Here she is about a week or so after the first time we rescued her. We assisted officials in Lincoln County in Oct. 2009. She was 1-2 years old here. Probably not 2 yet. The reason it says Flicka on these photos is because that was her name when we originally rescued her. But after we gained ownership of her we changed her name to Bella, because we already had a Flicka here.
We continued to coordinate her care. Here she is Thanksgiving Day 2009, approx. 40 days after her rescue.
Shortly after this time we were rudely dismissed from the case and no one would tell us what was going on.
We found out many months later that all 8 horses were returned to the owner/owners.
(this is kind of a downhill picture. but oh doesn't she look content here; she thought she had made it. She had no idea she would soon be sent back to hell.)
We do not have rescue day pictures of Bella from her most recent rescue, in late Jan.2011.
because no one contacted us to help or to ask us if we would like to take care of her again.
We just found out about this in a kind of fluke phone call about an ad. we were running for PT employment. We just found out about this on Sunday, just a few days ago.
Her neglectful owner did not want her back, otherwise they could have had her back.
Nope, we don't get it either.
By court order, Bella and 8 other horses were signed over to a guy who has never done horse rescue before. He had no intention of keeping her. He made us pay him $406 for Bella so that we could claim her before she went through a loose horse sale in the next few days. And yes, we did tell him that we had already brought her back to life once and could he please show some kindness and give us a break here. Nope. $406.
Here is how she looks now, approx 40 days after her latest rescue.
40 days after her rescue in Minnehaha County this time, and she had received no vet care. No one even bothered to do a fecal exam or dental check. All 18 horses (9 were going back to owners who did this to them; 9 were staying here with the court-appointed new owner) from this herd, mares & stallions and small & big were all put in one pen in a feedlot type situation and they were eating cow feed. Some hay ground up with corn stalks. they said there was some molasses stuff in there too. big deal. We don't feed horses corn stalks and especially not starved horses. And how is she supposed to get healthy anyway when she is loaded with worms!
It's a little hard to evaluate her condition from this photo because she does have some winter hair which probably helped her live through this winter with no shelter. There were dead horses there; this information was confirmed to us.
oh geez, after I reread this I realized I really need to explain. We were not involved in her rescue this time. We did not know anything about it until just a few days ago. And we bought her as soon as we could and immediately took her to our Vet. Which is what should have happened to her 40 days ago!
you really have to feel the horses when they have this winter hair.
IF YOU CLICK ON THESE PHOTOS THEY WILL ENLARGE
But you can follow her backbone sticking up and the "shelf" that forms kind of above the rib cage on an emaciated horse. and her hip bones. She is full of worms, vet exam proof. that contributes to her "full tummy" look. In reality, she is emaciated. Body Condition Score 2. on a scale of 1-9. nothing lower than 1 except death.
We now have ownership of Bella. This will not happen to her again. She is not 3 years old yet. Just think what she must think about life in general. having "lived" like this. She is not even 3. And she has been in this condition twice that we know of.
