Beaugart is a 5 yo Arab x national show horse (1/2 arab, 1/2 standardbred)….reads mostly arabian;)    He’s registered and well bred.   Unfortunately, he, his herdmates and his owner fell on hard times this year and all have been doing poorly.  I became aware of the situation only a few days ago, made some room in the barn and drove down to rescue one of these horses today.  I came home with Beaugart.

He loaded right on the trailer and as soon as he discovered that there was hay in there, he had no intention of getting out.  I took off his halter and switched it out for one of my own while he happily munched away.   His simple delight at his very own pile of hay made me smile instantly.   I let him settle in the trailer while I perused the remaining horses…stallions, mares, youngsters and babies.  I struggled with the urge to take them all home.

I give alot of credit to the local law enforcement as well as Patricia Morris, a  local lawyer for skillfully managing a potentially horrific situation, making it possible for the owner to give her horses up  to safe and loving homes with her dignity intact.  I just hope all those wonderful animals find a place like Beaugart has.  A place where they can live well, eat plenty and play hard….and maybe someday have a job.

So Day one for ‘Bogie’.  He travelled well and ate a whole hay bag full of hay in the hour it took to drive home.  I’ve never seen a horse eat that much while traveling!  He was introduced to the herd over the fence before settling into a stall across the aisle from the the other horses, who came in and out all day saying ‘hi’, ‘who are you’, ‘I’m gonna kick your butt’, etc. etc.  I gave him a half bale of hay and plenty of water as well as a deep bed of shavings  and headed off to work for a few hours.

My initial assessment was that he was dehydrated.  His poop resembled shavings….ick!  I can’t recall seeing a single bucket of water at the facility he was at either inside or out….so no surprise he was alittle dry.  His body score is at best a 3.  Probably if it were summer, he would look more like a 2.  The long winter coat hides alot.  Feet aren’t horrible, but in need of a trim. And best of all… he is sound!  He has that floaty arab trot that I just love…

Upon my return, he had again amazed me at how much hay he had put away.  Only drank a 1/2 bucket of water though.  Not much poop in the stall and I couldn’t see that he had peed yet.  But he had a brighter look in his eye and was investigating his stall and surroundings, apparently now that his belly was full.  I found immediately that he has some haltering/bridling issues and does not like to be handled about the ears or poll….duly noted.  I got a rope halter on much more easily after a few scratches under his unruly dreadlocked mane.   We’ll work on that more…

I closed the barn doors and let him wander in the aisleway while I picked up his stall and reloaded his hay and water.  He pow-wowed with the other horses, squealing here and there.  Manny promptly turned his butt and kicked the wall between them repeatedly.  Always interesting, introducing a new member to the herd.  They’re already triing to jockey for their place in the new herd.

I decided to feed him some warm soaked beet pulp with some probiotics, dyna-spark (an electrolyte) and oxymega (an omega 3/antioxidant supplement) for his first dinner.  I’m not a huge fan of beet pulp as many of you know, but it does offer benefits in situations like this, so I keep some around.  Its a good way to get fluids into a dry horse and it also has a positive effect on GI motility and hindgut pH.  Plus it allows me to get the other stuff into him and I certainly don’t want to stress his system with grain just yet.  He seemed to like it, but took his time eating….probably more food than he’s seen in a long time.  I left him munching happily…