The founding members of SAFE met online on the Chronicle of the Horse (COTH) bulletin board in the spring of 2005. What began as a few people pooling money to purchase a single horse off a feedlot turned into quite a large group of people banding together in support of a rescue organization working from an Eastern Washington feedlot. The money raised on COTH was called the SAFE Fund, and was used to purchase and sponsor slaughter-bound horses. In those days, our group purchased horses, paid for quarantine/boarding in Eastern WA, and paid for initial shots and farrier care, but the actual adoption was handled by the feedlot rescue. Back then, the feedlot rescue did not have the bandwidth to do site visits, and horses were adopted out without adoption contracts.
As the SAFE fund grew and our group became more organized, we took over more aspects of the care of our horses, including checking out potential adopters and ultimately, making final decisions on adoptions. In November of 2005, our group split apart from the feedlot rescue and formed the organization that you know now as SAFE. This was when we began developing our mission and our own adoption policies, which now include site visits, full reference checks, an adoption contract, and subsequent follow-up visits.
But, such was not the case in April of 2005, when a 20+ year old swaybacked Quarter Horse gelding named JR arrived at the feedlot. JR was a sweet old fellow, in good shape but older and swaybacked, so he was not really suitable for anything other than being a companion animal. The SAFE fund purchased JR and placed him in quarantine care in Yakima. From there, the other rescue group placed him and another horse into a home, where we were told he was to be a companion and friend to a young girl whose family lived in Eastern WA. (right, JR’s feedlot photo)
Since becoming its own organization, SAFE has tried to track down of all the horses we adopted out during that first year and establish or re-establish contact with their adopters. We have kept in touch with all of the ones we have contact information for, and been able to receive updates. JR’s adopter had kept in touch: in June 2005 and again in February 2006, we received wonderful updates saying how well he was doing and how much their family loved him.
One of the things that we are trying to do is go back and do the site visits on these horses, and we have recently asked members of our bulletin board to help us with this daunting task, as many of the horses are several hours’ drive from our home base in Western WA. In March 2007, a member of the SAFE bulletin board offered to do a site visit for JR. As it turned out, she knew the family and had given them one of her rescue horses, to replace a horse they lost to cancer the previous year. When we received the site visit report back, we were horrified to see the following photos:
After seeing the photos, I called the adopter directly and spoke with her. She was very upset to hear from me, and seemed to know exactly why I was calling. It did not go well, but after several discussions back and forth, she admitted that she did not have the resources and ability to properly care for JR, and agreed to return him to us. We quickly arranged transportation and housing for JR, and on March 25, 2007 — with many thanks to our volunteer Juliane for driving to get him — we picked JR up. These are photos from the day he arrived:
The next day we were able to get Dr. Hannah out to Juliane’s. He was in such poor shape, we were not sure if he would make it. Thankfully, JR will recover, but he has several significant issues to deal with right now. His adopter stated his feet had not been cared for in the entire two years she had him, and it was obvious that this was true. In addition to being long and overgrown, he is suffering from a severe case of thrush that has turned his feet and frogs to mush and caused deep cracks to develop on his heels, which were oozing pus. This explained why he was standing strangely on his hind legs – he had been trying to keep the weight off his heels. His terribly emaciated state was explained when we looked in his mouth – his teeth being only the second worst set of teeth Hannah had ever seen. He had snot coming out of one nostril caused by an abcessed tooth gone untreated. It is amazing this guy was able to eat anything. (Please, remember that regular teeth care is absolutely essential for these older horses or their teeth develop sharp points causing their molars to no longer align and causing pain when they eat. JR is a prime example of what happens when poor teeth causes the horse to not be able to chew the food they get properly!)
Photos of JR with Dr. Hannah:
JR’s feet — note the deep heel cracks as shown by the hoof pick:
JR was put on a mush diet and was re-fed slowly so as not to shock his starved system. He was on antibiotics twice a day, with twice-daily soakings on all four feet in Epsom salt and betadine. Hannah has prescribed belly lifts to help strengthen his muscles and ease the strain of his severe swayback. His teeth were addressed a few weeks later when he became stronger. His feet were been trimmed and all the old, rotting material debrided, although they were so soft and so sensitive that his feet bled when trimmed. Here are some photos from his first session with the farrier:
Clearly, and without question, this horse was SEVERELY neglected. SAFE takes full and complete responsibility for what happened to JR, and our sole interest has been the horse’s welfare and doing what we could to rectify our mistake. We are stepping up our efforts to check in on each and every one of our horses adopted out in that first year. We hope that by sharing this story, other rescue groups and individuals that privately adopt their horses can learn from our mistake. ALWAYS do site checks. Do NOT rely on emails to provide reassurance that a horse is being well-cared for. ALWAYS have an adoption contract. We were lucky with JR that we were even able to get him back, as there was no contract in place. If they had not agreed to return the horse to us, we would have only been able to rely on the authorities to rescue JR for us.
Happy Endings for JR
Following his recovery, JR went into foster care in Graham WA. He settled in quickly, making friends with the other horses at Winterslake Farm. He needed continued hoof care, and picking up his feet was not at the top of his list of favorite things to do…but as his pain receeded, he got better about picking them up. He received excellent care at WInterslake Farm, and the improvement was stunning. He put on weight and shed out his shaggy coat and by late spring, he was looking downright handsome.
In late May, JR was offered a new foster home in Lake Stevens WA. His new foster mom recalls that JR needed a little time to get used to his new surroundings. “He was very uncertain of people he didn’t know; he would back away, jump at the slightest movement especially if he thought it was directed towards him. JR was so guarded and wary, it broke my heart. It seemed he wanted to trust people, but he just didn’t seem sure of anything or what life was going to deal him next. Over time he saw I wasn’t going to hurt him and that everything I did with him felt good. When he realized he could have all the food he needed and all the scratches in his favorite itchy spots daily, his trust and bond with me did a total 360 turn almost instantaneously. It was amazing to see this horse talk to me and look at me with his special look of endearment. I started to see the confidence return that I am sure he once had. JR shares a special attachment with my TB that I rescued in 2004, and I think they have a genuine understanding of each other. JR is wonderful with children, and is very happy leading my son who is almost 3 y/o. He even appears to be smiling while doing it.”
By September, JR’s foster family made the decision to adopt him permanently. “After seeing the change in JR in such a short amount of time, I never wanted him to have to worry about his next home, or have to re-establish his trust all over again. It really stresses the old guy. Considering his age and his background, I wanted to give him his forever home that he so deserves. Just today while he was getting his feet trimmed, he let the shoer walk right up to him in his pasture and lead him to the cross ties. While in the cross ties, he was talking so sweetly. I think he knows that he isn’t going anywhere and is very grateful and contented.”
