Equine Emergency Rescue

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue recently purchased a copy of Equine Emergency Rescue for our library and for our foster carers’ and members’ education and development.

This book is fantastic. It’s full of very practical information and how to rescue horses from ditches, mud, fast flowing water, fires, fallen horse floats and more. We cannot recommend it highly enough.

“Two decades ago, only a tiny 4 to 10% of large animal rescues carried out in the UK were deemed to be successful–that is, they did not maim, severely injure or kill the animals involved. However, when advisers who were trained in technical large animal rescue techniques joined rescue teams, the percentage of successful rescues was raised to 96%” (from Equine Emergency Rescue).

They are sobering statistics!

If your horse is unfortunate enough to be caught in an emergency situation such as described in this book, the emergency responders may not have any training or knowledge in how to assist your horse safely without injuring, maiming or killing him. At least if you have some knowledge (and can preferably show them step-by-step instructions) your horse might just have a chance.

To buy your own copy of Equine Emergency Rescue, visit the website.

Charlie’s Angels is also keen to attend training in this form of rescue, so we’ll be looking out for opportunities to attend or to bring this vital training to SE Qld.

Oct 30 2011

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue AGM 2011

Our charity’s AGM was held on Sunday 30 October 2011.

All management positions were re-elected as the same as the previous two years, something the provides our organisation with a strong and stable foundation. Our Treasurer presented the yearly financial report and our auditing report, both of which were tabled for all present to view.

As a registered, professional organisation in Queensland, we are required to have our books audited annually and to provide a report to the Qld Office of Fair Trading. It’s the Office of Fair Trading that monitors what we (and all registered organisations) do. This way, you can be sure that we are doing exactly what we say we’re doing.

Charlie’s Angels’ has had another wonderful (if at times challenging!) year of horse welfare and rescue and we wish to thank you, our supporters, for continuing to keep us and our work for horses going. We are pleased to report that Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue Inc grows in strength each year and we look forward to another year of service for our equine friends.

Sep 16 2011

Tara Laid to Rest

Tara, still recovering from surgery and then fully blind

With many tears and grieving hearts, we laid our beautiful Angel, Tara, to rest this afternoon.

Tara was with us for just one month, yet she won hearts everywhere she went, with vets, vet nurses, the Charlie’s Angels team and, especially, with her loving foster carers, Kathryn and Adam. Her quiet, gentle and willing nature made her a dream horse and she tolerated being floated around to vets, having needles, stitches and surgery and managing recovery with remarkable grace and dignity.

She survived the January floods, only to spend some time in the UQ Gatton Veterinary hospital where she was treated for significant cuts up her legs after being caught in fencing (and being sponsored by Quest Equine Welfare for that duration). The search was on to find her owner and after she was located it was recommended that her left eye, which had obvious, irrepairable deformities, be removed.

Due to finanical considerations, this didn’t happen. Then last month, her owner contacted us and asked us if we would take her on and complete the surgery. When the eye was removed, it was found to contain a rare form of malignant tumour, which had begun on the optic nerve and led to her blindness. Tara had been blind in that eye for a long time, even prior to the floods, yet she coped fantastically well and it didn’t seem to bother her. She was still steady and calm and capable.

The vets were optimistic that the tumour had been removed successfully and we all looked forward to the day Tara was well enough to find her loving forever home, one in which she could bring her many gifts and talents. At just 11 years of age, she had a long life to look forward to.

So it came with tremendous shock when Tara went suddenly and dramatically blind in her other eye. She was fearful to move without any sight at all, and couldn’t find her food or water. And then, large lumps appeared under her jaw. Blood tests were done to rule out infection. Instead, it appeared that the cancer had rapidly spread, causing the other eye to go blind and now settling in her lymph nodes. Her distress in her last few days helped to alleviate any doubts we might have had when the vets recommended euthanasia.

We want to make it clear that we did not euthanase Tara because of her blindness. Many blind horses can go on to live wonderful lives. (For more info on this, we recommend www.blindhorses.org) She was euthanased because the CAUSE of the blindness was a rapidly spreading rare form of cancer and she was in considerable distress.

Tara was laid to rest and buried on Kathryn and Adam’s property under two huge gum trees. We are all terribly saddened by her passing but feel honoured that we could share her last days with her.

