Chino was one of the horses recently featured in the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary newsletter! He is FREE!

From the News Letter: Rescued Mustang: Chino

A California Rescue organization rescued Chinofrom a Mexican type rodeo. After rest and rehabilitation Chino wastransported to the Sanctuary. He is an older horse and although healed, the outwardscarsstill remain. Chino spends his days with the small band of mares grazing, relaxing and dosing in the sun. He deserves to live the remainder of his life peacefully.

Chino always looked older due to the abuse he suffered. He is actually 12-13 yrs. old!

Today was the FIRST time that Chino has had his feet done without having to be sedated by the Vet! Sandi has been working with Chino on becoming comfortable with having his feet handled and Val Dean (farrier) was very kind and patient with him. Chino's past experiences with "Horse Tripping" has left him with little trust for humans. Sandi's hard work and Chino's bravery shined today!

As you can see, Chino's feet had gotten long. We had made the decision to NOT have him sedated again to have his hooves trimmed and to give Sandi a chance to walk him through his fear. I was so impressed with what Sandi has accomplished and so was Val Dean! Val Dean has known this horse since shortly after his arrival at TIER and understood how defensive and afraid he had been.

This is a HUGE step forward for Chino!

Chino & Autumn at the tie rail. It wasn't that long ago that you could not even touch these two because of the abuse they had endured.

Chino seemed to take Sandi's attention/contact in stride on his first day of training.

Of course, he did brace when he first saw the flag!

Chino arrives at Sandi Anderson's facility to begin training. Thanks to Ingrid L. for transporting the boy to training camp. Loading & Unloading was uneventful as poor Chino has probably been in many trailers going to rodeos, etc.

Sandi - 2nd Approach

Sand - 1st Contact within the first 10 minutes he was there.

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Rick touching Chino's face!

Sandi Brushes Chino's face while Rick hangs on to the lead rope. Notice the slack in the lead rope? Not bad for his first day at Training Camp!

One last time, HOPEFULLY, Chino is sedated so that he can have his feet trimmed.

Chino was put into a "squeeze" so that Dr. Hoyme (light blue shirt) could administer sedative so that he and Val Dean, our farrier (black shirt), would not get hurt.

Because of a generous Training grant from the ASPCA that will partially pay for training, Chino is scheduled to join Autumn at Sandi Anderson's facility. Sandi will work with Chino to help him become the best he can be in the time frame that the grant funds will cover.

With training, Chino will not have to be sedated for future hoof trims!

After several sedative injections, Chino FINALLY laid down so Val Dean and Dr. Hoyme could trim his feet. The vet and farrier worked together to get this done before Chino woke up. Dr. Hoyme did have to give him another injection of sedative because Chino's survival instincts are so strong and he fought the medicine.

TEAMWORK! Chino is strong willed and the Vet/Farrier worked quickly together. It because of his stamina and survival instincts that Chino was used so long for horse tripping. He bears many scars from this and from being with other stallions in the same predicament (He was a stallion when he first arrived at TIER). Dr. Hoyme was a bit concerned about how much tranquilizing medication he had to use to just keep Chino "calm".

Chino was none too happy after he woke up. He really didn't want to talk about his experience. THANK YOU Dr. Hoyme, Val Dean Call and Volunteer Kathee (who took the pictures).

Dr. Lois Yu and farrier Francisco teamed together to sedate Chino so that we could trim his feet.

Our regular vet was unavailable and we called Dr. Lois Yu on the recommendation of Officer Les of the Inland Valley Humane Society/SPCA as she had worked with her previously. I told Dr. Yu Chino's story and that I felt he would need to be sedated enough to lie him down. Since she had not worked on Chino before, she took the cautious approach on sedating him.

After the 3rd shot for Chino (that is one horse focused on survival) she gave him another shot to lie him down. Sigh. I explained to Francisco that he would need to trim quickly as I doubted that Chino would remain down for long. Francisco was of the same opinion and indicated that this was one tough horse. This man is an excellent farrier and horseman. He was so patient, quiet and demonstrated his concern for the well being of the horse and the safety of all involved. He set about his task and finished before Chino became fully awake. Trimming Chino's feet was easier than doing Autumn's because he had been trimmed before and there wasn't so much hoof to cut off and balance.

