September 2004 Angel is ready for her new family. Right now she is turned out with one of our other horses, a gelding, that can't have hay. They get along wonderfully. Some times the bicker at each other, but really do love each other. We feel Angel should not be ridden any more. It would be fine to lead line a kid on her, but not much more. She has seen too many days of hard work, and should be able to just enjoy the rest of her life.

we are asking a placement fee of $300 which is only a drop in the bucket for how much she has cost LCR. Every penny well spent and well worth it to be able to see her so happy and full of life. She will need to remain on a complete feed due to the lack of teeth she has which makes her unable to chew hay. This actually does not cost any more than having a horse on hay and grain. she eats about 12- 14 pounds of grain per day.

Angel is just about ready to look for a new home, get your applications in early. We will be bringing Angel to the Quakertown Pet Fair on Saturday June 5th for further behavior evaluation. We are pretty sure Angel has been a lesson horse or camp horse before and knows all the finer things about being ridden. we don't know if she has developed and bad habits we will keep you posted on what would be best suited for her new home.

Even better pictures coming soon!!!

Angel was out playing in the field today...bucking and running at full tilt. She is just unbelievable

Let us know if you are interested. We do not know anything about her rideability and will not know for another month or two.

Angel 2 days after arrival One week later
One month later 1 month later

UPDATE: 3/10/04
Angel is doing wonderful! It has been a tough road, but we see a light at the end of the tunnel. Angel spent over 3 weeks on 3 different types of antibiotics along with probiotics and other supplements for various symptoms. She has now been wormed several times and eating "like a horse". She has gained over 150 lbs since she first arrived. She now gets turned out for several hours and walked to start building some muscle and strength. Angel had needed assistance getting up several times over the past month, but just yesterday we found her standing, but with bedding on her as if she had been laying down at some point but got up on her own. We know she is getting stronger by the day and can even be a little pushy when it comes to feeding time.

Angel has developed the "itchies". Through multiple different remedies and trials we have come to the conclusion that with the care she is receiving we have over stimulated her immune system and she now needs to balance out. A new course of treatment is being established to get her back on track. We have a positive outlook that she will be fine and ready for placement by the summer.

Thank you to all who have helped and sponsored Angel! We wouldn't have been able to do it without the kindness and caring people like you!

UPDATE 2/18/04: Angel has been diagnosed with deep pleurisy on both sides of her lungs. She's probably been like this for months with no treatment, which adds to her overall condition, weight loss and lethargy. The trailer ride most likely stressed it to the surface. Hers is minor, an inflammation and rubbing of the lining of the lung due to infection and fluid build up. For right now she is on three different antibiotics to help heal her damaged lungs and clear the fluid build up, along with supportive therapy and keeping her spirits up. She seems to go in and out of depression. She loves to be brushed and her daily message therapy. She begs for food at each feeding and really loves the attention from the kids. We have now been turning her out in a small 20 x 30 pen for a couple of hours a day so she can see the other horses. She just loves to soak up the sunshine.

Angel is on a complete pelleted senior mix, beet pulp, molasses, multiple grains and minerals, etc... it is an excellent feed made by Moyer and Son. (Contact us for more information on our feeds and feeding.) Two of LCR's other horses who cannot have hay at all are on it as their complete diet...for several years now and are doing wonderful. We give her hay in case she wants it...it pacifies the people more than the horse, since she really only sucks on it and doesn't swallow much. She is up to approx 6+ quarts (lbs) (dry measure) per day and eats a little more each day. As she feels better we hope she will eat more and eventually get to 10-16+ pounds/day at least. She has put on weight...maybe 40 lbs. or so. We are giving her a probiotic to help counter the antibiotics we have her on, and some of special top dress vitamins donated by a caring individual. She still holds a 101-102 + temp, (yet to go over 103) that we monitor daily, and hopefully will break soon. We have good hopes that Angel will make a full recovery, but we are far from out of the woods with her as of yet. We feel she is still at at 50% chance of survival, increasing ~1%/day. Thank you to all who continue to care and pray for her.

