Posted on

Winter Storm Frida

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.

Posted on

Hearts 4 Horses Gala 2022

We are excited to announce our SECOND Gala! The first Gala was held in 2016 and was a huge success thanks to all of you, our supporters and followers. This coming February, we are planning to do it again and make it an annual event.

Tickets are on sale now (scroll down) and we are also looking for donations of items to our Silent Auction! We can’t wait to see you there!

Bid on Silent Auction Items

Donate an Item to the Silent Auction

Thank you to our Event Sponsors!

Posted on

Two Standardbreds for Christmas

  • Grass Twister
  • DVC Dancehall Doc

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?

Donate by PayPal: https://bit.ly/standardbredfund

Donate by check:  CVHR, 31262 Eagle Hill Trl, Fredericksburg, VA 22407

Posted on

Giving Tuesday Sponsor-A-Thon

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

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

Chocolate Chip

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.

Peanut Butter

Vinnie is a young (estimated to be 5 or 6) Thoroughbred who is 100% blind. He came to CVHR as a stray.

Vinnie’s Sponsorships

Goggins is a draft mule in his late teens. He is currently receiving medical treatment for a growth on his front fetlock.

Goggin’s Sponsorships

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.

Dolly

Beans and Frank are a miniature horse pair that belong to our Youth Outreach program and act as CVHR Ambassadors at special community events.

Beans and Frank

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.

Shadow Sponsorships
Dr. Hilton’s Sponsorships

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.

Bruce’s Sponsorships

Panda is a farm raised pocket pony Standardbred. She is our most recent intake and currently in rehabilitation for weight gain and veterinary care.

Panda
Posted on

Photo Shoot to Adoption

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!

Posted on

Walker…. Proving Miracles Do Happen

Summer 2021 proved to be another busy one for the horses and team at Fredericksburg. Due to the high costs associated with Walker’s hoof treatment, new intakes were put on hold so that we could appropriately manage his care along with the other horses in our custody.

In July, we thought we had reached the end of the road with Walker’s treatment as we were unable to get him weight bearing at all on his hind leg and if he was still in pain and unable to bear weight then there was nothing else we were going to be able to do. After multiple consultations with different surgeons, we were beginning to believe that he may be septic. We made the calls, we scheduled his euthanasia and we cried.

What we did not expect to happen was on the day of our 11th Birthday Party event, we saw what we never thought we would. He walked. With his heel down. I stared at him and watched trying to decide if what I was seeing was what I so desperately wanted to see or if he really was putting weight on his heel. I took a video. I sent it to Dr Moga and to Cindy with the caption “do you see that? Does he LOOK better?” We finally decided that whether we were only seeing what we wanted to see or he was truly better, we were going to give him one last Hail Mary and proceed with the OsPhos injection that we had discussed. He had two months to show improvement or we would be back to square one.

Today marks the 2 month deadline that we had set back in July and the amount of improvement we have seen since then is nothing short of a true miracle. Walker has gone from being isolated to a stall in order to protect his hoof from further injury and infection to being turned out in a pasture with a herd of his own.

Walker has the ability to walk, pace and canter around the field without causing injury to his hoof. He has put on a significant amount of weight and the muscle that he had begun to lose in his hip is finally starting to come back.

Walker has had 3 full hoof debridements to remove the false souls and open up the cavities where infection has built up. While we think we may have finally gotten it all with this last one, we will still be monitoring his improvement closely to ensure that another false soul doesn’t develop.

We are very pleased with the way that Walker has been progressing. There have been some set backs along the way but we, and he, have taken them all in stride and we have continued to pray and fight for his recovery. Walker is still in need of sponsorships to help support his care at the rescue. His current wish list items consist of:

  • Elastikon
  • Animalintex
  • Treats
  • Gauze pads

Walker receives regular shoeing every 4 – 5 weeks and with all of his new activity he goes through metal plates and bolts. He will also be receiving another OsPhos injection towards the end of the year to help with his joint healing.

Walker’s Sponsorships
Dollar Club
Posted on

The Move to Fredericksburg… One Year Later

It seems like just yesterday that we were discussing either closing the rescue down or moving it to a new location. The opportunity to rent a farm in Fredericksburg sort of fell in our laps and the decision was made that we would continue operating but in a new location under my management of the day to day operations. Cindy, aka mom, would continue to provide guidance and support as she had done since the foundation of Central Virginia Horse Rescue in 2010. The move presented quite a few challenges that we worked hard to over come.

The farm that we leased was in rough shape as it had not been well maintained for the previous few years. The fences were falling down. The barns needed A LOT of work. The equipment needed work. Donations were down. We started out with no volunteer base and had to try to build one in the middle of a global pandemic. We faced an mounting uphill battle but we were determined to continue the good work that CVHR had done for the previous 10 years.

