Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue

04/22/2025

Everyone should experience the feeling of a giant, velvet muzzle softly blowing warm, grass and peppermint scented breath over them at least once 🥰 It’s simply divine

04/18/2025

Goodness gracious Goose is just all that and a bag of potato chips 😉

UPDATE: Many folks have asked about what happened fo Goose’s absolutely adorable ears…well, this handsome fella was suffering from ear mites which are terribly itchy and despite being treated, the irritation likely caused him to vigorously and relentlessly scratch his ears, rubbing them to the point that the blood vessels ruptured and hematomas developed.

This did causes permanent damage to his ears, but has not affected his hearing in any way. It has, however, affected his ability to communicate using his ears so he lives in a special herd of easy going horses, including Tiger, who has the exact same condition with his ears!

04/18/2025

Judd was recently found limping in his pasture and barely putting any weight on his hind left leg. Poor guy was in so much pain 🥺 Thankfully our vet was able to take X-rays in the treatment room of our Healing Barn that revealed he had a nasty abscess. Judd has now seen the vet and farrier and is finally feeling and walking much better! He is now besties with Flint who is recovering beautifully from his recent tendon surgery. Aren’t they adorable together!?

04/14/2025

BETHANY GOT ADOPTED TODAY!! In honor of her adoptaversary, we’re resharing our favorite video of Bethany doing what Bethany does best…zoooomming!!

107.2K likes, 1846 comments. “All this girl does is run! 😂 she’s amazing”

04/11/2025

We dare you not to fall in love with our newest arrival, Paisley!

04/09/2025

GUESS WHAT?!? After several years, we’ve finally brought back our favorite BECAUSE SIZE MATTERS gear!! We even have a super comfy, zip-up hoodie option!

Get your gear here 👉https://www.gentlegiantsdrafthorserescue.org/shop-1

HAPPY SHOPPING!

04/07/2025

CHESTER UPDATE! Can you believe today is Chester’s TWO YEAR rescuversary?!

Chester has had one of the most incredible transformations and we’re so proud to share that he is happily living in his beautiful forever home, with a family that loves him dearly. We miss seeing his sweet face, with his head slightly cocked, and those pleading eyes every day, but we are so happy he found a family of his very own! He was also adopted with another GG rescue, Gobbler, now known as Cora. Here is a sweet note and some photos sent from Chester’s adopter 🥰

“Chester gratefully accepts love from anyone. He followed us around as I carried my 2 yr old granddaughter in the field, and just kept his head right beside her so she could scratch his cheek.”

04/04/2025

I am happy to report that Eclaire cleared her choke and is doing well!! She’s staying in our healing barn overnight, where she will receive extra soupy meals and will be seen again by our vet first thing tomorrow morning just to make sure that little Eclaire is still all good!

04/04/2025

UPDATE: Eclaire cleared her choke and is doing well! Thank you all for thinking of this sweet little one during her emergency today!

Little Eclaire was just taken to our healing barn to see our vet for a choke - poor thing is drooling heavily and is trying so hard. This excessive salivation is actually called ptyalism. When horses choke they often need help flushing the blockage down with esophageal lavage. Our vet is here looking at her now and we’ll keep everyone posted!!

04/02/2025

Back in September 2024, 7 Friesian stallions came into our care after a seizure at a large Friesian breeding facility in Vermont. After months of waiting, this case has finally gone to court and while we don’t have a verdict yet, we are hopeful that the outcome for these horses will be positive and their futures will no longer remain in limbo.

To date, three separate seizures have occurred at the same Friesian breeding farm, involving a total of 35 horses. The first seizure happened in 2023, with 13 horses being removed from the property, followed by two more seizures that occurred in 2024: one in June involving 2 horses and another in September with 20 horses, 7 of whom are with us, and the other 13 are under the exceptional care of The Dorset Equine Rescue Inc.

