Abandoned Horse Loses Battle With Starvation

"Hope” was a fitting name for a horse found tied to a post in Perris.

She was starving and barely alive when a Temecula horse rescue found her, but they never gave up hope.

The next day, vets realized she was beyond recovery, and they euthanized her.

“Hope… suffered more than any animal or human should ever suffer in her short three years on this earth,” said Louise Gardner, the nonprofit’s chief financial officer

The 3-year-old animal was discovered on May 17.  Volunteers with Villa Chardonnay, the rescue organization in Wine Country, picked her up and started to nurse her.

She ate a little bit, Gardner said.

“She did well for the first 24 hours and started to eat slowly,” she wrote in an announcement. “You have to start them slowly to eat, as their systems are not used to food.”

Seven volunteers struggled for hours to get the horse to stand, but the longest it stood was for a few minutes, Gardner said.

“Both us and the vet were hoping she was just exhausted and going to pull out of it,” Gardner wrote.

The veterinarian gave Hope fluids through an IV along with medications and stimulants, but she continued to be immobile. She was euthanized at 1 a.m.

The organization is struggling with the cost, Gardner said. “To take her to the hospital would cost a minimum of $2,500,” she said. “In fact, you can’t even check a horse into San Luis Rey Equine Hospital without paying $2,500 in advance.”

Gardner asked anybody who could donate to click here.