Greetings everyone! I hope you are all surviving the stormy weather lately and we have had much rain here the last two weeks. I have taken a couple of months off from the blog out of choice. Working full time to support the rescue because we take in so many horses gives me only so much time to devote to the blog and enjoy my family and horses as well. We have been incredibly busy here. I have been sharing information frequently on Facebook so please join me there, http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1017905423, to see up-to-the minute news of horses being rescued by us, taken in, rehabilitated and adopted out to loving homes.
In February we received a call from Animal Friends of the Valley shelter in Elsinore regarding a starved and neglected mare. The owners had been cited a year ago for not feeding her and after that she improved some, but then a year later officers went back and she was worse than when they saw her before! She had no food or water and the owners seemed not to care. I agreed to take her and they brought her down to us. She was skin and bones and a little arab mare and not that old. We named her Chicory,a perfect name for her and in honor of Delana Bennett, a radio personality. The little mare was stiff legged behind when she arrived and it was hard for her to even trot due to malnutrition. She gained weight quickly and is transforming into super Chicory! a darling girl now full of energy and evaluated under saddle and she rides well. She is just spectacular and I cannot fathom why someone would starve such a sweet mare.
Little Zeus and friends have been busy going to nursing homes the last two months, making seniors happy and sharing his horsey love with the world. He sure does enjoy his job of tiny FalconRidge Ambassador!
Brutus went to the Channel 6 news station to be on the morning news in their pet segment. He even went inside to meet the news anchors and walked up onto their stage to greet and surprise them during a break, which they loved! Brutus later got adopted by Maverick's adopter Cathey! Hooray for Brutus!
In March we were contacted about a pony with neglected feet. One hoof turned completely under and the other growing out to the right. The pony was brought to FalconRidge and found to be about 6 yrs old, hooves grossly misshapen, and he was a little black and white darling of a boy. David immediately trimmed his feet and greatly improved his right hoof to where he walked normal on it. The front left was trimmed so that it would slowly rotate forward and he will be trimmed weekly until it becomes hopefully normal again. We named him Newton and he is cute and as sweet as pie! Newton needs a sponsor. The sponsorship blog and info is in the link section on the right hand side of this blog and donations are greatly appreciated to help pay for his care. I have NO idea why someone did not get a farrier out for this pony! It took David only 30 minutes to trim him and greatly improve his hooves! Just crazy...
We were also contacted to take in an aggressive arabian gelding, Comanche, who will need retraining. Riverside Animal control wanted us to take in Rico, a two year old Morgan stallion who had been abandoned and had a growth on the end of his nose which needed surgical removal. He was castrated and had his unicorn horn removed by Dr. Jeff Moss. Funds are also needed to help with Rico and Comanches feed and care. Hay prices have jumped up significantly, making it necessary to ask for donations to help us continue to rescue horses in need.
This week we were contacted about a donkey in need. She was owned by an 80 yr old woman who was selling her property and the donkey had a growth on her ear. She could no longer afford the vet bill to treat the growth so we were asked to take her. She is 12 and named Molly and was owned by this woman for 8 yrs. Molly arrived on Wednesday and Dr. Jeff Moss arrived not too long after to take a look at her tumor. It was larger than we thought, and her ear hung down in front of her face like a santa cap and the tumor was bloody and hitting her in the eye, about the size of an apple. Dr. Moss performed the surgery and took just a half inch of the tip of Mollys ear off and removed the tumor within an hour. Her ear stood up afterwards and looks relatively normal now. Molly is incredibly sweet and loves to be snuggled by her face and scratched. She is looking for an adoptive family.
The Riverside County Horse Coalition will be coming soon in April! A meeting of all the rescues, humane agencies and veterinarians will be brought together to help at risk horses and network even more together to help all the abandoned and neglected horses of Riverside county...a good thing! The San Diego County Horse Coalition has been going well and you can see our website at http://www.sandiegohorse.org Helping people and horses is what we do.
In March, FalconRidge horses Wimpy, Mohican, Brutus, Tuxedo, Christmas, Gidget, Barney, Cheyenne and Ruffin ALL got adopted to wonderful loving homes! Woohoo!
There are more horses in need and on a list waiting to come in. Please consider donating today. Even a dollar can help a horse and is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for caring!
Love,
Nicki
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