Bear Valley Feature Horse: Ghost

This is Ghost in 2005. Such a beauty!
Note, she is not pregnant

Ghost is a horse near and dear to my heart. I sponsor her as much as possible (I sadly can't do a monthly sponsor due to finances). The first time I saw her, it was love. Seeing her before and after pictures, and her story just solidified it.

Ghost is about 15 years old (which isn't all that old for a horse! They can live until over 30!). She was originally rescued in 2005 from a feedlot (yes, horses are sold for slaughter in Alberta. For meat. Meat to be sold to eat in other countries. It is not legal to sell horse meat in Canada to Canadians), and then two years later she was adopted. You may be wondering, why, if she was adopted out 8 years ago is she back with Bear Valley now?

This is Ghost January 2015. She's pregnant.

Assholes. That's why.

She was sold by her adoptive owner, and she has, in her relatively short life, passed hands SEVEN TIMES, and, since being adopted out, been bred multiple times. Let me fill you in on some of Bear Valley's adoption rules.

Unless written consent is given by Bear Valley Rescue, mares are adopted or fostered on the condition that they not be bred. Colts are released on the condition they must be gelded as soon as possible and not be used for breeding. 

Please note that if ownership of the horse is transferred, these conditions must follow the horse to its new home.

Horses adopted or fostered from Bear Valley Rescue are released on the condition that they never be sold at auction or for slaughter.

Bear Valley also is always open to taking back a horse they adopted out, if it's adoptive owners can no longer care for it properly anymore.

She was bred without permission, the conditions of ownership managed to be ignored. Currently, she is going to remain a permanent residence of the rescue. 

She is currently expecting a foal, probably sometime in April 2015. 

Bear Valley Contact Information:

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Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse monthly or through one time donations!
Charity Focus

Bear Valley Feature Horse: Beth

*WARNING. PICTURES OF AN EMACIATED HORSE BELOW*

Picture 1: Beth July 

Bethie's life story has not been an easy one. Even when she came to the rescue on July 9th, 2014, she was in horrible shape and her prognosis was pretty grim. When she came to the shelter, she had a body conditioning score of about one.
She had had a halter left on her, probably from when she was a weanling, and it grew into her face, leaving a big dent in her nose and turning the hair on her head white in a halter pattern on her face.  

Picture 2: October 22nd

She had also had some sort of injury, perhaps from being hit by a car, to her hips, causing either a fracture or muscle tear.  She was emaciated and had sores, most likely from struggling to stand. A horse who cannot stand is often a horse that doesn't survive. This was the first clue to how much of a survivor she would end up becoming.
She has grown stronger every day, and always maintained a sweet and gentle temperament. She is currently now able to be outside with the senior horses, can get up on her own! It will be a long road before she is recovered, but we believe, I believe, she can and will do it. 

Here is her progress photo album!

Jan 23rd

Contact information for Bear Valley:

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Website
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Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse monthly or through one time donations!
Charity Focus

Bear Valley Rescue!

I've started to volunteer with Bear Valley Horse Rescue!

I'm going to start making posts on Wednesday's having a feature animal, some progress reports, donation information, contact information, etc.

About The Rescue

"Bear Valley Rescue was founded in 2004, and we registered federally as a charity in January of 2005.

Back in 2002 or 2003, I was reading the novel 'The Grave Maurice' by one of my favourite authors, Martha Grimes.  It's a murder mystery, but part of the plot involves a pmu (pregnant mare urine) farm.  I'd never heard of 'pmu' before and started researching it.  Finding out about all the foals being born each year to pmu mares, with no future but slaughter ahead of them, started me thinking: If only people knew about these horses...!  From there we learned about horse auctions and horse feedlots. On our first trip to a feedlot, we went with our 2 horse trailer and came away with 12 horses (no, they didn't all fit in our trailer - the feedlot owner delivered them for us for free!).  Then we started buying pmu mares (all pregnant, of course) that were being culled, and had the privilege of meeting Jennifer Kunz through pmuFoalQuest (she is now the manager of Duchess Sanctuary in Oregon).  The rest, as they say, is history.  The Rescue has taken on a life of its own, and we now have well over 100 horses in our care, along with other residents such as rabbits, chickens, pigs, goats, and cows."

I hope that these guys capture your heart like they've captured mine!

Here's all of their contact information!

Facebook
Twitter
Website
Linkedin
Donation (cheque, money order, paypal, and ATB cares  payment methods all available!)
You can also sponsor a horse for $50/month!
Charity Focus

Many thanks!

Laura