Tuesday 9/30/08

It all started out as a great day...

Jill on the cart...

Tanis gives a kiss to Penny.

A sign in Shiloh's barn.

Galaxy gets the royal treatment...

Mendoza gets a thorough bath.

But then, Jill and Sally had to leave the ranch early today as one of our Assisted Living old guys was acting odd. Eureka was showing signs of discomfort- laying down, not eating, with an elevated heart rate. We just can't wait with one of these senior horses (Eureka is almost 30 years old), so we gave him some Banamine and loaded him in the trailer to meet the vet in town.
Sandi spends some time with Eureka while we wait for the vet...

Eureka gets tubed with oil and water. He was showing mild colic signs, but his rectal exam was good. His heart rate was still high. Dr. Schur thought she might have smelled a urine smell on his breath, possibly a sign of Kidney problems. She also heard some sand in his intestine.

Dr. Schur drew some blood so we can check his Kidney function. Eureka is staying in town tonight at Kathy's ranch. If all stays well, he will be brought back out to Shiloh in the morning.

Never a dull day at the rescue!

Monday 9/30/08

For anyone who is interested, Shiloh's Vet, Desert Pines Equine Center in Las Vegas, is having an open house on Saturday, October 11th. There will be lectures about colic, lameness, etc. For more information, check their website out here. Some of us from Shiloh are going to be there. It should be a very informative day for everyone.

A nice day, still hot and a bit muggy though.

Volunteers helped with the Summer Sores on Pioneer, Moonshine, and Zoolander. These very hard to heal wounds are a pain! But, we are making progress...

Visitors handed out carrots- that's Fred bothering Nancy for more!

Keller, the blind mare, was moved out of the Barn and into a Duplex corral. We will be introducing another horse in with her this week so she can find friends and find her place at the ranch. Sandi and Laurie spoiled her today and took her for a walk (below). Keller would NOT walk through the Mare Motel to get to her new corral, she was afraid of the overhead (we think she can see shadow and could sense the roof over her). Waco's owner came up with a brilliant idea- Back her in. Once we turned her around, she backed right in and then we were able to turn her around and walk her right through. Sometimes the easiest things to do are the hardest to think of! What a great idea that was- one we will use again in the future.

Noche, now named Gladys Night was moved out into pasture today (below) where she can be with friends. She just moved right in and had no problem showing all the other horses that she is going to be ruling the roost. The pasture horses will become her friends- so she will be Gladys Night and the "peeps"... (Yes, horse rescuers are nuts! But, hey, we have to be...)

Waco, a Shiloh Horse who was adopted a few years ago, returned to Shiloh today. He is showing a "mystery lameness" and just could not hold up to the riding in his home. Waco was very well loved and cared for- he looks fantastic. We are happy to see him again, but it was hard for his family to let him go. We are hoping that Waco can work out for the WVC vet testings in the future.

Little Will is doing great- much more frisky and no fever at all now.

Look who else returned to Shiloh today- Kevin Bacon graced us with his presence. He left Pig Newton back at Sandy Valley Ranch...

Now look who Kevin Bacon has teamed up with!

The meeting of two great minds...

Arson Update and Eric's Big Round-up 9/27/08

Just spoke to the vet, Arson is doing well. They had to cut away a large section of his hoof wall, exposing the Coffin Bone. They have been flushing and packing the area and are hoping in a few days to cover the exposed bone section with Equilox, a hoof builder. He has a metal hospital plate screwed to the bottom of his foot and his leg and foot is wrapped. He will have to wear the metal plate for a long time, we will have to unscrew it and clean the area daily for a while. He has a long road ahead, but Arson's prognosis is very good. He will need to remain in the clinic until the middle of this coming week. Huge thanks to everyone for their well wishes and support!

Go here to donate to Arson's Emergency Vet Fund. THANK YOU!

Eric arrived at Shiloh around 5pm last evening and found the ENTIRE Big Vacation Village Pasture loose and wandering around the ranch! One of them must have opened the pasture gate and the old guys were off on an outing. No one was hurt (Shiloh has a perimeter fence) and everyone eventually went back in where they belong. Never a dull moment! Notice ranch dog, Curry looking guilty at the end, was he the ring leader?


Another view- Go Eric Go!

Saturday 9/27/08

Saturday was hot and muggy, but busy with lots of boarders, volunteers, and visitors.

