[canis,]

We recently got an urgent call from the local authorities. It seems that they were called in after a recent sighting of a very skinny, odd-looking horse left out in the freezing cold. Upon arriving at the scene, they discovered a huge Kleeare stable to be abandoned. The Kleeare were simply left, some in the pasture, some trapped in their stalls. And all extremely emaciated. We responded quickly, arriving at the stable and assessing the condition of each Kleeare. The sight shocked us, but we did not fret. We brought each one of the Kleeare back to our place, where they were evaluated by our veterinarian. Some cases were more extreme than others, but all of them had the chance to be saved. That's where you step in...

This Kleeare appears injured. It has swelling on its front right leg. A closer evaluation by a vet will be needed.

Username; Chellerd
Name;
Gender;
Coat Colour; Palomino Near Leopard Appaloosa
Genotype; ee/aa/Crcr/Lplp/PATN1patn1/Frfr/StDs

Do not post until Chellerd has posted their Challenge Tracker.

[chellerd]

Kleeare Name; Jewel
Gender; Mare

#1; First Meeting
#2; Welcome Home
#3; A Spoonful of Sugar
#4; Making Friends
#5; Exercise Routine
#6; Final Evaluation

[chellerd]

#1. First Meeting

The call:
After returning home from a long road trip and no one that could take care of the ranch while I was away it was time for a big cleaning. First of were the stables, there had been growing dust around them, adjoined the paddocks, which had gotten full with weeds. Luckily I wasn’t alone as my stable hand offered to help. With the two of use we cleaned all the stables and gotten rid of all the weeds in the paddocks. After a day of hard working, the ranch looked clean again. Ready for a change.

Later that day I got a call from the rescue center. Knowing that we took in rescues before, they asked us if we were willing to take in a rescue. Without doubt we immediately got in the car and drove up to the rescue center. After about an hour drive we finally arrived at the rescue center. We met with the owners and heard that there were a lot of Kleeare’s rescued, some in a worse condition than others. All in need of a new and caring home.

Now it was time to take a walk around the rescue center. Seeing things I had never seen before, most of the rescues were in worse conditions than the rescues I had ever taken in. Shocked and angry, I was thinking “How can anyone let it get to this? The people who did this should be locked away”. After cooling down from my anger moment it was time for me to talk to the owners of the rescue center.

With lots of words spoken that night, what we had to offer and how we could help best, we came to the decision to adopt one of the rescues. It didn’t really matter to use which one, as long as we could help them out and take a small burden of their hands. Now it was time to go home and prepare for the newly adopted kleeare.


The arrival:
It was an exciting day, as we got to see which kleeare we were going to take care of. Upon arriving at our ranch we told the volunteers who were driving to park the trailer right beside the paddock. Finally I approached the trailer and saw the Jewel who was standing in the trailer.

Not knowing how the Kleeare would react we had built a guiding fence around the trailer and the paddock, so that the Kleeare could walk out of the trailer and into the paddock on it’s own. After opening the trailer door the mare didn’t hesitate and walked out immediately. We noticed that she was limping and had a swollen front leg. This wasn’t looking very good. Luckily our vet was already on his way to the ranch.

The mare, standing in the outer corner of the paddock, I decided to get into the paddock, near the stable door, as I didn’t want to scare/panic the mare. She had been through enough. I turned my back to the mare and sat down, showing that I was not a threat. Oddly enough the mare seemed to be very curious and slowly but surely walked over. When she was about halfway of the paddock I turned around, now facing the mare. The mare, still walking forward, towards me, not scared by me turning around. When she finally stood in front of me, she looked me in the eyes, I whispered: “It’s okay, you are save now, I won’t hurt you”. This was the beginning of a long journey and a new friendship.

[chellerd]

#2. Welcome Home

The vet visit:
The vet finally arrived on the ranch and it was time for her examination. The vet said she had an infection and by a closer look he came to the conclusion that it was because of a small cut/puncture. She probably hurt herself out in the pasture and because they were abandoned no-one was able to look at it.

The vet adviced me to give her a daily dose of 20CC penicillin for about 10 days. He decided to cut the infection open so that the puss could come out after that we cleaned the leg thoroughly, hosed it down with cold water, put some home-made medicinal cream on it and wrapped it up with bandages. This was to be repeated for several days.

Thankfully it wasn’t that severe, we just had to keep a watchful on it. After all that the vet left again and we could continue our rescue.

First night home:
Now we could finally lead her to her stable, her new home. Leading her to her stall was very easy, as the paddock she was standing in was connected to the stall, so we just had to open the doors and lead her in. At first she didn’t really liked being “locked” up again, but with a soothing voice telling her it would be okay, some treats and a lovely bedding, she was finally settling in her new home.

The vet adviced us to give her some stable rest, so that her infection could heal properly, with the occasional exercise so that she wouldn’t get stiff, but we had to take it slow. I spend a lot of time at her stall, so that she would be at ease and wouldn’t panic or anything. I even slept my first night next to her stall, to make sure she was doing okay.

