Oregon: Sheriff’s office, vets and horse rescue organization tried to save three neglected horses

OREGON -- When Joan Steelhammer found out a couple of horses needed rescuing in Crook County around 11 p.m. one night last week, she was off to save them.

It didn’t matter that her Bend horse sanctuary had already stopped accepting more animals (there were 80 there already).

The horses she received a call about, which had been neglected probably for weeks, needed a safe place to heal.

RIP Custer

Steelhammer, the founder of the nonprofit horse sanctuary, Equine Outreach, and a volunteer traveled with a horse trailer to pick up the animals late Tuesday.

Crook County sheriff’s deputies had responded to a tip earlier that day about three malnourished horses in a pen on the 300 block of SE Almond Lane in the Juniper Acres neighborhood. Two of the horses, Custer, a 24-year-old gelding (a castrated male) and Sassy, a 3-year-old mare, were up and walking around. A third horse was so malnourished and dehydrated it lay on the ground.

A veterinarian came to assist the sheriff’s deputies and treated Custer and Sassy; the third animal died before the vet arrived. The horses’ owners, three Prineville residents, were cited on suspicion of first-degree animal neglect: Craigen Cloy Snell, 26; Juanita Lynn Carnagey, 26; and Dawayne Franklin Carnagey, 61. They could not be reached for comment.

After being rescued, Custer and Sassy stayed in a pen together, on a diet of softened alfalfa pellets and with electrolytes and probiotics administered orally.

But it was clear Custer was in worse shape than Sassy. Gene Storm, on Equine Outreach’s board, said that after a vet took a look at the two, she found Custer had suffered kidney damage from being so dehydrated.

“Custer went down (Friday) night around 8 or 8:30, and the ranch hands called Joan right away and she called me,” Storm said Saturday.

Custer’s condition had worsened, and despite attempts to help the horse get off the ground, he couldn’t muster the strength.

Derick Tomason, 20, and Dylon Bortoluzzi, 18, both ranch hands who live and work on the Equine Outreach property, were keeping a close eye on Custer through Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

“Those two guys were up all night trying to get (Custer) up again, and then trying to keep him as comfortable as they could,” Storm said.

When the vet arrived Saturday afternoon, Storm said, Custer was to the point that they all believed it would be better for him to be euthanized. Volunteers gave Custer tranquilizers to help keep him relaxed before he was euthanized around 4 p.m. Saturday.

As Storm explained, it was the most humane thing they could do for Custer.

Sassy is still alive

Storm said it was tough for everyone at Equine Outreach, especially Tomason and Bortoluzzi, who had seen to Custer’s every need since his arrival.

“The hope that they had faded, and then the realization set in, and the sadness set in,” Storm said, adding there wasn’t “a dry eye around that scene” when it came time to put the horse down.

Storm said toward the end, Sassy was pawing at Custer’s shoulders, and he even raised his head so their muzzles could meet. Eventually, Sassy was taken to another pen.

“Sassy I think is going to make it,” Storm said. “Because first of all she’s much younger. … She’s moving with more vigor than when she came in.”

Tomason and Storm both agreed they didn’t suspect the animals were physically abused, based on their behavior.

“The animals, they read you,” Tomason said, explaining that’s one of the reasons he appreciates working with horses. If you give them a positive attitude, Tomason said, they’re going to give it back to you.

Crook County sheriff’s deputies found Custer, Sassy and the third horse had been living off of little feed and no water.

Tomason wonders whether Custer and the other horse that died allowed Sassy, the youngest of the animals, to drink more of the water when it was available.

Custer died

At this point, Sassy’s prognosis is pretty positive, and she could eventually be adopted. With Equine Outreach, that’s a stringent process to ensure horses are going to a good home.

Right now, Storm said, volunteers at Equine Outreach are encouraged Sassy is eating and drinking, and she’s seemed to enjoy short walks out of her pen each day. When Tomason or Bortoluzzi have taken Sassy into a larger open area, she’s shown signs of curiosity about her new surroundings.

Other horses at the nonprofit, including Hank, a Clydesdale, were also curious about the new boarders last week, when Custer was still alive. When Tomason took Custer and Sassy for a walk in the arena early Friday, horses in the next corral over raced over, ears perked and heads high, to check out the new tenants. Custer and Sassy had allowed Tomason to lead them, slowly and gently, around the arena.

Storm said he had the feeling Sassy knows she’s been saved, and that he thinks Custer knew, too.

Sassy will have to remain in quarantine from other horses for a few more weeks since she’s new, but Storm and other volunteers are encouraged by her progress.

“My guess is she’ll be a wonderfully adoptable horse,” Storm said.

(Bend Bulletin - March 7, 2016)

Earlier:

• Oregon: One of three neglected Juniper Acres horses dies; Craigen Snell, 26; Juanita Carnagey, 26; and Dwayne Carnagey, 61, charged with animal cruelty