Welcome, newest intake Rocky
Let's give a big welcome to our newest intake, Rocky! This lovely 15-17 year old gelding is our latest transfer from Camp Foster. We love working with Camp Foster because they truly care about every single horse and do their absolute best. We've adopted horses to them and are glad to help in situations where a horse isn't thriving despite their best efforts. Their horses are always friendly, kind, and obviously well loved!
Rocky has been steadily losing weight this year, and despite a dental exam and float, deworming, and additional feed was just not gaining. Concerned they were going to have to euthanize so he didn't suffer a winter, they asked if we could help. We just happened to have a trailer coming this way so we stopped and picked him up.
He is a super friendly, sweet boy who loves to cuddle and follows us around like a puppy dog. He's big and we suspect is at least part Thoroughbred which could contribute to his weight issues. The biggest issue, however, is likely his teeth. His front teeth are nearly gone and he was likely a wood chewer in the past. We've already seen that he can't really eat grass hay. While he doesn't quid, he takes an excessive amount of time to eat hay - and in a 24 hour period only got through about half of what he would need for his daily intake. We've started him on pelleted feeds and he's already excited to see it coming!
Hopefully his teeth and the need to be on a mostly pellet diet is all it takes to get Rocky back up to weight, but obviously we will be watching for any health issues that could contribute to his problems. We can't wait to see him thrive!
Due to his needs, and our partnership with Camp Foster, another non-profit, we waived his intake fee. If you'd like to help with his initial costs, we try to raise $500 per horse for their first month's needs. You can help Rocky at http://gentlespirithorses.org/donate . Thank you!