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True Innocents Equine Rescue
Be kind to the animals for they are the True Innocents!
Mailing Address: 17130 Van Buren Blvd., #45, Riverside, CA, 92504
Phone: 951-943-0627

 
Pirate
Thanks to Maureen B. for taking pictures of some very underweight horses posting them on social media and sending them to Animal Control. She first reported the horses June 2016. As a result of her caring about the welfare of these animals, 2 gray horses, a gray pony sized horse, a cow and a little red pony were picked up by Riverside County Animal Control on July 2, 2016.

From Maureen. "A funny story but not really funny but here it goes. My husband granddaughter and I were driving in the area where these horses were and saw this little pony walking down the road eating grass along the way. (The other horses were not visible at the time). It was getting dark out so my husband stopped and we got out to try and catch him and find the owners. He took off and went over a barbed wire fence and seemed like it was his home."

It was after this incident that Maureen notice the condition of the animals on the property, took pictures and helped them find their way to a safe place.

HA! The donkeys will have someone closer to their size to holler at now!

We received information that this Pony's name was Pirate. Most likely because of his one blue eye. Since Pirate has been his name, we do not think we should change it.

Welcome HOME Pirate!

Updates

8/24/2022 - Colic aftermath
Pirate passed the most recent oil administered by the vet. The Excede shot seems to have helped with the healing of his wounds. He does have one in his armpit area that is still pretty active. He is getting topical meds for all the boo boos.
He has been getting a light feeding of soaked pellets/Senior Feed & Psyllium twice a day. He will continue to get the soaked mixture for the next few days.
I spoke to the vet who said we could feed him a "normal" serving of soaked pellets w/ psyllium for the next few days. He said we can start adding some hay.
Still not out of the woods, but he’s better than he was a couple days ago.
8/21/2022 - Had the Vet out again

Poor Pirate!  We had the vet out again as Pirate wasn't finishing his feed and his wounds were not healing properly.

In the past, PIRATE has had sand colic and it seems that is what is going on again.  Dr. Gibbs tubed him with mineral oil again and gave him a shot of Excede for the wounds.  We will continue to apply topical ointment to the wounds.  No feed until he passes the oil.  Once he passes the oil, we will start him on psyllium twice a day for 7 days every other week for a bit.

Hopefully, things will begin to improve for him quickly.  Thanks to Joyce for all her help.  

8/20/2022 - WHEW!

8/20/2022...finally!  Yesterday Pirate was given another shot of Banamine in the morning because he still wasn't passing much more than diarrhea per the vet.  He was given a very small amount of soaked alfalfa pellets with a bit of senior the night before.  He ate a few bites, but left the rest. 


That afternoon, he had passed a small amount of somewhat more normal manure so he was not given Banamine.  Last night, he was showing signs of being hungry and was given another small amount of soaked pellets/senior.  

Thanks to Joyce, who has been diligently checking on him, giving him his Banamine shots, putting Sudacreme on his wounds and walking him a bit.  This morning he had eaten all of last nights supper and there were 2 decent piles of poop.  If you've ever prayed for poop, you know how stressful this has been.


This morning, per the vet, he will get another light feeding and no Banamine.  We will continue to slowly increase the amount of feed if there are no adverse reactions.  If he starts to lie down or exhibit signs of discomfort again, the vet will return to administer more mineral oil via a nasal tube.

We aren't out of the woods yet, but things are looking much better!  Whew!

8/17/2022 - COLIC!!

When we fed this morning, we found Pirate lying down.  Thanks to neighbors Keith & Joyce, he got a shot of Banamine and the vet was called.

He scraped up his little head while rolling on the ground before the vet got there  Stephanie put some Swat on the scrapes after the vet had finished adminstering mineral oil via a tube.

Vet indicated there were no gut sounds, his gums were dark pink.  Prognosis is guarded.  He will get another shot of Banamine at 8:00 PM.  All hay/feed has been removed from his feeder/pen until we see how he is tomorrow morning.

  

Please send healing/positive thoughts to Pirate to get through this colic.  The heat has been brutal for the past week.

7/27/2022 - Hair Day

Pirate got his hair done by volunteer Brooke.  He looks and feels so much better in this heat!