Update 2/10/04: We want to thank everyone for their kind words, support, and concern for Angel. It is truly heart warming to know so many people out there care. Please, if you would like to visit, we love to have you, but call first. Angel needs her rest and can not take too many interruptions in her naps. She loves the company, but we need to schedule her visits. Thank you, we will be trying to respond to everyone's inquiries on how she is doing and we will update this sight as often as we can.
We will have visiting hours again on Saturday, Feb 14th, at 10 am. Happy Valentines Day!!

It has been touch and go with Angel. Twice now we have had to lift her to her feet because she was too weak to get back up on her own after laying down to rest. Angel becomes very fatigued and uncomfortable after any type of stress, even just walking. The trailer ride here took a lot out of her. She eats well and constantly begs for more, which we are slowly increasing. Angel developed a low grade fever and a cough due to some fluid in her lungs. The vets are not sure, but believe it may be viral or fluid built up from laying down. She is now on antibiotics and responding well and on GastroGard for her stomach to help with any possible ulcers or discomfort. She has a wonderful attitude and right now we have good hopes that she will recover. Time and supportive therapy are the key. We watch her around the clock and observe any changes in behavior so to catch and treat anything that may arise in her health and comfort. She loves the letters...keep them coming. They will be posted on her door and some will be put into the next newsletter. If you'd like to be on our mailing list, let us know.

Is this pathetic or what? The owners said she was too old to do anything about and they were just going to feed her a little until she died. They said not to worry about her teeth or that she could not chew, or her weight, that she had gained some (hair I believe) her feet or the fact that her skin was crawling with lice sucking the very life from her. We named her Angel...for she deserves it. We feel she has the fight and the desire to make it through this. She could not make the journey standing and went down in the trailer on her way to us. That is how she rode and needed several people to help her skeletal body back to her feet. She weighs all of about 500 lbs. of bones and skin and 10 lbs of lice, where she should weigh at least close to 900lbs. The pictures are a bit deceiving since it makes her look fuzzy. Where the hair is still remaining it covers her bones with about 2 inches of fuzz. This is one of the worst I have seen in some time and what is sad is there are more like her out there. They said she was a camp horse at some point. Do you know her? Did your kids ride her? Did you? They called her "Cali". (I believe they said it had something to do with California.) She came from the Hazelton, PA area. Please, Let us know, we'd love to have some history and would love to know if her previous owners know what fate she had faced. Things like this should not happen. She probably gave more than 20 years of loyalty to her humans...to end up like this is despicable.

Patches of missing hair from over infestation of lice.
Angel had lice on her everywhere (billions of them) and she had to have gotten them from another horse. Lice do not live on humans or other species, and cannot live with out a horse host for more than a maximum of 24 hours. All the other horse had to do was touch her at some point and give her lice. Some times lice cannot be seen on your horse since they are tinier than even the smallest flea. If your horse is scratching or rubbing on things, he/she may have lice. Ask your veterinarian how to check and treat for lice. Not all lice are biting and therefore cannot be eliminated by worming only, they must be dusted. A mild case of lice or a recent exposure may not show obvious signs like Angel above of missing patches of hair.

LCR and it's volunteer staff work closely with Dr. Randy Bimes and all of the staff at Quakertown Vet Clinic. It is very critical to have proper diagnosis and treatment for an emaciated ill patient such as Angel. Although she is starving, we cannot just start feeding her. She must be brought along with careful considerations to all of her ailments and issues. A careful, well planned diet is critical to her success. Too much of anything could put her system into shock. Treating Angel from the outside first for the lice is less damaging and stressful to her internal organs. Carefully planning and educated use of supplements is essential as to not overload her system with more than she can handle. For more information and a detailed regime of how we are treating Angel, contact us.

Contact lbenetz@lastchanceranch.org with any info and/or questions.