12-year-old racing Quarter Horse mare "I'm Willie Cute," now named "Molly," was one of 6 recipient mares rescued earlier this month.

Molly came to AHR with what turned out to be a broken foot -- broken in two places. She had been hobbling on it for an unknown number of *months.* No bute to relieve the pain, or soft ground to heal on. Just the hard concussion of being shuffled from recipient facility to feed lot, then finally, the lucky break of rescue.

After taking Molly home, having her teeth and vaccination needs addressed, and clearing quarantine, we had arranged for Molly to join Ingrid, Fiona, and Felicia, for foster care. Ingrid had the perfect, very soft spot for Molly's damaged hoof to heal. 

But Molly's longterm neglect caught up to her in other ways -- very swollen lymph nodes. 

After a series of tests to ensure Molly's swollen lymph nodes had nothing to do with any communicable diseases, including a histopathological examination of the lymph tissue itself, it was concluded Molly, although in poor health, was all clear to join Fiona and Felicia for the first, significant stage of her rehab.

Ingrid says "She is shy, but getting better!"

After spending so many years fighting for life, persisting with pain, the dull resignation of endless defeat sets in. It can take a long time to realize you are truly safe again. And safe to open up again. That will happen for Molly, in time! She will heal, both inside and out.

If you would like to help with Molly's last vet bill ($400!), please donate through our website

"Never Kneeling" had a big day yesterday, with a full set of shiny new shoes, then a trip to West Coast Equine Hospital for a follow-up lameness exam.

We're happy to report NK's ultrasound revealed very healthy tendons, conclusively dispelling fears of DSLD. The dropped pasterns she's displayed since the time of rescue, were of enough concern, that we felt it was essential to rule out.

Even with her full set of shoes, and healthy ultrasounds, NK has some lingering right hind lameness. At this stage, rather than explore with further diagnostics, a careful program of conditioning will begin, to see if it's merely just a symptom of her extreme muscle atrophy. 

Never Kneeling had an unfortunate start to life, and though she will never be an elite athlete, she can be given every chance to develop into a healthy, happy equine "good citizen." 

Now, this little girl needs to gain fat, muscle, and some trust in the human race. All in due time! 

We've created a GoFundMe page, in hopes of reaching our goal of paying off this month's farrier bill! To be able to continue our rescue efforts, the "after auction" portion of rescue is a crucial time for rehabilitating these horses. Please donate and help us with such an important cost of rescue! 

To help, please go to http://www.gofundme.com/8lvycc

Proper farrier work is essential for rehabilitating horses after the long neglect they've suffered. While some horses can go barefoot, others require corrective shoes and pads -- to each according to their needs, oftentimes verified by veterinary X-rays. To ensure these horses are fully sound, or as sound as they can be, before being rehomed, is crucial to making sure these horses find their " happily ever after."

High Z, whose feet were nearly as long as Buck Tuddy Buck's at the time of rescue, has had a number of old abscesses cut out since his first trim, back in January. Today, there was a light at the end of the tunnel! Although a number of bruises are still coming to the sole surface, they're fewer and farther between. 

Adele also got her first set of shoes, so her re-training can begin, and Never Kneeling got a full set of shoes, to give her weak pasterns additional support. As well as almost everyone else being due today.

All in all, today's farrier bill came to $625. Not bad, considering the amount of corrective work most of these horses need! 

If you can help us pay today's farrier, please donate viahttp://www.auctionhorsesrescue.com/donate.html

Hip 462, the "new" old guy, enjoying his first night of safety.

Thank you again to Valerie and her family for giving this ancient ex-racehorse, a second chance.

Hip 462 from Saturday's Cowtown auction, the very old red roan racing Quarter Horse, is now officially safe and settling in. What a sweet old man, ready to begin his retirement! 

Thank you Valerie, for giving him this chance! We are always in search of retirement and hospice homes, many of our hard luck rescues wind up needing them. To be able to find loving, forever homes, is always our goal. Old guys like this at auction, often need a soft place to land, but we can only fit so many into our rescue at one time.

If interested in providing a retirement home to Springisintheair, or one of our other companion-sound rescues, please fill out our application at http://www.auctionhorsesrescue.com/adoption-application.html

Some of you may remember our rescue of the buckskin gelding from the Lancaster auction back in early February of this year, who we cleverly named "Bucky". Yes, we are good at saving them... naming them?...not so much. 