Saturdays are one of the most fun days at the rescue, everyone is out and working or just horsing around. We have such a great group of people who are Shiloh regulars, it just makes it that much better being out at the ranch...

But, last night, some of the Shiloh regulars got together for a BBQ and shall we say overindulged? But, most of them were out at the rescue today, tired, but still talking about what a good time they had together.
Partying late into the night...
What a cute little guy Sukie is...
Or is he?
Christian Bail was beating the heat way back in the Mesquite trees in Big Vacation Village. It was at least 10 degrees cooler back in there!
Christian Bail was checked out by Frances of Elko, NV for a possible adoption. It looks like a great match for this family horse, we are keeping our fingers crossed. They rode all over the ranch to get to know each other...

Dave worked hard with Apache and made great strides with her. Keep it up Dave!
Canyon and Clover get some attention and grooming from some new volunteers.
Sarge found a cool spot in the office for a nap...
GG was spoiled by Vic...
Echo Echo is looking great...
Moonshine is brushed...
Dave and Salsa, a cute pic.
Sharil washes Cochise.
Charmin is brushed...
And then begs for one more carrot!
Ice has some breakfast in his pasture...
Maximo and Osito cool off in the water...
Starwood gets the royal treatment from the Carrot Brigade.

The hard working and dedicated Carrot Brigade (Yvonne, Kelly, and Patricia) is actually out of carrots!

Arson Vet Fund! 9/26/08

The Arson Vet Fund

Well, it was another Vet Day for us at Shiloh! We got to the ranch, ready to get alot of things done and of course, we had to head back out to the Vet...

Arson, an OTTB who was rescued from a CA auction during the CA wildfires last fall, has had a bad foot ever since he arrived. He has always had a bulge on one side in his hoof wall and abscesses off and on. As soon as we would get one abscess cleared, another one would come. This morning, he was very sore on three legs and his hoof wall was actually breaking down. We decided to bring him in for x-rays to see just what is going on in there.

Arson goes in for the x-rays...

Getting ready...

Dr. Ballard checks out the abscessed area.

Sally demonstrates the Glamour of the horse rescue world- nice dress and boots Sally!

The x-rays showed that part of his Coffin Bone is actually eroded away by an unseen infection (see photo below). Possibly from a fracture on the track or something like a sole puncture during the fires, whatever it was, it has wreaked havoc in his foot. Arson will have to remain in the clinic for the weekend where he will have the hoof wall cut away, cleaned out and flushed, and the bone scraped. Then it will be packed with antibiotics and will have to be kept sterile. He will need to wear a customized Z Bar shoe for support. The vets are hoping that they can get it cleaned out while he is standing, but may need to lay him down on the table to make sure everything is kept as sterile as possible.

Arson's prognosis is pretty good, it will remain to be seen just how much he will be able to do after this problem is taken care of. But his friendly personality, otherwise good health, and age, all helped to make the decision to do whatever we can for him so that he can have a quality of life. If we were to do nothing, his bone would eventually become so infected that it would cause severe rotation in that foot and possible sloughing off of the hoof capsule.

We have opened a Arson Vet Fund on our Emergency Fund page. His care in the clinic is estimated at $1500.00, any amount of donation will help and will go directly to paying his vet bill.

Donations for Arson can also be called directly into the vet clinic and put on Shiloh's account.

Please call Desert Pines Equine Center at 702-645-2247 and tell them it is for "Shiloh's Arson".

Huge thank you to everyone and as always, I will post the final vet bill as soon as we know what it is.

THANK YOU also to the volunteers this morning who stepped right up to do the daily chores when we had to leave. We appreciate your support and commitment to the Shiloh horses so much.

On a very good note- Shiloh volunteer, Laurie adopted Noche this morning! Her husband Alan surprised Laurie with the adoption. Laurie has loved Noche for quite a while and we all could not be happier for the match! Here is Laurie and Noche pictured together a few days ago:

And, while we were in the vet clinic-we had a little Shiloh reunion! Marianne, Shiloh adopter of Galt and co-Shiloh website manager, stopped by after seeing our truck. She boards Galt next to Desert Pines. And adopted Shiloh Horse, Sutter came in to the clinic to have some fluid drained off of his knee! It was so great to see Sutter- he looks fantastic!

Sutter and his owner, Karen
Looking good Sutter!

Thursday 9/25/08

Shiloh is registered with iGive.com. When you shop, the Shiloh Horses benefit!

