Over the last 18 months we have been battling with leaks in the roof of the main barn at the rescue farm. This barn was the original dairy barn from the farm before it was sold and subdivided. At some point, someone built stalls and turned it into a horse barn and we have the ability to use the barn for the rescue horses in our care.
The current leaking roof has gotten worse due to the severe storm season of 2022. We have an urgent need to replace the tin barn roof before the winter season arrives and creates any additional issues and leaks. Our estimates that we received last year were on average around $40,000.
Buckets used to catch the waterMissing tin piecesHole in the roof
With your help, we can save the 100 year old barn! Thank you for your support.
Horses that have been the subject of abuse or neglect are usually in a starved condition. Remarkably, horses can lose 30% or more of their body weight and still survive. Horses in this condition will have very little muscle mass remaining and will be very weak. They will need much care and attention to regain their trust, and a sound nutrition program to get them back into proper body condition and health.
Even with the best of care some horses won’t survive, especially horses that have lost 50% or more of their body weight. “Refeeding Syndrome” can occur in horses, and severely starved individuals may die within a few days to a week after starting a feeding program. The problem occurs when a severely starved horse eats a high nonstructural carbohydrate or NSC meal. This causes a large increase in blood glucose which raises blood insulin and allows glucose to be absorbed into the body cells, but it also draws the electrolytes magnesium and potassium out of the bloodstream and into body cells. The starved horse doesn’t have an adequate store of these electrolytes, can’t maintain normal blood levels and their depletion can lead to heart, respiratory or kidney failure and subsequent death.
Equine nutrition research has shown the safest way to start a feeding program for a starved horse is to offer small frequent meals of high quality alfalfa hay. A study compared feeding alfalfa hay only, grass hay only, and grass hay and sweet feed (high NSC feed composed of oats/corn/molasses mix) to horses for the first two weeks of a refeeding program for severely starved horses with body condition scores of 1 on a scale of 1-9. For the first two weeks the lowest mortality rate was for horses on the alfalfa hay only diet. The alfalfa hay only diet contained the lowest level of dietary NSC and prevented an extreme glycemic response to prevent low blood magnesium or potassium levels from occurring.
Start the feeding program by offering one pound of alfalfa hay every 3 to 4 hours for a total of six pounds in 24 hours for a horse weighing 500 pounds (e.g. total of 7 pounds in 24 hours for a 600-pound horse or 8 pounds in 24 hours for a 700-pound horse). Follow this feeding program for the first three days and provide fresh, clean water at all times.
If the horse tolerates this program with no diarrhea or other problems, keep increasing the amount of alfalfa hay fed and decrease the number of feedings. After the first three days, a horse with an initial weight of 500 pounds should be fed four pounds of alfalfa hay every 6 to 8 hours for a total of 10 pounds daily by the sixth day (e.g. total of 12 pounds daily for a 600-pound horse or 14 pounds daily for a 700-pound horse). Keep increasing the amount of alfalfa hay fed and decrease feedings to twice per day, so that by two weeks horses are receiving at least the following amounts based on initial body weight (e.g. 500-pound horse: 13 pounds daily, 600-pound horse: 15 pounds daily, 700-pound horse: 17 pounds daily). After two weeks, the horse may be fed alfalfa hay on a free-choice basis.
After two weeks into the feeding program, introduction to pasture can begin with an hour of pasture access for three to four days. Gradually increase pasture time over a period of 10 to 14 days and then daily or 24-hour access can be allowed. Also, if alfalfa hay is not readily available and another type of hay is more available or economical, the horse may be gradually changed to another type of hay over the next two weeks so that alfalfa hay is no longer fed after four weeks into the feeding program.
A horse feed can be introduced after the initial two-week feeding period. Introduce feed gradually, providing one pound twice daily and then increase the amount by one additional pound each day. Depending on the amount and quality of hay fed, feeding rates up to 1% of body weight daily can be allowed. Many feeds with maximum guaranteed levels of dietary starch and sugars (Dietary Starch + Sugars = NSC) or NSC of 22% or less are recommended to provide added safety to prevent any digestive disturbance such as colic. ProElite® Senior and Starch Wise, ProForce® Fuel and Senior, SafeChoice® Original and Legends® CarbCare Performance and Show & Pleasure and Triumph® Professional Pellet and Fiber Plus are all high fat, low NSC feeds with highly fortified levels of vitamins, minerals and amino acids recommended for horses to gain and maintain weight safely.
