A new life begins

Second Chance's Ochre, a 7yo Anglo Arab gelding is coming to me tomorrow (April 6th). He was surrendered to us at the end of February and was gelded shortly thereafter. Until now he's been with a temporary foster carer, recieving correct feeding for the first time in many years and also recovering from his castration.

Now he comes to me to take the next step - learning to become a model citizen of the equine world.

I thought I'd record his progress on here for everyone so they can see what sort of work we regularly do with horses. He is the 4th entire, barely handled rescue we've had in and he needs a lot of work.

So, here we go - starting stats:

Name: Second Chance's Ochre
Age: 7yo (rising 8)
Height: Approx 15.2hh
Breed: Anglo Arab
Colour: Chestnut

History: We were told that as a foal Ochre was bottle raised. We believe this to be true as like many bottle raised babies he has no fear at all of people, is very in-your-face and is quite a friendly boy most of the time.

He came to us through a lady who worried for his future. He used to belong to her neighbor who kept a group of approximately 12 horses in a paddock. These horses were mostly left to their own devices and did not recieve adequate feeding, were not wormed, never got dental or hoof care and bred indescriminately for many years. We have been told Ochre was owned by the same person from birth.

Eventually the person who owned them all left the property and abandoned them there. She did come to take away her two favourites but the remainder were signed over to the neighbor so that she could home them. All but Ochre were rehomed by kindly experienced locals and as there was nobody else prepared to take a mature aged, mostly unhandled stallion it looked as though Ochre would get the bullet.

Handling: Ochre is halter broken and ties up. He can be easily caught and led however he has no concept of personal space and frequently tries to walk on his handler. He has been washed and seems to have no undue fear of the hose and water being squirted on him.

Bad habits:
Ochre has a strong survival instinct. Because he is used to periods of starvation, he will behave contentedly with abundant food at his disposal however if he runs out of grazing or hay, he will repeatedly test fencing until he can break through to find food. Ochre does not trust people to provide him with food and looks after his own survival.

He also will rear and strike if overfaced or if he feels threatened and he has bitten a handler once before.

Good habits:
Ochre is very friendly and approachable. He likes a good scratch and will happily follow a person around his enclosure to see what they're doing. He is well socialised and gets along with other horses well. He is very calm and doesn't appear to be frightened of much. He is intelligent and learns quickly.

Needs to learn:
- Personal space and to respect human handlers
- Pick up hooves for trimming and cleaning
- To have no fear of being touched all over
- Float loading with confidence
- To accept having legs bandaged, wormers, immunisations
- To lunge comfortably
- To accept saddle, bridle, rugs, lunge rollers etc
- Mouthing
- Starting and training under saddle for walk, trot and canter.

This is a lot of work and will be undertaken over several months to ensure that Ochre is happy to do as asked and has no fear of us and the things we will be asking him to learn and do.

Photos:
Ochre the first day he came into SC's care.


A more recent photograph after 2 weeks of good feeding and worming. Also after castration - showing a large improvement in his condition.

The Duty

Its been a while since I last posted, I've been busy as usual and not much of it is material I can post. So I thought I'd post this subject which is very important to me.



The Duty

"We order the time of their conception and the time of their death. In between we have a Duty."
~ Terry Pratchett - "A Hat Full Of Sky"

And it is true. We order just about everything in their lives. We make demands of them that is most unnatural. We expect and desire their unquestioning obedience. We use them for pleasure, for entertainment, for companionship, to make money and for our egos. We rarely give them choices unless it is a choice between what we want and discomfort.

We have a duty to care for them. We have a duty to ensure that they are safe, comfortable, happy and secure in themselves. We have a duty to provide for them as they cannot provide for themselves and we have a DUTY to learn as much as we can about them and to always seek more knowledge for their benefit.

I spoke to a person this week concerning an underweight horse. This person told me the horse was fed twice a day however in my opinion for that particular horse's circumstances she was not getting enough. The person told me that his mate had done her teeth a few months ago but this mate is not qualified nor attended any sort of course. The person told me with all the conviction of a seasoned horseman that blood tests only show if a horse has worms or not. I was completely gob-smacked. That is pretty much the only thing a BLOOD TEST can't tell!!!

