Orange County, CA: 7 y/o black BS Paint mare needs home ASAP!

7 y/o black paint mare needs home ASAP. More information from her owner is below. Please contact her owner directly:

Keona is a black BS Paint, nearly 8 years old, 14.3 hands tall, and a healthy weight of 920 lbs.

She was, well, somewhat of a ‘happy accident’…at first. I had bought her mother who was barely even 2 years old at the time and to everyone’s surprise, she turned out to be pregnant. She gave birth at the Live Oak Stables in Trabuco Canyon and both her and Keona have been there ever since. I never intended to have more than one horse, but at the time I had a decent paying job and was fortunate enough to get financial help from my family, making it affordable for me to keep her. Of course, as the saying goes, there is no such thing as a ‘free’ pet.

Keona was born with a heart murmur (which thankfully since has gone away) and needed several plasma transfusions when she was only days old. A few months after we made it through that is when the limping started. My vet had advised that it was nothing to be concerned about and that she was just going through growing pains. Her hooves do happen to be extremely small for her body size, and we all hoped and assumed that her feet would eventually spread. Sadly, this was not the case. She continued to have on again, off again lameness for a couple years. The lameness at times seeming to get progressively worse. I called the vet again and had them do x-rays and perform an ultrasound, the results revealed a ligament injury in her right front hoof, the list of reasons as to why is practically endless, from the possibility of it being congenital or from the fact that her angles are off. Whatever the cause, it was just the beginning to the growing list of issues she would face as the years passed. Keona has never been without a gimp. This makes training particularly hard due to the simple fact I can’t push her past her limits or she would become lame again and back on stall rest. This goes for both arena work and trail riding.

I’ve done my best to help her and make her comfortable. I’ve been giving her joint supplements, pain meds when necessary, and have tried numerous corrective shoeing applications with my farrier. Nothing ever really seems to help and I know I’m doing little to nothing only being able to treat her symptoms and not the cause. This past May, however, her gimping had gotten worse and she basically can’t be ridden. You can just see how painful every step for her is. No longer receiving financial help from my family, it has been up to me to board, feed, and tend to my 2 horses. I was finally able to have enough money set aside to get the vet to come look at her again and this time the x-rays revealed more than just a swollen ligament, but that she has early signs of Navicular disease of both front hooves, but more so her right then left. What was even more heartbreaking to hear was the cost of each injection that was recommended to not necessarily treat the issue, but just to help make the inevitable more gradual. All I could do was to continue on with the corrective shoeing and constant stall rest.

Months later, with not much change in symptoms, my farrier approached me, being completely honest about how he is at his wits end and that nothing seems to be helping her problem. On top of that, I can’t really afford for him to try anything else since recently my job hours have been cut and the expenses are becoming quite overwhelming. Keona, simply put, is just getting worse as time passes on. We have no pasture at the stables I board them at, only paddocks, which I’ve tried placing her in to see if even that would help by allowing her to move around more freely then to be standing still on her tender feet all day in her stall. I am completely helpless and it’s come to a point where I am struggling to pay for all the additional supplements and medications I give her to try and ease her discomfort. She is a very energetic horse, still young and some days, regardless of the pain, still tries to run around when she’s turned out with her mother. She is a decent trail horse and has even trailered to camping grounds up in the mountains. Yes, she can be quite stubborn and is often very ‘mare-ish’(about a 6 on the scale), but as long as you’re a confident rider and have patience, she’s wonderful to be around. She does great round pen work and responds to hand signals alone very well. I just can no longer afford not just a second horse, but I cannot afford a horse that needs treatment and care like she does. I’ve tried reaching out to friends and family to rehome her and have even called all the universities in California about donating her, but every facility is currently full. I can’t afford her much longer and a rescue is the last hope I have to finding her a safe place to go. I don’t want to take her to auction, that is my absolute last resort that I sincerely don’t want to have happen. If there is any way your rescue could take her or even assist in finding another facility that can, I would be truly grateful. I have attached some recent photos of her as well.