While Chino was sleeping it off, Dr. Yu examined his teeth and determined that he is around 10 yrs. old.

This poor horse has been through H_ _ _ his whole life! He has major trust issues (understandable) and is always on guard. He will keep one eye on you while his other eye seeks an exit. He has become a bit more trusting of me and will take hay or treats from my hand. BUT, if I move too fast for his comfort he takes off. He doesn't flee to the far corner of his pen when people approach like he did when he first arrived. But he sure doesn't let you get up close and personal!

Chino & Autumn discussing the benefits of having hay every day (at 17.99 a bale!) instead of eating corncobs and corn husks in Chino's case or being fed rotting vegetables in Autumn's case. Hay fills the belly and makes it round! HA!

Chino was cruisin the outside of the round pen in order to meet Autumn. She was too busy eating to pay attention to him. He sure doesn't look like he did a few months ago does he?!

It took a Farrier & Veterinarian working together to get Chino's feet done. He is very untrusting of people although he has gotten better about being approached, etc.

The Vet & Farrier were scheduled at the same time in order to have Chino gelded and have his feet done. He was sedated, laid down and the vet quickly gelded him. While he was still under sedation, both the farrier and vet took their hoof nippers and began trimming those poor overgrown feet.

Even though they worked together quickly, another injection was necessary to keep Chino sedated while they worked on his feet.

I placed my hat over his eyes to block the sun from causing any damage. The Vet/Farrier team were focused on getting as much overgrown hoof off as quickly as possible. Once they had done the best they could given the circumstances (it is not as easy as you would think to trim a horse while they are lying down and beginning to come out of sedation!), we moved away to allow Chino to wake up.

Val Dean (farrier) held on to the lead rope to give Chino some support once he woke up and to keep him from hitting his head if he stumbled while trying to get up. Chino was pretty groggy at first. In the beginning, he had a hard time placing his feet in a position to support himself. It took him awhile to get used to his new feet!

We are fortunate to have a wonderful trainer named Lisa currently working with Chino. It is apparent that the only handling that he has experienced in the past has been rough, being roped/chased and of course he has BIG trust issues. Lisa has been coming out every day this week to build trust with Chino. She has been able to put her hands on both sides and the front of his face.

The awful wound in his neck has healed. He is gaining weight and trust. We are hoping that Lisa will be able to establish enough trust in the near future that we can get his feet done. At present he is not ready to allow a halter to be put on. Lisa is taking it slow and easy and the results are wonderful.

In the beginning he was defensive and avoided looking at Lisa. He is now much more engaged, interested. He would "zone out" and hope that she would leave him alone at first. Now he is curious and really tries. You can see he is carrying himself with more confidence in himself and confidence that Lisa is not there to cause harm.

We recently received this picture of Chino that was taken at the lot before his arrival at TIER. You can see that what he was eating was cornhusks! There was a length of barbed wire stuck in his tail which eventually dropped out after he came to TIER.

Hopefully, within the next few days, we will have a professional trainer out to work with Chino. Kristy spent quite a bit of time with him today, but he is still evasive and defensive. We really need to get a better handle on him, get a halter on so that we can eventually get his feet done and address his neck wound with topical medication. The size of his wound is shrinking and it is not draining, but there is still a hole in his neck

WARNING - NEW GRAPHIC PHOTOS

The Uniprim is doing it's job and the hole in his neck is decreasing in size. The current focus has been allowing the neck wound to heal and spending time with him to reassure him. This is one smart guy that has absolutely no reason to trust anyone. Although he is now looking at me when I enter the stall or the roundpen, he is still evasive and not willing to let us touch him. Any sudden movement will send him flying away.

Once the neck wound has healed a bit more we will step up working with him so that we can get a halter on him, get his feet done, etc. Vet is coming out Friday for Dixie, so we will see what he has to say then.

Chino has put on weight. Unfortunately, his past experiences have made it hard to gain his trust. He is allowing me to get closer, but he will dart off if I come within 4 ft. He turns to look at me a bit more, but prefers not to give you both eyes and stays wound up like a tight spring when anyone is near.

