Chloe has Cushings disease and chronic laminitis. We work with our vets and farrier constantly to manage her health. Chloe gets her feet trimmed every four weeks (as opposed to the normal six weeks). Prior to each trim, Chloe is walked and evaluated. She then has x-rays taken of her feet before the trim begins. Afterwards, she has x-rays completed again.
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CHLOE
Chloe is a 17 year old Welsh Pony cross. We adopted her from Longmeadow Rescue Ranch in August 2016. She was originally brought in to Longmeadow by The Animal Cruelty Task Force. Chloe had been seriously neglected for a long period of time. She was severely underweight and her feet had not been trimmed in months. Her mane and tail were filled with burrs, tangles and rats nests.
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Sadly, as a result of Chloe’s neglected past, she now suffers the consequences and has complex and complicated health issues she lives with.
Chloe is on an extreme medical regime that consists of 32 pills a day, she gets special feed, special hay and all around special treatment. If Chloe wants to walk the barn aisle, she can do that. She is no longer up to playing in the paddock with the others, but now enjoys babysitting the dwarfs.
Although grass is usually forbidden to horses with Cushings, we have recently began giving it to her in timed increments, just to bring some joy back into her life.
MR. CHOCOLATE
Mr. Chocolate is a product of being a pony that someone no longer wanted and ended up at rescue after rescue.
He is in his mid teens, has a uniquely velvety coloring which resembles chocolate and a gorgeous silver mane.
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It is interesting to point out that while Mr. Chocolate was waiting to come to the Ranch, while the barn was under construction, he was staying at a nearby show barn.
Many show barns can be a place of high stress for horses given the demands of a busy barn. This constant level of high activity caused major stress on Mr. Chocolate causing him to act out with aggressive behaviors such as biting and kicking.
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We looked into his behavior and investigated whether or not he had been fully gelded. He was. So, it was with a certain level of trepidation of bringing him home.
However, once we did, we can honestly say he has never once, given us so much as a sideways look.
Why? We firmly believe that environment plays a huge role with horse behavior. At R&R Ranch, we work hard to maintain a sense of quiet and calm in our barn. This is, in part why we believe our horses are happy. We provide a low to no stress barn that in part, helps keep our horses happy and well balanced.
His mission in life is to watch over and protect our sweet, Chloe girl. He lives with her and loves her unconditionally, despite her extreme health conditions.
