TSC has made it easy for you to help

this photo is Prince & Princess, about a year and a half old, rescued. They "lived" their first year and a half in a state of starvation. see their ribs? their backbones? this is a body condition score of 2-3. A 2 is emaciated. This was about 5 years ago.
But recently we have taken on the responsibility of helping with some new rescues. We do not have permission yet to say anything about them. But I can tell you that they needed our help very very much.
TSC on North Cliff Avenue in Sioux Falls has set up a stall bedding program for the rescued horses we are helping with. Buy & donate one or more bags of bedding at TSC, they will set it aside for us, we will pick it up and take it to the horses, who will appreciate it very much.

Also, there is a raffle box at TSC. For each bag of bedding you buy & donate, you may enter the raffle. We don't have raffle details yet but there will be several prizes.

updates on Star, Prince & Princess

In a previous post, I think in November, anyway, not so long ago, I said that Princess can't go out in the pasture anymore. But now she can! The snow cover makes the ground softer and she can go out and run and play without getting too sore. (she is navicular. the neurectomy surgery helped some but not as much as we had hoped). So she has limited activity. But as long as the ground is kind of softer, I will let her and her half-brother Prince go out and play during the day and keep them in soft stalls at night, so they can lie down and rest their poor bones & joints. These are not old horses! They are only 6 years old. But they lived in a state of starvation and just deplorable conditions with 100 or so other horses of all ages and sizes, for the first year and a half of their poor little lives. Of course their bones and joints did not develop normally! I don't know if Princess is naviulcar because of that. No one knows that. But Prince, who lived just like her as a baby, has severe arthritis already in his hocks. They are only 6. This is not normal. And what are the chances. I think I would bet on malnourishment.

Anyway, they came to live at DoubleHP when they were about a year and a half old. They were skin and bones and full of worms.

But after a year of rehab, they seemed to be doing great. Especially Princess. She grew a lot. She is a really big horse. Prince didn't grow as much. And his mouth/teeth were slow in developing too. He has his teeth floated approx. twice a year. I can always tell when it's time. He'll be standing there looking kind of mopey when everyone else is enjoying their food. He'll start to drop weight. And then we get his teeth floated and everything's good (in his mouth anyway) for another 6 months or so.

Here is Prince. Looking very handsome yesterday as he always does.

When they were 3 (we waited, because they were so far behind in their growing), they were oh so nice and easy to train as riding horses. Prince even started going to shows! But then, little by little, signs of lameness. on and off. both of them. Princess first and then Prince. Xrays showed us what we feared. Princess is navicular, and Prince has arthritis. Really bad arthritis. We keep them as happy and comfortable as can be, and they will have an excellent home here with us for as long as their quality of life is good. They are just a joy to have around. and oh so beautiful. here they are playing yesterday, right before grain time.

UPDATE ON STAR: Star seems improved. She eats everything at night. She ate some straight alfalfa this morning, which she hasn't wanted to do probably because it is a little coarse and probably irritates the owie on her tongue. Normally of course this would be her first choice. But right now her first choice is something softer, so I am feeding her a grass/alfalfa mix which is really soft. She didn't eat everything in her stall this morning, but she ate enough. and drank and pooped. and I didn't see any drool or slime! So I let her go out with the herd for the afternoon. And I'll put her back in her stall tonight so I can observe her some more. I am not going to call the Vet for tongue Xrays so far. I think she is better, not worse. But we'll do some good observation tonight to be sure.

Volunteer Tina with Minerva and Princess

For those of you new to our blog: we take journal entries from our website doublehphorses.org and transfer them to this blog. To make room on our website.

journal entry from Nov. 14, 2008

We don't get a lot of regular horse-chore type volunteers at DoubleHP. Especially as Winter approaches. So whenever one lasts for more than a couple of months, we feel extremely thankful. Tina Hillman from Sioux Falls comes once a week, she trudges through the mud and snow and whatever else is here, cleaning up the horse stalls and yards and arenas. And every once in a while she has time to just enjoy the horses. Today Tina, along with Minerva and Princess, helped me practice with my new camera.
Both horses were rescued from starvation.

do you think Minerva likes being brushed?

Princess has one blue eye.

Both Minerva and Princess have some wild looking eyes.

Princess doesn't get to run out in the pasture anymore. She has to stay up in the barn area and not put too much extra stress on her feet. She is navicular. Her surgery did help, but if she plays too hard she gets sore again. She is not cooped up in a stall though. She has a big pen with soft ground and shelter at all times. And always at least one horse friend in an adjacent pen, so she does get some herd-type interaction. I do think she would like to go run in the pasture, but I also think she understands why she can't. She is a very happy, beautiful, well-behaved horse. And we are very happy to have her living here with us.