Welcome Two New Rescues: Tilly and Sable

Hanaeleh Got a Call About Two Horses Who Needed Help

A few months ago we received a call from a woman who had two horses in Escondido CA that she could no longer care for. She and her mother both had medical issues, and the horses were languishing. Although the horses had been getting fed everyday, they needed basic vet care, including their vaccinations and feet trimmed, and had not been out of their stalls in a long time.

Usually we network horses if we don’t immediately have any room, but these horses obviously needed more help than most people could offer. Unfortunately, the horses needed their vaccines before they could come to Hanaeleh, and EHV-1 had just broken out, so we had to make sure our horses were safe before these two came to Hanaeleh.

We made arrangements for the vet to come out to give the horses their vaccinations and to do a basic wellness check on them. He noted that the horses were at a good weight, but needed their teeth floated and their feet were very overgrown. He also said that their stalls had not been cleaned in a very long time. Unfortunately, we had to wait for a few weeks after the horses had their vaccines before they would be safe to transport to Hanaeleh.

Picking Up Tilly and Sable

This past week we drove down to Escondido to pick up both of the horses. The owners were very kind and gave us all of the horses’ paperwork and some food so we could transition them easily. They earnestly wanted to do what was best for their horses, but were just overwhelmed and were financially unable to care for them properly.

Tilly is a 22 year-old dun Quarter horse mare. She is registered, and she is very sweet. She had not been exercised in a while, so she does not have much muscle tone. She has a beautiful mane and forelock, but it looks like it hadn’t been brushed out in a while. The hair on her tail also looked like it had been cut or chewed off by another animal, but otherwise she looked OK. She got right into the trailer, and we were hopeful that things would go smoothly from there.

Salty (we renamed her after her great-grandmother, Sable), is a 21 year-old Arabian mare. Her great-grandfather was Khemosabe, a very famous foundational sire in Canada and the United States in the 1980s. She has Cushings, and she is on medication, but she hadn’t been tested for a while, so we are not certain if she is on the correct dosage or not, especially considering the condition of her coat. She was covered in the very thin, wispy hair that is indicative of horses with Cushings, and it had been so long since she had been brushed that her coat was hopelessly matted around her stomach and legs. Her owner had tried to remove some of the mats with a small set of clippers, but the hair was so fine and so matted that she was not successful. Sable’s mane was split on each side, and was essentially just dreadlocks on each side, it was so tangled. The hair on her tail also looked as if it had been either cut or chewed partially off.

The wet conditions of her stall ended up affecting Sable the most, and as a result of the stall, diet and Cushings disease, she has dropped soles, which means that she is actually standing on the soles of her feet, rather than on the hoof wall. This is incredibly painful, and when she tried to step into the trailer, she put a lot of weight on her feet, which hurt. She was NOT going to get into the trailer, even with Tilly in there.

Usually we have a number of items in our trailer, including a dressage whip so we can gently tap their sides to ask the horses to move forward, but apparently we did not replace the whip back into the trailer the last time it was used, so all we had was a short longe whip. We tried to tap her lightly with the whip, but, again, when she tried to step in, it just hurt, so she would back out. After a few minutes we took Tilly back out, so Sable could have the entire space available so she could jump in. She was hesitant at first, but finally she decided to scramble into the trailer. Tilly loaded up without an issue behind her, and we were off!

Arriving at Hanaeleh

We had the farrier scheduled for 1pm, but when we arrived at 12:30pm, he was already there, so he was able to immediately get started on Tilly and Sable when we arrived. He started on Sable first, and did what he could to get rid of the excessive hoof wall. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do about the dropped sole- trying to cut away the sole would lead to her bleeding and being in extreme pain, so after he did what he could, we put some boots on her to protect her feet. It’s going to take several trims/months for her to have a normal foot, but with proper diet and medication we believe she will recover.

Tilly’s feet had grown up instead of out, so she was easier to trim, although she appears lame in her right front. We put her into the round pen so she could move around- after being in an unkempt stall for so long, it was probably nice to move around on flat ground.

One of our neighbors, Renate S., came by to see the horses, and offered to comb out Sable’s mane. It had not been brushed out in a very long time- it took a lot of detangler and about an hour, but Renate finally was able to get her mane completely brushed out! Her coat was still hopelessly matted, however, and it was too cool to give her a bath, so we decided just to let her go rest in her stall.

