Ream Rescue and Rehabilitation Ranch

08/23/2024

This is a big day for the rescue. The excavation for the 10 stall horse barn has officially begun

08/15/2024

08/09/2024

Our From Shelter to Forever Home contest is back! 🏡🐾 Nominate your local shelter and give them a chance at the $10,000 grand prize 🏆 https://bit.ly/3YvkXrx

*Shelter/Rescue/Foster organization with most nominations will win, only 1 nomination per email, last day to enter is September 30th

08/09/2024

Minnie is doing great at her new home

08/07/2024

08/04/2024

07/29/2024

Not part of the rescue but posting for a follower. Let’s share and get them homed

These two were recently dumped and are looking for a forever home. The white is male, the brown is female and we’re hoping to keep them together. They have been good with kids and other dogs and seem to catch on quickly. They are about a year old it seems, so they are full of energy but listen well. They would be the perfect addition to a family that’s ready to love them.

07/29/2024

07/29/2024

Apollo is one of our former pups. He’s around 14 months old and is neutered, microchipped and UTD on his shots. Unfortunately, his high energy is causing problems for his family and they are wishing to find him another home. He would do best with a place to run and play. He does great with kids and other animals. Please share to help this guy find his new home.

*Remember to be kind in your comments. This was a hard decision for this family*

07/28/2024

07/28/2024

07/28/2024

07/28/2024

The day has finally arrived. Minnie was taken to her new home today and will be living with Dobby. Dobby was the mini mule from last year that was so sick on arrival from the auction. He is completely healthy now and completely loved. He was young and barely handled and now is in the husband’s pocket. They have done fantastic work with him. Minnie came last year and was big and pregnant with Toby. She was accompanied by Roscoe the dad. It was bittersweet to separate them after all this time but all have happy homes in their future. She will have little children to love and adore her. She is broke to ride and drive. Her new home has goats, ducks, quail, and pigs. Rusty and Rocket the pups from December are also there. Let’s all wish Minnie the best of luck with her new (and last) family.

07/27/2024

Farrier day was Thursday. All the rescue horses stood well for the farrier.

07/14/2024

Welcome to the herd Candy. She needs time to decompress but will be available in the near future

07/12/2024

Here are dogs available at another rescue

Whiskey Ridge Rescue

07/12/2024

🐴✨ Enter Our Ultimate Horse Feed Sweepstakes! ✨🐴

15 Grand Prize Winners & 15 Charities will each receive a $2500 gift card! That's right, you and the equine charity of your choice could win horse feed for a year! Don't miss your chance to make a difference for your horses and your favorite charity!

🎁 15 Winners
🐎 15 Charities
💸 $75,000 in Prizes

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 7/14/24 at 11:59:59 PM ET. 48 US/DC/HI, 18+. Rules: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/cms/social-contest. Void in AK & PR and where prohibited.

07/12/2024

07/12/2024

Toby is 5 months old today. He has partially shed his foal coat finally

07/11/2024

"New Home Syndrome"🤓

I am coining this term to bring recognition, respect, and understanding to what happens to horses when they move homes. This situation involves removing them from an environment and set of routines they have become familiar with, and placing them somewhere completely different with new people and different ways of doing things.

Why call it a syndrome?

Well, really it is! A syndrome is a term used to describe a set of symptoms that consistently occur together and can be tied to certain factors such as infections, genetic predispositions, conditions, or environmental influences. It is also used when the exact cause of the symptoms is not fully understood or when it is not connected with a well-defined disease. In this case, "New Home Syndrome" is connected to a horse being placed in a new home where its entire world changes, leading to psychological and physiological impacts. While it might be transient, the ramifications can be significant for both the horse and anyone handling or riding it.

Let me explain...

Think about how good it feels to get home after a busy day. How comfortable your favourite clothes are, how well you sleep in your own bed compared to a strange bed, and how you can really relax at home. This is because home is safe and familiar. At home, the part of you that keeps an eye out for potential danger turns down to a low setting. It does this because home is your safe place (and if it is not, this blog will also explain why a lack of a safe place is detrimental).

