Shiloh Horse Rescue: Freaky Friday

Sunny and beautiful, the air was clear but cold.

Today was a weird day, the pasture horses were all in high spirits. First thing this morning, we had to gather up Sundance, Trace, and Tioga as they were being picked up by the Western Veterinary Conference Vet School. (Shiloh horses are used in their programs here in Las Vegas to teach future vet students. All the horses are given full x-rays and work ups in the clinic (Desert Pines), which is great for our records. The students have to check each horses charts, x-rays, and way of moving to figure out what is wrong with the horse. Many of our lame and special needs horses are used, which helps them earn their feed! Shiloh also works with the Pima Vet Tech school.) Of course, Trace and Sundance were easy to catch, but Tioga, forget it! He decided that it was "Mustang Day" in Big Vacation Village and all of his friends and pasture mates joined in the fun! The horses galloped and bucked all over the place, in and out of the trees. It took us two different tries throughout the morning and everyone's help to FINALLY catch Tioga. The three horses will be boarded out for the next 2-3 months in town, they are kept in a large pasture and are spoiled by the staff. Bucky, Acadia, and Blessing all returned to the rescue- they had been used for the past 3 months.

Volunteers Marianne and Cheri worked hard with horses and helped get all the chores done.

Kestrel, who had been in a corral with NASDAQ, was removed and put into the Hospice. She had begun pushing and bossing shy NASDAQ around. He is already being treated for stomach ulcers, which he got while on the track before his rescue, and Kestrel's bossiness was not helping! Ulcers are extremely common in the off the track Thoroughbreds, we treat them with Ulcer Guard, a paste. We will leave NASDAQ alone for now, he is happier that way and we have already tried 3 other horses in with him! Maverick was moved from the "Cuckoo's Nest"pasture to Big Vacation Village. He is very submissive (strange because he was a breeding stallion), BVV is a quieter pasture so we are hoping he will make some new friends. He is not very social yet, he has probably never been in with other horses unless he was being bred. Hickory is doing better, but we moved him from the Mesquite Manor into the empty barn stall to keep a closer eye on him.

Hickory, pictured above.

Two regular visitors to Shiloh brought out some produce for the goats, pigs, and checkens. Everyone enjoyed a nice big green salad. Afterwards, Oscar Meyer took a sun nap in the straw.

Spur, Curry, and Breezer helped Sally feed and rode around on her Gator. The dogs are always a "big" help with the chores...

It was funny, as Jill filled water buckets, Squirt and Skittles, (pictured above) two of the little ponies, walked right up to their frozen water bucket and pushed their noses in and quickly broke up the ice on the top. The ponies are so smart, the bigger horses will just stand there looking at you dying of thirst, they can't seem to figure out how to break a hole in the ice to get a drink.