Swingin' D Horse Rescue

07/01/2024

Happy happy birthday to our newly minted threenager, Miss Jozi! We love this beautiful little girl and her goofy, spunky personality so much! Happy birthday, sweet girl!

06/20/2024

Jozi knows the importance of staying hydrated in this heat!

06/19/2024

Chap enjoying some grooming with one of our volunteers, Hannah. She came to us about a month ago, and she is a rockstar! 🌟🤩💫

If you or anyone you know might be interested, we are accepting applicants for our Weekly Care Crew! Come top off the water troughs and get lots of whiskery kisses from Chap and the gang! Fill out an application at www.swingindhorserescue.com and check it out! No hard commitments required!

They're looking forward to getting to know you- and so are we!

06/14/2024

06/07/2024

💅💅🐴🐴 Hay, y'all! Last weekend, the farriers had to reschedule. This Saturday, June 8th, we're meeting up at the rescue at 1pm to wrangle the horses, and the guys and gals are going to get a much needed pedicure! Our trainer will be there and will give us some helpful training tips as well. So make sure you can be there! 💅💅🐴🐴

This is a fantastic opportunity for those interested in joining in on the fun for the first time - or the first time in a while! Fill out one of our online volunteer applications at swingindhorserescue.com!

06/01/2024

How blessed we are to have volunteers to care for our beautiful herd! Thanks to Kenna for organizing a great grooming day!

05/31/2024

Tomorrow, Saturday June 1 at 12:30pm will be Spa Day at the rescue! We could use some extra hands to help wrangle the guys and gals of Swingin D for the farrier. Directly following the farrier and grooming, our wonderful trainer will show us all some helpful hints and the basics of groundwork training. So exciting! Make sure you're there!

If you have not already filled out an application to volunteer, feel free to do so at swingindhorserescue.com or just show up and fill it out with a good old-fashioned pen!

Looking forward to seeing yall there!

05/07/2024

Swing on by our website and fill-y out an application! We would be head over hoof to meet ya!

We are currently accepting applications for volunteers to help groom, feed, and get some of these sweeties used to people just generally being around.

And as a reminder, any amount of time you have to give is enough!

05/06/2024

Poor Rita had another choke tonight. The vet just left after tubing a few buckets of water through her esophagus.

VOLUNTEERS: For the next few weeks, Rita will be on antibiotics with a strict diet of soaked-to-mush senior feed (NO GRASS PELLETS OR CUBES). She can also have mushed chopped alfalfa.

Your prayers are always appreciated. If you'd like to donate to Rita's special care, please click here https://donate.stripe.com/dR67wk86DeyYegocMO

05/01/2024

Boy's out doing Boy's things

04/21/2024

Spa day for the Swingin' D herd! Trims, grooming, fly spray and hoof treatment for everyone. We're so thankful for Holly and Kenna for volunteering to help us!

You can help pay for Spa Day here: https://donate.stripe.com/dR67wk86DeyYegocMO

Volunteers, mark your calendars for June 1 at 1 p.m. That's the next time we'll need help rounding up the herd for the farrier.

04/14/2024

So grateful for our volunteers. We'd be lost without them!

If you'd like to volunteer for Swingin' D Horse Rescue, please fill out an application on our website. www.swingindhorserescue.com

04/12/2024

So excited to see you there!

We hope to see you tomorrow (Saturday, April 13) when the gates open at 7 p.m.!

Admission for our first showing is FREE (we do appreciate donations to Swingin' D Horse Rescue). Food and drinks available at the venue. Pay $10 to bring your own refreshments.

Dress up in '50s style and win a prize!

Second Saturday Cinema is a monthly, family-focused fundraiser to benefit Swingin' D. Please familiarize yourself with our rules at https://lonestarpavilion.com/public-events/second-saturday-cinema/

SEE YOU SATURDAY at the NE corner of Hwy 51 and S. 353rd E. Ave. in Coweta!

04/10/2024

Some of these guys and gals are more of a flight risk than others...

🐴 https://bit.ly/OK-Horse-Rescue 🐎

Support us when you shop on Amazon!

Use that link, and you'll be helping us out at no additional cost to you!

THANK YOU!

04/08/2024

Hi everyone! 🌟 You can support Swingin' D Horse Rescue by sending Stars - they help us earn money to keep making content and saving the horses you love.

Whenever you see the Stars icon, you can send Swingin' D Stars!

04/08/2024

Help support Anastasia by sending us a star! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

04/06/2024

So happy to report, after a scary couple of days, Sunny is back where she belongs! Sarah and family picked her up at the kill pen this morning, after selling, begging and scraping to collect $1800 to keep her from shipping to slaughter.

It's sad when you can't trust people to keep their word. Sarah let Sunny go to a new home with the agreement she'd be there forever, or she'd come back to Sarah. Sadly, Sunny sold at auction to a kill buyer who slated her for Mexican slaughter. Thankfully, a vigilant friend recognized Sunny, and Sarah was able to rally support to bail her out.

Thanks to all the beautiful hearts who made this Happily Ever After possible. Thank God for tenacious, compassionate souls like Sarah!

04/03/2024

Swingin' D Horse Rescue is helping one of our volunteers bail a mare from a kill pen.

Sarah gave Sunny to someone who agreed to return her if, for whatever reason, the new owner no longer wanted her. Sadly, Sarah learned Sunny sold at auction to a kill buyer who planned to send her straight to slaughter.

The kill buyer wants $1800 to let Sunny go. Sarah is selling the horse trailer and saddle in the photos but she still needs about half the bail.

I (Tami) will match tax deductible donations made to the rescue to help pay Sunny's bail. Please specify your donation is for Sunny.

https://donate.stripe.com/dR67wk86DeyYegocMO

04/03/2024

Be aware.