11/17/2018 - I ROCKED the Therapy Miniature Horse Clinic

Pirate & Gayle did Awesome at the Therapy Miniature Horse Clinic put on by Joyce Banks of Happiness on 4 Hooves. (Yeah, we know, Pirate is not a minature horse). Thank you again to the Anonymous Sailor who paid the clinic fees. Many Kudos to Joyce and the other professionals who provided so much material/information about Miniature Horse Therapy, allowing Pirate to attend, and great food!!.


Nice Turnout! Joyce Banks was awesome. Great information about therapy horses, stories of healing and helping. Info on becoming certified and what to expect. Temperment of mini and person if this is something you want to pursue.

This was ALL new stuff for Pirate.  He is used to just wandering around the rescue in search of Alfalfa hay and just running amok in general.  He and Gayle did a fantastic job with all the obstacles.  He "kind of" tried the ramp obstacle, but he was totally uninterested in stepping up on the tire.  He went through the hanging noodles with no problem, stepped over the ground poles, crossed the wooden bridge, etc. quite well.

4/26/2018 - Creative Driving Equipment

Have you ever wondered out loud if that pony drives? But...you don't know how to drive a horse/pony properly and don't have any driving equipment. You whine about it when your farrier is there (cuz he does know how to drive horses/ponies) and he says "You can tell pretty quick if they know". You inform him you don't have proper tack, and don't know what you are supposed to be doing and......He says "Let's See What Ya Got". Creative Driving Tack, Farrier and Pirate emerge!


10/23/2016 - 3.5 months at TIER

It has been 3 1/2 months since Pirate first came to TIER.  He was VERY thin, in need of farrier work, dental work and groceries.  Shortly after his arrival he had a couple days of extremely painful colic caused by all the sand he had injested while scavaging for food before he was rescued.

He is a smart little guy.  Not at all intimidated by the much larger horses or even the donkeys!  When he is allowed out to roam around and get some exercise, he spends his time scavenging for hay that the horses have pushed out of their feeders or that has fallen off the cart when we feed.

After his horrible bout with Sand Colic he started putting on weight.  We even had to cut back his daily feed amount as he was beginning to get that "chunky pony" look.  At some point we will have the chiropractor back out to work on him.  He is doing better, but still has stiffness in his hips and right leg.

9/14/2016 - Noooo! I don't want a hooficure!

Pirate wasn't sure about getting his feet done today. He ducked his head between the corral panels in hopes that farrier Val Dean would change his mind about trimming his hooves.

After a few minutes of Val Dean talking to him, petting him and assuring him it was going to be okay, Pirate realized things were not so bad.

8/24/2016 - Here's Your Sign!

A Big Thank YOU to DJ who created Pirate's nameplate/stall sign!  The little guy has been here for 1 1/2 months and has gained much needed weight.

The TIER residents still aren't too sure about him.  When he is turned out to roam the property, all the horses get excited and want to meet him. He just goes about his business of looking for scraps of hay.

7/20/2016 - Chiropractic Adjustment

Equine Chiropractor Dr. Don Moore and our wonderful farrier Val Dean helped out Pirate. His little body was really out of whack! The issue with his stiff legged movement in the hind appears to have been a stifle problem. Lack of muscle didn't help the situation any. Dr. Moore will return once we get more weight on him and hopefully get all the sand out of him.

 

7/18/2016 - Short Update

SHORT Update: Had to have Vet out as Pirate was not interested in eating and was passing soft/runny manure. LOTS of sand. Vet said he doesn't usually hear sand in the gut that loudly, but he could sure hear it in Pirate! BIG vet bill.

He was sedated, tube oiled, given a B12 shot and an injection of Dipyrone. His stool was full of sand! Poor little PI has probably had this issue for some time. We are watching him closely. He got his appetite back after all the fun and games with the vet and is drinking. We will be increasing the psyllium. I will be on the hunt for raw psyllium later today.

7/19/2016:  Pie is eating and drinking well.  Manure has firmed up.  He even penned his ears and rushed the fence when Sammy came by to investigate.

Dr. Don Moore/Chiropractor will be here on 7/20/2016 to see if he can help Pirate with his back end issues.

7/16/2016 - Colic SCARE!

When I went out this morning to feed, Pirate was lying down in his pen.  I knew something was up as I was walking down to the horse area and saw he was off his feet.  Once I entered his corral he did get up, walk around and then laid back down.  He had eaten all his Timothy hay from the night before and it appeared he had drank water.