Today I turned him out in the arena to get a little exercise. He went to the sand pile and rolled, rolled, rolled. When he got up I noticed that he had removed the scabby area on his neck that had been draining a bit. SIGH. There is a deep hole in his neck. Prior to the scab coming off we of course knew there was a bite mark or some sort of wound there but we haven't been able to touch him much less put a halter on him. Mike, a really kind/gentle horseman from the Norco Posse came out to try to work with him yesterday. We really wanted to be able to address the wound and get his feet trimmed as they are so long. Mike was able to slip a rope on Chino (no yahoo cowboy stuff) but Chino remained evasive and fearful. Mike worked with him a bit in the round pen and was able to finally touch the side of his face. But Chino would roughly shove Mike's his hand away. Mike was able to touch him a couple of times but he felt that trying to put a halter on him wasn't the way to go right now. Chino warns when you get too close by striking and kicking. The strikes and kicks are not aimed, but rather a warning that he will aim and make contact if you push the issue. He needs a bit more work which I'll do on a daily basis.

I contacted the vet about the hole in his neck as soon as I saw it. In fact, I contacted 2 vets as our regular vet wasn't available on my first try. I was thinking we would need a tranquilizer gun to dart Chino so we can attend to his wound. Neither vet had a dart gun. Both vets agreed that we should start Chino on Uniprim antibiotics. So, for the time being, he will get antibiotics for the next 5 days and we will see how it goes.

Although the wound is ugly, if we can keep the infection down it will fill in. This poor boy has been mistreated for so long it is no wonder he has absolutely no trust. Being that he is a mustang, his flight response is high. I can only imagine what has been done to him in the past. His rough treatment will be something he will always remember and I hope that as time passes we can help him to trust more

Fortunately we have plenty of Cetyl-M, Bute, Iodine, Ichthamol, Gauze pads, wound care ointments (Derma Gel, Vetricyn, and Animax (just purchased a new bottle for 79.00!) on hand.

GRAPHIC PHOTOS!

Poor Chino won't let you get closer than about 8 ft. Yesterday I opened the gate to his pen so he could just cruise around in Dancin Shecky's old territory, munch on the diminishing Winter Rye grass, get used to me moving around and doing stuff. I'm hoping it will help him to settle in a bit. I left his gate open over night so he could wander if he chose to.

Small Mustang Gelding Picked up 2-11-2011. We have named him Chino. Vet thinks he may be an older horse. His size makes me want to think he is young and stunted, but his body looks so old. Vet could not get his hands on him so we aren't sure of anything except he needs food and someone to trust. He is not very approachable right now and we are hoping that improves over the next few days.

TIER was made aware of several horses in need located in Chino, CA from a posting on Craigslist. Abby was a concerned person that contacted the Inland Valley Humane Society & SPCA who sent an officer out to investigate. TIER contacted the officer and indicated we could take in 1 or 2 if IVHS needed our help. The horses are thin, being fed corn husks (!!!!), feet are in awful shape and several are being horribly beat up by the stronger horses. It is bad. Thank you for stepping up to make the public and IVHS aware of the plight of these horses Abby.

After speaking to the officer in charge of the case, she indicated that would be issuing a Notice of Intent to Seize, giving the owner 48 hours to provide veterinarian care to the horses that appear to need care. If he is unable to provide that care then they will be seized and given care by IVHS. They are following the State of Californias Penal Code 597.1.

The officer called me back and said if she could get the owner to surrender the horses would I be willing to take a couple. I told YES and we would take the worst ones. She again called, told me the owner would be calling and that he was willing to surrender the horses. Owner called and I told him I would come pick up the horses as soon as I found transport.

I then called Kristy & Bonnie (horse friends extraordinaire) to see if they would be willing to transport in the next few days. They agreed and then I asked Kristy when they could to this she immediately responded Right Now. We were on the road shortly after I hung up.

Upon arrival in Chino, CA the owner had 3 horses separated from the herd. (This is an old Dairy Farm). I glanced at the 3 and asked him which horses the officer wanted him to surrender he pointed to the horses in the alley.

This little guy jumped on the trailer to get out of there. We have named him Chino.

HUGE Thanks to Kristy & Bonnie for making two trips to that hellhole. BIG KUDOS to the officer who worked all day yesterday to help get these poor horses to a safe haven.