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Post by schwung on Feb 27, 2008 2:16:59 GMT -5
Kokomo is one of 10 horses seized from a Carnation farm on Saturday, February 23rd, 6 of which were taken in by SAFE. This little colt has a Body Condition Score of 1.5 on a scale of 1-9. Kokomo was living in a pen about 12x36 with another colt, Sinatra, which was full of dead blackberry bushes and debris, including wood will nails protruding. There was no food other than the blackberry bushes in the pen and no hay anywhere on the property. Not 15 feet from their pen lie a dead mare, her body bloated and partially eaten by coyotes, perhaps the mother of Sinatra or Kokomo. Kokomo was not wearing a halter and as it turned out, was completely unhandled. He has an corneal scratch to his left eye that had been untreated, which was undoubtedly caused by the blackberry bushes in his pen. Catching him in his dangerous living conditions without causing further injury to himself was an extremely difficult job and took several animal control officers and volunteers, and ultimately he had to be taken to the ground to get him haltered, and then had multiple people hanging on to him and leading him into the trailer. Finally he was safely loaded with Sinatra, and once he arrived with SAFE was put into a stall with Sinatra so that he could be easily gentled and could be caught easily so that his eye could be treated multiple times a day. Like the others, Kokomo is also suffering from severe parasite infestation, severe rain rot (the worst of all the horses), and his feet also do not appear to have ever been trimmed. His appearance is deceptive due to his thick fuzzy winter coat and his extremely distended belly from the internal parasites, but when you touch this baby you can feel nothing on him but skin and bones. Kokomo has made an amazing turnaround in just the few days he has been with SAFE in learning to trust humans. He has learned to lead around his stall, and is generally easy to catch, although he is still a little nervous around people. He tolerates his eye treatments very well and is now wearing a blanket. He hasn't quite learned yet that people are not a competitor for his food, but that will change to as he is learning that in addition to food people bring soothing voices and soft pets, or glorious scratches to his hard to reach itchy spots. Like Sinatra, his attitude and appetite are good, and the two colts are beginning to show signs of playing with each other (or, occasionally trying to nurse on each other). Here are some photos of Kokomo, taken two days after their arrival at SAFE:
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Post by akoehmstedt on Feb 27, 2008 10:10:14 GMT -5
OMG. How, how could someone let such a doll get like that...
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Post by schwung on Feb 27, 2008 22:17:01 GMT -5
Kokomo did really well today with being handled for his eye treatments. Also he, Sinatra and Phoenix are all on Ranitidine three times a day for ulcers so he's getting really good about being caught and handled. He was a good boy for going back in the stall after his grass time today also - wasn't keen on being caught but calmly let me herd him back in.
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Post by akoehmstedt on Feb 28, 2008 9:36:21 GMT -5
Once he realizes you are there to help and not hurt, I bet he is going to be a pocket baby!
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Post by schwung on Feb 29, 2008 12:46:56 GMT -5
Kokomo has developed an infection where one of the blackberry bushes cut him right near the corner of his mouth. Dr. Hannah had to drain it last night as it was full of pus. However, he should be just fine.
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Post by schwung on Feb 29, 2008 13:01:51 GMT -5
Kokomo during grass time: and Kokomo and Phoenix:
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Post by akoehmstedt on Feb 29, 2008 13:39:54 GMT -5
Poor little guy. Hopefully it heals quickly and there are no more hiding somewhere.
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Post by schwung on Mar 1, 2008 1:29:32 GMT -5
I am so proud of Kokomo, he is coming along so well. He has discovered he loves to be scratched, so I can lure him easily into being caught now if I start by scratching his neck. He's really quite sweet and its neat to see his look of wonder as he is starting to show interest in smelling humans and checking us out. He's still a little untrustworthy around food but a sharp no when the ears go back and he jumps back and the ears pop right back up. He's going to be a nice boy. He was also great to be caught after his grass time, and he had his first leading experience outside of the stall. He did wonderfully, and remembered to walk forward to release the pressure instead of pulling against it.
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Post by Angel62197 on Mar 1, 2008 18:45:42 GMT -5
I love the pictures of the two of them together... to die for! I can't imagine how anyone could let these horses live this sort of life. I'm so glad they're SAFE now! (Get it.... no, bad joke?)
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Post by jaybird on Mar 3, 2008 18:53:21 GMT -5
Kokomo is really coming around in terms of being able to be handled, but he is still a little unsure about the whole thing. Jaime's been very patient with him, and he is even learning to be led with a halter and leadrope. He is not a big fan of being petted while he's loose, but when Sinatra is visiting with people over the stall door, Kokomo is right there next to him....but he seems unsure as to whether he wants to allow you to touch him or if he'd rather try to nip. In another day or two, I'm sure he'll realize that being petted and loved and scratched is a good thing.
His eye, which was scratched by the blackberry vines in his former pen, is still giving him some problems, and most of the time it is half closed and oozy. He gets ointment in the eye three times a day. He is the most unwilling to be caught when it's time to come in off the grass every day, but he can usually be herded into a stall without too much of a fuss.
He's going to be a beauty...it looks as if he'll be a darker gold palomino with white facial markings, some white feet, and of course a white main and tail.
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Post by akoehmstedt on Mar 4, 2008 9:21:31 GMT -5
Do you know what the prognosis of the eye is? Is it going to make a full recovery?
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Post by schwung on Mar 4, 2008 10:22:29 GMT -5
He will always have a scar on his cornea and he may have some loss of vision but probably nothing to be concerned about. He sees fine even now.
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Post by akoehmstedt on Mar 4, 2008 14:30:03 GMT -5
Thats good. The little paint that I acquired a few years ago had almost the same thing happen and she does have vision loss on that side. When it was time to find her a home so many people had an issue with that even though one can hardly tell the way she acts!
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Post by schwung on Mar 5, 2008 1:58:45 GMT -5
It's been a few days since I have posted an update, mainly because I am extremely busy taking care of these guys, plus trying to manage the huge volume of emails we have received. Kokomo and the rest of the Carnation bunch were wormed for the first time yesterday, but only a half dose of Ivermectin. Even then, the three colts, Kokomo especially, are having a hard time. They are all not eating as well as usual, have the runs, and generally aren't quite as chipper as they usually are. I know this was to be expected, but it has me worried, especially about Kokomo, because he is the biggest and the most robust of the three and yet seems the most out of sorts today.
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Post by schwung on Mar 6, 2008 2:07:35 GMT -5
Hold on to your stomachs!! Today was....er...educational, to say the least. Our horses started shedding the worms from their first worming....can you say YUCK??? Kokomo was by far the worst, surprisingly. He dumped load after load of HUGE roundworms, still alive when they came out. No wonder he was feeling so bad and had the runs! This photo depicts the first ones we found...we found even bigger ones after this, if you can believe it. Tons of them. And yes, these photos will be part of the evidence for the case. You can't really tell what the ruler is showing, but its 8 1/2 inches on the longest one. GROSS! And eating grass today: And lastly, some photos I was trying to capture his rainrot, which is very bad. The scabs are large and still firmly attached and cover his entire back. Poor guy.
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