Shadow came to us on 10/6/22 from a NC feedlot. When I saw him on the page, I knew that we had to go all in to rescue him. He was starved and beat up and had no top teeth. Our donors were amazing and within 12 hours we had raised enough to pay his pull fee. In talking to the feedlot owner, I learned that he had picked him up when he was turned away from an auction because he was starving. Now I get why the auction turned him away but this meant that the person who starved him was going to leave with him so feedlot owner took him and his horse friends. He probably saved his life because Shadow is unable to eat regular food. His lack of teeth and probably pain from the remaining just makes it impossible for him to chew and digest hay. He was probably starving to death at the buffet.
I picked him up this afternoon and the poor guy is exhausted and ill. He ate a couple pounds of soaked alfalfa cubes on the way home and then a bit of senior feed in his stall. Then the excitement of the day, the energy it takes to digest the food all built up and he was resting when I left. The first few days are so crucial in refeeding a starving horse. They need to have small amounts of feed until they adjust and can eat normally. We will be giving him several meals of soaked senior and alfalfa cubes for the next 10 days gradually increasing the amount of each feeding and slowly decreasing the amount of feedings per day. Our end goal for Shadow is to get him down to 3 or 4 feedings per day.