July 26th, 2011

One of Hytyme's most difficult rescue situations involved Vanilla Bean, Iris (now gone), and another mare named Gimlet. It's hard to imagine the type of abuse and neglect these horses faced. They were "rescued" from the feedlot in Yakima by way of the Columbia Basin Equine Rescue, and sent to a horrible place not fit for any sort of animal life. Why these horses, saved in time from potentially going to slaughter, were sent to a farm that could have rivaled the slaughterhouse as far as cruelty goes, is unknown. Regardless, Hytyme intervened, and these three mares were safe.

The following pictures are pretty graphic. If you don't want to see them, keep scrolling down and you'll see some happier pictures of their recoveries.

Iris:

Iris was a very beautiful older Quarter Horse mare. She was so damaged from her abusive past that she was never able to trust humans. In 2008, a couple years after she arrived at the ranch, she was back to an excellent weight and in good health. Sadly enough, Iris sustained an injury that would have required more invasive treatment than she would allow. She had been through enough, and her mental and physical suffering had to come to an end.

Here's Iris as she looked a year or so after the previous pictures were taken:

It was very sad to lose Iris, but we feel better knowing that she isn't in pain anymore. That's what matters.

Gimlet, another chestnut  mare, wasn't in as bad shape as Iris or Vanilla Bean. You can see her lurking in the background of some of the pictures of Iris above. She was adopted shortly after her arrival at the barn.

Vanilla Bean, who is now a long-time resident and volunteer favorite (and available for adoption!), was also in sad shape. Here are some of her pictures upon arrival at Hytyme. She was around two years old as well as pregnant:

Remarkably, and despite the terrible neglect, Vanilla Bean had an adorable and healthy filly, Baby Bean (also adopted and doing well!).

Many volunteers have worked with Vanilla Bean over the last few years. She's practically a tank! She'll be an excellent trail horse! She's an extremely easy keeper these days, and has really tough feet. She's lived through a lot for such a young horse! What an inspiration.

In other news, things have been going well out at the rescue. Despite a cool and rainy week, this one has been warm and filled with all of our favorite summery happenings.

Shannon hadn't been feeling well, and she came off the big field and was put into a stall. She's perked up, and Jim let her back out with the herd. Peanut Butter Boy's foot is just about healed, and he's also back with his friends.

Michelle was out the other day feeding carrots to all her equine friends. Thanks again, Michelle, for keeping the horses so happy and well supplied with carrots!

Jim has been burying a lot of concrete this week as well, concrete that's left over from the foundation removed to build the arena. Here are some pictures of that project:
The concrete comes from here:

The arena view sure looks awesome, too!

Also this week, Scott came out to volunteer. He was able to fix the leak on the backhoe's big cylinder, which made this concrete removal project lots easier. It's working great now!

Anthony of Running Bare  was out to do trims. Here are some pictures of Anthony and Devon:

More to come soon!