Despite all of the challenges we plugged ahead and brought in a good foundation of volunteers despite the pandemic. We built new relationships with vendors here in Fredericksburg. And as the months went by we found our way.

We want to again thank TYL Restoration for their community service project helping to restore the pasture fences and hay barn so that we could expand our herd and store hay that was going to be needed through the winter months. TYL took on the project and had teams here for a week taking down the old fences and prepping the new fences for the volunteers to come in and complete the work. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate for the second planned weekend and after 2 reschedules we had to cancel the community service days but their team still finished the project with their employees.

As the year marched on, so did the rescue. We slowly built our volunteer team and continued to work on and fix areas of the farm that needed work. We had our fair share of wins and losses during 2020. We saw an increase in the number of owner surrenders coming in as people were hit by the pandemic and were struggling to keep their horses. We helped the ones we could while maintaining a responsible herd size of our own.

We made it all the way through until the end of the year before COVID finally hit home at the rescue when I was diagnosed with COVID the last week of December. This was one week after we brought in 6 horses from a local kill pen and in the middle of dealing with a horse suffering from choking incidents that we couldn’t get under control and determine a cause for. We had a handful of new volunteers that were still in training, 6 horses that were in quarantine and were requiring special handling due to various medical issues one of which had to be fed 6 times a day and I was out of commission for 2 weeks. Our volunteer team stepped up, put in the extra time and hours and found a way to ensure that the horses were cared for in the way that they needed to be but this made us realize that even though we were still in the middle of a pandemic, we needed more help.

We came up with a plan and we made the official announcement, Central Virginia Horse Rescue has moved to Fredericksburg and we are accepting new volunteers. The community did not disappoint and reminded us why we felt the move from Brunswick County to Fredericksburg would be a good one. In one week we received more volunteer inquiries than the rescue had received in the previous 10 years combined. We came up with a way to safely do the volunteer orientations, found a way to schedule volunteers to help with feeding shifts and I’m happy to say that as of today, one year later after our move we have a base of approximately 120 volunteers. We have volunteers who travel from as far away as Springfield and Alexandria in order to spend time at the farm.

Our herd numbers seem to fluctuate between 15 and 25. We now have 6 horses that are part of our Youth Enrichment, Barn Kids Club, program. These horses are here to help teach kids how to care for and handle horses. Through our Youth Enrichment program, several have learned valuable handling skills that has helped them as they progress into riding lessons at local lesson barns. They have gained friendships that we hope will last a lifetime. The teens are able to spend days at the farm learning skills from horse handling to cleaning tack and other important parts of horse care and management.

Over the last year, we have taken in 54 horses to Fredericksburg and we have been able to successfully place 5 horses into foster homes and we adopted out 23 horses to loving homes. We have formed a partnership with Advantage Horsemanship to provide training assistance to our volunteer team and a special offer directly from Scott for our adopters. This offer gives every adopter with Central Virginia Horse Rescue a free 3 month membership to Scott’s Leadership Club providing them with a wealth of resources and training videos to help make their adoption successful. (Information on what is included in Scott’s Leadership Club can be found here: Leadership Club)

We continue to look forward to what the next year may bring as well. We have been working on bringing back some of our programs that we have had great success with in the past. Now that we are able to safely do so, we are focusing on our Auction to Adoption program that will give us a chance to help bring horses into the rescue before they land in the hands of the kill buyers. Our Barn Kids Club has been a huge success within our local community and we are always looking for ways that we can continue to provide knowledge and experiences to the participating kids. We have several community events planned at the rescue and our Trail Ride team has been investigating places that will give us the opportunity to start hosting benefit trail rides again.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support Central Virginia Horse Rescue and our mission. Your support allows us to continue to provide the necessary horse care and the education to our community. We hope to see some of you at our 11th anniversary birthday celebration on July 17th at our Fredericksburg farm.

Posted on

February Farm Updates

February proved to be not only cold and snowy but also very busy for the rescue. The first week of February, the rescue took in 5 horses from owner surrender situations. Three of those surrenders were due to an emergency and the other two through our safety net program. This brought the total number of horses being cared for by the rescue to a total of 29 across both the Fredericksburg and Brodnax farms as well as horses in training foster homes.

At the beginning of February, we transferred Chase, our 3 year old Mustang cross, to training at Advantage Horsemanship to work with Scott Purdum. Chase has proven to be a smart and challenging young horse that was in need of a higher level of training than we could provide through our volunteer trainers. During his first month, Chase has been able to complete several of our initial training goals including being able to be caught and lead from different locations through out their farm. Chase leads daily from the barn, the turn out paddock and the round pen for training. Chase has always had an issue with bolting as soon as he sees the open space around him and this has proven to be our biggest challenge with his training. Chase will be featured in a series through their TV show featured on RFD TV, Cowboy Channel and Horse TV.