For older horses (20 years or more) with poor tooth condition, the ability to chew long-stemmed hay may be lost. Feed the older horse Legends® CarbCare Senior, SafeChoice® Senior, ProForce® Senior or ProElite® Senior along with chopped, cubed or pelleted alfalfa hay, gradually increasing the amount of feed to 1% of body weight daily and processed alfalfa hay to 1% of body weight daily. These senior feeds have maximum NSC guarantees of 20% or less can contain fat guarantees of 7% to 11% to provide a high energy density for more calories for safe weight gain. The feed and forage may need to have water added to form a mash if the horse’s dental condition is very poor.
After two months on a successful feeding program, the horse has regained some strength and become familiar with its surroundings, so now is the time to check with a veterinarian about health care. A dental checkup is also in order, as this has likely been neglected. Your veterinarian may also discover other health problems that your neglected horse may need treatment for, and can also recommend a vaccination program. Contact a farrier about hoof care as well, this is likely another area that needs to be addressed.
After three to five months of care and feeding, a severely starved horse should be rehabilitated to a normal body weight and be ready to resume a normal life once again. Once a desired body condition score has been achieved of a 5 on a scale of 1-9, feeding rates for older horses can be adjusted to 0.75 to 1% of body weight for senior feed and 0.5% to 0.75% of processed alfalfa for horses not able to eat hay and not on pasture. For younger horses without pasture access, hay feeding rates of 1.5% to 2.0% of body weight daily and concentrate or grain feeding rates of 0.5% to 0.75% are recommended. If horses require just a few pounds of feed per day to maintain body weight, then a diet balancer such as Nutrena® Empower® Topline Balance® (for grass or alfalfa/grass diets) or ProElite® Grass Advantage Diet Balancer (for grass or alfalfa/grass diets) or ProElite® Alfalfa Advantage Diet Balancer (for alfalfa-only diets) is recommended with a limited amount of hay if no pasture is available (1.5% body weight per day). And for more information about our horse feeds you can go to: proelitehorsefeed.com, legendshorsefeed.com, toplinebalance.com and nutrenaworld.com.
A few weeks back I got a phone call from a very nice lady about an hour from our farm. She called because she was in a tough spot and she needed to find homes for her 5 thoroughbreds that were left over from her husband’s breeding program. I chatted with her briefly and told her I would call her back. We have been swamped with owner’s needing to surrender their horses and we had a waiting list that seemed like it was a mile long and would take us 6 months to get through. Times were hard for everyone in the equestrian community. Costs continued to rise for everything from feed to veterinary and farrier care. While we haven’t felt it yet, the cost of hay this year is likely to sky rocket as the price of fuel has basically doubled from where it was 2 years ago. The whole state has felt the effects of the global Covid pandemic and our community as a whole has struggled in one way or another.
I called her back and asked her if she could tell me about the horses so that I can see what we could do or maybe even network them in order to find a foster or another rescue to take them. The 5 horses consisted of 2 stallions and 3 mares. None of them have in the past received veterinary care or farrier care, let alone halter breaking or handling. She explained that she is a petite woman and she is 77 years old and it just isn’t safe for her to try to handle them. The horses ranged in age from 12 years to 34 years old and she would not consider euthanasia for any of them. I agreed to come out and meet the horses and determine if we would be able to do anything to assist her and explained I couldn’t make any promises. We had an influx of miniature horse studs at our farm and given the age of the stallions (14 and 20), we didn’t have the proper facilities to house them.
I drove the hour out to her farm and spent the next few hours with her meeting each of the 5 horses and learning more about her, her husband and the horses. They had a very busy program in the 1980s and 1990s before her husband started to become ill. He was a Vietnam War veteran and developed severe PTSD. As the years went by he started to become ill and developed lung cancer and Parkinson’s Disease. The further into his illnesses he got, the less he was able to do with his prized thoroughbred herd. She did what she could which was continue to ensure that they were fed and had clean water. About 8 years ago, his illnesses got the worst of him and he lost his battle with cancer. Through her dedication to her husband she continued to do what she could until the present day when her finances wouldn’t allow her to continue to care for the 5 remaining horses.
Here I was, standing there hand feeding 3 of the horses outside of their pasture asking myself, what are we going to do. We have this very devoted, sincere woman who wanted nothing more but to provide for the horses that once brought her husband great joy. Even though they had not received veterinary or farrier care, they were in great shape (aside from their hooves) and were in great health. We were her last resort. I reached out to all of the other rescues that I could think of and asked if anyone had room or the ability to help. One of the mares was potentially in foal and Hope’s Legacy reached out to one of their fosters and secured a location for her to go. We potentially had a location for the younger stallion but the challenge was going to be loading him onto a trailer and transporting him on the 7 – 8 hour drive there.
