HORSE RESCUE OUTFIT FLOODED WITH FOALS, DEALS WITH RISING COSTS

Zooming around their pen at lightning speed, the days-old foals at Last Chance Corral have no idea they weren"t supposed to make it this long. With the economy on the decline and prices soaring, caring for these 40 foals suggests a survival story of its own.

Under the direction of Victoria Goss, Last Chance cares for abused, infirm and unwanted equine, and places them in adoptive homes. Since 1986, the horse rescue and rehabilitation shelter southeast of Athens has given life to horses left for certain death.

"While the need for our service is increasing, the available funding is decreasing, and we're kind of in a pickle with that," Goss said, taking a brief pause in her 16- to 20-hour workday.

With less money to spare, owners often leave their horses in Last Chance's care, and fewer people are able to donate money or supplies to the corral. At the same time, Goss and her team are caring for an unprecedented number of foals this spring.

More than 20 foals rest in a barn designed for 12; all of the juvenile horses need extensive individual care and specialized milk to replace that of their mothers. Fifteen other adult horses stay at the corral, but they do not require nearly as much attention as the babies.

"I've got them as young as 2 or 3 days old, and as old as a month," she said. "It's kind of a dirty little secret for thoroughbred racing, the ‘sport of kings.'"

Most of Last Chance's foals come from breeding centers around Lexington, Ky., where the thoroughbred breeding industry flourishes.

In thoroughbred racing, racehorses must be conceived naturally by mare and stallion. Nine days after giving birth, the mare must immediately be rebred, so a nurse mare milks the baby. But in order to have milk for a racehorse baby, the nurse mare must deliver a foal of her own, Goss explained.

"These are considered a byproduct simply to be slaughtered," she said of her foals. "That's why these babies are born, simply so she (the nurse mare) can produce milk, and then their job in life is over. The end."

This year has been particularly challenging to find homes for the foals, she said, because babies are expensive to raise, and people are reluctant to take on such responsibility during a bad economy. Last Chance has already turned away around 18 foals because of space and financial constraints.

In a Nov. 2007 Athens NEWS article, Goss said the corral went through 10-15 bales of hay a day, spending $7,500 on hay in 2006. In part due to a hay shortage caused by a summer drought, she projected to spend $30,000 on hay for 2007.

But that's not the only cost.

Goss now spends $100 per bag of milk for foals, but must purchase $4,000 worth at a time, she said. Opening four to five bags a day, each order lasts only three weeks. In addition, the foals consume 60 large containers of vanilla yogurt every day, a daily cost around $100-150.

"(The foals) are very fragile in that their digestive systems kind of turn on them with the artificial milk," she said. For the first few days or weeks, corral staff give foals IV fluids, blood transfusions, oxygen and various medications.

"The transmission of disease is really virulent in these guys," she said of the foals. "They don't have a mother, so they tend to suck on everything… We have to clean that barn every day, every bit of it. The walls have to be washed, the shavings have to be stripped, and that's about $50 a day in (wood) shavings," including shavings that are donated.

 

GOSS SAID NURSE MARE foals are the best-behaved and intuitive horses she has ever ridden. And despite the costs and constant care, she added, raising foals and horses is a rewarding and addictive experience.

"I believe in life, and it's an incredible gift," she said. "We all are honor-bound to do something good, and you need to improve life for the less fortunate. I knew more about horses than I did about anything else, and so I decided to help these animals. In turn, the animals that I help can then change people's lives."

Michelle Swaro, a high-school senior from Logan, adopted a horse from Last Chance several weeks ago. In the fall, she will take it with her to Lake Erie College and plans to train the horse in the equine therapy school.

"You'd be amazed by what horses can do for people," she said.

Her horse, Full Moon, came to Last Chance in March starved and neglected. The corral provided veterinary and dental care for the horse; after gaining around 50-75 pounds, it still has 300 more to go.

"(Equine) therapy gives people so many things. It raises self-esteem and confidence," she said, citing the case of a stroke victim who now holds a full-time job after going through therapy.

OU senior Claire Russell confirmed how powerful the experience was taking part in saving foals' and horses' lives. Russell worked and volunteered at Last Chance from 2005-07.

"It was really eye-opening, because you see what people will do to completely helpless animals just to make a dollar," she said. "(The horses') experience in life has been so horrible, and it's good to know you can be a part of the point when it turns around for them."

Goss said she will hold her doors open to horses as long as she can against the challenges of a declining economy.

"It's the ‘last chance' for most of these horses to get an opportunity to live," she said of the corral's name. "I am usually the only thing that stands between certain death and life for these horses."

She added that her only wish is to keep doing what she does.

"That would be all the reward I would ever ask for in the world, to be able to keep offering asylum to the unwanted," she said.

For more information on Last Chance Corral's Foal Rescue program, contact Victoria Goss at 594-4336 or visit www.lastchancecorral.org