In February, we finalized two adoptions on horses at our Fredericksburg farm. Sugar was adopted by the Jones family locally here in Culpeper. She has joined CVHR Alum Kash and Buster with a wonderful family that also volunteers their time here at the rescue. Sugar came to us in December as one of our six Christmas ponies. She was the first to be made available for adoption and the first to find a home.

Our second adoption was sweet and spicy Marco. Marco is a mid teens Paso Fino that was adopted by a wonderful family in Louisa. Marco has been with the rescue for a little over a year and has been kept at our Brodnax location with Cindy. Marco was a volunteer favorite and we are very excited for his new mom Eleanor as they begin their journey together.

At the end of January, we officially announced that the rescue had moved to Fredericksburg and put an ask out for volunteers. February was a busy month with volunteer orientations and training. We are excited about the response that we received in our local community and the number of volunteers that are interested in working with the rescue to help the horses in our care.

Christmas has been able to move into an actual large pasture with one of our herds. His body condition score has finally improved over 3 and hes currently between and 3 and 4. He is enjoying having new friends and a larger space to be able to run and explore. We estimate that it will still be several months before he is available for adoption.

Nick has improved to a BCS of around 4.5 and we have started evaluating his training needs and soundness for riding. Nick had some soreness in his back that has gone away after a chiropractic adjustment from Dr. Moga. We have started with his ground work first in order to build muscle before attempting his initial first ride.

Frosty continues to improve daily and has almost fully reached his desired weight goal. When Frosty came, he required a tooth extraction, a serious bath and a lot of weight. We had anticipated a full 6 months needed to get him to the weight that he should be at however he has come a long way in the 2.5 months that he has been at the rescue. He has transformed from our sweet scared underweight bulldozer to a sweet mostly well mannered gentle draft. He has learned to walk appropriately on the lead line and will more often than not allow us to pick up his feet for cleaning. We look forward to doing his first ride evaluation in the month of March.

We continue to move full steam ahead into March which has already proven to be a busy month for adoptions. I look forward to the next month recap! As always, we appreciate all of our sponsors, donors and volunteers. It takes a village and all of you make up THEIR village!

Posted on

2021 Intakes

We have had a busy month and a half at Central Virginia Horse Rescue! So far this year we have taken in a total of 7 horses, all from owner surrender situations.

In January, we brought in Shadow and Marcus through our Safety Net program. Their owner was unable to keep them and needed a place for them to go. Marcus was adopted privately through a rescue staff member and Shadow has been receiving the care that he needs to be ready for adoption. Shadow is an almost 23 year old branded Standardbred. Shadow has tested well with everything and was formally made available for adoption after his farrier appointment this week.

The next three intakes also came back to the rescue through our Safety Net program when their owner was no longer able to keep them. Little Hope is back with the rescue and after an evaluation period will be available again. Hope was broken under saddle last year and is a petite Arabian/Quarter Horse mare. She is approximately 10 years old.

Along with Hope, we also brought in her pasture mates, Zeus and Artemis. Zeus is a senior branded Standardbred that is approved for light riding due to a previous injury that he had. We haven’t noticed any soundness issues with him but will be monitoring for any issues during his evaluations. Artemis is a senior tattooed BLM Mustang. Artemis has tested well in all situations and we are awaiting nicer weather to test her under saddle. She loaded on the trailer, stood for the farrier and has been enjoying being spoiled by our volunteer team.

Intakes 6 and 7 were also in the first week of February. Bo and Susan arrived, through our Safety Net program as well when their owner needed to find a home for them due to circumstances beyond her control. Bo and Susan came in as a bonded pair but they are adjusting well to being a part of the mini herd.

Susan has proven to be a little challenging to catch and our volunteer team is working with her on socialization so that she will be able to go to a good home. Bo appears to have settled in better and will come up to visitors when in the pasture.

As we finish up the evaluations and determine their needs, our newest intakes will be made available. Some may be available earlier than others depending on their own individual needs.

Each incoming horse receives an evaluation and has services scheduled as needed such as vet exams, farrier care and dental floats. Through our rescue supporters and donors, each horse is able to receive this necessary care to prepare them for their adoptive homes. Your donations help to provide these horses with a second chance.

The current pandemic has been hard on the horse community in general. There are a lot more horses needing your help more than ever. We thank you for making it possible for us to be able to care for these beautiful animals.

We thank you for your Support of our residents and adoptable horses!

New Horse Farrier Care

New Horse Dental Care

New Horse Health Package