Farwell to Fanny

One of the early rescued creatures of Redwings Horse Sanctuary left us today. Fanny a lovely dark brown burro was originally snatched from the jaws of death at a local auction. The "buying" crowd were often buying animals to take to slaughter to gain just a bit more money than they paid for them. She and another burro Pal had been good friends. He had been a donkey rescued from the same auction house.

The representative that purchased Pal and Fanny came back with a story of having heard that they make "good donkey jerky". These two spent many years together in Carmel, until Pal had problems with his feet and body that led to our humanely euthanizing him. Fanny was introduced to the large wild burro herd soon after, and fit in very well. She was a real "in charge" sort of burro. She reigned as a leader in the herd for quite some time. Fanny was one of the burros that always loved human interaction. She helped teach many a visitor or volunteer that Burros have a great love for people if they aren't afraid.

In her later years, she developed cushing's disease, and more recently hoof problems that affected her quality of life. Today, Fanny left us and is surely off to greet her long lost Pal, and her herd mates Daisy and Belle. She passed peacefully and greedily chomped down a huge pound of carrots and equine senior in the warm sun.



Bye bye Fanny.

Chocolate Born Early 1999, Passed 1/13/2010

Wild Horse Rescued in 2000 from the Pryor Mountain herds bought from BLM auctions.

Chocolate was one of many wild horses from an over 100 horse rescue. Many organizations teamed up to help Chocolate’s herd. His body condition was skeletal, as were his many stunted yearling herd members. Redwings took the worst cases, as no one wanted them. We knew we could get them through recovery. We did with 100% success, all 21. Starvation and heavy worm burdens took toll on the herd. The board of Redwings Horse Sanctuary decided we would keep this herd together, and cherish their wild nature. These horses are a true link to the “music and dance” of body language and communication with equines. Chocolate was one of the less likely to allow people to handle him. Those who did get to touch him felt very special indeed.

Without Redwings, Chocolate would have surely died or been sent to auction leading to slaughter. We were blessed to enjoy 9 years with him. We’ll miss one of our favorites. One of the magical connections to North American history has moved on to meet up with old herd members running free in the stars.