I was not sure if he was having a gas colic or impaction colic so I started calling veterinarians after removing all feed buckets from his stall.  The first 3 I called were out of town.  The next 5 calls meant leaving messages and hoping to hear back from them NOW!  Every minute of waiting for a return call seemed like forever!  The first return call was from Dr. Moss of Temecula Creek Equine Veterinary.  He was in the field and it would be an hour before he could get to us.  Dr. Moser of House Calls for Horses also returned our call but would not be able to come out for about 1.5 hours. Our regular vet called and since he was out of town he would be calling back for status reports.

Called Dr. Moss back and he instructed us to administer 4 cc's Banamine which we did.  Pirate was getting pretty uncomfortable (lying down/getting up), but he was good about giving him the Banamine.  About 20 minutes later he was up and looking for food.

Dr. Cash then returned my call.  I explained what we had done and he suggested a Wheat Bran mash, oil with Psyllium.  This was done and Pirate ate most of the mooshy stuff.  It was important to get him hydrated.

I called Dr. Moss and gave him a progress report as he was in the field on another emergency call.  Spoke to Dr. Moser again. Our regular vet called and we returned his call with a progress report.

So far things are looking ok.  Pirate is drinking and wanting food.  We will wait until the morning before we give his normal feed.  That is...if he has been drinking and there is fresh manure in his stall. 

It is frightening when one of the horses are in distress and you cannot get a veterinarian out.  Especially when you know the situation could very well turn quite ugly pretty quickly.  Thank to to Dr. Moss, Dr. Moser, Dr. Cash for returning my calls and advising. 

Thank you to neighbor Denise who came over and offered to walk Pirate while I was on the phone.  Typically, we don't walk colic horses when they are just lying down.  If they start standing up, pacing, lying down and rolling is when I start walking them to hopefully keep them from twisting their intestines up if it is an impaction colic.  Thanks so much Denise for the offer of help.

7/11/2016 - Feet/Teeth

Pirate had his teeth and feet done on 7/11/2016.  It is thought that he is NOT 20 years old.  Most likely between 12-15? His teeth had not been done in quite some time and really needed to be floated


Pirate's feet were in not so good shape.  It appears that he has had a laminitic issue in his Rright fore foot, but it is not active at this time.  He does have a stiff gait in the hind end and you can see from the picture that there is something going on.  Farrier said his legs are not stiff, so it could be a pelvic or back issue.  Dr. Don Moore/Equine Chiropractor is scheduled to visit Pirate on 7/20/2016 and we will hopefully know more.

7/8/2016 - Pirate Arrives

Once again we thank Ingrid L. for picking up/transporting our newest friend...PIRATE.  He leads well, loaded/unloaded well and is a sweet guy.

We see so many neglected horses and you think you will get used to what you are observing.  But, PI (Short for Pirate) brought a huge lump to my throat. He's thin (and we have seen thinner), his feet are in need of a trim (we've seen worse feet).  Something is going on with his hind end (pelvis or stifle?) as he walks a bit stiff legged.  He has no butt and it appears to my unprofessional eye that it is muscle atrophy as well as being starved.

He walked right off the trailer without a problem and no visible anxiety.  Very accepting of the changes that have occurred in his life the last week.

Our farrier will be here Monday to do his feet, Dr. Don Moore has been contacted about chiropractic evaluation/treatment.  He will have his teeth and overall health evaluated sometime next week.

He's a bit standoffish about being caught, but nothing too extreme and is fine once he is haltered.  He has a knot in his mane that someone tried to cut out with scissors (GRRRR!) that will be taken care of tomorrow by volunteer Diana.  Thanks to Stephanie McGregor for taking pictures for us today, Carol C. for cleaning up his feed bins and filling his little water barrell, Dana S. for preparing his corral yesterday for his arrival. 

We are asking for Prayers/Positive Thoughts that his hind end issues is something we can make a lot better.  Contributions to help with dental, Chiropractic & farrier costs for Pirate would be much appreciated.

Photos

 

True Innocents Equine Rescue (T.I.E.R)
17130 Van Buren Blvd., #45
Riverside, CA, 92504
Tel: 951-943-0627
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