One of the horses received a severe injury during the process of trying to load a different horse onto the trailer and our focus turned to her. Once we were able to get back to the pasture where she was at again with the trailer, we corralled both horses and our team was able to halter her and separate her from the stallion. We contacted Piedmont Equine Clinic and spoke with both the ambulatory vet and the surgeon, Dr. Dutki, and made arrangements to bring her in to receive care. Over the weeks we spent working with these 5 horses, this mare showed great intelligence and grace. We knew that, based off of our interactions with her, that we would be able to treat her. We just needed to give her that chance. Our team, aided by Scott Purdum of Advantage Horsemanship, loaded her onto her very first trailer and brought her to Piedmont where they were awaiting her arrival.
Her story is not over yet. She has been very cooperative with her care however due to the severity of the injury and the delay in getting her to the clinic she was hospitalized at Piedmont for surgery and after care. She has shown to everyone who has met her what a very special girl she is she is in need of veterinary care funds to ensure that she can continue to receive the outstanding care that all of the horses at CVHR receive. Please consider a donation towards our veterinary care fund.
Winter Storm Frida came through like a wrecking ball to the Fredericksburg area on Monday. Our region made national news with the debacle on Interstate 95 and as of today some areas still remain without power and no estimates of when it will be back on.
On Sunday, we watched the forecast and the percentage of probability that we would get any amount of snow fall. The estimates we were seeing were only 4 – 6 inches of snow and our assumption was that there would be hardly any accumulation because the ground would be too warm to stick. We were definitely wrong.
Monday morning arrived and I awoke to a text message telling me that our Barn Manager, Kim, would be late because of the heavy snow and road conditions. I looked outside and saw that there was already several inches accumulated at the farm and snow was coming down heavy.
Nikyla and I headed out to start feeding the horses in heavy snowfall and wind. All around the farm we heard the sound of trees cracking and falling. Just as we were finishing up morning feed, the power went out and the generator didn’t kick on. We switched gears to get the generator on, not knowing how bad the situation really was off the farm and expecting to have the power back on within a few short hours.
After taking time out to fix the generator, make sure that it was functioning and we would have the ability to maintain water for everyone we checked on the horses that we left in the stalls to make sure they were drying and had enough food and water and started PM feed. Still expecting that the power would come back on quickly our communication with those off the farm was extremely limited with text messages not going through and data limited on our devices. It wasn’t until late that evening that we finally started to get the big picture on just how bad things were around the region.
The heavy snow fall, already saturated ground and heavy winds caused trees to be down all over the area. Trees down on power lines, roadways, houses and barns. Our family and friends were reporting damages to their fences and barns and lack of power. Thankfully the damage to the rescue farm was minimal as we just waited for the power to come back on. By Wednesday when the power had not been restored, we started making preparations for the next snow storm expected to come through the area on Thursday. Orange Madison was able to bring a feed delivery as we were dangerously close to running out of certain feeds.
Not taking for granted what we were forecasted with, we prepared for the worst case scenario this time and for the power to remain out through the weekend.
Thursday morning arrived and we continued preparations for Storm #2 as our first volunteers arrived just before lunch to help clean up and prepare for additional days without power and limited access to the farm. In the middle of our preparations, we pulled out our water tanks to clean and fill with water in case we lost our generator before the power came back on. Both water tanks that had been stored and not used were discovered with large cracks and holes that were beyond repair. As we met in the barn to decide what our plan was going to be we looked up to see stall lights on in one side of the barn. We had power!
It’s hard to believe that we went from temperatures of 69 degrees on Sunday to the near blizzard like conditions we had on Monday. There were definitely a lot of things that we learned from this experience. The first one is don’t take for granted that the weather could be warm and sunny one day and we would not end up with 13″ of snow the next day.
In preparations for the next storm, we are looking to acquire new 275 gallon water tanks to store water should we lose power and the generator. We are forever grateful to our trainer and neighbor Kim for helping to take care of our herd along with her own during this storm.
GRASS TWISTER (T8208) and DVC DANCEHALL DOC (8BD00) are begging for a Christmas Miracle! They have been given until December 6th to find someone to pull them or they will be loaded onto the truck and shipped off.
While we originally went to the site and looked up Dancehall looking at the videos of Grass Twister’s graying face along with her sweet (almost broken) disposition brought tears to my eyes. The graying on her face makes her look older than she is giving us an indication of the hard life she must have had after leaving the track in 2002 as a 4 year old.
Dancehall shows signs of soreness, whether from hard work or being tender footed on the gravel, the discomfort is visible. We don’t know much about where he’s been as he has no race history.
Can you be their Christmas Miracle and give these two horses the second chance they deserve?
2021 was another year of growth for the CVHR family. With your support, we have been able to help 60+ horses in need within our community. These horses have come from owner surrenders, animal control seizures, auctions and kill pens. No matter where they have come from, one thing remains the same, you have been able to give them a second chance at life.
