A few success stories!

 

 

  John- Was adopted out as a pasture pet and will retire in a nice home in Queen Creek

Chakoti 'Big Mac' is QH that was pulled off the kill lot.  He has a sweet and gentle temperament, a beautiful build, and feet any QH owner would die for....he is a pasture pet due to bone on bone issues in his fetlocks from a genetic deviation.  He shows his war wounds with broken withers, tooth problems and multiple scars but you would never guess looking at him. He has a forever home now.

 

Hawkeye - An 8yo chocolate palomino 14H horse picked up as a stray.  He is sweet and well trained under saddle.  He was used in a mexican rodeo and was picked up with multiple lariats attached to him.  He is smart and flashy.

Mayer (Whispering Knight) - A 8yo mustang gelding that was picked up as a stray by Dept of Agriculture and AERO held him for Ag and found a great home for him.

 

Montana  - A 5yo QH ranch mare who owner was financially distressed and thought she was pregnant.  The owner rescued her from an abuse and neglect situation.  She was examined and not pregnant and AERO found a wonderful new home!

 

Simon - A mid-teens ranch horse that was picked up as a stray down in South Phoenix.  Simon is a lovely saddle horse and was brought to AERO for holding for the AZ Dept of Agriculture.  He was directly auctioned to an AERO volunteer as a trail horse.

Priya a cute 10yo mini mule that Painted Promise allowed AERO to take on loan.  Priya is shy and needed some specialized handling to get her to halter and interact with people.  She has been doing fabulously with all the handling she's had at AERO and she's won the heart of everyone. Priya has been adopted by a loving family in Wickenburg.

Marabelle (no pic) - A 20yo black miniature horse picked up as a stray.  She has long feet and a suspected abscessed tooth but is otherwise healthy and very loving.  She is great with kids and has perfect ground manners.  She was adopted by a 6yo boy is thrilled and taking very good care of her.

 

Brandy - 09/18/09				Brandy - Day 3 - pink is new skin growth
day 3 chin	day 5 leg - getting larvae and necrotic tissue out	hole was to bone where vet wrap cut in	fly egg pockets opened up nicely	beautiful healing and progress - opening up to let out fly eggs
day9	day9	day 11 chin - looking nice	day 11_leg - still necrotic tissue and worms	day 11
day 11

Brandy is 22yo 14.2H Buckskin mare that contracted a severe skin infection.  Dept of Agriculture requested that AERO assist the owner to get this special girl proper medical care.  She is responding nicely to treatment but is at risk of degloving her foot due to the damage to the area around the coronet band.  We are working hard to assist her but her fate is currently uncertain.  The infection is responding to treatment well however and will not be the reason she is in jeopardy.  Update 10/3/09 - Brandy has a parasite infection in her wounds that is extensive and they are being evaluated.  Her rapid development of her condition may have been due to these parasites.  Update 10/11/09 - Brandy is responding nicely to treatments on parasites.  Her face is almost healed, her leg is still shedding parasites.  She did develop eye ulcers in both eyes and has been responding nicely to treatment.  Overall Brandy is gaining weight and much more comfortable in her wounds.  Update 01/04/2010:  Brandy's wounds are almost healed with her facial wounds completely closed and her leg wound getting close.  Brandy is lovely under saddle as a trail horse and ready for adoption. Brandy is in a loving home and used for trail riding!  Her adoption was finalized!

 

Armando - A 17.2H 8yo TB who was starving in a backyard of someone who could not afford his food.  Sweet and strong this big boy made it thru the worst part and is not in rehab.  He is sound and put together.  He has been adopted by his foster caretaker and he will be doing three day eventing!

 

Caption is a 10yo talented jumping TB that ended up in a barn where he wasn't being fed.  Luckily someone who knew him before he was at that location spotted him and negotiated him out of his situation.  He was turned over to AERO for rehab and other than being underweight, lacking muscle from being locked in a 10x10 stall for over a year, and some ulcers he was a healthy boy.  He was quickly rehabbed and placed in a wonderful loving home where he will be doing three day eventing! 

Caption shortly after arrival skinny but not too bad - just under muscled and his bad coat has been shed by now
Caption in action after adoption

 

 

Draven 8/28 on his first day at AERO

Draven (which means Child of beautiful shadows, True defender of Love) is a 12-year old AZTECA horse that is 15.2H...he was donated to Horses Help! as a candidate therapy horse but long term lameness issues made it impractical for him to continue in the program.  AERO was requested to assist since he has had many tests and vets evaluate him and he is not realizing results from conventional methods.  Draven will have our expert farrier assist as well as receive PAP-IMI treatments from Koala-T-Life and Sound therapy from The Sound Horse.  We have discovered his side bones are so extensive they are interfering with the pastern bone on one side and we believe it is from a shoulder imbalance likely a result of injury.  We're working on his shoulder alignment to help slow or stop sidebone development and we are using a massage techniques to bring his sidebones down.  Draven only needs minor changes to make him more comfortable and special shoes made him sound.  Draven was adopted into a wonderful trail home and will still be available to our children's program.

