9 yrs old Registered Quarter Horse RC is our resident "wind sucker." He arrived with Rambo from the same owner. He is completely dead broke and a super sweet great grandson of Dash For Cash. But, due to his wind sucking he is one of our hardest keepers. Unfortunately, we have to leave a cribbing halter on him at all times. If not, he loses weight quickly when the air fills his belly telling his mind he's full. Because of this, RC is grained twice a day to assure he gets the nutrition needed. He also colics easily with cold weather changes so we are constantly monitoring this great guy to keep him balanced in all areas of his life.
Hooey
Piper
Sienne
20+ year old unregistered Morgan mare that was surrendered to Whispering Winds due to owner's financial hardship. This is a super sweet, easy to handle mare. Quiet and gentle, this mare is retired after being used as a brood mare..
George
This 21 yr old Registered Paint is the clown of the ranch. George was an owner surrender due to economic circumstances and has been a pleasure since retiring at our facility. One day he'll be chewing on Jenkins' halter, trying to "set him free," and another day he'll be rearing up and playing with Brian, our young mustang gelding. George is well known for untying lead ropes, opening gates, and getting into anything he can. He keeps Emma company and has helped her settle down after Srigo's death.
Charlie
Charlie & Eddie arrived at our rescue in 2007, 400 lbs underweight and barely handled. Born in 2005, Charlie has become a sweet boy but needs to be kept on level ground for soundness. He doesn't know his leg is different, he just can't make the hills like Eddie can but romps, bucks & plays just the same. Charlie also has a small hernia that the vet says doesn't need surgery, so we just monitor it.
Eddie
Eddie came in with Charlie and was part of the same rescue from the original owner. Due to possible inbreeding, both boys suffer long fetlocks, and although Eddie does not have an issue roaming the property and romping at full speed, he will never be sound for anything more than being loved on.
Pawnee (He Pawnee Charger)
25 yr old Registered Quarter Horse Pawnee was relinquished to us with what was believed to be a history of navicular. We did corrective trims on him to help him along. But, when the lameness got too bad we took him to a hoof specialist that found Pawnee had a tumor on his coffin bone. This has been surgically removed leaving Pawnee more sound. Pawnee is a permanent resident at our ranch
Josie
21 yr old foundation Appaloosa that we got at an Auction in 2005 when no one else bid on her. Used as the ranch horse for several years Josie is now retired due to Uveitus. Josie lost her sight in her right eye in the summer of 2011, and recently lost sight in her left eye. Adjustment was a little difficult for her at first, but she now maneuvers her area easily now and is quite capable of roaming the 10 acre pasture with ease. She knows where every bump and post is and unless you knew she was, you could not tell she was blind.
Ahkia
Ahkia is a 9yr old (+/) Mustang/Arab cross gelding who came in with Sienne. Although he is broke to ride, he has an abuse background and is a little difficult to handle. Previous owner rescued him from a bad situation and did a great job in calming him down. However, we have found that it is possible that he was twitched quite a bit and would rear and pull back when your hand came close to his face. He has come a long way since when he first arrived and today he is a super sweet boy that has his own band of mares - Sienne, Sweetheart and, occasionally, Hooey.
Grey Hawk
17-20 yr old Arab gelding, Grey Hawk was 1 of 8 Arab stallions, 4 mares, and several foals seized from horrific conditions. Found deep in the woods Grey stood in a 10x10 pen for over 10 years filled with knee deep mud & muck. Some of the horses seized were in such bad condition their muscles had atrophied and walking was difficult. The majority of the horses hadn't seen sunshine in over 10 years.
Grey Hawk has adjusted quite well and has a wonderful band of 3 mares he loves calling his own - Precious, Piper, and occasionally, Windy. Only during "heat" season does he show any signs of being "studdy" by snaking his girls away from other geldings. Otherwise, Grey is pastured with several other horses and does quite well.
(Written by Susannah - Sammie's Friends Animal Shelter/Rescuer)
What a difference to when I first saw him; at that time, this horse looked like he would not make it to next week. Animal control had been receiving calls for some time on him and the others in his herd. They were being kept in appalling conditions in Nevada City up at the snowline in freezing rain and snow with no shelter whatsoever and very little food.
Animal control had been receiving complaints for quite some time but the problem they had was that this group of twelve horses were unapproachable. Eight were stallions who had not only been starved and neglected but also tortured mentally by mares right next to them with only strands of barbed wire separating them. There had been many wrecks with both the mares and stallions trying to get to each other during the mares cycle.
The owner had completely lost control of the situation being a 72 year old man who had not handled any of the horses for years. He had simply left them to rot. Animal control was out of their depth in knowing how to catch these horses.
So I was asked to help get them out. I went up to the property with my horse trailer and met the sheriff up there.
When i first saw Greyhawk, he was propping himself up against the side of a dark decrepit barn, which itself housed two other poor stallions in tiny pens in the dark all the time. He was starving and i could see he had been eating the bark from a tree in his 'pen', later, when we got shavings into some of the pens the horses were chowing down on the shavings like they were a three course meal!
As with the other horses, Greyhawk had a halter rotting from his face it had been on there so long. He was standing in three or four feet of mud with one tiny high 'dry; spot, his tail was a giant rasta mass of mud and tangle. He was the most emaciated of the herd and his eyes registered nothing but fear when he saw us all moving around him. His eyes stayed wide open for weeks after we got him out, it was as if he was in permanent spook mode, he was so scared of us people and what we were planning to do next it seemed.
We had to set up an elaborate series of panels to get him in the trailer and as with all those horses, we had to really take care not to injure oursevles and them in the process of getting them out. It was a major operation and once we got them out, to assess them, to get near them, was another nightmare as the studs in particular were wild. Greyhawk started out kicking and biting and was virtually unapproachable to examine. We ended up managing to sedate him enough to knock him out and castrate him and while he was down we took the opportunity to trim his feet which were in terrible condition
Greyhawk benefitted from being at a wonderful, calm foster home at Stephanie Davidson's barn. She is a natural horse rehaber whose quiet barn has helped several horses she has been kind enough to foster for me.
Within a month or so, Greyhawk allowed us to take the halter on and off and to be led. He stopped biting and kicking although we were still very careful and he allowed a equine (natural) dentist to file and attend to his teeth without any sedation. From there we have been able to build on his ground manners and he is quite happy to load into the trailer as long as there is hay in there! and generally, he has improved immensely, mostly what i notice is that he is a very kind soul who is beginning to trust again and that he responds very well indeed to the female voice and prescence.
Even though Greyhawk was in such a wonderful place, stephanie herself was feeling the crunch with the recession, so she is having to move before she loses her home! so she asked us to move the horses to another place and unfortunately because there are so many and because there is so little money it became clear that Greyhawk might have to be euthanized as he was essentially still too 'messed up' to find a home for, hard enough to find a good horse a home these days. So it was then that Whispering Winds Equine Rescue came to our aid and in a big way, what a wonderful piece of luck and it turned out that Greyhawk had a lucky star after all these years of horror and abuse, so thank you Susan from the bottom of our hearts here in Grass Valley.