CHARLOTTE
“Tiny Friend”
It was the NYS police who first called for help, one spring evening, as they responded to an emergency call about three horses loose in the road, not far from the Sanctuary. It didn’t take long to get a team there, with a horse trailer, and assess the situation. Two of the three were laying in the lawn of a private home, not THEIR home, but the spot they had encamped for several days. Lost, run away, or abandoned, they had no one looking for them, no one who cared. They were laying down because they were in agony, with long hooves commonly called ‘slipper feet’, the result of a long time of neglect, resulting in a lot of pain. Hoof trimming is normally done every two months or so on a domestic horse, but these poor ponies didn’t appear to have been trimmed in years. The one horse standing was in better condition, watching over his friends, who were a small pony mare and a smaller pinto gelding. They all looked old and tired, with no idea where to go or what to do. All three were loaded up into the trailer for Rosemary Farm Sanctuary. They were safely unloaded after a short drive, each into a stall, for the night, given some pain meds and some food, to settle down. The hooves of the two ponies were so very long and so very painful.
By morning, the police spoke to possible owners, who denied knowing the horses, and the trio were officially declared abandoned property, and transferred to the Sanctuary. This allowed important recovery care to begin. A team was immediately assembled, including DVM and hoof care support, and radiographs were taken to determine the extent of the hoof damage. Fortunately they did not have ‘rotation’ in their hooves, but they did need tranqulizer to begin the long process of restoring their feet to healthy condition. First, a saw was used, to chop off the long toes! Then a normal trimming process was used to help get their feet looking and feeling better. It took months of concentrated effort to get them both healthy again. They were given a trio of names from the ‘Charlotte’s Web’ book; Charlotte became the name of the pony mare, a flaxen, shy beauty. The smaller pinto pony was determined to be her adult son, who became, Wilbur and Andy was the gelding watching over the pair (trivia info; ‘Andy’ was the nickname of the author of the book!).
Charlotte is an intelligent and petite pony mare, who is blind in one eye. She has also recently been diagnosed with Heaves, an affliction not unlike human Asthma, and will need lifelong management for the condition. No history of her former life was ever discovered, but the Sanctuary is a wonderful place for her to be, to help her stay healthy and live her best life.
Here at Rosemary Farm, the original trio has separated and Charlotte spends her time with the draft horse Harper and occasional other friends. Charlotte will remain at the Sanctuary for life and would appreciate a dedicated monthly Sponsor or a special Staydopter™, perhaps a tiny girl like her, who has overcome so much, and who just wants to live in peace.