The newest addition to our horse family! Ella, short for Cinderella formerly known as Pippa.
HORSEY STORIES:
This month's feature horse... Angel
Trixie is a 3yo buckskin QH mare who came to us from Manitoba, Canada as a PMU foal. PMU stands for Pregnant Mare Urine. She was 2 when we got her, and was a product of the Premarin industry. The drug Premarin is a female hormone replacement therapy whose main ingredient is pregnant mare urine. Yuck! Worse than that is the process conducted to collect this urine. The mares who are pregnant, are kept in small stock like enclosures with a bar above their necks so they cannot raise their heads up or move around. If they move around, they are considered unruly and sent to slaughter. They are given a small cup to drink water from as concentrated urine has more of the pregnancy hormones in it. Therefore, they are dehydrated and there is an apparatus that is attached to their back end to collect the urine as they stand in the stocks for about 6 months out of the year. Imagine this mare being heavy with foal, not able to lay down, nor get a full drink of water as they stand day in and day out for months. Right before the mares are ready to foal, they are turned out to pasture to await their babies. They are with their babies for a matter of weeks or several months at which time the babies are then taken from their mothers too soon and either sent to slaughter or sometimes killed straightaway. During that time the mares have been re-bred and when their foals are taken, they are sent back to the stocks to give more urine. It is an inhumane way for these horses to live and the pharmaceutical companies who want the urine to create the drug, fund the ranches where these horses live.
The ranch that Trixie came from had about 40 foals on it who were all heading to a Canadian slaughter plant. At the time, we intended to purchase 4 foals for our equine therapy program, but when we found out how many foals were there and heading to slaughter, we could not stand by and do nothing. Therefore, with a lot of support from our friends, along with a handful of other rescues around the country, all 40 foals were saved! Altogether, 11 foals came to Colorado. 3 were adopted out, 4 went to Freedom Reigns, our equine therapy partners, and we kept 4, Trixie being one of them.
Trixie is a very cute, ranchy type girl who stands about 15.1 and is very intelligent. We believe she is a purebred QH, but we have no papers. She is a big talker and loves to say hi whenever she sees one of us near hay or grain. She is always whinnying or nickering under her breath whenever we come near. She has no fear of us and will let us get to within a half inch of her before she will move away. She very much has the mentality of a Mustang since she was unhandled the first couple of years of her life. Trixie is a very lovely mover and we are very much looking forward to seeing how she interacts with the girls in the program. Trixie is a kind mare with tons of potential!
When we were raising funds to rescue these babies, Robin's dad called her and told her that he wanted to help us save the foals. We told him there was one left that we didn't have enough funds for. When he was told it was a Buckskin, he said, 'as long as you name him Trigger after Roy Rogers' horse'. Lo and behold, when the horse arrived and surprise it was a girl! Therefore her name had to be modified so we call her Trixie. Robin still jokes that all the horsey people thought she was nuts for naming a horse Trixie but it truly suits her!
We are so blessed to have Trix and thankful for Robin's dad's generosity in helping us save this cherished girl!
Trixie/Trigger
Angel is thankful for finding a family. Angel is a PMU (definition in Trixie/Trigger's story below) who came as a yearling from the same Manitoban ranch as Trigger. She had been abandoned by her mother and the herd at a young age and lived most of her first year alone as an orphan until New Life rescued her. Angel is extremely fearful and hesitant around people yet at the same you can see in her eyes that she desperately wants... to connect and be known. Angel now lives in a picturesque Colorado pasture with her rescue sisters, Trigger, Ruby and Mariposa and she is very protective of her girls. She is a very special horse and she also really likes to eat hay at every meal. If you can donate to help feed Angel, please click on the Donations tab to make a contribution. Angel says thank you and let the hay munching begin!
