Horton Starts It All

“Fine, we’ll come look, but we aren’t bringing them home.”

Famous last words.

Back in October 2012, the idea of having a sanctuary someday was already on our minds, but at the time, it was still just a dream. We were busy learning to ride horses, training our young donkeys, and still working on turning what used to be a grain farm into a horse ranch. That was when we were offered a mini donkey and a goat.

They had both been at a petting zoo that closed down. The pair had gone to a good home, but the goat was causing trouble. He had learned that if he threatened children, they would throw treats at him and run away. He continued this bad behaviour in his new home, and she couldn’t keep him because of it. The problem was that the goat, Nigel, and the donkey, Horton, were closely bonded, and their owner didn’t want to separate them.

After a couple of discussions, I finally gave in and told Laura that we would go see them, but that we wouldn’t take them. I was a bit overwhelmed heading into winter after dealing with the flood the year before, and I didn’t have a clue how to care for a goat.

Well, the next day, we went to the farm where they lived and walked with the owner out into the pasture. Around the corner of the barn came this tiny spotted donkey. I crouched down to say hello, and he walked right up to me and tucked his head onto my chest.

“We’ll take them!”

And so began our taking in of unofficial sanctuary animals. On the way home, I googled how to take care of goats, and the next day, we went back and picked them up.

That donkey is our lovely little spotted fella, Horton. Horton is still an absolute love. His favourite things are hanging out in the pasture with his buddies and getting treats from his little girl, my daughter Amber. Horton also absolutely loves summer mud baths. Amber coats him in mud, which keeps the flies away. He gets mad at her when she washes it off. His other favourite thing is his winter blanket. He loves being warm in the winter.

Horton has some arthritis in his back end because he was attacked by dogs when he was younger. They tore open his back end quite badly. He has a lot of scars and doesn’t grow much hair there, which is one of the reasons he likes his winter blankie so much. He gets his Sinew-X daily to keep his joints moving and healthy.

Horton is also a star in the community. He loves going to petting zoos and events around Estevan and has had his picture in the paper numerous times! He dresses up in a floppy hat and in his Build-a-Bear shoes and loves getting attention from the kids. The only time I’ve ever heard him hee-haw was when kids were coming to see him. He is a sweet soul who is one of the poster-donks for the Sanctuary.

Echo Comes Home

As many people already know, my passion is for helping miniature horses, ponies and donkeys with severe hoof issues. It is one of the driving reasons behind starting the sanctuary. Ponies and miniature horses are prone to laminitis and founder, which can be a very painful hoof condition. I have a lot of little trimming clients who are in that situation, and seeing them start walking better after I trim their feet is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

Little Echo, our newest sanctuary member, is a classic example of the kind of minis I like to help. Echo foundered about four years ago, and steadily her hooves have gotten worse. Her owners were trying to help her with regular trimming, but it wasn’t working. I’ve found that foundered ponies often require a different style of trimming, which is something I’ve been specializing in. Echo was not able to walk very well at all, which was affecting her quality of life.

When her owners called us, we knew she was exactly the kind of mini that the sanctuary was meant to help. We picked her up and I did the first trim on her feet right away. Little Echo got extra special treatment – she came into the porch for her trim because the weather was so cold outside. We put down a thick piece of carpet for her to stand on to help with the foot pain, and I got to work. I did as much with her hooves as I could at the first trim, and followed it up with another trim a week later. With my specialized style of trimming for minis, she has already shown pronounced improvement.

Echo couldn’t walk much at first, and we had to lead her over to the water trough a couple times a day. Now, she can be seen frequently walking from the hay to the water trough and to the shelter several times a day on her own. Echo is on a 1 – 2 week trim schedule until her feet are in better shape, and her diet is closely controlled. She gets anti-inflammatory and arthritis supplements, a hormone balancing supplement and a thyroid medication to help her lose weight. It has definitely been making a difference already.

The best thing about Echo is her adorable personality. I can honestly say that she has one of the sweetest spirits I have met yet! She loves attention and cuddles, and she especially loves her new boyfriend, Poker. When we brought her out to the pasture, Poker was instantly in love with her, following her everywhere and resting his head on her. Now the two are never very far apart.

We are really looking forward to seeing Echo’s improvements this summer as we get her feet under control. She is an absolute doll!

Rocky the Rockstar

Free to a Good Home. I was tagged in the ad on Facebook and was taken in by the picture of the adorable pony underneath it – a huge mop-top of black hair and a sweet Shetland face under it. Reading the ad told me that he was half-blind, a stallion, and he needed to find a new place as he had some behavioural issues. I was immediately worried about what would happen to him as it is difficult to rehome a stallion, let alone a blind one. But there appeared to be some interest, so I put it in the back of my mind. Apparently, once again, Laura had the same concerns, but also put it on the back burner.