This person considers themselves very experienced. Unfortunately because of this train of thought - this person is not interested in trying everything to get the horse back to proper health and is neglecting their duty as the animal's carer and provider.

And should the day come when they break down or we decide we don't want them or that they don't suit our needs and wants - it is our responsibility and our duty to spend the time, dollars and effort to ensure they go to a good home or live out a kind retirement, or are put to sleep with dignity. There's no "I don't want it, give it to the first person to come asking, I can't be bothered with the hassle." If you didn't want a hassle why did you get a horse?

We owe it to them. Just as we owe it to our children. We have a duty and we must uphold that. I know I couldn't live with myself not to and I will gladly and have frequently sacrificed something for myself to ensure my horse never goes without.

Obesity can KILL!

Being overweight can cause serious health issues and even kill a horse or pony.


Here is a dire warning for everyone, a message to be constantly viligant on your horses. Not, for the most commonly held notion of neglect - starvation... but for a just as common problem yet not as well known - over feeding.

Over feeding and having your animals (any animal, not just horses!) obese can make them seriously ill and yes, it can also be the death of them. Don't overfeed because they call to you or you feel bad for putting them in the diet paddock on rations. Don't kill with kindness. Please be careful.

Currently one of the SC rescues is fighting for her life. Right now she has a 50/50 chance of survival and getting through to live another good few years before her time comes. All because of being over fed and fed junk that I wouldn't even feed to chickens unless they were due to be eaten soon!

Second Chance's Beauty came to us from Gingin along with several others including her constant companion Velvet. Both ponies were dangerously obese, showed signs of foundering in the past and at great risk of foundering again. They had been fed some sort of pellet/pollard/bran mix which has overloaded their systems with fat.

For a while, they were doing exceptionally well. A strict diet was enforced to bring them back from the brink of founder and both were starting to be able to get around much more comfortably. And then ever so slowly Beauty began to be a little off-colour, a little listless which we put down to her drench a couple of weeks ago. When she really began to go downhill the vet was summoned immediately and she was rushed down to Serpentine Veterinary Hospital for care.

She wasn't eating nor drinking and was dehydrated and feeling very off. Blood tests and liver function tests were done and we got our diagnosis.

The scientific name is 'hepatic lipidosis' or hyperlipidemia syndrome (also called 'fatty liver'). It is quite a common problem in miniature horses and ponies and also in donkeys. It was not caused by Beauty's weight loss (which was necessary to control her laminitis) but was most likely set off when Beauty was drenched, wormed and vaccinated, which caused mild diarrhoea and she went off her feed a little, this caused a negative energy balance in her body and started the whole process.

The fat deposits in the liver and causes liver damage and impaired liver function. Beauty's liver function is still adequate for survival as long as we can prevent any further damage and control her energy balance by increasing her appetite. If she has another episode and recurrence of hyperlipidemia, she is unlikely to survive without very intense treatment (such as tube feeding her 4-6 times each day).

Fingers crossed she continues to improve and we can stabilise her current liver function.

Velvet too began to come down with the same symptoms and had the same diagnosis however she was not nearly as bad as Beauty. Another liver enzym test done today revealed that she is improving a little since she has begun supportive care with our hard working Vet so there is some hope.

But it all hinges on the next blood test at the end of next week. If Beauty is continuing to improve, she'll be allowed to come home and will have to be carefully cared for and monitored for the rest of her days. If there is no improvement, we may well have to put her to sleep.

So please, if you love your pets, go and ensure that the diet they are on is not detrimental to their health. If in doubt, ask your vet or better yet a qualified Equine Nutritionist. They are out there and getting a diet prescribed does NOT COST MUCH. It will most likely save you an awful lot of heartache and your pony a heck of a lot of pain and discomfort.

Here are photos the day we met the ponies back in December 07. Waaaaaay too fat.

Saved at the eleventh hour

A new rescue has arrived with one of our Field Officer's and foster carer's. A 9yo bay TB gelding that had suffered a bad run with inexperienced owners.

