I have a hard time with this part of rescue. It is with an extremely heavy heart that I tell you that our dear, dear Newman crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Friday 5/15/2015. He was with us 3 years, 8 months, 2 weeks.

2 horses (a black and a gray) were reported to Riverside AC in June 2011 as being starved/neglected. August 2011 they were brought to the shelter. The gray horse had penile cancer, was in his 20's and the decision was made to euthanize him.

The black horse would stand in any wet spot he could find in the pen and was reluctant to move. Shelter volunteers would feed him where he stood. We brought Newman to TIER 9/1/2011.

Thanks to our generous supporters, Newman will be able to chew his hay more efficently and in comfort.    THANK YOU!

Phillip R. (Equine Dental) arrived to help a few of the TIER residents by smoothing out the sharp points on their teeth.  Newman was in need of Phillip's skill as he most likely had not had his teeth done in several years.  Phillip took the time to explain to Volunteer Janis M. what he was doing and why.

Phillip pointed out where the sharp points on Newman's mouth were causing him discomfort.  He also guesstimated his age to be 20.

Yesterday 11/19/2011was a VolunTIER day and it seems that Newman has made a new friend!

Audri worked hard at cleaning pens.  She also spent time with Newman & Sammy as they became her favorites at the rescue.

Newman asked Mel, long time volunteer and friend, to pose with him for a picture.  I think his smile was bigger than Mel's was!

Newman enjoyed the attention of new friends on VolunTIER day!  He is slowly putting on weight, is bright eyed and a bit of a "Dennis the Menace".  He likes to visit with the TIER residents and tease them at the fence line.

He has large expressive eyes and handles well.

Once he has gained a bit more weight, we will see what he knows under saddle.  I have a feeling that this is one of those "been there/done that" horses.  Newman does need his very own person.

Newman getting ready for his ride to TIER

Despite his reluctance to move about in his pen at the shelter due to the soreness in his front foot, Newman walked on the pavement and stepped into the trailer without any hesitation.  Once at TIER, he stepped off the trailer without any sign of discomfort and was placed in the roundpen so he would have room to move around.

The farrier came out a few days later on 9/5/2011 and did his magic.  He trimmed his feet and put pads with shoes on his fronts.  The farrier did say that there was some heat in his left front hoof and also quite a bit of bruising on all 4 feet.  Once Newman had his shoes/pads on, he was turned out in the arena to see if they appeared to help.  Newman took off at a gallop, came trotting back, dropped to the ground, rolled and then began introducing himself to the TIER residents.  No limping, no hesitancy to move, no hitch in his stride at all!  YAY!

I met with the shelter vet while he examined the black horse.  There appeared to be some heat in his left front foot, overgrown frogs/hooves and thrush from standing in the wet spots.  The situation did not appear to be a full blown case of Founder and there were no abcesses in his feet.  I felt that it might be severe bruising due to the rocks and pieces of cement that covered the property he had been living on and that our farrier might be able to help this lovely boy.

The decision was made that he would come to TIER, have our farrier see what he could do to help him, and get some much needed weight on his thin body.

Since this beautiful gelding with his handsome head and large eyes would be the New "man" at TIER, he was named Newman.

Welcome to TIER Newman!