Scout

Scout is 18 years old, 15 hands tall, and a well-trained gelding that lived on a ranch in eastern Oregon. His owner was a cowboy who worked on the ranch for several years using Scout as his horse. When he moved to the valley to look for more work, he brought Scout with him. Scouts eye had developed an eye infection, and his owner spent thousands of dollars to try and make it better. He was told it wasn’t cancer. It still wasn’t healing so he blamed himself because he couldn’t get to the barn to doctor it as often as he should. It was so painful for Scout, that even when his owner tried to doctor it, Scout wouldn’t let him. He was afraid his only option was euthanasia when he called me and asked me for help. He was such a great horse to just have euthanized. After hearing his story I felt compelled and took this case on. 

We had Dr. Ross Clelland come out to look at his eye. Ross confirmed it was an aggressive form of cancer. If we removed all of the cancerous tissue, Scout would not be able to blink because the cancer involved his entire lower lid and part of his upper. If we didn’t remove his eye, Scout would be dead within 6 months. Taking in consideration that Scout was an amazing and healthy horse, we decided to go with complete Enucleation. 

We decided to have Dr. Jack Root of Oakhurst perfrom the enucleation. Jack was instructed not to wake Scout up if he wasn’t confident he could remove all the cancer. He performed the surgery and he felt confident that he did remove all the cancer. Scout was brought back home to HART to start his recovery. In 2 weeks his stiches were removed and in 6 weeks his eye was completely healed. Scout adapted very well, to having only one eye. We enjoyed many happy hours on the trail. We were told that if any cancerous cells remained, Scouts health would start declining so we decided to keep scout at HART for the 6 months. We didn’t want to adopt him out until after the 6 month period, which has now passed. He is now a happy, healthy horse. 

Scout is now ready to be adopted by a family who will give him all the love and attention he deserves. He is good for any level of rider, man, women or child. His adoption fee of $600 will cover the expense of his surgery.

Fund Raising Fun at Oregon Mutual

Thank you so much to the very CREATIVE ladies at Oregon Mutual for their unique fundraiser that they had for HART Rescue.    With horses thoughtfully put together with wine corks and glue, a race track made of paper laid out on a conference table and a group of generous people all decked out in derby attire betting on the races they were able to raise an unbelievable $569.00!!!!!

Here is how they did it.  This documents sets the stage for the event with a brief description and how to tutorial for the contestants and betters.

Here, you can meet the horses individually, notice that they are all named after horses that were rescued by HART Rescue!!!

And lastly a photo of all of the participants in the event.

This was an amazing fund raising event put on by a group of wonderful, generous people and I want you all to know just how much your efforts are appreciated.  I was very surprised and honored that you choose HART Rescue as the recipient of your fund raising spoils.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE EMPLOYEES OF OREGON MUTUAL!!!

Dakota

This is a sweet little pinto filly that was rescued (of course) from some unsavory conditions.   Thanks to the warm heart and generosity of a kind woman she was pulled from the site and brought here to HART Rescue in hopes of finding her a new home where she will be giving the care she deserves. 

Dakota was undernourished and rain rot and long feet but she has recovered very well and is ready to be moved on to her new home.  She is only 18 months old and has her whole live ahead of her!  Her sire is a registered black and white paint with a very stocky build so I am sure she will grow up to be a nice hunk of a horse.

Betsy and George

Betsy Ross and George Washington were abandoned by their owners on some property that they had been renting.  Fortunately for these two cute donkeys, some caring neighbors made sure that they had food and water so they wouldn't suffer.

From what I can tell, they are mother and son, the mother (Bets) appears to be under 5 years of age and the jack (George) is maybe one year old.  Obviously George has not been handled AT ALL and the Betsy has had limited handling.  Betsy will walk up to me for very limited petting and scratching but George will not tolerate touching at all other then a sneaky pat on the nose. They are both friendly in spite of their shyness and neither of them have shown any sign of aggression while I've worked with them so I think it wouldn't take too long to get them to overcome their shyness. 

George needs to be castrated, normally I have that procedure done before they are adopted out but if someone that I can trust to get him castrated after adoption wants him I will let him go in tact, otherwise he will have to stay here until he is tamed enough to be handled and castrated.