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Elisa came back from her Chicago trip today, so it was back to work for the horses that she rides. Wounds were cleaned, horses fed, medications given.

We have started Empire, Six, Mercali, and NASDAQ on daily Ulcer medication for the next 30 days. These geldings still are suffering from ulcers from their days on the racetrack. Hopefully, this new medicine will help them heal, they get pills day and night. NASDAQ (pictured below)was taken in from the Cuckoo's Nest pasture to start his adoption evaluation. He has gained his weight back and is looking great.

Will was feeling MUCH better today, no fever and he was much more chipper. We are still treating him with the Penicillin shots though just in case.

Sunday eats like a big horse now. He is spending less time with his mom now and more time exploring the Bungalow area.

Sunday looking frisky!

P. Shaggy's cute old face!

We have put Noche up for adoption! She is looking for her new home. Visit her page here!

Here are some more videos of Shiloh, which I have been adding to our Facilities page on the website:



The Barn. Right side in video: First Stall: P. Shaggy's stall, his door is left open to allow him to wander freely. Second Stall: Daisy and Flower's stall, door also left open to allow wandering, but you can usually find Eagle and Charlie in there! Third Stall: Stallion stall, or a kind of isolated stall. Keller is in this stall now. Left Side: First Stall: Jill's Freisian filly, Zuiderzee, Second Stall Jill's horse, Fallon, Third Stall: Tanis. All stalls in the barn have an outdoor run.


The Bungalows. You can see Inspirada and Sitka in the large first corral and Sunday and Kite in the attached turnout. We leave many of the corrals open into the turnout so the horses can freely come and go, which makes their lives more interesting.

If you are out surfing the web...

Check out what horse racetrack Suffolk Downs is doing to help stop horse slaughter!

Vote for Angel Acres Horse Haven Rescue in this online contest. AA has been helping Shiloh with our Grant writing, which has been wonderful. Let's show them some support!

Read this story on MSNBC.com about Horse Slaughter.

Then vote!

Weds 9/24/08

I forgot my camara at Shiloh- so no new pictures or videos today! I am sorry, I had taken some good ones. I will post them tomorrow unless Salsa or Taco have eaten my camara by then, which is entirley possible....



We had many hard working volunteers out today- Noche and Moonshine were bathed, the wounds were cleaned and Zoolander was moved from the Mare Motel into the Bungalows. We also moved Keller into the Barn- she was just so lonely up in the front area and her eyes were acting up again. So we thought, she can be closer to all the action and activity of the daily life at the rescue and we can treat her eyes easier. She has a barn stall and an outdoor corral, we hung a bell by her water bucket so she can find it easily. By the time we headed out, she was relaxed, eating and drinking and seemed much happier.



Poor little Will is sick, he came down with Strangles, an upper resperitory infection. Harlow, the pregnant Haflinger mare from PA came down with it soon after she got to Shiloh (even though all new horses are Isolated). Elvis had full blown Strangles at the New Holland Sale and probably infected quite a few horses at the auction. He was sent to a separate farm for Isolation before he shipped to Shiloh almost 50 days later, but Harlow must have caught it from him in the transport. Will got it from Harlow and is now up in the far Isolation at the rescue with his friend Chief and Elvis. Harlow is in her own isolation area and is making a great recovery. Will had a very high temparture this morning and was feeling very bad. We are treating him with banamine twice a day for the fever, cold hosing him to keep him cool, and giving him 15CCs of Penacillion in an IM injection twice a day for a week. Normally, we do not give Penacillin for Strangles, but Will is so young and had such a high temp that the vet thought we needed to do it. By the time we left this afternoon, his temp was coming down and he was eating.



I am also feeling under the weather today, maybe it's "sympathy Strangles"? :o)

HR. 6598

The Bill, HR. 6598, the Prevention of Equine Cruetly Act, passed the House Judiciary Committee yesterday and is moving to the Floor for consideration!

Let's keep up the pressure for all the horses!

Tuesday 9/23/08

A gorgeous day out there- it was actually cool in the morning. Summer is ending, Fall is on the way...

Sally's feed cart. Have enough buckets? This is only for the extra feed like the Equine Senior...
Pablo, one of the WVC horses who returned home to Shiloh from the vet school.
Trace also came back home.
Sammy and Image had some fun in the turn out as well, but they stayed far away from Charmin and Tommy Haflinger!

And, here is why they kept their distance! Listen to Charmin squeal!