Rescue Stories


[Some of the photos below may be viewed as graphic and inappropriate for child viewing]

More information on each of these horses coming......

Today Cheyenne  April 2009	APEA received Cheyenne in April of 2009 from the Jackson County Animal Shelter.  She was in such deplorable condition that the shelter did not believe she would live to the next day.  We were told by the shelter that when she was seized from the property she had been "living" on, she fell while getting into the trailer and they had had to wait an hour and a half for her to gather enough strength to finally load up.            Initially, Cheyenne appeared to be a very homely horse.  Had we been told she would look like the horse she is today, we would never have believed you.  In the short span of 2 months, regular volunteers began asking who the new horse was.  "That's the old mare!" was the usual response.           Today, we cannot say enough good things about this horse.  We did find out she is 24 years old and is not as old as we originally believed.  Over the past year she has returned to full health and has regained her beautiful quarter horse conformation.  We have discovered Cheyenne is a dead broke kids horse who is truly a pleasure to ride for ALL age levels.  She is an overall amazing horse who has overcome too much to have only but the most deserving forever home.  She is currently pending adoption to the director of APEA. While Cheyenne's condition was obviously quite extreme, her initial situation was unfortunately common and born of ignorance.  Cheyenne was picked up from owner's who believed she was sick and too old to ever put weight on.  They had her in a field completely overgrown with weeds that, to those not knowledgeable of proper grazing ground for horses, would believe is pasture.  These weeds grow tall and when they die off, look similar to hay to the unknowing eye.  Weeds have absolutely no nutritional value to horses and horses will not eat them. This situation is also common with those who believe just because grass is green, it is good grazing for their horse.  Green grass does not necessarily mean good grass.  Horses can be very particular about the type of grass they will graze on.  Grasses such as bermuda or bahia are high in nutritional value and great for grazing horses.  An excellent example of this is here at APEA.  The driveway divides two fields.  On the left is grazing pastures, on the right is weeds and bad grass.  The horses may pick through the grass on the right, but never actually graze for very long.
Today Chloe July 2010	Chloe came to us from the Jackson County Animal Shelter.  She was one of five horses (see also Piper, Gypsy, Kissy, and an unnamed grey gelding) seized from a home that was not providing adequate care for them.  Unfortunately, in this case Chloe was not the worst of the five.  The grey gelding pictured below was one of many unfortunate horses who often receive help just a little too late.  At 6am the morning after we received the five horses, the poor guy was down and couldn't get back up.  The vet and representatives from the county animal shelter were called out and it was decided the best thing for the gelding was euthanasia.  His cause of death was liver failure due to starvation.       Chloe and Piper, who is standing behind Chloe, were both adopted out to a wonderful family with two young girls who absolutely love them.  The picture of Chloe today came from her new family; this picture is a true testament to where regular feeding and good pasture will take a horse.  Gypsy was also adopted out to a great new home.            To see pictures of the rest of the horses Chloe came to us with, please click the pictures below.  Once again, these pictures may be viewed as graphic and may not be appropriate for child viewing.                      Kissy                  Piper                Gypsy                               Grey Gelding
Today Nick August 2010	Nick came to APEA in July of 2010.  In his case, his poor weight was due to his being a higher maintenance stallion.  When kept in a stall, he did not want to eat hay or drink water.  When set out to pasture he would not drink his water at all if it was dirty and he still only picked at hay.  Once he arrived at APEA,  we were able to keep him in a small pasture near the barn and put him on a regular feed schedule and clean his water bucket out almost daily.        Considering he is an Arabian stallion, Nick is a very well mannered and calm horse.  In fact, he is so calm we were able to contain him in a pasture using hot wire.  On the few occassions when other horses broke through the hot wire, Nick would go out to the pasture full of mares and geldings, miniatures and donkeys and would act just like one of the family.  Seeing his desire to be put out to pasture with other horses, we decided to put him out with a small herd of geldings on a rented piece of property a few miles away.  His "today" picture was the day we delivered him to the 30 acres where he now roams with the geldings.  He is still fed daily in order to maintain his weight.
Today Cloud November 2010	Cloud and Storm were taken in to APEA as part of a 24 horse seizure in Jones County.  We fostered them for the Have a Heart Horse Rescue in Carroll County. They were both adopted out to a great family with two young girls.  Their "today" pictures were taken on the day we delivered them to their new home in January 2011. We will have more information on both these boys coming soon...
Today Storm November 2010	More information coming soon...