Awonda: January's Horse of the Month

Awonda is a pretty grey Arabian mare who was living with other horses in a large pasture in Contra Costa County. Life was good; they had plenty of green grass, hay, and room to run until one year the grass dried up and slowly the feed stopped growing. The herd of eight horses had to walk the whole pasture just to find enough to eat. They began losing weight, were always hungry, and their owner was no longer coming to see them. They became covered with ticks and itchy lice but didn’t have the strength to rub them off.

Their owner had become very ill and he was no longer able to care for the animals. Then, someone told Contra Costa County Animal Services about Awonda and her herd. Animal Services came and brought food, then loaded all the horses into a trailer and took them to a shelter.

Once the younger horses were cleaned of their lice and ticks and started putting on weight again, they were quickly adopted. Awonda and her friend Miz Scarlett were older than the others, and although they were gaining weight, no one wanted them.  Redwings was called and the two horses found their forever home at the sanctuary.

Awonda is now 26 years old and still full of life and spunk.  She can be seen running with her friends even though slowly but surely a cataract is claiming the site in one of her eyes.  She seems not to have noticed and rather enjoys every day that she has, running, eating and resting when she needs to.  Here she is safe and well cared for and as another year begins for Redwings, so does another happy new year for Awonda.