Introduction Part 6 (Heartland Part 5)

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One of the experiences at Heartland that sticks out in my mind was the opportunity to work with and help rehab rescue horses.  When I was there, in the middle of winter, Heartland accepted about fifteen rescued Spanish Arabs.  The story goes that there were about thirty horses in a five-acre lot, eight dead horses in the lot with the live ones, and all the horses, stallions, mares, babies, were all together.  

For the first week, our main concern were two mares and their barely few weeks old-babies.  They were kept inside where it was heated because with how skinny they were, we weren't sure if the foals would survive the cold.  It was a different experience, and I wish I had taken more pictures.  

These two pics were of the the mothers.  The clips below shows both them and their babies, and how skinny they were.  

                                   

Most people don't realize what a responsibility it is to take care of horses that are that sick, and have never been around them.  When horses are that sick, they smell.  And not in the good, horsey smell that we all love-they smell like death.  Like something rotting.  

It's horrible-it's something that most people would and do push to the corners of their minds, but there are horses out there that are this skinny-far too many in this economy-and people out there who do starve their horses and deny them basic care thinking it's perfectly okay.  The horses that were brought in to Heartland Ventures were for the most part unhandled.  They pushed, they shoved, they were scared out of their minds and untrusting of people.  

I thanked my lucky stars that my own horse had been well fed and well cared for his entire life every time I looked at those horses.  He had never, and will never, have to go through the hell that those horses went through.  Please, to those of you reading this, if you consider sending your horses to auction or to some strange buyer, be aware that they could end up like this if you are not careful.  These horses were lucky and had a happy ending-they were all fed until they gained weight, and then resold to working homes and breeding farms.  

Honestly, I'd rather just put mine to sleep than risk it if it came to that.