Billy - A 12yo donkey who was left behind when his owner passed away.  Painted Promise picked him up but could not get him gelded.  Thanks to Dr. Harris we were able to pull him in and complete his gelding surgery and was adopted into a multiple burro family.

 

Fiona - a 3yo draft/fjord cross that is from New Mexico where the owner ran out of funds to support her horses.  Fiona was adopted by Star who loves her big feet and amazingly self-composed personality.  Fiona was originally brought over as a candidate for Horses Help! but her personality was not the right fit for that type of work.

 

Panda

Panda is a 10yo Welsh Pony that has been placed in a new home.  He was left in a boarding pasture for three years by himself after his owner abandoned him.  He is healthy but overweight and has not been handled in awhile so he needs a refresher on manners.  He has been nicely trained and shown at some point and shows signs of having pulled a cart and ridden.  He is cute and blond - very flashy - 10.2H and happy with his two new big brothers.

 

Rose -  is a 12-year old Thoroughbred that suffered a foaling injury that is cosmetic in nature.  Her condition was not dangerous or fatal but due to the extensive costs of repair the owner was faced with the possibility of euthanisation.  Thanks to the help of Dr. Lucas at SW Equine we were able to assist Rose.  She was vet checked sound and has had some dressage training but has not been ridden in several years.  After 6 sets of stitches we are happy to say Rose is healed and went to her new home with Donna on 1/14/06 but Donna suffered injuries when training another horse that made riding no longer possible.  Rose recently returned to the rescue and was successfully placed in a lovely new home with a new family after serving the ASU Equestrian Team program for over a year.  Rose was euthanized in 2010 due to sand colic.  We will miss her dearly and so will her adoptive family.

 

Mak and Jerry are two elderly friends that needed a new home together and found a wonderful place in Tucson.  Mak is a mid-20's Arab that was shown and is still in great shape and Jerry is a lovely 30 something mule that loves to have kids ride him.  Both are happy in their new home and lucked out to find just the right person.

 

Panda is a 10yo 10.2H Welsh Pony who was left in a field with no friends or care for several years after the owner abandoned him at a boarding pasture.  Panda was overweight but otherwise healthy.  He showed indicators that he had pulled a cart but had not been ridden.  He is extremly fast and athletic.  Panda found a wonderful home with two big brothers where he will have friends and be part of a lovely family.  His people take him on walks now and he plays with his pasture mates.  Special thanks to Tara, Sharlene, and Dean for fostering Panda while he waited for this perfect match. See Panda's Diary here.

 

Babycakes is a 3yo POAx pony from New Mexico that AERO volunteers brought transported in when the owners were out of money.  She was placed in a wonderful new home in Benson AZ with another pony just her size.

 

Strawberry before and afters

Strawberry is a 23-year old QH that was badly neglected with overgrown feet, a bad case of parasites, extremely anemic, and underweight.  She was surrendered to AERO for proper care and has scars all over her body from ill fitting and abusive equipment.  She was used as a trail riding horse and will be an excellent horse for beginners when she has made her recovery.  Strawberry found a wonderful home with a family who will be riding her as a trail horse.

 

Challs Rose

Challs Rose- A 4yo Arab mare who has a foot problem that was treated by a local veterinarian. The owner needed to find an option for Rose as they are out of state and cannot easily manage her proper treatment for recovery.  Rose was nursed back to health and adopted by a very nice home in Rio Verde.

Conklin

Conklin is a 13yo 17H TB that was an owner surrender.  His person hung on financially to find Conklin the right situation but his care was suffering.  AERO had Conklin vetted, his feet done and boarded/fed him until, with the owner's review, he was placed in the right home.  Conklin lucked out with 2 acres of pasture and lots of neighbor horse friends in his new loving home.

Angel

Angel - A 4yo Grulla registered QH that has been bred twice. In her second pregnancy birthing process she experienced a significant foal tear that has left her injured and needing surgery.  Her owners opted to have her placed in specialized care to be properly rehabilitated.  AERO teamed up with Healing Hearts Sanctuary to help Angel. Today thanks to Dr. Julie Lucas there is no trace of Angel's injury and in her new home.  Special thanks to our foster caretakers, Dr. Laura Harris, Dr. Julie Lucas, Healing Hearts Sanctuary and the many other people who assisted Angel back to productive life. 

