Rescuers save colt abandoned by herd in northern Arizona
GILBERT, Ariz. - A Mustang colt was found abandoned by its herd up north, and it took an entire team of rescuers, transporters, and vets to save his life.
"Ashe" is currently in Gilbert under the care of an equine vet. His rescuers found him on the Navajo Nation, after he was abandoned by his herd. They’re not sure why he was, but he is estimated to be about 3 months old. And against all odds, he is expected to survive.
"This little guy was sort of just standing there by himself around the houses and the folks that live around there, and they saw him, and they brought him in, and realized that he needed medical care right away," said Elise Wilson of Flagstaff.
Wildhorse Ranch Rescue was looking for a volunteer to bring Ashe to Arizona Equine in Gilbert and Wilson stepped up.
"We realized that Ashe was very weak, and there was no way he would make it through a 3.5 to 4-hour drive to the Valley in the heat in the horse trailer. So we literally picked him up and put him in the back of my truck on the seat," she said.
The trek wasn't easy to begin with, but along the way, Cottonwood Police were engaged in a high-speed pursuit of a sexual assault suspect, stopping traffic, including the horse transport for an extra hour on Interstate 17.
Exhausted and weak and with low odds of survival, Ashe made it to the vet.
"With foals, we take it from a 12-hour period. They can change drastically. What happened with him is he gives us a little false hope that he’s doing well, we’ve corrected his numbers, we’re backing off the fluids and then something else comes up," said Dr. Tresha Robinson, a DVM at Arizona Equine.
Robinson says Ashe is in a less critical state after a few days of 24/7 care.
"He still has a problem with his white count. Now it’s really low, so he is septic. And what that means is he’s just systemically ill."
A Mustang colt was found abandoned by its herd up north, and it took an entire team of rescuers, transporters, and vets to save his life.
But he is on the road to recovery and Wildhorse Ranch Rescue says he's just one of many horses they'll likely save this year.
"They don’t end up at rescues, they usually end up making that trip to Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered, so rescues like ours, we just try to help as many as we can." said Kimberly Meagher, founder and chair of Wildhorse Ranch Rescue.
Ashe’s vet says she doesn’t know when exactly he will get to go home yet, but of course, he is expected to go home with the rescue organization. They say he’ll be available for adoption shortly after that time.