The original plan was to possibly keep the horses together in a paddock, but they have very different nutritional needs, so we separated them, and put Sable in the stall next to Raven (our Friesian who was rescued just a few months ago). Tilly was so busy flirting with Tamahome and getting to know Ruby and Garnet that she didn’t even notice at first! Sable noticed, and was kind of a jerk to all of the horses, lunging at them and squealing at them, but eventually she settled down and ate some grain.

Please consider a donation to help us care for Tilly and Sable. Even a small amount will help us. Click HERE.

Settling In at Hanaeleh

Over the past week, we have let the girls settle in and get used to the routine. Tilly has decided that her new BFF is Garnet (though Garnet absolutely HATES her, unfortunately). Tilly gets very upset whenever we put Garnet in the arena (out of her sight). We have put Tilly in the arena, and while she can see Sable there, she ignores her and instead calls for Garnet. What can we say, horses are weird! We are hoping that as Tilly settles in and gets used to all the horse that she ends up calming down a bit and eventually loses her odd fascination with Garnet.

This week, we brushed Tilly and were able to get her mane and tail untangled (her hair was much less tangled than Sable’s). She gets very silly even at the cross-ties if Garnet goes from 10 feet away in her stall to 10 feet away in the round pen, so we are definitely going to have to continue to work with her to get her to tie quietly. With constant work she should improve; she just hasn’t really been worked in a long time, and she needs to remember her manners. She is still off a bit in the front, but it may just be that her hooves are not healthy, so right now we have her on some pain medication and are going to give her some time to heal. She still will trot and canter around on her own, so obviously it isn’t hurting her much.

We put Sable on a low-starch and low-sugar diet to better manage her Cushings disease, and started her on a pain medication as well. On Sunday, we finally tackled her coat.

Please consider a donation to help us care for Tilly and Sable. Even a small amount will help us. Click HERE.

Shaving Sable

Sable’s coat was completely matted around her belly, and there were mats going up her neck and around her legs as well. The original plan was to just clip her belly, but her entire coat was so gross that we just had to completely shave her. The mats were so bad that it was like shaving the sheep, and the coat came off in a large clump like the sheeps’ wool. When we hit a ticklish spot and she would get visibly upset, we just moved away and shaved another spot for a few minutes before returning to the ticklish part. Part of the issue, we think, is that the mats were pulling at her skin, and while we went slowly and made sure that the clippers were not overheating, it was still probably a little uncomfortable at times.

For the most part she was a good sport about the entire thing- a few times she threatened to kick us, but at least she just threatened and didn’t actually kick anyone, so we figure that’s a win. She seemed to have certain areas that were more ticklish and she didn’t want us to touch, especially around the hind legs… unfortunately there were huge mats there, so we had to shave them; there was literally no other option if we wanted her to be healthy. Kathi held up a front leg while we shaved the hind area so we wouldn’t get kicked, and that worked out very well.

We shaved her legs and part of her face- we could only get so much done with the body clippers, and she was getting tired of standing there. To be frank, we were getting tired as well, and we were completely covered with icky hair, so we did not switch to the smaller clippers, but decided that could wait for another day.

After we shaved her, we brushed out her mane and tail again; this time, it only took a few minutes. She really does have a very nice mane! Then, we put her in the arena- the first time in almost a week, because we wanted the pain medication to take effect. She seemed to really enjoy moving around! She is still a bit lame, even in the boots, but that’s to be expected. The fact that she was feeling good enough to move around at liberty, however, is a really good sign that she’s starting to feel better.

The Future of Tilly and Sable

This week we are going to have the vet out for Sable to complete a blood test to determine if she is, indeed, on the correct dosage of her Cushings medication. We have already changed her diet to reduce all sugars and starches to prevent any insulin spikes that can be detrimental to her health, and she seems to be just fine with that. We have her on a grain that is specially formulated for her medical condition, and she very much enjoys her grain! We also bought her a different pair of boots so we can change them out as her hooves grow a bit. Until her feet grow out, we really cannot work her, but we will continue to turn her out and let her explore the area around the stable. We are also going to work on tying at the tie rail, as she hasn’t had to tie for a while.

We are also going to work on tying with Tilly, as well, and we also have to wait for her feet to grow out to see how much she improves. Just like with Sable, we really cannot work her as long as she is unsound, but we can continue to turn her out and to work with her on her ground manners. Both horses are very sweet and really want to be good; they just need to be reminded of the rules and boundaries.

We will continue to provide updates on Tilly and Sable as they progress and improve!

Please consider a donation to help us care for Tilly and Sable. Even a small amount will help us. Click HERE.