Red Cloud

One of our members knows a man who has been breeding Quarter Horses for years. Their care has been minimal, and over the years she has helped get some of them new homes. Eventually the stallion was placed with a family, and the herd was finally down to ten horses. But problems prevailed, one of the colts was now a 3-year-old and was trying to breed the herd.

All the remaining mares except one were in acceptable condition. Red Cloud was brought to the sanctuary and checked for pregnancy. Thankfully, the result was negative.

When Red Cloud arrived at the sanctuary, she was a train wreck! She had an abscess in a hind hoof. The muscle around her tail had been reabsorbed by her body. (This is a sign of severe, long-term starvation.) She could not move her tail. Her teeth needed to be done, and she had a terrible and painful case of rainrot.

We have seen horses in worse condition (Sierra comes to mind) but not by much. Red Cloud was slowly put on a diet of high quality pelleted feed with probiotics to help with digestive tract function. Aloe vera juice was added to her feed to prevent ulcers and she received soaked alfalfa cubes and plenty of hay. She was dewormed in stages and quickly began to gain weight.

Red Cloud is now available for placement. She injured a rear tendon at some point in her life that makes her too weak to carry a rider, and she has some trouble bearing weight on the weak leg when her hooves are cleaned. However, she is a very sweet mare who is easy to handle. She would make an excellent companion to another mare or gelding.