The Story of Snowy
Penny was found by Collier County Domestic Animal Service as a stray. She was processed and held with the hope to find her owners. After weeks went by SWFHR was contacted to help.
Snowy is now the oldest rescue in SWFHR’s care. She continues to struggle with sarcoma (skin cancer) but daily the volunteers’ detailed attention to her needs for protection keeps things at bay. Summertime is a bad time for her.
Equines that have had owners, usually of private nature, and have their ownership surrendered to SWFHR. A wide variety of reasons bear the words Owner Surrendered. Here is a list of some reasons we have heard in time but do know there are more:
A dominance hierarchy is colloquially called a pecking order where the top level, known as Alpha, is the leader.
Degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (DSLD) is a disease that affects the connective tissue of the lower limbs in Peruvian Pasos, Paso crosses, Arabians, Saddlebreds, Quarter Horses, and Thoroughbreds. Signs of DSLD include:
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Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) is a master of disguise. This serious disease can be difficult to diagnose because its signs often mimic other health problems in the horse and signs can range from mild to severe.
More than 50 percent of all horses in the United States may have been exposed to the organism that causes EPM. The causative organism is a protozoal parasite called Sarcocystis neurona. The disease is not transmitted from horse to horse. Rather, the protozoa are spread by the definitive host, the opossum, which acquires the organism from cats, raccoons, skunks, and armadillos and possibly even from harbor seals and sea otters. The infective stage of the organism (the sporocysts) is passed in the opossum’s feces. The horse comes into contact with the infective sporocysts while grazing or eating contaminated feed or drinking water.
Once ingested, the sporocysts migrate from the intestinal tract into the bloodstream and cross the blood/brain barrier. There they begin to attack the horse’s central nervous system. The onset of the disease may be slow or sudden. If left undiagnosed and untreated, EPM can cause devastating and lasting neurological damage.
SOURCEAmerican Association of Equine Practitioners view article
Horses identified as having ailments & injuries or considerable age that would preclude them from riding anymore. Being adopted with any thought of, even the slightest, pasture riding in some cases may be quite devastating. We inform all potential adopters, over and over of the severity of each horse’s issues, in the hopes that average adopters with not have much consideration to ignore the issues at hand.
This doesn’t mean these horses can not be adopted but the scrutiny for adoption will be high in order to ensure that the adopter is highly aware of the considerable factors at hand.
Socialness score of 4
(fearful [1] – attention seeker [5])
Horses identified as having ailments & injuries or considerable age that would preclude them from riding anymore. Being adopted with any thought of, even the slightest, pasture riding in some cases may be quite devastating. We inform all potential adopters, over and over of the severity of each horse’s issues, in the hopes that average adopters with not have much consideration to ignore the issues at hand.
This doesn’t mean these horses can not be adopted but the scrutiny for adoption will be high in order to ensure that the adopter is highly aware of the considerable factors at hand.
Sweet then proceed
Questions related to adopting that you might have are listed below.
It is the policy of SWFHR to make it possible for all to give their time to a noble cause. But we do have a policy on age ranges which are listed below: If you are:
COVID-19... a concern not to be taken lightly, we've taken steps to reduce our staff and current volunteer's exposure to new people, at least at our facility:
The need for your information helps in 2 ways.
We get calls all the time from people looking to re-home their equine(s) yet our capacity limitations are generally exceeded 98% of the time. The purpose of the Adoption Intent Form is to make it possible for the equines that we physically cannot take in to have a chance of being paired up with potential adopters that may not find what they are looking for at our facility.
If you choose to be part of our OERA Project program your request stays active for 1 month allowing the chance we might find a horse for you and your request.
After 1 month we will mark your request as not active unless otherwise requested.
Normal Volunteer Hours are either 7 or 8 am (depending on the day) to Sundown daily. In special circumstances, volunteers may start earlier than 7 am.
On average most volunteers come out 1 to 3 days a week.
The amount of volunteering time on any given day, depending on the shift a volunteer covers when they come out.
AM Shift - starts at either 7 or 8 am depending on the day.
We respect that not everyone has the property to directly possess a horse. Boarding is a reasonable option that we may accept under these guidelines
Words or rather the choice of words can change the meaning of everything. In what we do, you will NEVER hear us use the word SELL but rather ADOPT. We consider the word sell as void of compassion for something with a sole or living character.
There a few different fees a potential adopter may need to consider when adopting any equine.
ADOPTION FEE:
TRAINING FEE:
TRANSPORTATION FEE:
We will perform a background check on all who will have contact with the equine.
Once following through with a visit to the SWFHR facility… if you’ve found an equine you are considering to adopt at this point you will start the application process by filling out an Adoption Application. Some key points to mention about the application are as follows:
After your application, has been approved you will finalize things by completing the Adoption Agreement with SWFHR.
One (1) year after adoption you will be required to submit an Annual Health Update Form to SWFHR for review.
Penny was found by Collier County Domestic Animal Service as a stray. She was processed and held with the hope to find her owners. After weeks went by SWFHR was contacted to help.