The little guy kept coming back to both of our minds throughout the next day while we were working, and finally, we started actually talking about it. That led to Laura contacting the owner and finding out that he was still available. She was trying to find a good home for him, and was very interested in the Sanctuary. Next thing we knew, we were hooking up the trailer and starting out in the lightly falling snow to go pick up our new pony. We want to say a huge thank you to his owner for making sure he didn’t fall into the wrong hands as can often happen when an animal is offered for free, and especially given that he was a stallion.

When I first saw Rocky, I was immediately struck by how beautiful he was! He was like a small version of The Black Stallion. He was quite shy, which made catching him a bit of a struggle. Thankfully, the big horse he was with was very calm and helpful! Rocky loaded well into the trailer and even let us put a warm blanket on him for the drive home.

We don’t know a lot about his history, other than that he was one of four ponies rescued by the owner that gave him to us. The others found good homes too. He hadn’t been handled a lot and was quite shy, although he was starting to slowly warm up to his owner with time and patience. Based on his behaviour since arriving at the Sanctuary, we believe he was either used as a breeding stallion or a “teaser” stallion in the past. (A “teaser” is a pony stallion used quite often on thoroughbred farms who is brought near the mares to tease them so the owner knows when they are in heat. They are then taken to be bred to the actual stallion.) He is quite studly, especially when he sees a mare, and we currently have a lot of squealing and calling going on across the yard as Rocky and Pinky holler at each other. We are going to be getting both gelded as soon as the weather warms up, and hopefully they will become friends.

We have been spending a lot of time with Rocky, working on gentling him and getting him used to being handled. His personality is starting to come out the more we get to know him. With his adorable head tossing and dancing around his pen, we started calling him Rockstar, and with that Tina Turner hair, he often gets serenaded with “What’s Love Got to Do with It” at feeding time. That, and “Black Velvet” thanks to his soft muzzle, and “Rocketman” for obvious reasons. When we sing, he tosses his head and runs around, bucking and kicking.

We look forward to getting him used to human contact and showing him that life with pony-snuggles is a great life!

Meet Pinky Pie

I walked slowly up to the stall door and quietly peeked over it. There, calmly munching hay, was a tiny sorrel miniature horse with a huge shock of flaxen hair on top of his head. He looked up at me, hay hanging out of his mouth, and nickered. I was instantly in love.

The day Pinky Pie came home.

That was my introduction to Pinky Pie, the first surrender to the Sanctuary since we became official in January 2019. It was an exciting day for us. This sanctuary has been a labour of love, something we have been planning for many years, so travelling to pick up our first surrender was a dream come true.

Pinky is a two-year-old miniature horse stallion. This little bundle of testosterone is only 33.5” tall, but full of personality! In his previous home, he was kept with goats, but he had developed some behavioural issues and was attacking the goats. He was bought by another person who then gave him to the sanctuary so that he would have a lifelong home where he would be loved and safe.

Pinky came to us in good health, although he was a little shy at first. He quickly got over his shyness with the help of my twelve-year-old daughter, Amber. Amber and Pinky became immediate friends, and soon they were running around and playing together. Every day after school, when the weather is warm enough, Amber gets off the bus, drops her backpack and hops over the fence to say hi to Pinky. Their favourite game is chase where Amber runs through the snow after Pinky and then turns and runs the other way with Pinky chasing her.

Pinky absolutely loves the green apple treats that Jeanita brought for him. They were a big part of getting him comfortable with being handled. He is currently in with the goats at the sanctuary because he needs to be gelded before he can join the rest of the herd. These goats are a lot bigger than the ones he was with before, and they are getting along very well.

Pinky’s only issues are that he likes to nibble people’s clothes, and he can get study when he gets excited. His behavioural issues will likely disappear when he is gelded. We plan to introduce him to Rocky once both are gelded and hope they will bond. We are quite sure that Pinky will be an excellent ambassador for minis everywhere.

Sanctuaries and Why We are One

“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.” – Charles Darwin

Dictionary.com defines a sanctuary is a place of refuge and an asylum. An asylum is a secure retreat, a haven or a shelter, a refuge that is secure from destruction and violence. In the animal world, a sanctuary is a place where animals are given a refuge and a lifelong home in a loving, caring environment.

Often people use the terms “Sanctuary” and “Rescue” synonymously. Although there are some similarities, they are not the same thing.

Similarities:

·         Both sanctuaries and rescues are generally non-profits that help animals. They rely heavily on donations from supporters to continue protecting and caring for the animals.

