Horses in Need of Sponsoring
Once in the care of AHRE, horses are rehabilitated, re-trained if needed, fully vetted, work with the youth from the mentoring program, and are adopted to loving forever homes. AHRE fully relies on donations from the public for all the work that we do. Please consider sponsoring one of our horses. Monthly sponsorships gives us a peace of mind, knowing that the horse will have available funds to cover daily care. It's difficult to plan for the future, when you don't know if there will be funds to pay for today. As a rescue organization, we are contacted by horse owners that are in need of assistance, either in surrendering their horse or help with the re-homing process. We are unable to accept owner surrender horses, when we don't know if there will be funds to cover the care of our existing horses. Our sponsorship program is designed to enable us to care for the horses in our care and still assist owners with at risk horses.
Doc
|
Doc came to us July 30, 2019. Doc was suffering from a very severe case of Stringhalt. Stringhalt is a neurological condition that is caused by ingesting a toxic weed known as False Dandelion. It affects movement in hind end at the walk. Horses with Stringhalt exhibit involuntarily jerking up of hind legs and the inability to properly place them under themselves. It is basically paralysis of hind legs. Doc had had the condition for four weeks before we took over his care. Doc had stood in a paddock without receiving any medical care. When horses take a step, they land on the flat of their hooves. In Doc's case, he would land on the front of his back fetlocks. He went down three times in the process of unloading him from the trailer and walking him only about 25 feet to his stall. This caused massive wounds on his fetlocks. While Stringhalt itself is not a painful condition, the injuries and trauma Doc sustained due to being unable to walk, was painful. Doc was put on pain medication, stall rest, and received nutritional support to build his strength. Improvement was slow and barely noticeable the first six weeks. Though Doc quickly showed us just how incredible his spirit was. He loved all the attention that our volunteers showered him with. If you scratched his withers, you instantly became one of Doc's favorite people. After six weeks, Doc was able to stand in his stall without leaning against the wall for support. We removed the divider between his stall and the adjacent stall, doubling his space to encourage him to move. It was another four weeks before Doc was strong enough to take a few steps outside his stall. He is hand walked daily and when weather permits, he does get turned out for a few hours. Doc has made progress, but he is not yet out of the woods. He has not reached an optimal level of recovery that would allow him to live a quality of life long term. We are giving him more time, as we understand that it can take time to recover from Stringhalt. However, if he does not improve beyond where he is now, then we will need to do what is best for him.
You can become part of Doc's success by becoming his sponsor. We all love Doc and want so much for him to become our Ambassador. He is gentle, kind, sweet, and has mentally been able to handle stall confinement. Once recovered, he will have the opportunity to teach many people about the Arabian breed and how to handle and care for horses. Please consider Sponsoring Doc today. |
AHRE
