Golden Spike Farm's Plog

The Rescued

Dogs

Riley – Flat Coated Retriever. He is 3 years old and 70 lbs.  Riley has spent the last 2 years of his life in foster care.  He was living on a horse farm so he was already used to horses, sheep, cats and good with kids. We thought he would be the perfect fit for our farm and are thrilled his foster mom thought the same about us!

Cats

Elvis, Mugsy and Patches – Domestic Short Hair.  The barn cats were rescued as kittens from a local school where they were found hiding on the roof.  At first they were so scared; they hid for days. Now they are so friendly. They greet you when you go upstairs to get your tack.  Elvis will hang out in the riding ring when I do lessons.  Mugsy stops by the house at the end of the day to say hi and for some love.

Furry Family who are no longer at the farm

Nash – Tennessee Walking Horse. Passed away October 2014. Here is the post about his illness. He was at a horse farm in where the farm owner knows the person that trucks horses to Canada for slaughter.  The truck driver stops at her farm and unloads horses he thinks she can re-home.  To prove to her the horses are quality he gets on them bareback when he unloads them.  If she thinks she can find a home for them she puts the horses in her rescue barn.  She has about 10 rescue horses at a time that are kept in standing stalls.  They are tied up and not able to move or turn around.  As a result from standing for so long the horses ankles swell.  This is the conditions Nash was in when I went to look at him.  They said he was the nicest horse they had in the group but knew nothing of his past nor why he was on his way to Canada.  I took a look at his deep brown concerned eyes and fell in love.  I got on him that day to experience for the first time the wonderful gait (running walk) of the Walker.

Cuervo – Palomino. June 2015 Sold to a great couple who took him to NJ to be a companion for them and their younger horse. He was rescued from the same farm as Nash. His owner ran into major health issues and could not care for him anymore.

Casey – Arabian.  July 2015 Sold to one of my lesson students who could not imagine a live with out him in it. He was basically abandoned here at GSF.  The owner who ran into financial and health issues just stopped paying his boarding bill.  I used to be a great show horse. So we decided to keep him as he is such a good boy and great with the lesson kids.

Apple Jacks – Appaloosa. Sold to one of my lesson students who eased her way in to his life by half leasing him for about a year. He came to the farm when a boarder adopted him from Camelot Feed Lot Rescue Effort (http://www.nj-feedlot-horse-rescue.com/available.html).  While we don’t know much about him he came to use with very long and matted hair.  (So matted they thought he might be a Curly) He might have come from the south as he had massive welts from bug bites all over his body and the bugs had not yet come out here I in PA.  His shoes were hot shod on him.  I did purchase him from the boarder but for the cost she paid in fees for rescuing him.

Piper – one eyed border collie.  Living out her days in a wonderful home who has taken her on because she can’t come with me.  Nearly blind and half def she is enjoying her retirement with Otis one of the foster dogs. She was adopted from Last Chance Ranch. (http://www.lastchanceranch.org/)  They said she came from the streets of Philadelphia and was shot by a BB gun.  By the time I got her the wounds were all healed up but the BB was still lodged in her cheek.  A couple of years later I noticed her eye ball was getting bigger.  I took her to an ophthalmologist vet who said she had 7 times normal eye pressure in the eye and was blind in that eye.  This was probably caused by the trauma of the impact of the BB on her face as the lodged BB was right below the eye.  Since she is a farm dog who runs through the woods we decided to have the eye removed.  She is doing fine and entering in to her older years with grace and lots of doggie naps.