Fuego had his surgery in December 2014 and I contracted pneumonia while there.. so my vet bill was over $3000.00! We raised enough for the original estimate of $1700.00, but the rescue is still struggling from paying off the extra expense. Fuego has recovered very well and now is pain free and acting like a regular horse. He has a job too! He will stay with our Founder until one of her horses passes away.. you see, Fuego is absoultey ADORED by her stallion Ronin.. who has lymphangitis and MUST move at least 45 minutes every day to keep the leg as small as possible (and all the blood and lymph fluids moving) and Fuego is absoultuely the BEST buddy a horse could ever have.. he makes sure Ronin plays and moves in turn out ALL day!

 

I came to TEARS without a name.

 

I am just 2 years old and I am a sweatheart. I was saved from a hoarder on July 27, 2014. I was going to be sold to a kill buyer or euthanized because my "breeder (hoarder)" was being pressured by animal control to get me and all my herd mates basic veterinary care, hoof care, and more food. I had never been handled, haltered, or touched anywhere on my body except my nose by any human being, ever.

 

TEARS worked hard to get my brothers and sisters from the hoarder. They took Bailar De La Noche and Bailarina Delicata in August of 2013 and worked all the next year to rescue more of us. In June 2014, TEARS came out to get a few horses and since the hoarder hadn't worked with us at all (even though TEARS asked and asked), we still had never had a halter on or been caught... with the hoarder not helping to catch us at all.... TEARS had to leave with an empty trailer. When TEARS left, I was still a member of the herd and rather happy even with my severely deformed front hooves

 

TEARS came back a month later with a blow gun and tranquilizers to rescue us. By this time, I was starting to hit puberty and my sire violently kicked me out of the herd such that I had to jump out of the enclosure and live outside the paddock. I was loose on the property and so forlorn, all I wanted was to go back to my herd... but my sire kept chasing me off. TEARS then saw that I could put my hooves in a normal position when the ground was soft enough... and they thought I could be fixed. The asked the hoarder to add him to the other 3 TEARS was going to take... and she agreed... but it took some convincing.

 

TEARS made the hoarder sign us over to the rescue and then we were given sedatives to calm and slow us. Even with lots of drugs on board, we had to be roped and more drugs given before we could be loaded onto the horse trailer. All  in all, it took TEARS personnel 10 hours from start to finish (hooking up the trailer to getting all of us in a safe and clean stall or corral) to rescue the four of us! It was a VERY good thing TEARS took me because, two weeks later animal control came and took all of my herdmates, the cattle, llamas, geese, and one of the dogs from the hoarder.... it would have meant euthanasia for me as animal control doesn't have the resources or know how to get my legs and hooves fixed. I was loaded in with my sister Bailarin Angelica and it took quite a while for my brother Tears for Don Diego to be caught and loaded behind me. Last was my Auntie Ruby Tuesday who was pregnant with my littlest brother (he hasn't decided on a name yet).

 

It took almost a month for all of us to realize that humans are Ok.... then I was sedated and my front hooves were trimmed... my heels were so long it was like I was wearing high heeled wedge shoes so popular with the younger human females nowadays! This picture is of my first trim, and you can see what a huge difference it made for me. I got my second trim a month after that from the farrier and my heels had started to spread and my tendons had stretched a bit more, but the veterinarian who gave me the really good drugs so I didn't hurt the farrier said I needed surgery to correct the tendons causing me pain. These tendonst caused me to walk on the toes of my feet instead of the heels like most horses do...and it was all preventable if i had been given proper hoof care when I was little.