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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

 
Rainman
#229 Bay QH Gelding. This is a 6 yr. Old gelding that was in a pasture with two very dominant mares (mother/daughter). The mares were not kind to him and kept him from eating his fair share. As a result, he is horribly thin. It was said by the previous caretakers that "he's always been that way"!!

TIER is trying to come up with the funds to pay this boy's ransom and transport so that we can get some feed into him and have him seen by a vet immediately! There may be medical reasons for him to be in such poor shape also. We will keep you updated.

Updates

5/1/2004

(Rainy's Mom)

Just off the press. Up to date pictures of Rainy and Royal!

Rachael and I loved talking with you last week as always. You are such a special person in our lives. I'm so honored and deeply touched that you allowed me to adopt this wonderful little spirit. He means everything to me. Isn't he beautiful?
Most importantly he is healthy, happy and uh hem....a real character. He makes me laugh all the time. The picture of Rainy's nose is most appropriate. Curious and into everything in a wink of an eye!

June 1st. will make two years that Rainy has been with me!! Hooray!! Can you believe it? We've been riding since last September and in just the rope halter you see in the pictures. His favorite snack is red grapes and watermelon. Loves his fly sheet, blanket and flymask with ears. We walk together all the time and after our walks we decide what we want to do next. Ride, play, graze, a turnout with Royal or a bath. Turnouts are most enjoyable to watch. Royal and Rainy can get so silly that Rachael and I are laughing till our sides ache. What fun they have.

(Rachael)

Yep, its true... We finally got some new pictures of the boys. And don't they look good?! :) It was long over due, but we had taken some and it seems like they would never make it off the digital camera. So here are a few. This weekend we would like to take some more. As you can see the boys have really come a long way. I was able to get some pictures of Royal and I showing what we are currently working on together. Its taken some time to get him this confident with a rider but it was worth every minute of it. (Yep he's bridle-less) He is so incredibly smart and such a quick learner that it really spurs me on to keep introducing new things to him. Rainy too is doing very well with being ridden now. We are slowly teaching him how to pick up proper leads while in a canter. Let me tell you, when he gets into his nice lope he is a fuuuuuuun ride! Very smooth and you can just relax. Rainy doesn't go anywhere in a real hurry. We have so much fun with these guys. We hope you all enjoy the pictures and we will try to be better at getting up to date pictures more often. Thank you again for our special boys.

Now we'll let the pictures do the talken )

1/2/2003

Rainy is starting to look absolutly outstanding. We get a LOT of Ooooo's and AAHHHh's from people that have never seen him before. Not to mention he has a fan club of people that have been watching his on going progress since he came home with us. His ribs that used to show are completely gone. He is starting to get a rather nice Quarter horse butt. wink wink and his little tiny chest has turned into a couple of really cute bulges where the muscles have toned from walking everyday and getting regular round pin. He still doesn't have that high of stamina but going slow is the name of the game with him. We don't wanna work off all the extra weight we but on him Our vet is floored by his progress and enjoys seeing Rainy when he is around to tape him and monitor his weight. His ground manners are coming along VERY nicely. Before he really didnt have any and now he is doing so well. Today is actually the first time someone has ever been on his back since we brought him home. We waited until he had some more "heft" to him before sticken ANYTHING on his back. He was ready for it. He is getting rather board with doing the same old same old ground manners stuff. So to make things more exciting for him we decided to check him out today. I was the one that started him. I laid across his back for a matter of time and he was a perfect gentleman. I worked with him more and the next thing I know I have my leg swung over his back and he is continuing to be a total gentleman. We didn't do much other than just standing. I let him get the feel of what its like to have a human on his back again. After that we walked together for about 20 feet, gave him a carrot and I got off. We ended on a very good note and we will continue moving towards riding. He still needs a saddle, and thats something that we'll have to be very careful with. His back is still a tad thin and his hips are almost gone, and covered by a nice thick layer of fat and muscle growth. So we worked with a very thick bareback pad today and he didn't mind it at all. I am so proud of him. He has come so far in 6 months. He has the funniest personality and he's great to work with. When he's ready to work he SQUEELS!! The jumps to take off in the direction you asked him to go. We call it "pealing out". LOL! He always has to do that, it really is too funny. Rainy is rather easy going and almost push button on some things. We all still have a lot to learn about one another and we always seem to learn something new everyday. Ah the pleasures of being a horse owner. I thought I should share that bit of progress with everyone. Rainy is a total love and is a great horse. He's well now, but I can't wait till we get him to the same level Royal is at. Both those horses are going to be awesome together. They love each other very much. If one is out of the others sight they cry for one another. It really is a sad state of affairs. LOL They play hard together and love it. They rear they buck, fart, run, eat leaves and groom each other. If we arent there they still play "grab butt" thru the poles of their stalls. You can see bite marks and dried spit from them playing. They really are a couple of clowns.

6/2/2002

I had my breakfast with Rainy this morning. Then went back at 1:00 to put in Royal's new tack locket. While the menfolk were working Rachael and I put Rainy and Royal the the turnout together. They had a good time. Play a little then come check out the work going on in the stall. I can't tell you how darling that Rainy is. He's already so happy to see me. I even got a nicker today. It's so wonderful to have those two together. Such a terrific feeling when we show up. The two of them give the best greeting. I just kiss all over Rainy and he lets me do it.

5/15/2002

The Rainmain has found a forever home!!! Leslie (mother to Rachel who adopted Royal : http://www.tierrescue.org/horses/royal/ ) fell in love with Rainy and the feeling is mutual! When Leslie asked him if he wanted to come home with her, he stretched his little head out and nuzzled her over her heart! Sounds like a YES to me! Thank you Leslie for giving The Rainman the best home possible with his old friend Royal!

