Today's
Residents and Rescues
Our physical capacity for horses is currently
16 stalls but our care capacity and financial capacity allows for 10 horses.
We do reserve horse stalls for urgent or emergency situations in which the
authorities need assistance in humane cases. AERO's current herd is a total of 16.
Special thanks to our foster caretakers for the dedication in helping AERO
horses.
Chief and
Dancer (pictures pending) - Two big horses with big hearts that
needed some specialized care their owner was not able to provide. Both
horses are in foster care right now and sponsored. One is recovering from EPM
and both are recovering from foot issues.
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Brandy - 09/18/09
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Brandy - Day 3 - pink is new skin growth
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day 3 chin
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day 5 leg - getting larvae and necrotic tissue out
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hole was to bone where vet wrap cut in
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fly egg pockets opened up nicely
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beautiful healing and progress - opening up to let out fly eggs
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day9
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day9
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day 11 chin - looking nice
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day 11_leg - still necrotic tissue and worms
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day 11
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day 11
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Brandy
is
22yo
14.2H Buckskin mare that contracted a severe skin infection. Dept of Agriculture
requested that AERO assist the owner to get this special girl proper medical
care. She is responding nicely to treatment but is at risk of degloving
her foot due to the damage to the area around the coronet band. We are
working hard to assist her but her fate is currently uncertain. The
infection is responding to treatment well however and will not be the reason she
is in jeopardy. Update 10/3/09 - Brandy has a parasite infection in her
wounds that is extensive and they are being evaluated. Her rapid
development of her condition may have been due to these parasites. Update
10/11/09 - Brandy is responding nicely to treatments on parasites. Her
face is almost healed, her leg is still shedding parasites. She did
develop eye ulcers in both eyes and has been responding nicely to treatment.
Overall Brandy is gaining weight and much more comfortable in her wounds.
Update 01/04/2010: Brandy's wounds are almost healed with her facial
wounds completely closed and her leg wound getting close. She will be
tested under saddle and have her ground manners refreshed but AERO is accepting
adoption candidates on her.
Rim Rock
is a 19-year old QH that was found severely dehydrated in the Tonto National
Forest in the heat of the Arizona summer. There was no equipment on him
and no signs that he had been ridden in a long time so he was assumed to be an
abandoned horse. The person who found him took two hours to walk Rim back
to his location to get him food and water. Rim was not able to eat for
several days as he rehydrated. AERO was called and took him on as an
emergency rescue. His vet check came back clean except for severe
arthritis in his front knees. Rim is a sweet horse that was adopted out
but recently returned to to the rescue for some additional medical attention to
his feet. He is eligible for our
Sponsor-A-Horse
program.
Chakoti 'Big Mac'
is QH that was pulled off the kill lot. He has a sweet and gentle
temperament, a beautiful build, and feet any QH owner would die for....we are
evaluating him for minor lameness issues and getting his teeth done and then
he'll be ready for riding evaluation. He has broken withers and some hefty
scars on his legs but has excellent ground manners. He is in foster care
right now.
Billy
- A 12yo donkey who was left behind when his owner passed away.
Painted Promise picked him up but could not get him gelded. Thanks to Dr.
Harris we were able to pull him in and complete his gelding surgery and he is
now available for adoption (01/2010).
Allie
is a tovero palomino paint filly with two blue
eyes that was born with crooked legs. She has had several surgeries
already even though she is 10 months old. There is a small window of time
as her growth plates close to get her legs on the right track because they are
still not straightening out. In cases like these timing is everything.
Allie is a sweet filly and loves people since she was weaned very young.
Solstice has taken up the important job of being her mom and teaching her horse
things. Allie was able to get her leg braces and her deviation has moved
to normal limits for the knee. However a deviation in her fetlock has made
it a careful balancing act to correct for club feet vs. carpal deviation....she
will be club footed in both front feet to avoid compromise of her knee and that
is currently being addressed to reduce it as much as possible. Everyone who meets Allie is charmed by her loving
personality.
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Draven 8/28 on his first day at AERO
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Draven
(which means
Child of beautiful shadows, True
defender of Love)
is a 12-year old AZTECA horse that is 15.2H...he was donated to Horses Help! as
a candidate therapy horse but long term lameness issues made it impractical for
him to continue in the program. AERO was requested to assist since he has
had many tests and vets evaluate him and he is not realizing results from
conventional methods. Draven will have our expert farrier assist as well
as receive PAP-IMI treatments from Koala-T-Life and Sound therapy from The Sound
Horse. We have discovered his side bones are so extensive they are
interfering with the pastern bone on one side and we believe it is from a shoulder imbalance
likely a result of injury. We're working on his shoulder alignment to help
slow or stop sidebone development and we are using a massage techniques to bring
his sidebones down. Draven only
needs minor changes to make him more comfortable and special shoes will be the
last step in his program. Draven is up for adoption to a nice trail riding
home that is walk only. He can go on the rocks all day long but will
always be grade 1-3 lame at the trot.
(Click on the pictures above to enlarge.)
The above pictures of are Misty and Doc (Socks) the days that they
were seized by the ADA. It helps to see how quickly horses can come back
from such a dire condition. All of the progress pictures below can be seen
in a larger format by clicking on them.
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Misty on 3/6/07
Misty has gained weight in the care of the ADA - she was picked up on 2/15/07 with all of her hip bones clearly visible. She is strong in spite of her lack of body condition. |
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Misty also gets Red Cell for anemia and Vitamin B12 to help her absorb nutrients. She is on medicinal mushrooms and fiber/apple cider vinegar to get rid of any potential sand or infections. |
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Misty on 3/17/07
Her back and hind end are filling in nicely - she's dumping her coat in this picture which is normal for a severe malnourished condition. New hair is growing in behind it rapidly. |
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4/5/07 - Misty is showing awesome progress and other than her hip bones she is looking like the pretty little arab that she is.