We wish to thank Tara’s foster family who loved her from the moment they saw her. You were her Angels and now she is yours.

If you would like to help contribute to Tara’s medical, euthanasia and burial bills, please visit our donations page. Thank you.

May 29 2011

What do you feed your horse?

Foster horse, Shona, having breakfast

Feeding horses. It’s a huge and fascinating area of study. And unfortunately, a lot of us could do it better. A high proportion of calls that we get from people wanting to surrender horses can be attributed to incorrect nutrition or management.

If you’re anything like me, you might not have ever given a lot of thought to what you’re feeding your horse until something changes or goes wrong. In my case, it was the introduction of a pregnant mare into my life that made me think, hey, wait a minute, what do I feed this horse? For others, the wake up call will come when their horse develops laminitis and founder. Or ‘big head’ disease. Or colic. Or stringhalt. Or toxic poisoning from weeds. For others, they might find their horse is underweight. Or overweight.

All good health begins with food.

We’re about to begin writing a series of blog posts on feeding horses that will cover these and many more topics, from big concepts to fine details. They will appear here on the home page and will be collected into a group into the Feeding Horses page on this site.

President, Jo Schoenwald, has a Certificate in Equine Nutrition from the National College of Traditional Medicine and our Senior Foster Carer, Jo Miller, is currently completing the same course, having been generously sponsored by NCTM to do so. We don’t have all the answers, but we think we’ve got a few things right, and we’re passionate about learning more all the time, so we’re keen to share what we’ve got. In doing so, we hope to be a resource for horse people everywhere and maybe help to prevent some of the problems that we frequently see and are frequently asked to help.

Joanne Schoenwald (President)

Apr 7 2011

Feeding Horses: Buying Good Hay

If you’re serious about equine nutrition, you want to make sure that the hay you’re feeding your horses is good quality. Here are 10 things to look for when buying hay from www.horsetalk.co.nz. You can read the full article here.

pic by re-ality

Appearance: leaf, stalk, weeds, thistles
Colour: golden, green
Mould: toxic to horses
Smell: sweet (mmm…); you can also smell mould
Weight: too light? too heavy?
Texture: coarse? flexible? soft? how will it feel to your horse?
Dust: dust ends up in your horse’s lungs!
Leaf shatter: when the leaves crumble in your hands = lack of nutrients
Age: how many seasons old is it and how has it been stored?
Storage: keep it off the ground and out of the elements

You want to make sure that your dollar is going into good quality hay that is in turn going to give your horse the best nutrition available. The best way to ensure quality might be to visit the farm from which is comes and ask lots of questions!

Feb 23 2011

Neglected Parrot Mouth in Rescue Horse Tansy

Tansy's mouth: Talons on molars left unattended meaning it was very difficult and painful for her to eat.

Parrot mouth in horses is generally considered a genetic defect. A horse with a parrot mouth has their lower jaw set too far back. This results in the top and bottom teeth not wearing against each other properly and gross abnormalities are the result. If treated early enough by a qualified equine dental surgeon (i.e. a vet), the abnormalities can be significantly reduced.

Rescue horse, Tansy, wasn’t so lucky. Her parrot mouth was left unattended. Several of her front teeth are missing, the one on the far right is totally dead, and they have grown so long that they were pushing into the soft flesh of her lower lip. (This leads to injuries to the tissues and infections.) Because the two first upper molars have been left unattended (and they have no lower tooth to oppose them) they have grown severe talons that hung down and dug into her soft flesh. Obviously, this cause terrible pain and distress, as well as making it very difficult to eat, and the result is loss of condition and suffering. Tansy will need regular ongoing dentistry for the rest of her life to help manage the condition of the teeth she has left and prevent further suffering.

Tansy's untreated parrot mouth

It is so very important that ALL horses receive yearly dentistry treatment, and more frequently in cases of abnormalities such as parrot mouth.

Jan 6 2011

NCTM sponsors us for Certificate in Equine Nutrition

We want to say a very big thank you to the National College of Traditional Medicine (NCTM) for offering us a place in their Certificate in Equine Nutrition course.