[chellerd]

#3. A Spoonful of Sugar

Medication:
After spending the night in the stables, making sure Jewel was doing okay, it was time to start a new fresh day. Beginning with her having to get her medication. Luckily for us, we wouldn’t have to struggle with her about taking medication. We got a fresh bottle of penicillin and a few needles to go with. This would make it easier to give the medication and better, as the medication would work faster. Without too much of a struggle we gave her the first shot of 20CC penicillin and we cut down the wrapping on her leg.

Cleaning:
We decided to give her a total treatment of washing. Firstly brushing her completely and combing her mane and tail, to prepare for the washing. Now it was time for the water, we first dipped a sponge in a bucket filled with warm water, to wash her face and let her get used a bit to the water. Secondly we started working with the hose, we aimed first at her feet, so she could get used to the hosing water. She didn’t seem to mind the hosing and got used to it quit easily and fast. Now it was time to fully hose her down, shampoo her and then rinse her. We used a sweat scraper to dry her coat and had her out in the sun for a bit until the coat was dry enough. Combing her mane again, so it wasn’t messy from the washing and we washed her tail separately.

After this was all done and she was fully clean again, she really stood out with her new shiny fresh coat, it was time to treat her leg again. Cleaning the wound, hosing the leg with cold water, putting our cream on and wrapping her leg up again.

We continued this for several days and the leg seemed to heal up very nicely. It looked like the penicillin really did it’s job and we were very glad she was recovering well.

[chellerd]

#4. Making Friends

The Stranger
With being “locked up” most of the time in her stall for recovery purposes, she couldn’t walk too much with her healing leg just yet, I had been visiting her every day and stayed with her for hours. This was very good for our bonding and getting to know each other. Jewel’s personality showed more and more with each day. It appeared she was a very kind and friendly mare, even a little adventurous and very curious.

At one point, when I fell asleep in the stables, I heard cawing. I wasn’t sure if this as a dream or that is was real. The cawing became louder and louder and due to that I woke up. It appeared Jewel made a friend, a curious raven. He wasn’t a normal looking raven, he was unique, having splotches of white on his black feathers. It looked like Jewel “adopted” the Raven. Giving it some of her food so he could become stronger and could hunt on his own.

Jewel was becoming very active and she really wanted to get out of her stall. So we called up the vet and asked if he could come by to look at her leg. So we could ask if it was healed enough in order for her to go into her paddock and he gave us the “OK”. We were glad to hear that. It was finally time that she could go out again and that we could start working intensively on her exercise.

When we finally let her out for the first time into her paddock, she was very happy, bucking and rearing, while she was galloping through her paddock, alongside playing with the Raven.

It was a rare sight, a horse playing with a raven, but we were glad that she found herself a friend.

[chellerd]

#5. Exercise Routine

Movement
Jewel had been going out into the paddock for several days now and her leg seemed to be fully healed. So we decided it was time for her daily exercise. We took her into our bullpen (round pen) and let her roam about freely. After she got used to being in the bullpen we started working with her. We only had a rope with use to work with. Meaning she was still wandering freely but we guided her with the rope in our hand. waving it, so she would go in the meant direction. We let her walk around the pen, then trot, gallop, trot and walk again. After a while, I decided to put some logs into the round pen so she could do a bit of cavaletti exercise. We slowly let her get used to the logs in the round pen, letting her know that the logs were there and weren’t going to harm her. After that, I worked her again, sort of freely to go where she wants but with some guidance from the rope. She perfectly walked over the caveletti and she seemed to be really good at the exercising. We trained with her every day and she got better and better, and in shape aswell.

[chellerd]

#6. Final Evaluation

Happily ever after
Several months went by, training her, giving her a special diet to gain weight, giving her leg treatment. It seemed that she was doing pretty fine. She gained a lot of weight and looked like a normal Kleeare again. Her leg healed completely and it doesn’t get in the way anymore and she had made a unique friendship. Her Raven who has stood by her from almost the beginning.

It was time for the vet to visit us, hopefully for the last time. As he drove unto our property we saw him with another person in the car. A mystery guest. When they stopped and stepped out of the car we saw that the mystery guest was one of the people who helped with the rescue of all those Kleeare’s. She was really curious on how we helped the mare we picked up and how she was doing.

Upon seeing Jewel she was speechless. She couldn’t even believe that this was the same mare. The mare, who was standing right beside me, without any leading material (no halter or rope or anything) grew into such a beautiful, healthy and trusting mare. I walked towards the lady and Jewel walked right beside me. That was really a unique sight for her. Seeing a mare that was on the verge of death several months ago, now walking besides the woman who rescued her, trusting her.

After the vet examined Jewel, he cleared her. She was a very healthy and happy Kleeare again. I made a little leap of joy and funny enough Jewel bucked joyfully aswell.

It was a long road, but we managed to make the best out of it. We helped a lovely mare and she finally got to be herself again. We learned a lot from this experience and we would be happy to do this again in a heartbeat.