03/30/2024

Volunteer day at Swingin' D Horse Rescue!

03/25/2024

I've never been so happy to see poo!!

03/25/2024

Update: Jozi has some bowel sounds, but not much. She hasn't had a BM since about 6, but she also hasn't eaten. She's mostly standing with her face over the water (another possible symptom of colic). She just urinated, so she must be drinking.

She's not tried to lay down since she was tubed. Her heart rate is 42-45.

Please keep our miracle baby girl in your prayers.

03/25/2024

EMERGENCY UPDATE: Praise God! Baby Jozi is resting in her stall under close monitoring after a terrifying colic emergency.

We knew she was in trouble when she wouldn't get up to eat. After walking her for about a half hour, she went down in the pasture and wouldn't get up, no matter how hard we tried. She laid on the ground, thrashing side to side and rolling, then just laid still and moaned. It was horrible to watch.

When I ran to the house to charge my phone so I wouldn't miss the vet, I haltered Wilma, Jozi's mama, and took her out to her baby. It was one of the most heart-wrenching things Danny and I had ever seen. Wilma nuzzled Jozi and nickered in her ear. Jozi lifted her head and acted like she was trying to get up. Just like the day Jozi was born, Wilma nuzzled her all over and nudged at her belly, as if she knew where Jozi was hurting. For the first time in an hour, Jozi acted like she wanted to move, but she just couldn't muster the strength.

Danny and I just knew she was dying.

About that time, Dr. Ross pulled up in his giant truck, and Jozi's fight or flight reflex sent her flying into the air. From there, I was able to get Jozi to follow her mama to the spot where Dr. Ross would treat her.

To answer questions from the previous post, Jozi's heart rate was 39. She had a BM while we were walking her, but zero bowel sounds after that. Her belly is tight and distended.

Dr. Ross determined her heart rate was healthy, her coloring was good, but she was in obvious pain. He gave her a painkiller and tubed her with a fluid to get her bowels moving.

Because her heart is not racing, Dr. Ross is cautiously optimistic that Jozi could recover. He instructed us to keep her in a stall with water only, and watch her overnight.

We lost my mare, Aubrey - a perfectly healthy and sound QH that was never sick or lame a day - to a sudden attack of colic. After an $11,000 surgery, she seemed to be healing, but took a turn for the worst. We could not bear to watch the precious filly we helped bring into the world suffer like Aubrey did.

Colic is a very serious condition that kills a lot of otherwise healthy horses. Don't hesitate to call your vet as soon as your horse starts showing signs (I'll post symptoms in the comments). Seconds count when things turn south. We're grateful Dr. Ross is always just a few minutes away for our many, many emergencies.

Thanks to all who prayed for Jozi. Please keep praying that our little girl makes a full recovery!

Donations are greatly appreciated.
https://donate.stripe.com/dR67wk86DeyYegocMO

03/24/2024

Still waiting for the vet. Please pray for our baby girl.

03/24/2024

We don't have the heart to put old horses down until they tell us it's time, so we're bursting at the seams with other people's tough decisions.

*** PLEASE DO NOT GIVE AWAY/SELL YOUR OLD and/or UNRIDEABLE HORSES ***

Today I did one of the saddest euthanasias I have done in a long time. This wasn’t a client of mine, and to be fair, it actually wasn’t this person’s fault. I don’t normally go out to non-clients, but I wasn’t going to say no when I was told the horse had collapsed and couldn’t get up.

I arrived to find an emaciated 20+ year old, riddled with lice. The client had been sold the mare 7 weeks ago, and told she was a 7 year old. The old mare was gobbling away at feed, so she genuinely was just too weak and emaciated to stand. With some really good, strong help, we tried twice to get her up, but she just didn’t want to. So I made the quick decision to let her go.

No horse should end his or her life like that. She was scared, and whickered at me when I came back with the catheter and Somulose. She went with no dignity, in a place she had been for just a couple of months.

I want to cry when I see these awful posts on social media, offering a 20 year old horse for sale “as a companion”, for £50, or “free to good home”. I want to cry even more when I see posts on social media, with people in complete and utter shock and disbelief that the “beloved/much loved etc” horse, that they gave away just two months ago, was now being sold as a ridden horse.

I’m sorry, but wake up. Not many people really want to take on an old horse and the associated vet bills. I do appreciate there are exceptions, but if you are going to give your old or unrideable horse away, do NOT expect to then be able to take the moral high ground when he’s advertised two weeks later. He’s not your property at that point, and, unless your circumstances drastically changed, you didn’t care enough about him to now be “devastated” and “appalled” that he’s being moved on again. I do understand that circumstances can change, but the kindest thing in most (not all) cases at this point, is to let your horse be put to sleep with you, at the home he has known for many years.

A horse is as expensive to keep as a companion as it is a riding horse, so not many people want to take on old or unrideable horses. Or if they do, they don’t have the money to be able to look after the horse properly.

It is obviously completely different if you have known that person for many years, and know the home the horse will be going to, and I know several old horses who have been successfully rehomed to friends, or at least acquaintances.

You could also try a reputable rescue centre, if your financial circumstances changed, but many of these are full to bursting. Rescue centres normally ensure that if the home doesn’t work out, the horse is returned to them again, and therefore won’t be passed around.

If you can’t look after your old and/or unrideable horse, then do the responsible thing, and if you can’t rehome to a person you know extremely well, have them put to sleep at home, with you by their side. Don’t let someone you don’t know, have the horse for free, and sell him two weeks later as a lot younger, or ‘buted up as a ridden horse. Your horse deserves better.

Photo of my old man, Harold, who is rising 22 this year! He hasn’t been ridden for a few years now, and is just an expensive field/stable ornament….as is Molly….as is Mojo….as is William 🤦‍♀️😂