Bayard
Bayard's JournalHorse Rescue Story
"Hey There,
I’m a Draft horse who was just rescued from the Slaughter Pipeline by Horse Plus Humane Society last night. A few weeks ago when I was loaded onto a trailer, I could've never imagined that this is what my future would look like. I’ve gone from one auction to the next because there was always someone wanting to make a little more money out of me. I worked hard all my life, I’m only 18 year old and still have quite a few good years left to live. It’s my eye that’s the problem; no one takes care of it, and it hurts terribly. I suffered an injury that caused me to lose my eye, and go blind on my left side.
I ended up being sold from auction to auction, and if there’s one thing I can tell you, it’s that the Slaughter Pipeline is a scary place. In this process, I’ve spent multiple days without food or water, and I never know where I’ll be spending the night. I’ve been loaded onto many trailers, but it seems every time I think things are getting better, I end up in a place more unfamiliar and I can't even remember what it's like to feel safe in a home.
Last night things looked really hopeless. It was getting bitterly cold, and suddenly there were a good hundred people walking back and forth, touching us, trying to figure out what we'd be good for. Suddenly I was pulled out of my pen and pushed into the auction ring. It was so noisy and confusing, the hardest part of it all is I only saw a half of what was going on. It is arguable what would be worst, seeing clearly might have made the experience less scary, meaning I could see what was going on, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I was somewhat shielded from all the sights, but disoriented by the lack of vision.
Finally, I left the ring, and my ears were able to decipher the words ‘SOLD.’ I’d heard this a handful of times, it had never meant anything good. As the auction came to an end, something felt different though. A group of people came up to me and started showering me with love. I was not used to that. I can’t remember the last time someone petted me with no intention of trying to get something out of me. They gave me pain medicine and assured me they’d return.
This morning, bright and early, there they were! They got me all ready to go and loaded me into a comfortable trailer. After a couple of hours, we arrived. I looked out of the trailer and saw many horses and mules and donkeys, everyone ready to welcome me! What a sight, what is this place? Before I could feel uncomfortable, we mannered and educated vet team surrounded me and assessed my health, which evidently wasn’t at its best. This was my happiest day in weeks. They assessed what to do with my eye injury, and have scheduled surgery to help get me back on track.
The future is still blurry, but I have high hopes! Finally, I see the light, and I only really need my mind’s eye to see the bright future ahead. This is only possible thanks to people like you, and I’m so grateful to you for changing my life! I’m going to have surgery soon, so stay on the lookout for more updates! Thank you once again."
This is not the big guy's picture, but one from their site. I couldn't get his to copy. Horse Plus Humane saved 19 horses from slaughter at this auction. They do that all the time with the donations they receive.
https://www.horseplushumanesociety.org/
We lost our beloved Bear boy last week
Bear was our biggest Great Pyrenees, that we had for 7 years. We adopted him from an older gentleman when he was five. Bear had belonged to his wife, who had passed away. When we walked up to the house, we heard this huge--WOOF!--and then the biggest dog we'd ever seen in our lives popped out. Gorgeous, wagging his tail. I said, this guy's going home with us.
We spent the past couple months going to a dermatology specialist in Louisville, after our regular vet was stumped. It started on his face, ears, then going everywhere, losing his hair in this nasty crusty scales. He was diagnosed with ischemic dermatopathy. Lots of tests, lots of money. "Ninety percent sure its an autoimmune disease." We can fix that. But, we're still going to send samples off to the lab to be sure. So, we waited. And we waited. More and more drugs going into the boy.
He'd already had surgery on both knees/stifles to replace worn out ligaments. We thought one of those must have failed, because he also started to not be able to get up on his own. It took both of us to hoist him up. His eyes were very sad.....
The vet finally called last week, and said--well, golly gee--its cancer after all. Bring him back in, and we will get you to the oncologist, start him on chemo, different drugs, yada yada yada.
No way we were going to put him through that as well. Last Wednesday, we took him to our regular, very kind, vet to let him pass gently in my arms.
We had already lost his sister, Chloe, earlier this year to another strange disease. We just miss them so damn much! We have one Pyr left now, Duke.
Thanks for listening, my friends.
Bear on the right, and Duke, playing by the pond
Gardening Bear
Duke and Bear
Bear, Chloe, and Duke
My very favorite, Xmas Bear
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Gender: Do not displayHome country: U.S.
Member since: Tue Dec 29, 2015, 03:16 PM
Number of posts: 22,062