You can read more about the court hearing here, and rest assured that as soon as we have any updates, we'll let everyone know!

https://www.reformer.com/local-news/horse-breeder-labrie-claims-hes-being-railroaded-by-the-state/article_9acfeda8-fff8-4ce1-98d3-9ae74a154a4f.html?utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwY2xjawJamatleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHW6lcGVA4lXipTPSy929-0aMhwgtuiky0MFZroTK-qaBbdP_81PConnT3g_aem_a-5snhvxdYKFKZeINAltog

BRATTLEBORO — Embattled and controversial horse breeder Robert Labrie claimed Wednesday in court that he was a victim of overreach by state officials, who confiscated 20 of his pedigreed Friesian

04/01/2025

We’re so thrilled to be hosting Lockie Phillips, featured on this months cover of The Equiery this May! Lockie coaches deeply caring equestrians to train emotionally balanced horses with Science, Empathy & Feel - and we’re big fans of his methodologies and approach!

Auditor spots are still open! If you’re interested in learning more, click here 👉 https://www.emotionalhorsemanship.com/mount-airy-maryland-clinic-2025

The April issue is now in stores! Ride on over to your favorite distributor and pick up a copy! https://equiery.com/distributors/ Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue

03/31/2025

Looks like a big storm is rolling in! The horses are all shedding their thick winter coats right now and a little cool rain is probably going to feel extra nice for them!

03/26/2025

Sweet, sleepy Pennie 🥰

03/25/2025

This weekend, our Vet examined our new arrivals from our recent auction trip, including a very special little mule named Nell! As our Vet looked over Prophet and Oracle, Nell hovered nearby, seeking attention and cuddles…until the second we picked up a halter or lead rope - as soon as we had any sort of item in our hands that she knew could ‘restrain’ or ‘confine’ her, she instantly took off! It was clear that at some point her life, something happened to her that led to this serious aversion. Mules are incredibly intelligent and we’re no strangers to working with them…in fact, we love mules and their unique personalities! Sometimes in these situations, you have to take a different approach and that’s exactly what we did! After our Vet discovered that Nell was perfectly happy to be evaluated, including a full physical exam, so long as she was free, we decided to see if she would also allow us to give her vaccines and draw blood. Nell didn’t care at all! She just happily munched away on her alfalfa. Nell is a great example of how adapting to the needs of your horse or mule by paying attention to what they’re communicating and being willing to do things differently can be far more rewarding and build a much stronger bond! Could we have herded her into a smaller area, confined her and put the lead rope and halter on - sure - but would she have the same amount of trust in us as she does now? Not likely.

03/19/2025

After our journey over the weekend to save Mavis, Charger, and Asher we got right back in the truck and went up to another livestock auction where draft horses are often dumped and purchased by kill buyers. We’re so glad we did because if we weren’t there, we wouldn’t have found Oracle, Nell, and Prophet! Oracle is an old Belgian mare who was likely used as a broodmare for much of her life and is blind is one eye. Prophet is a Belgian draft mule who desperately needs proper hoof care after a lifetime of neglect has left him with hooves so overgrown, he’s walking painfully on his heels. Nell is a 19 year old mule who is in shockingly good condition, yet nobody wanted her. Maybe it was because of her age? Who knows, but we’re so grateful she’s safe with us!

03/17/2025

We did it again! Today we zipped up to the auction yet again to help save even more horses from being sold to the meat men and shipping to slaughter. We’re thrilled to share that 3 more lives are safe, including this adorable draft mule! He’s suffering from some serious hoof neglect that makes walking incredibly painful for him - we’re going to make sure he sees our farrier right away so he can finally walk without fear of pain 😔

I know we say it all the time, but we truly mean it when we say we could not do this without each of you! Whether you are donating to support the horses in our care, sharing a message to help spread the word about our mission, or even adopting or sponsoring your very own gentle giant - you are a part of our team and we are so proud and grateful to have you in this fight with us!

Stay tuned to meet the newest crew from todays rescue mission and watch their journey to safety!