[Whoanellie]

Arraignment for Autumn's previous owner is scheduled for January 25 2012. He is being charged with felony animal cruelty. Jingles requested that this guy gets what he deserves!

http://www.tierrescue.org/Autumn.htm

October 2011 - We received information from a humane agency about a little black mare in need of help. She has been starved for a very long time. She was being fed rotten fruit & vegetables. In the first pictures taken by the officer upon the initial inspection she appeared to be a light bay mustang. In reality (after being fed properly) she is BLACK! The feed she received (or lack thereof) caused depeletion of her coat color. She was covered in wounds and filth. The tips of her ears are gone.

I received information that there is a HIGH possibility that this little mare was leased out for use in the Charro rodeos on the weekends. Sigh. Needless to say, she has trust issues. The good thing is that she did present both eyes to the officer when she was taking the original pictures.

She has a multitude of scrapes on her rear and back. Her left hind leg is swollen from just below the knee all the way down. And of course, rain rot. She has large expressive eyes.

10/29/2011 Vet Evaluation:

"The mare presented as emaciated, her back/withers/rump are covered in rain rot/rain scald. There are many wounds and bite marks on her back/rump area. The tips of her ears are missing either from frostbite or manual removal by someone. Her left hind leg is swollen from the hock to the ankle. Wounds on the anterior suface of her hocks caused by rope burns are healing. Her hooves are overgrown and in need of trimming. Possible lice infestation. Her coat is dull and she has stomach bloat from parasites."

She is putting on weight slowly. Which is just how we want her to do it. Her coat has the "winter fuzzies" which disguises the fact that she is still quite thin. Her topline is prominent and her hip bones still jut out. The swelling in her right hind leg from the untreated rope burns has gone down, but that leg will probably always be thicker than the other. She still gets edema on her bellyline, but it comes and goes.

[Jane Honda]

Poor little girl. I hope the sorry excuse of a human gets put away.


I hope this girl gets a loving family that's ok with her trust issues.

[rustbreeches]

Hope it all works out for her.

But to clarify something in your report about her, you describe silage as rotten fruits and vegetables, when in fact it is not. Generally in the US silage is the entire corn plant chopped and bagged, stored in a silo, or silage pit, covered and allowed to go through a fermenting or curing process. Some farmers also treat barley, wheat or hay in this manner. It makes a wholesome, nutritious feed. For ruminants. It can be deadly to horses.

I just don't want someone to read this, then someday read what we feed cows and think we are feeding them rotten leftovers from a green grocer.

[certifiedgirl]

What a nice eye she has. I'm sure this is going to be Autumn's best holiday ever! Jingles for good years ahead for this little mare

[Whoanellie]

Thanks rustbreeches! Point taken. The officer called it silage and I mistakenly used their terminology without looking it up. Basically, the dairy cows out here are given the damaged fruit/vegetables from produce markets, etc. The farmers also supplement the feed with hay, etc. This guy was feeding cows and horses this fruit/vegetable concoction and not supplementing with hay. By the time Autumn was receiving this "feed" it was already spoiled. I edited the original post.

Hope it all works out for her.

But to clarify something in your report about her, you describe silage as rotten fruits and vegetables, when in fact it is not. Generally in the US silage is the entire corn plant chopped and bagged, stored in a silo, or silage pit, covered and allowed to go through a fermenting or curing process. Some farmers also treat barley, wheat or hay in this manner. It makes a wholesome, nutritious feed. For ruminants. It can be deadly to horses.

I just don't want someone to read this, then someday read what we feed cows and think we are feeding them rotten leftovers from a green grocer.

[Niennor]

Wow, I hadn't seen such a bad case of cruelty and neglect since Grace. I'm glad that she is receiving proper care and putting on weight. Whoever did this to her, should be locked in a cold cell and fed silage to see how he likes it!

[Whoanellie]

Unfortunately, this is somewhat common in our area. We brought in 4 earlier this year that had only been feed dried corn cobs and corn husks. Only one of those has huge trust issues as he had been roped, etc. for quite some time.

