Success Stories!

Hope, previously Brownie, is a sweet mare who had some experience leading, tieing, and standing for the farrier. After some training with our rescue, we were sure she had so much potential, which she is living up to! Hope was adopted by another 501c3 charity where she works as a Special Olympics horse! Her new owners are so pleased, and we love to see her success!

Dennis was an owner surrender to the rescue. After getting some practice with the farrier, which he needed desperately, Dennis was adopted to a family who loves donkeys and mules!  Dennis lived a wonderful life with them for a few years before having to be euthanized due to laminitis return that could not be managed well enough for him to continue to have quality of life. 

Kentucky, previously named Forrest, was an owner surrender to the rescue. He was almost completely blind when he arrived. Our vet determined that his eyes were causing him significant pain, and thanks to the donations of our supporters we were able to fund a double eye enucleation. Kentucky adjusted well to the loss of his eyes and was no longer in pain.  He was adopted as a companion to Kora! Unfortunately, Kentucky later had to be euthanized due to a pasture injury that could not be healed despite vet intervention. 

Dixie was an owner surrender who came to us extremely underweight. Due to her advanced age (30+) and significant nourishment needs, we determined that Dixie needed to stay here at the rescue. She has gained weight exceptionally well and will live the rest of her golden years as our first Sanctuary horse!

Dolly was surrendered to us from a local family who was concerned when she stopped keeping on weight. Our vet determined that she had cushings and would need regular medication for the rest of her life as well as a significant amount of feed as she is a senior Belgian horse. With that in mind, we determined that Dolly would be sanctuaried here at the rescue. Dolly did well with a senior mash and medication for awhile, but then stopped being able to maintain weight and it was determined the medication was no longer affective and she was losing quality of life, so we made the difficult decision to lay her to rest before winter and she is burried here at the rescue. We were honred to be her last home and to give her the dignified and pain free end she deserved. 

Beltane (Bel) is the son of Sandy, one of the American Saddlebred mares we took in from a large owner surrender. He was hesitant to be caught and aloof for quite a while here, but his adopter fell in love anyways! Once weaned and adopted he was sent to training where he learned to accept both a halter and affection. When he is old enough, Bel will be trained as a trail horse and go on all sorts of adventures with his adopter!

Kora is a beautiful redhead American Saddlebred registered who came in with our large owner surrender. She took some time to catch, but once we got her in the round pen only took a few days to halter and learn to lead! Kora is 5 gaited (a genetic Saddlebred trait) which her adopter loves! Kora will be assessed under saddle at her new home, and hopefully will be a show pony one day soon!

Kommander (Kam) is the son of Cheyenne, one of the American Saddlebred mares we took in from a large owner surrender. He is so curious about life and eager to learn, which got the attention of his adopter right away! He will continue to explore the world around him in Minnesota, where he will be joining a small herd of equines owned by a Saddlebred lover! We are so excited to see how Kam does as he continues to learn! Kam developed a rare type of pneumonia shortly after being adopted and his new owners spent over $10k and countless hours to help him recover. He has since made a full recovery and is loving life as a young healthy horse.  

Cinder and Smoke were two mustangs that had been running loose in the county, their owner unable to contain them. Animal control reached out to us for assistance and we started working on a plan to catch these 2. Several long days of trial and error and getting so close but not quite there, we were finally able to get them into a catch pen. Unfortunately, after a training evaluation it was determined that Cinder would not be a candidate for domesticating as he was much too aggressive with people. And while Smoke was calmer, she has a swayed back that left little chance of her ever being more than a pasture pet. This didn’t leave us with a lot of options. So we started networking! And in the process we reached out to Engler Canyon Ranch Mustang Sanctuary. This sanctuary exists solely for mustangs that are unable to be domesticated and let’s them live a re wilded hands free life on thousands of acres. They graciously agreed to take in both mustangs! 

In order to get them there though, they needed to have a coggins test and Smoke needed a negative pregnancy test. We knew this would be no small feat. It took 6 of us several hours to get the necessary blood draws. Despite many challenges our amazing vet persevered and got it done, with the help of a lot of rope, a dart gun, some pannels and a whole lot of sweat, curse words and sheer will.  Then our team made the long drive to Colorado to the Engler Canyon Ranch Sanctuary. It was breathtaking and watching those 2 take their first steps back to a re wilded life was absolutely worth it!! They are living out their lives EXACTLY the way they were meant to before they were rounded up. 

Kali is the mare that started it all! We rescued her from an auction on the slaughter pipeline in Kansas.  We rescued her as a group, before becoming an official rescue/501c3. She was a 10yr old draft cross mare, about 16.1hh. She is a beautiful liver chestnut color and a very athletic mover. Kali came to the rescue untouched, emaciated and heavy bred. After having her foal and recovering, she received 60 days of training through our rescue, which made her handleable but not yet rideable. We were able to get her fully vetted including dental, farrier work and build her confidence with people and everyday handling.  We then reached out to Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue about taking her to participate in the Appalachian Trainer Face Off! Although Kali wasn't selected for the AFTO 100 Day Challenge, she was taken on by an experienced trainer. She is now back at HOP. 

Sandy came to us from a large owner surrender case. She was thin and had a foal on her and was untouched. We weaned her foal, got her to a healthy weight, vaccinated, dental done and got her haltered and leading. Then we had the great opportunity to send her to Heart of Phoenix (HoP) to participate in the 2024 Appalachian Trainer Face Off (ATFO). She had to have a name change as they already have a Sandy, so her new name is Sonora. She was selected by a spectacular trainer to participate in their 100 day ATFO challenge. Sonora excelled with her trainer and did great at the show and was adopted at the end!

Sonora's registered name with the ASHBA is Cork N Bubbles.