Over the last year we have needed to provide sanctuary to more horses than normal and we have taken on some complicated medical rehabilitation cases. With your support we have been able to provide emergency medical care to horse like St Nick who spent his first month with us being treated for severe stomach ulcers and multiple choking episodes. We were able to fully rehabilitate Christmas from a body score of 1 to his successful adoption where he is now currently fat and happy with his adoptive mom.
In order to continue to assist the horses in our care and additional horses within our community, we are asking for a monthly sponsorship of one of our more long term residents. Sponsorships start as low as $10 per month.
Your monthly donations help support:
$25 – Bag of Feed
$50 – Hoof Trim
$75 – Vaccines
$150 – Veterinary Visit
$250 – Emergency Veterinary Visit
As our special for our Giving Tuesday Sponsor – A – Thon, we have 3 special gifts for everyone who sponsors one of our horses!
$10 monthly sponsorship – 5×7 Photo of one of our horses
$25 monthly sponsorship – Special Holiday Ornament
$75 monthly sponsorship – Exclusive Team CVHR Jersey
From our kill pen rescues Andy, Bruce and Goggins to our sanctuary residents Dolly, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip, we aim to provide each one with the best care possible through your support. On average, the CVHR Volunteer team is caring for roughly 25 horses daily. Our residents range in health from fully healthy to those receiving multiple veterinary visits a week and multiple treatments a day.
We thank you for your continued support allowing us to continue the mission of providing care to neglected, abused and abandoned horses!
Chocolate Chip is a 30 year old miniature horse gelding. He came to the rescue due to his special dietary needs. Chip is unable to eat anything outside of
Peanut Butter is a senior retired lead line pony. He has severe arthritis in his knees and diminished eye sight. He has been given sanctuary at the rescue due to his medical needs.
Vinnie is a young (estimated to be 5 or 6) Thoroughbred who is 100% blind. He came to CVHR as a stray.
Goggins is a draft mule in his late teens. He is currently receiving medical treatment for a growth on his front fetlock.
Dolly is a 30 year old Belgian Quarter Horse cross. She retired from carriage driving and has received sanctuary at CVHR. She wears padded front shoes to help with her arthritis and takes daily medications for arthritis and cushings.
Beans and Frank are a miniature horse pair that belong to our Youth Outreach program and act as CVHR Ambassadors at special community events.
Shadow is a retired off track Standardbred. Shadow is a valued member of our Youth Outreach program teaching our older kids and teenagers about horsemanship and ownership.
Dr. Hilton, aka Andy, is a retired off the track Standardbred. Andy has a permanent lameness that does not affect his super sweet temperament. Due to the severity of his lameness we expect that he will be with us long term while we look for the right home for him.
Blindedbythelight, aka Bruce, is an off track Standardbred who came to us fall 2021. Bruce has a deviated septum that has earned him the affectionate nickname of Darth Vader. He is currently available for adoption.
Panda is a farm raised pocket pony Standardbred. She is our most recent intake and currently in rehabilitation for weight gain and veterinary care.
Sometime earlier this year I made a post on my personal Facebook as a joke about a Men with Mini’s calendar. The feedback I received from that single post with people begging the rescue to do it convinced us that we needed this to be a thing. We had quite a few miniature horses and enough men to cover all of the months.
Our photographer for the photo shoot was Peggy Dunn Photography who has donated her photography services to the rescue in the past. We had to schedule two different sessions in order to make sure that we were able to include everyone into the calendar that wanted to participate.
When Scott showed up, we had planned to have him, based on his outfit, with golden girl, Red Rose and her pink leg warms (fly boots). As I held Star, I asked Scott if he was interested in also having his photo taken with Star who needed someone that was going to be able to manage his personality.
Star came to us completely feral. You may have had luck getting close to him to give him a treat but he spent most of his 7 years learning how to evade being handled or caught. He came in with both his mother (Ashley Marie) and his father (Noah). Star’s behavior was considered too dangerous for us to make him available for adoption because when he wasn’t trying to drag you he was rearing and striking at you to tell you to get away from him. The team spent hours for months working with him to get him more comfortable with people and he sadly spent the first month or two he was with us stalled with daily walks and hand grazing. Star had to be sedated to be handled at all.
Slowly he started to come around but on that early morning in June, Star found his forever family. When I sent Scott’s wife, Merissa, some sneak peek photos of Scott and Star, I got a reply back saying “oh my god, I have to have him.” Merissa has adopted from us in the past and owns a dog training business, Fuzzy Logic, in Louisa, VA. After thinking about the type of home that Star would need, we determined that there was no better fit for Star than Merissa and Scott.
We would like to congratulate Merissa on her adoption of Star! We know he is going to make a wonderful addition to your herd and we can’t wait to see the updates of him in his new home!