·         Both sanctuaries and rescues will take animals that have been in bad situations and rehabilitate them.

·         Both sanctuaries and rescues are focused on animal welfare.

Differences:

·         Sanctuaries provide lifelong homes for all the animals that come in. Animals do not leave the sanctuary. Sometimes sanctuaries will have foster programs so they can help more animals, but the fosters still remain the property of the sanctuary. Rescues, on the other hand, take animals in and then rehabilitate and train them so they can be adopted out to qualified homes, making room to take in more rescues.

·         Sanctuary animals are not all “rescues.” While some animals come from bad situations or seizures by Animal Protection Services, sanctuaries are also places where people can send their animals if they can no longer take care of them or their situation changes, and they want to make sure their animal will have a secure home for the rest of its life. Rescue animals tend to all come out of bad situations like abuse, neglect and slaughter.

At the Sanctuary, we use the following terms to define the animals that come into our care:

·         Intake – any animal coming into the Sanctuary, regardless of how it makes its way to us. The Sanctuary has an intake form that is filled out for each animal with known history and current condition.

·         Rescue – an animal taken in from a bad situation, whether Animal Protection Services is involved or not. A bad situation can be abuse, neglect, transport for slaughter or other situations where the animal’s continued welfare is in question. An example of a rescue is Mrs. Henrietta Donkey. She was in a neglect situation when she was rescued by a friend of ours. She was then given to us as she was very shy and needed lots of one on one attention.

·         Surrender – an animal that is given to the Sanctuary free of charge. There is absolutely no negative connotation with a surrender. They are often much-loved animals in need of a new home. An example of a surrender would be Poker, our first miniature horse. He was a very well-cared for and loved pony in his previous home, but his hooves were causing him major issues. His humans knew he would do better at a place where his feet could be cared for on a more frequent cycle. Since Rhonda is a trimmer who specializes in foundered minis, his humans gave Poker to her.

·         Apprehension – an animal that is apprehended by Animal Protection Services and subsequently given to the Sanctuary to care for. Apprehension happens when APS has to come in and remove an animal due to neglect or abuse. The Sanctuary is registered with APS to take in apprehended animals, but we have not received any yet.

You may be asking yourself why Happy Little Hooves chose to be a Sanctuary instead of a Rescue. The reason is actually quite simple. We want to make sure that any animal that comes into our care will never find themselves in a situation that puts them at risk for neglect, abuse or slaughter. The only way to ensure that was to become a sanctuary and provide for the animal for the rest of its life. That is why our official mission is:

“We are devoted to providing health, safety and a happy, secure lifelong home for donkeys, miniature horses, ponies and miniature mules who are abused, neglected, unwanted or whose owners are no longer able to care for them. We seek to educate the public about proper care and treatment of small equines.”

With so many animals in need, why did Happy Little Hooves decide to focus on “the littles,” as we call them – ponies, miniature horses, donkeys and mini-mules? In 2011, Rhonda and Laura fell in love with donkeys. From that moment on, we knew we wanted to have a donkey sanctuary someday. Donkeys are some of the most neglected and mistreated animals in the world because of the well-known misunderstanding that they are “stubborn.” Donkeys will not do something they believe might be dangerous, and you cannot force a donkey to do anything. This leads to people feeling that the donkeys are making them look stupid, and the cycle begins. Donkeys are, in fact, gentle, sweet animals that will loyally follow someone they trust.

In 2017, Rhonda began trimming hooves for a living, and that was when she fell in love with ponies and mini horses. They quickly became some of her favourite clients, and she became known as the “pony whisperer” because she was able to trim ponies and minis that no one else could touch! All the contact with ponies and minis showed them that the horse littles needed a sanctuary as well. They tend to have some of the worst foot issues in the equine world because they are so prone to founder and metabolic diseases. As well, ponies and minis can have a lot of behavioural issues because they are small and cute so they are not trained to be safe equines like large horses are. This soon leads to problems for the owners.

By providing a sanctuary for the littles, Happy Little Hooves provides a safe place for small equines to be safely trained and handled and to receive the hoof care they need. We also strive to educate people on the true nature of donkeys and ponies, encouraging people to understand them better and, therefore, treat them better.

The Sanctuary’s vision is:

                “To see a world in which the littlest equines are respected and cared for.”

At the Sanctuary, we hold strongly to the values of Animal Welfare, the Right to Quality of Life, Compassion, Education and Collaboration. We strive to uphold the “Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare”:

·         Freedom from Hunger and Thirst

·         Freedom from Discomfort

·         Freedom from Pain

·         Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour

·         Freedom from Fear and Distress

By providing these freedoms for the ponies, minis and donkeys in our care, we can ensure they live happy, healthy lives.