Dreamchaser Rescues 12 Severely Neglected Horses

More details from the Rescue's web site:

We were contacted by the City of El Mirage regarding twelve severely neglected horses to be removed from a property by court order. On February 2, Mike, Brandon, Alan, Chad, and Jim took three trailers (including our big stock trailer) and l headed to El Mirage. It took two trips and about 8 hours to remove all the horses. These horses were thin to emaciated, and were standing in two feet of muck and mud in 10 x 10 stalls. Their frogs are rotted out of their feet, their feet were malformed, some laminitic, and extremely long - almost flippers.

The horses had never received proper care, or handling, so it took lots of expertise and calmness to get them in the trailers. Once at the ranch, there were two stud pens waiting, and the rest of the horses, except for one desperately ill little mare, were set free in the upper turnout. These horses, though none could walk properly, were overjoyed with their new freedom. Within hours the horses were walking up to Brandon and Mike.

We are very thankful that the City of El Mirage pursued this case for over a year in order to get these horses to safety. It will take a minimum of six months to get them in adoptable condition. All will need inoculations and several hoof trims. Right now you cannot even think of touching a hind foot.

We figure supporting these horses physically and medically for six months will cost approximately $12,500 - castrations, tranquilizers, antibiotics, inoculations, hoof work, and hay and necessary grain and supplements.


We desperately need your support in this endeavor. Remember, we have 47 other horses and burros to support. Thank you from the bottom of my heart - these beautiful horses deserve a chance at the life they should have had!

Update On The New Rescues

An update on our herd of 11: About half of the horses have now had their first hoof trim. The horses are understandably wild, so trimming is difficult. The two stallions from the herd are going to be gelded very soon.

Hoof trimmings.

We are in desperate need of water and feed tubs, and money toward veterinary care. Please help by donating through our website.

New Rescues - Herd of Eleven

It has been a very eventful month and I have a lot to report! On February 2nd, twelve severely neglected horses arrived at the Rescue.

I took these pictures as the horses were being unloaded at the Rescue. It was really heartbreaking to see what poor condition these horses were in. They suffered years and years of neglect, confined to filthy stalls for so long. One of the horses, has a body score of 1, is a precious little mare who has severe laminitis in ther front foot, and is beyond our help. (see pic above) She cannot even put the foot to the ground, the coffin bone has rotated and sunk. There are several other horses whose body scores are between 2 and 5 (emaciated to thin).

All of the horses have hooves that are in terrible shape and will need repeated work over the course of six months to a year. The frogs, which pump blood up and down the foot are completely rotted away.

It was wonderful to watch them explore their new large, clean turnout...

...with the freedom to go where they please in the company of the rest of their herd.

This poor little mare from was put to rest on 2/3/10. She was unable to walk and in constant pain. We had hoped to save her but she was beyond our help.

This is one of the two stallions from the herd. They are scheduled to be gelded next week, and will soon join the rest of the herd.

Check back soon for updates!