Therefore, the first symptom of horses experiencing "New Home Syndrome" is being unsettled, prone to anxiety, or difficult behaviour. If you have owned them before you moved them, you struggle to recognise your horse, feeling as if your horse has been replaced by a frustrating version. If the horse is new to you, you might wonder if you were conned, if the horse was drugged when you rode it, or if you were lied to about the horse's true nature.

A horse with "New Home Syndrome" will be a stressed version of itself, on high alert, with a drastically reduced ability to cope. Horses don't handle change like humans do. If you appreciate the comfort of your own home and how you can relax there, you should be able to understand what the horse is experiencing.

Respecting that horses interpret and process their environments differently from us helps in understanding why your horse is being frustrating and recognising that there is a good chance you were not lied to or that the horse was not drugged.

Horses have survived through evolution by being highly aware of their environments. Change is a significant challenge for them because they notice the slightest differences, not just visually but also through sound, smell, feel, and other senses. Humans generalise and categorise, making it easy for us to navigate familiar environments like shopping centres. Horses do not generalise in the same way; everything new is different to them, and they need proof of safety before they can habituate and feel secure. When their entire world changes, it is deeply stressful.

They struggle to sleep until they feel safe, leading to sleep deprivation and increased difficulty.

But there is more...

Not only do you find comfort in your home environment and your nervous system downregulates, but you also find comfort in routines. Routines are habits, and habits are easy. When a routine changes or something has to be navigated differently, things get difficult. For example, my local supermarket is undergoing renovations. After four years of shopping there, it is extremely frustrating to have to work out where everything is now. Every day it gets moved due to the store being refitted section by section. This annoyance is shared by other shoppers and even the staff.

So, consider the horse. Not only are they confronted with the challenge of figuring out whether they are safe in all aspects of their new home while being sleep deprived, but every single routine and encounter is different. Then, their owner or new owner starts getting critical and concerned because the horse suddenly seems untrained or difficult. The horse they thought they owned or bought is not meeting their expectations, leading to conflict, resistance, explosiveness, hypersensitivity, and frustration.

The horse acts as if it knows little because it is stressed and because the routines and habits it has learned have disappeared. If you are a new human for the horse, you feel, move, and communicate differently from what it is used to. The way you hold the reins, your body movements in the saddle, the position of your leg – every single routine of communication between horse and person is now different. I explain to people that when you get a new horse, you have to imprint yourself and your way of communicating onto the horse. You have to introduce yourself and take the time to spell out your cues so that they get to know you.

Therefore, when you move a horse to a new home or get a new horse, your horse will go through a phase called "New Home Syndrome," and it will be significant for them. Appreciating this helps them get through it because they are incredible and can succeed. The more you understand and help the horse learn it is safe in its new environment and navigate the new routines and habits you introduce, the faster "New Home Syndrome" will pass.
"New Home Syndrome" will be prevalent in a horse’s life until they have learned to trust the safety of the environment (and all that entails) and the humans they meet and interact with. With strategic and understanding approaches, this may take weeks, and their nervous systems will start downgrading their high alert status. However, for some horses, it can take a couple of years to fully feel at ease in their new home.

So, next time you move your horse or acquire a new horse and it starts behaving erratically or being difficult, it is not being "stupid", you might not have been lied to or the horse "drugged" - your horse is just experiencing an episode of understandable "New Home Syndrome." And you can help this.❤

I would be grateful if you could please share, this reality for horses needs to be better appreciated ❤
‼️When I say SHARE that does not mean plagiarise my work…it is seriously not cool to copy and paste these words and make out you have written it yourself‼️

06/24/2024

Update on Taffy aka Meisha. She is doing very well🥰

06/16/2024

It’s been 2 years but we are finally making progress. She’s slow to trust but when she does it’s so worth it