01/31/2025
“Sometimes you win,
Sometimes you won’t.
Sometimes you beat that devil… Sometimes you don’t…”
-Toby Keith
Here is an update on the three starving horses from West Virginia. To be honest, I’ve been dreading to update you all because it isn’t the warm and fuzzy victory update that we all wanted for these boys, but it is what it is, so here we go.
We strive to save lives, rehab horses, and provide you with the happily-ever-afters. However, there are some cases where that is impossible.
This has been one of those cases.
The three boys came into our care after being subjected to a criminal level of neglect by multiple owners over an extended period of time.
After they arrived here, we provided them with all the comforts we could. They were treated like fancy show horses, and received vet care IMMEDIATELY… something they were not afforded before they came to Bella Run.
Unfortunately, after observations, examinations, and radiographs, it was discovered that the big paint horse, Woody, had some devastating arthritis and severe bony changes in his hind leg. Pain management was never going to be achievable for him, and since his condition was degenerative and he was in such pain already, we made the decision to let him go.
The grulla, Dean, was also extremely lame on a hind leg, though higher up (crunching was heard up to his pelvis when palpated). He was also severely neurologic. His lack of stability/mobility was not safe for him or others, and his “good” hind leg was actively breaking down as well due to excessive and constant load bearing in an attempt to relieve the pain in the other.
We decided let Dean go the same day as Woody.
Putting these two horses in the ground made me angry.
Sad, sure, but we are no stranger to euthanizing failed horses here, unfortunately. That wasn’t it.
I was angry because the pain could have been relieved so much sooner for these sweet sweet horses. These were horses that, despite their ruined bodies, would still nicker when they saw us come in the barn. They deserved better.
We humans didn’t deserve that kindness from them after the way they had been failed.
Woody and Dean deserved more time with us, a recovery, a quality life after rescue.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get it. By the time they made it to us, there was only one kindness left to give them, so we did.
It didn’t make me angry that they had to be put down… honestly I wish more people would euthanize their old horses when they got painful.
It made me angry because they should have had it done for them much sooner. These horses didn’t have to rot in squalor holler for months getting little food and ZERO vet care while someone made money off of their suffering.
That is despicable and inexcusable.
This INTENSE and UNRELENTING pain could have stopped much sooner for both of them.
We have some rules here.
Do no harm always.
Relieve pain effectively.
End suffering swiftly.
It is a shame that the only services we could provide for these animals were end-of-life related, but it is what it is. The buck did stop here.
For what it’s worth, Dean and Woody had full bellies and were brushed and massaged and given all the delicious rich food they wanted before we let them go.
That has to be good enough.
After putting Dean and Woody down, we still had Waylon. “At least we saved him”, we’d tell each other. It made the whole situation better, to be honest.
Waylon was FLOURISHING. Gaining weight, his sore feet were fixed and he was able to move around very comfortably unbooted. He was no longer afraid of us and would come to the gate to be caught. He graduated from an intensive feeding schedule and was able to go outside and play with his horse friends.
He was salvaged.
He was HAPPY here.
He was THRIVING.
A relief for us all, something to take away the sting of losing Dean and Woody.
Then one day, he just dropped dead.
I do mean that quite literally… he went from playing outside and eating and being completely normal to falling to the ground so hard and so suddenly that he actually bit entirely through his tongue. He never struggled, and it was immediate. An aneurysm is the assumed and most likely cause, though we did not spend the funding to have a full necropsy done.
If you want to talk about a hit to our team on this case… losing Waylon was it.
As we moved his body and buried him that day, we didn’t say much to each other besides “you have got to be kidding me”. Right when we thought we had salvaged one out of this horrible case… not so fast.
So there you have it. That is the uncut, real, raw update on the three boys from West Virginia.
Regardless of how we feel about the outcome, updating our supporters on the horses we take into our program is something we feel strongly about. Our donors being able to trust our judgement is important to the work we do, so we will always provide you with the real outcome, as hard as it is to swallow.
I’ve admittedly delayed updating our supporters until now because I didn’t really know what to write that would do these boys justice. While we didn’t have the outcome we wanted, we can rest easy knowing that we did absolutely EVERYTHING we could for these boys. Thanks to your donations we were able to spare no expense for them and all of their costs while they were here ended up being covered, so THANK YOU for that.
You win some, you lose some. That’s life, and that’s real rescue. If all we had was sugar and rainbows to tell you about every time… well… we’d be lying to you.
Our team will rally, like we have done so many times before.
We will press on, as we all know there are more who need us.
Thank you for your support.
Onto the next.
Rachel Bendler
Director
(Pictured is Waylon checking out his new blanket… he settled right in to the pampered life while we had him.❤️)
EDIT: Per requests, we added a donation button to this post. As always, 100% of all donations go directly toward the care of current and future animals at Bella Run Equine.
PayPal: [email protected]
Checks can be mailed to
Bella Run Equine
4664 Pleasant Hill Rd
Athens, Ohio 45701
