Please join us in welcoming the newest member of the SAFE herd. Callista is a super sweet mare who has seen better days. We don’t have a whole lot of history on her but what we do know is that she needs some TLC. She appears to be about 30 years old and has a body condition score of 2/9.
Dr. Renner from Rainland Farm Equine came out when she arrived to make sure she was stable and to check on a hip issue. She has generalized muscle atrophy from the neglect, but the right side of her hindquarters is significantly more atrophied than the left, and she is quite lame on that leg. Dr. Renner did an ultrasound to see if he could find a hip fracture, but found nothing obvious. The ultrasound did show some arthritis there though, and clearly something happened to her to cause significant damage. It has been recommended that we give her a month of good care to see if she can recover to the point of not living in pain.
Callista is farther along in her re-feeding process than Cyrus, Rowan, or Anakin were when they came. However, she is still on a strict feeding protocol of pre-weighed alfalfa hay for the next few weeks. She is also on strict quarantine to protect her from any diseases that might jeopardize her rehabilitation and to protect the herd if she’s harboring anything contagious.
She’s on some good pain meds, and her wounds are being treated daily. She’s also on antibiotics because one of her wounds is infected. So we’re keeping her as comfortable as we can. Hopefully we can get her through this rough patch and on her way to a happier life.
She was christened with the name Callista by a SAFE volunteer who won the naming rights in a drawing at our holiday party last January. She has a star in the shape of a crescent moon, so her new name comes from the name of one of Jupiter’s moons. We think it fits her perfectly!
If you want to take an active role in Callista’s recovery, why not become her sponsor? You can sign up at http://safekeepers.safehorses.org to make an automatic monthly donation and help this sweet lady on her way to a wonderful new life.