8/7/2001

The Rainman is still putting on weight! YES! It is doubtful that he will get rounded out in a QH way due to the long term starvation, but the weight is distributing fairly evenly now. Good Sign!!!! He is the sweetest, most polite little fella, but he can be a little bossy with some of the other horses! HA! That's good to see since he was the low man on the totem pole for so long that his system was horribly compromised...as you can see from the photo below of him before everyone got together to help him.

7/20/2001

The Rainmain is doing really well. For awhile there, it looked like he stopped putting on weight. We think he was at some sort of plateau where his system was figuring out processing regular feeding. Due to his long term starvation, his growth (in heighth and weight) is stunted. It is somewhat doubtful that he will actuall round out over the hips and shoulders and will remain somewhat angular. But we have noticed that he is distributing weight a little more in those areas.

Rainman is the sweetest boy and never a problem. Easy to catch, easy to lead, curious. Soon we will begin working him a little in the roundpen to help him develop muscle tone.

5/18/2001

Rainey (I kinda shorten his name when I'm talkin to him) is doing much better now. I had the vet out on Sunday (5/13/01) to give him an allergy shot. Seems he is extra sensitive to flies and will break out in hives. The hives disappeared overnight and I imagine he is much more comfortable! Flies are really bad this time of year. I use SWAT around their eyes and fly masks and use fly spray too. But they sweat the fly spray off, so it only works for a little while. We have fly traps all over and they get full pretty quick. Will need to buy another case soon.

He is at a plateau with the weight gain. Guess his body is getting in gear to distribute it to other areas besides his belly! HA! When a horse has been starved over a long period of time, it has been our experience that they usually gain weight in the belly first. They look like baked potatoes with toothpicks for legs for a long time. Eventually, the body starts moving the nutrients around and they start to look better all over. It'll take a long time, but he's on his way. Still sweet and comes right up to you when you approach....probably looking for fruit pies or snacks! HA!
Gail

3/26/2001

The vet was out Thursday, 3/22/01, and said his teeth don't look bad enough to worry about right now. He does not want to float them until he has gained more weight/energy. The sores on his back, sides, hips, neck are all from other horses and some rainrot. He has a particularly bad one just above his tail on up the spine about 3 inches that we are medicating.

He is more perky and really looks forward to feeding time. Worming....we will wait a little longer. A bath is scheduled sometime next week (we are having a fund raising clinic this weekend and won't be able to give him a bubble bath until later on in the week).

The vet said it will take a long time to get him up to weight. His system needs to re-learn how to process/distribute the food again. He also said that he is stunted due to the long term shortage of nutrition.

Other than that........the boy is doing great! He still has a sweet personality, just more energy than before! Yes!

3/8/2001

I put The Rainman in the pasture so I could get some nice pictures of him eating grass and so that everyone could see that he is gaining weight! Well, as you can see, he thought it would be a better idea to stand at the end of the pasture with all the mud in it! Of course, Kiwi was being flirtatious in the roundpen, so of course he wanted to stay at the muddy end closer to her! HA!

He is modeling his beautiful Black and Gold halter that was a gift from an admirer named Melissa V. Thank you Melissa! The halter looks great even if he does need to gain a little weight for it to fit a little better. He's getting there, it will just take time. He's such a little Guy!

Although his coat still looks oogy, I brushed some of the mud out to make him presentable. Lot's of dead hair came off and he has several bite/scrape marks on him that are tender. A really touchy spont on his rear just above his tail caused him to kick a little. At least he didn't kick at me! And of course, right before I took the pictures, he decided to roll...in mud. Sigh.

The Rainman had his feet done the other day and was a perfect gentleman. Such a good boy!

Thank you to all who have gone the extra mile for this boy! He now has a chance!

2/28/2001

I would like you to know that #229 aka: The Rainman arrived at TIER about an hour ago. He is the sweetest, most gentle boy! He quietly walked out of the trailer through 2 gates, past the spotted barking dog and through the black, grey and red dogs, through another gate, past an inquisitive (sometimes a bully) Rio and into his new pen (which has mud, but a lot less mud than the feedlot!). He immediately went to the grass hay which had been set out for him. I gently nudged him to the other feeder where I had placed pellets and some Evergreen Revive (we use this for very underweight horses...just a handful or so). He dove right in and started munching. I left him to his snacks and to get acquainted with his neighbors...Rio, Kiwi, Shilo and Haven & Sassy (the two PMU babies). Last I saw him he was touching noses with Rio and Kiwi while Shilo was demonstrating his his tough guy act. Rainman was not the least bit impressed with Shilo's antics, Rio thinks it's cool to have a neighbor that's not a baby PMU and Kiwi thinks that Rainman is her own special present and is therefore ignoring Shilo. HA!

Thank you my friends. Because of the overwhelming generosity, we were able to pay his ransom, bring him home and arrange for the vet to come check him out. The Rainman is on the sunny side of the street now. It may be cloudy and rainy, but this boy will have sunshine in his heart because the people who cared enough about him to give him a chance went the extra mile for him.

Proof Positive: It's For The Horses!!

Just a rough guesstimate on his condition, pending no medical problems (I will update you after the vet has checked him out) is that it will probably take close to a year for him to be fully fleshed out and toned. For the next few months all he will do is eat, rest and be turned out. His neck is pencil thin and his backbone protrudes somewhat like Grace's did when she came to us starving. His hips are but bones. His feet do not look to awful, but then I am quite used to seeing bad feet at the feedlots, auctions. We will know more in a week or so when he sees the farrier. Right now, he just needs to acclimate before we start hitting him with vaccinations, wormers, farriers, teeth floating. Right now he is home. New pictures will be up soon.

Gail

Rainman at the feedlot

Photos

4/23/2001
 

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