Impounded on May 14, 2004 and brought to Rocky Mountain Horse Rescue Headquarters on May 26th, Chance arrived extremely thin and depressed in a pathetic state. This 8-year old Quarter Horse Stallion was rated a one on the Henneke scale which means near death. Although he had been fed good hay for 12 days by the Animal Control Officers, he was desperately thin and lethargic with subnormal temperature. He immediately started him on a diet of beet pulp, sweet feed, and grass and alfalfa hay with small meals 4-5 times a day. As Chance improved, portions were increased and the number of feedings per day was decreased . It was an exciting event the first time Chance broke into a few trotting steps upon seeing his beet pulp mash arriving at dinner. Up to that point, he had only dragged around his pen at a walk.
Chance’s condition steadily improved with the highlight being on July 6 when he spotted the five geldings we had placed in a new pasture 400 feet away. He thought that they were the most beautiful prospective brides that he had ever seen and proceeded to buck and whinny and tear around his corral while we videotaped and took still pictures of his antics. By August, Chance had regained his full weight and was on a simple diet of two feedings a day of a can of sweet feed and a few flakes of grass hay and a flake of alfalfa. We never had him on supplements or anything else special. Simple horse food was the answer to his recovery.