He was verbally surrendered to Second Chance literally 45 minutes before he was due to be shot and the official paperwork was signed two days later.

His owner had only had him a short time and had bitten off more than she could chew. Thinking she was doing the right thing, she gave the horse to a local farrier however 4 months later, the farrier gave him back.

Having moved to another town with no resources to do anything with him, it was decided perhaps he ought to be put down as he'd been a very difficult horse to load onto a trailer and they were concerned he may be dangerous particularly in the wrong hands. Time was running out and a decision had to be made.

And then a friend of his owner thought to contact us and of course one thing led to another and the poor boy was given another chance.

At the moment there isn't any photos available however if I get any I will certainly add them on.

This sweet natured horse is a bit of an artful dodger when it comes to getting out of something he doesn't want to do which we believe is a large part of his issues. He is however also very sore in the back and does have confidence issues and appears to be afraid of ropes. We are confident however with the right home, he'll be a superb little horse once he has completed his rehabilitation.

New chappie on the block

Our 7th rescue for 2008 has just been signed over this weekend. He is an unregistered Anglo Arab stallion standing at approx 15.1hh and he is around 7/8 years old.

This guy had a tough go, his owner allowed him to run with mares 24/7 and he was breeding with his own sisters indescriminately. He suffered a cut to a hind leg (most likely on poor fencing by the look of it) which was never treated, his teeth are a mess which is the main reason for his scrawny appearance. This chap has a parrot mouth which of course needs even more regular dental care than a horse without this fault.

He's lightly handled and needs castration and work of course but I feel he'll make a nice riding horse with the hard yakka put in. He's well socialised at least and has a nice temperment even though he bit the Vet that went to see him! He needs somebody to handle him properly for a few months and he'll be a model of obedience.

No name yet, still trying to decide what to call him. Why oh why are there so many people around that will allow this to happen with their horses and then when the manure hits the fan they just cut and run, leaving the equines behind?

There is no excuse for this! Ever!

Under no circumstances whatsoever is there any excuse for a horse or pony to look like this. These two are Arty and Blossom, rescued this week from a large property where they'd been left to die along with many other animals.

Their rescuer emailed me today, allowing me to use these photos to highlight why Second Chance exists. This is happening, right now, in our own backyards. On tucked away places away from the public eye, animals are winding up like this. How can anyone possibly live with themselves allowing any animal to get to this state? These has to be the thinnest ponies I have ever seen so far and still breathing.

Please, if your animal is starting to look bad, call a Vet or call us! Stop it before it gets to what I call the 'death row' look. If your animals are starting to drop off weight, do something before it becomes a life or death struggle for somebody else to help them.

SC Quiz Night a resounding success!

Wow what fun! Even the organisers and helpers had a great time so that is saying something.
Again a HUUUUUUGE thanks to Gail Kegie for her hard work bringing this all together as Project Manager and making it such a fantastic night. You did a marvelous job, mate :)
Thanks to Sheona (Deschuur) for the platters, thanks to our lovely judges, our super MC John Robertson who really made the night and everyone who helped.

Congratulations to the winning team, the Red Demons. You guys did a great job on some really hard questions, well done!

Here are some photos from the evening...

170 participants


Our panel of judges


The winners of the evening, The Red Demons who looked positively delighted with their prizes as they divvied them up.


Our wonderful MC John Robertson, who was the star of the night and despite knowing diddly squat about horse racing did a wonderful 'race call of the prizes' for us!


Hmmm can't half guess where this lot are from!


The Wild Bunch, formerly known as the Pooper Scoopers who were last year's defending champions


Second place went to The Pony Pals team who did a fantastic job and lost by just ONE point!


The winners of the 'Best Dressed' team, team Lackanooki


It was nice to see that some participants came well presented...


Everyone having a crack at the dancing at our half-time break with the Swing Zing dance troupe.

And HUGE congrats to Kylie Jones who won the 5 night family holiday!

Overall we raised just over $3,300 for our cause. Thank you to everyone who participated!