Our latest arrival is Sunny, (click for link to her page) who was found wandering the streets. She is in as bad a condition as Autumn was physically. She is a very sweet mare that just wants to eat and be brushed! Not too keen on bathes though! HA!

Wow, I hadn't seen such a bad case of cruelty and neglect since Grace. I'm glad that she is receiving proper care and putting on weight. Whoever did this to her, should be locked in a cold cell and fed silage to see how he likes it!

[Whoanellie]

HUGE thanks to Officer Beth Les of Inland Valley Humane Society-SPCA and the DA for their hard work in processing the case against Autumn's abuser.

http://www.tierrescue.org/Autumn.htm

Autumn's abuser was convicted on 3-14-2012 of Felony animal abuse. The following was his sentencing:

· Three year formal probation

· One day in jail

· Must meet with his probation officer every 14 days

· Mandatory animal cruelty counseling

· Search and Seizure at any time

· Restitution of over 900.00 to the vet he never paid. (Instructed by IVHS-SPCA to get a vet out to evaluate & treat. Vet gave abuser instructions for treatment/care . No improvement to Autumn's condition was noted therefore Autumn was seized and brought to TIER.)

· Cannot own any horses (during the probationary period)

[Nlevie]

Great news that the system works to convict animal abuse !

How is Autumn doing ?

[Whoanellie]

Great news that the system works to convict animal abuse !

How is Autumn doing ?

Autumn has gained weight and still has some of her unhealthy/fuzzy coat. She was pretty close to not surviving, so it has just taken time for her to physically heal.

Mentally, she is better, but not ideal. We had to have the vet out to sedate her in order to have her feet done. Her flight response is HUGE (Mine would be too if the tips of my ears had been cut off, chased by people, rope burns to my back legs). Unfortunately, while she was being put in the squeeze the vet moved very quickly to shut it. In doing this rapid/confining movement, Autumn freaked. The vet ended up giving her enough tranquilizer to lay her down. The whole experience somewhat nullified the progress we had made with her mentally.

We do have a nice young lady that has been coming out to work with her when the weather cooperates. Funds are tight and hay prices are through the roof, so we cannot afford to have Autumn placed in full training at this time.

She's getting better and does not flee to the other end of her pen when I am cleaning or putting hay in her feeder like she did in the beginning. But, any quick moves on the part of a human and she is GONE! Real quick!

[certifiedgirl]

That is great news about the conviction!

How about a current picture of the little girl, when you have time

[skippy60]

The abuser was sent to jail on my birthday. Best. Present. ever.

[Whoanellie]

It's Amazing what can change in almost a year if given the chance: (More info & New Pics @ Link) Autumn

Due to her past experience of being used in horse tripping, having the tips of her ears CUT off, roughly handled, starved to the point of almost no return, Autumn remained fearful of humans. The only way we have been able to have her feet done is to put her in a "squeeze" and have her sedated. She did not do well with the sedation and had difficulty coming out of it. We did not want to put her through that again and possibly cause her to be permanently damaged.

The alternative was to send her to a trainer. Unfortunately, hay prices & cost of care for the TIER residents have not come down and the economy has drastically impacted the ability of our donors to contribute. Because of financial reasons, we have had to put off sending Autumn & Chino to our trainer of choice: Sandi Anderson who is well known in our area.

Sandi has participated in the Mustang Makeover Challege for the past 5 years. She just has that Special Something that the wild horses trust. Being that Autumn was most probably wild, she was also abused. This means that she brings extra baggage to any situation involving humans.

Thanks to the Blue Thong Society, Menifee Chapter's recent Bunco fundraiser for TIER, we were able to send Autumn to Sandi Anderson's facility for 1 month of training in hopes that at the end of that month her feet can be trimmed without the use of sedation. Blue Thong Society's fundraiser paid for a large portion of the cost. We can only afford training costs for one month, so please keep your fingers crossed that Autumn's progress continues!