Bella

Bella is a very sweet, loving palomino mare that came to us by recommendation from one of my Horse Blanket Services clients.  She had previously owned the mare and sold her to a friend.  The friend no longer wanted Bella and decided to take her to the auction so she could "get a couple hundred dollars out of her".  Luckily for Bella, the lady was willing to bring her to HART so be placed in a new home. 

Once Bella arrived here the first thing we noticed that is she had "no wheels".  Have you ever heard the term "no foot, no horse?"  Well, poor Bella had terribly sore, chipped feet and could not tolerate walking on hard ground at all.  Because she is such a sweet, friendly, gentle well trained not to mention beautiful horse, there was a lot of interest in her and she was placed in a wonderful home in Newberg. 

When Bella's new family came to pick her up, a teeny 5 year old girl wanted to lead her out of the pasture.  Bella patiently followed behind this tiny girl, as we headed toward the gate the girl tripped and fell down right in front of Bella who instantly stopped and put her nose down as if to say "get up little girl and let's get going."  It was one of those precious moments that makes me so thankful that I am able to help these horses find better homes.

Bella's new owner is working diligently together with her farrier to get her feet ironed out, get some weight off her and get her back under the saddle packing children around.

Felipe' the Miniature Donkey

Felipe' came to us from Camp Tillikum West of Newberg, he and his buddy a little Jennette had been donated to the camp for the children to pet and enjoy.  Unfortunately, little Felipe' had not been castrated and with being a donkey and having a girlfriend, his actions were a bit unsettling to the camp supervisors and inappropriate for the children. Within one week of arriving at HART Rescue we performed a surgery that we are very well known for doing that I like to refer to as 'brain surgery' (castration).

After a couple weeks of recovery time Felipe' was allowed out into the pasture with my two old mules so they could teach him a few things about manners and let him know under no uncertain terms that approaching a lady from behind with unsavory intentions is not to be tolerated.  It didn't take my good mules long to educate Felipe' and he was then allowed to be with the rest of the herd.

Felipe' went on to form a relationship with Buster, our resident paint gelding where the two of them took turns chasing each other all over the pasture and playing.  They provided hours of entertainment for our hay crew, volunteers and visitors here at HART.

This sweet little donkey then moved on to be adopted by the Alpenrose Dairy to live the rest of his life in luxury at their Story Book Lane to be loved and be doted on by hundreds of children and to further his career as the star donkey in their live Nativity Scene exhibit at the dairy.

Thank you very much to Carlton Vet and Dr. Ross Clelland for performing the necessary surgery and thank you to Debbie Arguedas for delivering Felipe' to Alpenrose Dairy.

Two new pathetic arrivals at HART Rescue

HUMMER

This is poor Hummer, he was pulled out of a very unfortunate situation where he was not being fed properly and had very little room to move around.  He is severely emaciated, I rated him at a body score of 2 1/2 and his feet are in horrible condition right now.  Hummer is very sweet and kind and stands at the gate waiting for love and attention.  Hummer is only 4 years old but is wise well beyond his years, I didn't put a tape on him but I am estimating he is just over 17 hands.  I was told that his previous owner and her children used to ride him around the yard.

Hummer will be looking for a new home as soon as he is stabilized and well enough to be moved.  He will need to be placed with someone that has experience with draft horses and is able to teach him proper ground manners.

GYPSY

Gypsy is a medicine hat pinto, she is 5 years old, approximately 14 1/2 hands high.  Gypsy is rated at a body score of 3.  Gypsy was showing some signs of aggression when I inspected her out at the site and I have been told by a person that knows the horse that she has a past of showing food aggression.  She has not been aggressive since she has arrived at HART but she has only been here for one day and I have been just leaving them alone other than petting if they come to the gate.  I am hoping that after she realizes she will no longer need to worry about where her next meal is coming from she will settle down a bit.  Just on her first night here she was standing quietly at the gate enjoying some loving and scratching while completely relaxed.

A neighbor from where these two horses came from has generously offered to pay for 30 days of training with a kind, gentle trainer for Gypsy.  After she has had some time to recover and put on some weight she will be sent to the trainer who will evaluate her aggression issues and hopefully start her under saddle.

If you would like to help with with these horses, HART has a few different ways you can do so:

1.  Come out and volunteer

2.  Donate hay, grain or supplies

3.  Send money to Carlton Vet c/o HART Rescue

4.  Send money via the PayPal link at the top of the page