President, Joanne Schoenwald, is a past graduate of the Certificate in Equine Nutrition course and wrote to the CEO of NCTM, Sandi Rogers, to ask if the college would consider sponsoring one of our foster carers to complete the course. It is of strong importance to Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue that we are leaders in the field of equine education and community support to horse owners around the country. Sandi was immediately enthusiastic to support the idea and offered a place. Joanne Miller (who now has the original “Charlie”, fosters Gypsy and recently fostered Jackson) was offered the place first, as she is our most senior foster carer.

NCTM offer many courses in animal complementary medicine, including canine and equine myofunctional therapy, herbal medicine for companion animals and horses, pasture management, equine naturopathy, equine anatomy and physiology and small animal nutrition and naturopathy.

We are very proud and priveledge to accept this placement and look forward to bringing you more of the equine nutrition courses that we offered last year, which were very popular.

Jun 16 2010

Charlie’s Angels in Equine News

Read on to find out how you can get your copy…

Our friends at Equine News have provided us with outstanding coverage in the Winter 2010 issue. We want to say a very big thank you to editors, Kerrie Seewitz and Jo Maisey, for their fantastic support of our organisation. They’ve included a three-quarter page promotion for Charlie’s Angels, including how to sponsor a horse, as well as a large advertisement of Big Heart Day in their classified section… and all in glorious pink colour!

Equine News and Trade Services Directory is distributed around New South Wales, through the Mid North Coast, Northern Rivers, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, and Hunter Region, and in South East Queensland, Australia.

This issue covers topics such as:

Caring for the Older Horse
Magnotherapy and Horses
Beating the Hoof Bugs
The Rugging Dilemma (are we killing them with kindness?)
Getting Your Horse Confident.

Get your copy of Equine News:

Charlie’s Angels will be hosting an “equine trivia” night at Terah Creek saddlery and cafe in Dayboro on Monday 12th July at 7pm. No teams necessary, just come along for fun and easy trivia and you can win prizes. Every person who comes along will receive a copy of Equine News! Cost $5 for non-members, FREE for members!

Mar 3 2010

Please Stop Breeding

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue does not support the breeding of horses in any way.

One trip to a saleyard will show you just how many unwanted horses there are that go through the trauma of being shipped around for weeks at a time, starving, injured, ripped from their mothers, and ultimately killed.

We are launching a campaign to introduce mandatory regulation and microchipping of horses and tough restrictions on the breeding of horses.

Many people think that the horse that they breed will be okay, because they have a great pedigree or because they are a ‘good’ breeder. But the reality is that conservative estimations place at least one in every two horses bred in Australia as having its destiny in the slaughterhouse. Everyone thinks their horse will be fine, but the reality is otherwise. What happens to your horse after you sell it? You will never know.

We understand the desire to breed a foal and bring a new life into the world, nurture it and give it the best start in life. Why not pick up a pregnant mare at the sale yards? The sale yards are full of pregnant mares and foals, many just days or weeks old. We understand that a small minority of people make their living off breeding horses. But there are many other fantastic ways to earn a living working with, and loving, horses.

The simple fact is that there are more horses in Australia than there are places for them to go to. Every year, horse breeders pump out hundreds of thousands of horses, the majority of which will end up in a slaughterhouse. The racing industry alone can ‘start’ 200,000 young Thoroughbreds into racing in a single year.

If you want to see an end to the suffering and cruelty that so many horses endure before they are killed and butchered, then STOP breeding. It’s as simple as that.

Feb 28 2010

Animal Massage Workshop, funds to Charlie’s Angels

An Animal Massage course is being run this Sunday, 7th March 2010, in Alderley, Brisbane. It is being run by Lucy Gabrielle and Eileen McLean and $15 from the course fee of everyone who books between now and 5.00pm Friday will go directly to Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue.

The massage workshop covers the principles of a good massage, types of massage (e.g. effleurage, petrisage etc.), canine anatomy, techniques for small animals, hands-on practice on dogs, contraindications, and case studies.

The course is aimed at those people who wish to take a first step into animal massage, either as a way of treating their pets, or to explore the beginning of a new career.

$150, includes comprehensive take-home manual and certificate upon completion.

Email Lucy (lucygabrielle@live.com) if you would like a registration form, want more information, or have questions.

Charlie's Angels Horse Rescue Inc.

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