Four seriously endangered and neglected horses have found a safe place to land and recover at the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals (MSSPA) in Windham.
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| Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals staffers Tina Cormier and Danette McGee welcome Gibson, a 16-year-old gelding as he arrives in Windham on Tuesday, Jan. 6 after being transported from Rood & Riddle Veterinary Hospital in Saratoga, New York. COURTESY PHOTO MSSPA |
Dorset Equine Rescue of Vermont agreed to keep two of the surrendered stallions, a mare and its filly, and another facility, Tomten Farm and Sanctuary of Vermont, is caring for another stallion. MSSPA received three mares on Saturday, Jan. 3 and a stallion named Gibson arrived Tuesday.
“Receiving a horse that has been severely neglected means that horse will likely have profound, expensive medical needs,” said Peg Keyser, MSSPA Advancement Director. “This can strain a single rescue, so when several rescues work together, those costs can be spread out a bit.”
She said the three unnamed mares arrived looking thin and needing attention to their hooves and teeth. One has an eye injury that went untreated and is in desperate need of care.
“Her eye might sadly need to be removed.” Keyser said. “The four stallions were housed in a barn at the location that was some of the most deplorable conditions we have ever seen. They were each standing in stalls, in their own manure that had grown to a level of 5 or 6 feet. They were quite literally standing above the stall walls, on their own manure, which was compacted to the point of being like cement. They had not been taken out of these stalls, possibly for years. The local fire department there had to be called in to use their 'jaws of life' to cut through the stall walls to give rescuers the ability to make an exit the horses could navigate. The stallions were terrified. Imagine the discomfort of standing atop your own manure for years. Imagine that barn in the summer, with all the flies. It was like standing on cement.”
Before arriving in Windham, Gibson was gelded and he also had his hooves and teeth worked on while he was at the veterinarian. He was filthy with an extensively matted mane and technicians at the vet groomed him and got those mats out, Keyser said.
When the mares arrived at MSSPA, they were put into a paddock together at MSSPA’s new McCulloch Family Barn, A Safe Place To Land intake facility for abused and neglected horses and they immediately began to explore. Keyser said that one of them took a good roll in the snow, a sign that she was relaxed enough to enjoy a roll.
“Hopefully they know they have found their way to this safe place to land.” she said.
Based in Windham, the mission of the MSSPA is to provide refuge, rehabilitation, and placement of seized equines. MSSPA does not charge for its shelter services and seeks no reimbursement from any public source. Horses cared for by the MSSPA come from Maine law enforcement officials and most of them have been abused or neglected. The MSSPA’s goal for each horse is rehabilitation and a new home, but if no suitable adoption is found, horses may live out their natural lives at the organization’s farm.
Kathy Woodbrey, MSSPA’s Executive Director, says each of the horses under MSSPA’s care will receive the care and vital treatment that they need to recover.
"For the past five years, MSSPA has partnered with equine shelters across New England to rescue horses from severe neglect,” Woodbrey said. “Horses that come to the MSSPA find safety, compassionate care, and the time they need to heal. Because of these regional partnerships, hundreds of horses have regained their strength and moved into futures defined not by past suffering, but by the bright promise that lies ahead for each and every one."
The three surrendered mares are estimated to be ages 7, 11, and 18, and Gibson, the gelded stallion, is 16.
“All horses coming to the farm receive an intake exam with one of our veterinarians,” Keyser said. “The vet does an overall assessment of each horse's body condition, will often draw blood, look at eyes, skin, listen to the heart, lungs, look at the coat, feet – all outward indications of the horses' health. Based on those observations, the vet will help staff create a re-feeding program and advise about care going forward. Most horses coming in have external and internal parasites, those will be treated. They also require routine vaccinations, and these can only be administered when the horse is strong enough. Based on this vet exam, our staff then oversees the care and feeding of each individual horse, for however long it takes to return that horse to optimum health. This can take months or even years. Then, when a horse is healthy, staff will begin assessing and training that horse with an eye to adoption. As you might imagine, each horse presents with different health challenges. Some horses are simply underweight and require hoof and teeth care, and they begin to recover beautifully. Other horses might have chronic conditions that will require supplements and medication – all of that is determined when the vet does the initial exam.”
All horses that come to the MSSPA farm are quarantined for a month for many reasons.
“We want to be sure the horse has had the necessary vaccines, etc. before integrating it with the resident herd,” Keyser said. “Staff are the only ones handling horses in quarantine, visitors do not pet or interact with them so as to not spread any disease. Generally, most horses are done with quarantine after 28 days. Horses for which we have title to/ownership of, those horses that have been surrendered to us, can then be integrated into the resident herd. Horses that are still part of an ongoing court case do not get folded into the herd, in an effort to be sure they are not injured in the normal paddock behavior of horses. So, even when a horse that was seized by law enforcement has completed quarantine, it is still kept separate from the resident herd. These horses can be housed with other horses from their own court case, and certainly in an adjacent paddock to horses in the MSSPA herd.”
Intake exams on the surrendered horses were conducted Thursday to reveal more, but one mare presented with a serious eye injury that has been untreated.
“We will certainly be paying close attention to that, and it might require that the eye be removed. That remains to be determined,” Keyser said. “That might delay her joining the resident herd. Also, Gibson was recently gelded so there will be some healing time for him after that surgery. That might delay his joining the herd, but likely he will be able to do so when his quarantine is completed.”
According to Keyser, the surrendered mares seem to be adjusting beautifully to their new surroundings at MSSPA.
“They are friendly, waiting at the gate when staff attends them, and they seem to be enjoying their new home,” she said. <