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Most of the remaining underdevelopment is due to muscle atrophy so we're giving her room to run in deep sand to get her strength back.
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05/11/07 - Misty is filling in with more muscle - she is showing some pain in her right hip which is being evaluated.
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05/11/07 - She loves to roll in the arena.
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Misty
is a 18yo Arab that was purchased at public auction. The Livestock Board
removed her from her prior situation where another horse (her friend) had to be
euthanized on the spot. Misty was often left without water for days and
food was only given as remembered even though she was in an affluent home.
She is experiencing hind end lameness due to muscle weakness. The
referring vet has asked that we work to get Misty in our care. She is
rapidly gaining weight and we are working on providing her with opportunities to
build muscle. She is not ridable and is up for adoption as a
companion horse. Misty is eligible for the
Sponsor-A-Horse
program . (Click on the pictures above to enlarge.)
Dremal
is a 10-year old Arab that was a high level performing reining horse. Due
to unknown circumstances he has a condition in his hamstring that makes him
unable to perform at competitive levels any more. He also was showing
signs of axtaxia and other lameness issues that made him unsuitable as a
schooling horse. His concerned owners and trainer sought out a rehab
option for him that would be in his best interest. Dre, as he is called,
is in foster care and has been checked out by our specialists. He is
looking and feeling great and his gaits are near normal but he is not currently
ridable and in rehab. He will make a
great trail riding adoption candidate once he has worked thru some of the damage
to his hamstrings. We're happy to have Dre in our fold.
Dre is not a candidate for Sponsor a Horse at this time and is in the final
stages of adoption.
Cheer's Gold
is a 11-year old Holsteiner/TB that was campaigned too heavily at a
young age in the jumping community. His owner wanted to put
him down at 8yo because he couldn't jump any more and they thought
he had EPM. The attending vet called AERO because he believed
it was an arthritic condition and lucky for us he was right.
Cheers rehabbed in a month and we've been riding him ever since.
Cheers was adopted out for several years and is back to
work in the children's program indefinitely. We're very excited
that he has come back to us!
Kids love this big guy! Cheers
has been in training and has undergone treatment for headaches. He
responded beautifully to his cranial sacral and he is finally back to his old
self. He is doing very well and is ready for adoption to the right home. Cheers
is eligible for our
Sponsor-A-Horse
program.
Zephyrus
(name coming in was Ricky) is a 5 year old Thoroughbred
that was a severe neglect case. He badly needed nutrition, food, footcare, dental work, and deworming upon arrival in January 2004. In addition
Zephryus had not been
handled properly and was afraid to be
touched or approached....the good news is that with all of the visitors at AERO he
loves the attention and is happy to receive all of the kisses he gets!
Zeph has undergone three surgeries while in our care and has a thyroid imbalance
making it difficult for him to maintain weight. His
birthday is Valentine's Day! Zephryus will be returned to training in March 2007
for an evaluation of whether he will be ridable or not (his medical conditions
make this necessary to determine). His rehab has been the longest of any
horse at AERO but worth it as his intelligence and personality have charmed us
all! Update: 12/1/07: He has shoes on and will now return to
training under saddle to see if he can hold weight although it is doubtful.
If he is unridable he'll be trained as a liberty horse. 06/30/08:
Zeph is in training after many delays as he gets ready for his forever
home....once training is complete and we know what he will be able to do then
we'll look for his new person. He is eager to bond with a special someone. Learn more about
Zephyrus by clicking
here. I want to sponsor
Zephryus!
Elizabeth's
Star arrived
three years ago at 7 weeks of age....she had 18% carpal deviation on her knees and because her breeders were looking for paint coloring she was going to be put down. Thanks to Dr. Lucas at Southwest Equine performing surgery on both knees, Lizzy is sound today and
just passed her final (August 2005) x-ray check on her knees. She is being used in the children's program
and has been started under saddle. Lizzy
has been adopted by AERO's founder and will be loaned back to the program!
Lizzy
is no longer eligible to be sponsored.
Sundance
is a
30yo Quarter Horse grade used for trail riding for many years. His owners suspected he was navicular (a painful foot condition) but never sought treatment. Sundance was in so
much pain when he was first
rescued that he only weighed 700 lbs
and could barely walk. With treatment and an exercise program Sundance is happily back up to weight and being used in the Children's program.
More amazingly Sundance has been trotting sound. Due to his ongoing care
for blindness, hearing problems, and missing teeth he is not an adoption candidate.
I want to sponsor Sundance!
Solstice
is a 13 year old Chocolate Silver Palomino who was rescued from severe neglect by another party. She came to AERO with pain in her hocks from poor shoes and a hormone imbalance making
her difficult to handle. With some Chinese herbs and proper foot
care Solstice is the most versatile horse at AERO today. She is actively being used in the Children's program and loves every minute of it! She
continues to rehab after losing a foal from malnutrition at less
than three years of age. Many of her pituitary and leg conditions
are a result of this and she is not a current adoption candidate due
to her special needs.
She has a degenerative condition in her hind legs and is ridable at a walk only.
I want to sponsor Solstice!
SCH Impressions
is on loan to
AERO for the children's
program.
Although not a rescue herself, Impressions was born and raised by at-risk youth in a children's home located in Illinois. She is a
10yo old Arab that has been ridden dressage and western
pleasure and has incredible bloodlines. She loves to show everyone those fancy Arab
steps! Impressions is not eligible to be sponsored as she is
privately owned.