	Sammy

 

Sammy (a Care for the Horses rescue horse) is a 14-year old QH horse that is 14H...he was referred by AZ Dept of Agriculture to AERO who referred to Care for the Horses because they were closer.  It turned out he needed surgery and was transported back up to AERO.  AERO has assisted with overseeing the surgery and aftercare and Sammy was adopted into a wonderful home down in Sierra Vista. He's a sweet boy and you can see the steps to his surgery on this page. 

 

Dremal is a 10-year old Arab that was a high level performing reining horse.  Due to unknown circumstances he has a condition in his hamstring that makes him unable to perform at competitive levels any more.  He also was showing signs of axtaxia and other lameness issues that made him unsuitable as a schooling horse.  His concerned owners and trainer sought out a rehab option for him that would be in his best interest.  Dre, as he is called, is in foster care and has been checked out by our specialists.  He is looking and feeling great and his gaits are near normal but he is not currently ridable and in rehab.  He will make a great trail riding adoption candidate once he has worked thru some of the damage to his hamstrings.  We're happy to have Dre in our fold.  Dre is not a candidate for Sponsor a Horse at this time and is in the final stages of adoption.

 

 

Chico winning ribbons with Paige at a Gymkhana.	Chico and Paige were part of the firefighting team at Halloween.

 

Chico -  is a 13-year old Quarter Horse gelding that broke his coffin bone in his hind-right foot.  Chico had been with us for 1 year/3 months and has beat the odds for recovery on a very serious break!  With some special care he has fully recovered and is back out on the trail under saddle.  We are pleased to say he is a success story and a very special horse. He was adopted out on Feb 26, 2006 to Paige as the first horse she owns. (She leased a horse before Chico.)  We have been udpated that Chico loves team penning and Paige and he are close friends!

  Chino arrived in April 2004 from Northern Arizona in need of surgery on his left stifle from a congenital defect (OCD).  He is a beautiful bay Quarter Horse that is three years old.  Without surgery Chino would have had to be put down but now he'll be able to have a wonderful productive life and found a great new home with Brandon in Queen Creek, AZ where he will be started and used as a trail horse.  This picture is Chino's first time with a saddle on his back which doesn't seem to bother him at all.  Learn more about Chino by clicking here.

 

 

Sena Valer is a 26-year old Peruvian/Arab mare with severe lameness in both front feet.  She came to us from a home that couldn't properly care for her anymore.  After a complete check over by Dr. Julie Lucas of Southwest Equine, it was determined that with special foot care and an exercise program, Sena could look forward to a special job working with children.  Since Sena requires long-term rehabilitation for the duration of her life, AERO donated her in August 2004 to the perfect home with the H.O.R.S.E. program in New River specializing in educating children on horse care.  Sena will thrive in all the attention the kids will provide her. To learn more about H.O.R.S.E., call TJ at 623-465-5697.

 

Tiz All That was adopted by Dr. Dan Slovis in July 2003.  Dr. Slovis assisted Dr. Julie Lucas of Southwest Equine on the surgery for Tiz's compression fracture sustained to her front left knee.  Tiz is a beautiful two year old thoroughbred that is now completely sound after her surgery and lives happily in the big grassy pastures of Virginia!

Star was adopted in May 2003 by Colt, a 13 year old who finished up Star's rehabilitation of bowed tendons and Colt now uses Star for Civil War re-enactments and trail riding.  They are an inseparable pair!

 

Treat came to AERO at 7-weeks old with his mom, Shasta.  He and his mom were purchased from auction and AERO was contacted by the woman who purchased them in hopes that Treat would go to a good home.  We thank her for her compassion, as there's no knowing what could have happened to a 7-week old colt up for auction.  Treat was adopted out at two years of age and successfully started under saddle.  He lives happily in Flagstaff and is doing well!

Foxy was AERO's first rescue in April of 2001.  She was a 27-year old Missouri Foxtrotter that was reported to AERO because she had been abandoned by her owner at a boarding facility.  Foxy had not been visited by her owner nor ridden for over 2-years.  Upon arrival at AERO she was depressed, mal-nourished, and infected with parasites.  Foxy lived out the last of her years at AERO and we wish her lots of green pastures where she is!

In loving memory....Windwalker, Shasta, Rascal, Biscuit, Bobbie, KoKo, Cinderella's Pumpkin, Bud, Diamond, Valiant, Marabelle, Traveler, Junior, Roadrunner, and all the other horses that we were unable to rehabilitate.*  May they come back soon in healthy bodies to wonderful homes!  (*Not all rehabbed, rescued or euthanized horses that AERO has treated are on this page.)