Well, it's a couple of months later and things are really looking up for Buck. Here he is taking in the sights, (in what appears to be a brand new body), at his new home with adopter Maria.

When we first rescued Bucky, he was in extreme pain from very overgrown and neglected feet. High doses of bute failed to help relieve his discomfort, so he was transported to West Coast Equine Hospital to be examined. His feet had been neglected for so long, (and the damage so deep), the source of his pain was difficult to identify, even on x-ray. After his feet were trimmed, he was diagnosed with a severe case of thrush, as well as permanent damage to his navicular bone..

Fast forward to today and Bucky, (now more appropriately named "Bronson"), has gained over 200 lbs, is wearing corrective shoes and pads and will be x-rayed again soon to re-assess the damage to his feet. 
We are simply thrilled with the progress Maria has made rehabilitating Bronson. He looks absolutely fantastic, is a very loved family member and will continue to be, no matter what. 

Thank you so much Maria for giving Bronson the great future he very much deserved all along, and now has finally found.

Hip 461 the huge grey mare, 462 the old red roan ex-racehorse, and 467 the buckskin pinto, are safe tonight. Thank you to everyone for their help with networking, sharing, and fundraising.

Lucille, aka "Legend Express," is a 13 year old, 15.2 hh racing Quarter Horse, rescued last year from a livestock auction. By Special Effort and out of a Ronas Ryon mare, this little horse comes from excellent bloodlines, but that still wasn't enough to keep her from nearly selling to slaughter. Calm, kind and not spooky. She will make a fantastic light riding horse, for someone looking to do gentle rides on the trail or in the arena!

If interested in adopting Lucille, please fill out our application athttp://www.auctionhorsesrescue.com/

Lucille is located in Chatsworth, CA.

"Bridge Too Far" was Hip 713 at Saturday's auction, and the very tall Thoroughbred gelding, 11 years young, came with rumors of a suspensory injury, a bad knee, and what appeared to be high ringbone. He was rescued, and to our surprise, the vets at West Coast Equine Hospital could find no evidence of any of these injuries!

Bridge earned close to $100,000 on the racetrack, and for whatever reason, wound up at auction anyway. Although he was rescued with the expectation of being a wreck requiring a great deal of physical rehab, perhaps we'll be lucky for a change 

Either way, Bridge can look forward to not being used up and end up back at auction. And although for now he appears sound, auction rescues often have a way of surprising once they've had time to rest, to reveal even deeper issues. For now, Bridge is in rehab mode. We will see.

Thank you to After the Finish Line for help making Bridge Too Far's rescue possible.

Hip 686, 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding "Grand Yule," came to auction Saturday with horrifically overgrown feet. So deformed, they had begun to curl under. He started off the day favoring his enlarged left front leg. By auction time, his right front became the leg he gingerly held up. He wasn't doing so well.

Grand Yule, a grandson of Holy Bull, had once sold at Fasig-Tipton for $110,000 as a yearling, then offered for $170,000 as a 2-year-old, and sold again for $100,000 to his final racing home. Yule never did much on the track. For all the excitement at the big Thoroughbred sales, in the end, he earned just shy of $20,000 on the track. A lot of money had been lost.

It's been 5 years since Grand Yule's, now named Dorian, last race. What he's been doing since then, is unknown. But by Saturday night, it was clear he was used up and done for. An enlarged left front, neglected feet, and a chopped off tail, spoke to a horse who no longer had any value to anyone. 

So he came home. The farrier was immediately tasked with cleaning up his feet, and the vet's from West Coast Equine Hospital came to see what could be done for his overall well-being.

Although too sore-footed at this stage to do any sort of serious lameness exam, what is certain is Dorian has lost all flexion to both ankles. Whether that means he can be rehabilitated into a riding horse, or if a companion life will be for him, will have to wait to be decided once his feet have recovered further. 

Dorian is a sweet horse, whose past you would not guess on "first pet." Horses have a way of quietly enduring, no matter what life has thrown their way. 

Thank you to After the Finish Line for their help in ensuring Dorian could be rescued. 

If you would like to donate toward Dorian/Grand Yule's rehabilitation and care, please donate to [email protected]