Today we went to Damascus, Maryland, to a horse rescue! Its called Day's End Farm, http://www.defhr.org/ and it was *so* neat!
First, we heard all about the amazing work Day's End does to rehab and adopt out horses taken by animal control due to abuse and neglect. Very sad to see some of the photos of the resident horses as emaciated skeletons.
With the economy in a downturn, the neglect cases rise, because horses are very expensive to keep. This guy in the barn, above, has a bad case of "cribbing", repetitive motions horses do to calm themselves if they are stressed. He spent most of his life locked in a manure filled stall in the dark, so he is quite stressed. Physically, he's fine, which is the good news!
The girls learned about caring for horses hooves and coat, feeding and watering.
Then the girls got to groom some horses.
Next it was time to ride some of the rehabilitated horses who are up for adoption. Most of the horses at the farm make full recoveries, though some cannot be ridden they can be companion animals. I wish we had the room and money to take one (or four!) home.For animal loving girls, it was the Coolest Field Trip ever. I got a kick out of Gryphon- she knows a surprising amount about horses!
*Gryphon got into...something...and has a terrible allergic reaction right now on her face and neck. The doctor said its some kind of contact thing, but what, exactly, we don't know. SO while she looks really scary, she is fine except for some itching!*
2 comments:
That would be very cool. That's great that they're able to help the horses!
Sweet!! You always have the best animal stories! I'm with you - if only we had the space (and time and money, etc)
Hugs!
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