Spats and Starlight

Meet Starlight and her mom Spats. They were pulled off the range in an impressive rescue involving Wild Horse Connection (WHC), Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC), and LBL Equine Rescue. Starlight was born with contracted or weak tendons in her front legs. She wasn’t standing on her hooves and was struggling to walk. Her mom, Spats, was discovered to have an infected wound from an unknown cause that needed to be treated so the choice was obvious, remove and treat both horses.

The LRTC team carefully removed the two without incident, and mom and baby are recovering wonderfully at LBL Equine under the care of Dr. Peck, thanks to Wild Horse Connection. Starlight has gone through a lot, she has leg splints and steroid injections, but she is doing incredibly well. She is running and playing like she has a new pair of legs! Momma Spats is healing very well too. She is a wonderful and loving mom. Their care will be ongoing, so WHC is asking for donations. To help Starlight and Spats, you can donate to WHC’s PayPal here. or through Facebook here. PayPal is the preferred method as it is the quickest way to get funds, but make sure to check on the Facebook page for updates and cute pictures and videos of the pair!

Momma and baby when they arrived for treatment

You can see Starlight had difficulties standing and walking due to a tendon issue in her front legs

A happy ending for rustler and rustann

On Sunday afternoon, LRTC got a message from the range manager, Corenna Vance, that a very new baby, documented as Rustler by the fertility control team, was straining to defecate but was unable to do so and was struggling. Two of LRTC's TLAR responders (Cathy & Tracy) went out to get eyes on the foal. He was straining and straining but not able to poop! An impaction can occasionally happen in newborns and makes them unable to pass the first meconium stool. Visually they could see how blocked up he was. After consulting with the range manager, they called for reinforcements and the plan was to set up a catch corral and try to separate baby for an enema treatment. While waiting, one of the volunteers was able to approach the foal while laying down. When he stood, both he and his mom, a mare named Rustann, were interested and cautious, but not scared. When the team arrived, they decided to first try treating the foal without the corral. A TLAR responder, Tracy, was able to approach him while he was laying down, and put her arms around him. While mom was initially alarmed, she quickly settled after smelling both the responder and the baby to be assured no harm was coming to him. The team, spread out around the scene, kept very low energy and watched the entire band to keep those working with the foal safe. Another responder, Kevin, had hold of her sweatshirt ready to pull her away if needed and kept his eyes on mom the whole time to make sure she was remaining calm. She cleared as much of the impaction as possible and administered a warm enema. Little Rustler returned to his mom and they rejoined the band.

The next morning volunteers went to check, but Rustler was still straining. Once again they consulted with the range manager about next steps. The band was quiet and peaceful and another enema was administered by Tracy again with the help of a watchful diversionary feeding team and a fertility control team member, Rae Hanna who had been monitoring little Rustler. More of the rescue team was on standby, but once again, mom snorted and reacted but upon sniffing the responder, she once again settled while staying alert and allowed another warm enema to be administered to Rustler.

By that afternoon when he was still straining, the team talked with Corenna again and then consulted with long time foal rescuer extraordinaire Shirley Allen and the decision was made to also give him a dose of mineral oil. Once again a small team, Tracy and Kevin, was dispatched and they carefully administered the mineral oil, again with the help of the diversionary feeding team watching the rest of the band.

Knowing that they had done all they could do in the field without having to bring the baby in, they left him with the band to see how he responded to the treatment. When team members located him the following morning, he was running, bucking, kicking, and jumping over sage brush! He was not seen straining or acting like he was in any discomfort. Rustler was just acting like a new colt!

While we never know what is going on inside their little bodies, it looks like Rustler has a good chance of growing up wild and free. Wild horse babies are both strong and fragile. The range manager relies on the eyes of the volunteers in the field to let her know when there is a problem. And she relies on the assessment of the rescue team to make decisions. Wild babies can appear fine one minute and crash the next, sometimes to unknown internal problems. There is a fine line when it comes to interfering with nature, but in many cases like this one, a small intervention can reap great rewards.

LRTC team members trying to pass the impaction

Rustler and mom running off, still free on the range!

air for paws units

Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC) recently received additional Air for Paws units. These units are designed for emergency responders to deliver emergency oxygen to the tiniest animals up to large dogs - which happen to be the size of foals! Now there will be more units in the hands of trained responders around the range, increasing availability and coverage in emergencies. Team members have been training with the units and getting comfortable in their use so they can be implemented in the field when and if needed.