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Chance's
transformation was amazing. 100 days of proper care turned this skinny,
mangy horse into a beautiful stallion again.
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Impounded on May 14, 2004 and brought to Rocky Mountain Horse Rescue
Headquarters on May 26th, Chance arrived extremely thin and depressed
in a pathetic state. This 8-year old Quarter Horse Stallion was rated
a one on the Henneke scale which means near death. Although he had been
fed good hay for 12 days by the Animal Control Officers, he was desperately
thin and lethargic with subnormal temperature. He was immediately started
him on a diet of beet pulp, sweet feed, and grass and alfalfa hay with
small meals 4-5 times a day. As Chance improved, portions were increased
and the number of feedings per day was decreased . It was an exciting
event the first time Chance broke into a few trotting steps upon seeing
his beet pulp mash arriving at dinner. Up to that point, he had only
dragged around his pen at a walk. Chance's condition steadily improved
with the highlight being on July 6 when he spotted the five geldings
we had placed in a new pasture 400 feet away. He thought that they were
the most beautiful prospective brides that he had ever seen and proceeded
to buck and whinny and tear around his corral while we videotaped and
took still pictures of his antics. By August, Chance had regained his
full weight and was on a simple diet of two feedings a day of a can
of sweet feed and a few flakes of grass hay and a flake of alfalfa.
We never had him on any supplements or anything else special. Groceries
were the answer to his recovery. Although Chance was impounded by Animal
Control Officers, the owner has been paying a bond on him which means
that Rocky Mountain Horse Rescue is only acting as a safe home for this
gentle stallion who backs into volunteers to have his fanny scratched.
A court case on animal cruelty charges is scheduled for October.
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