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Where do your donations go?
As a growing horse rescue group, we rely on monetary donations to keep the organization moving forward. The Big Hoof Foundation will always be transparent with how your donations are used.
Our board members do not receive salaries nor do donation dollars go to paying for vehicles, trailers, utility bills, etc.
100% of the money we raise goes directly to the rescued horses' feed, hay, medical bills, medications, alternative medical treatments, supplements, surgeries, etc.
Every dollar raised is for the horses!
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What does it take to run a horse rescue?
The below is a breakdown of what it costs for feed, medical, medications, supplements, alternative treatments, and emergency situations.
Alfa Pro
Alfa-Pro® is a top-notch fortified ground alfalfa cube formulated to meet all of the nutrient requirements of a mature horse. Recommended by our veterinarian to support the needs of the senior rescued horses. We soak the alfalfa pellets in water to make a mash for the horses. Since most of the horses have never had dental work it is hard for some of them to chew alfalfa. Alfa-Pro mash is easiest for them to eat and digest.
Alfa-Pro is the main portion of our rescued horses' diet. We go through about 5 bags per day to feed all of the special needs horses. A pallet of Alfa-Pro contains 40 - 50 pound bags and costs $678.00. One pallet will feed the horses for 14 days. HF&C Amarillo, our local feed store where we purchase Alfa Pro does give a per pallet discount. An individual bag of Alfa-Pro is $17.45.
Beardless Wheat Hay
We have changed the way we feed the herd since we have grown rapidly over the last year. The main portion of the herds diet is beardless wheat hay. We have been purchasing beardless wheat from HF&C Amarillo. The herds goes through 6 round bales of beardless wheat hay every 3 days. 1200 pound round bales are $140 each. We also use square bales of beardless wheat for the special needs horses in the barn. Square bales are $14.95 per bale. We use 6 bales per day. inside the barn.
Alfalfa
Another portion of the horses' diet is fresh alfalfa. We have been purchasing alfalfa from Mauls Feed and Seed in Pampa, TX. After doing some research, we found that Mauls Feed grows and bales the alfalfa here locally in Amarillo, TX.
The cost of alfalfa does fluctuate during the year. Each bale of alfalfa is $13.50. The horses go through 5 bales of hay per day. ​
Medical Bills
Veterinarian medical bills are always different costs due to what is being performed on the horse. A regular exam is $60 but an after hours call is $95. If our veterinarian comes to the farm there is a farm call fee of $100.
With any new rescued horse we always do blood work to check for infection, teeth floating, vaccines, dewormer, and a general check up. An initial medical exam costs around $500. Some of horses may need X-rays because of arthritis joint issues. X-rays vary in price but range from $30-$50 per view and can get quite expensive depending on how many are needed.
Medications
Some of the horses have severe arthritis and require medication to live a comfortable life. The medications to treat arthritis is Previcox. ​
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180 tablets of Previcox is $624 or about $3.50 per pill. Liam takes 1 pill per day. Cami, Anna, Quinn, Frank, Bella, Petunia, Fiona, Sampson and Dutch all take 1/2 pill per day. $17.50 per day.
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Other times if we have a sick horse, they may require antibiotics or Banamine. Antibiotics for horses are in pill or liquid form and are anywhere from $75 to $125. Banamine is $33 per tube.
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Out veterinarian also recommended that we treat all the horses with dewormer twice per year with a product that also kills tape worm. The recommended dewormer is $22 per tube.
Alternative Medical Treatments
After researching alternative treatments for arthritis in horses, we found that acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments can help horses the same way the treatment helps humans. We use Amarillo Equine and Mobile Veterinary Practice for these treatments. An acupuncture appointment costs $175 for the veterinarian to come to the farm.
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Chiropractic adjustment are $135. Laser therapy is also something we have used and ranges from $110 to $150 depending on how many areas are treated.
We have seen great success with Liam after acupuncture for his severe arthritis and with Quinn who has cellulitis, which is inflammation of the subcutaneous tissues that lie beneath the skin.
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Another treatment we have found helpful with our horses with severe arthritis is an injection called OsPhos. OsPhos is a Bone-Building Medication that slow or stop bones deterioration and can be helpful for your horse's joints. These injections are $290 each and need to be repeated every 6 months. Liam and Cami have had improvements walking since receiving these injections.
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Joint steroid injections are another treatment we use for the horses with arthritis. The cost of the steroid injection is $185 per injection site. There is another injection called Noltrex which we used for Liam and it provides extra cushion in the joint. The cost for Noltrex was $350 per injection.
Emergency Situations
Emergency situations can arise with horses. Severe conditions such as colic and choking require immediate attention.
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Charlie has a choking condition because his esophagus does not close properly when he eats hay. The last time Charlie choked the veterinarian had a hard time clearing the choke because he is such a large animal. Charlie stayed at the clinic for observation for 2 days and the vet bill was around $1,230.
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Colic is a term used to describe a symptom of abdominal (belly) pain, which in horses is usually caused by problems in the gastrointestinal tract. There are over 70 different types of intestinal problems that cause colic symptoms, which range from mild to severe (life-threatening) in nature. Sometimes a colic can be treated while other times surgery and all our efforts can not fix a colic case.
Colic cases can range in price from anywhere from $1000 to $6000 depending on the severity of the case. Cami had colic and spent 2 days at the vet and recovered. The cost was about $1,050. When Finn had colic and he wasn't recovering on his own we decided to do surgery. With his hospital stay and surgery his bill was $6,570. A detailed breakdown is shown at the bottom of this page.
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Each situation with an emergency can be expensive and we always want to make sure we have funds available for situations that can arise unexpectedly like these examples above.
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Farrier and Dental
Our farrier comes out every 6-8 weeks depending on how much the horses hooves have grown. A farrier trim is $100 per horse.
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Equine Dental: Horses teeth grow throughout their lives. Floating a horse's teeth is the process of gently filing away sharp edges or hooks to present a firm, flat surface for more efficient chewing. This procedure needs to be done once per year or if we see an issue with how a horse is chewing. The procedure costs $140 per horse.
Fundraisers
We do fundraisers for new horses we are rescuing from going to slaughter at a kill pen. Depending on the location of the kill pen, the cost of bail and the condition of the horse will depend on how much money we need to raise. If a horse is in poor condition needing extra medical attention we will include the estimated cost into the fundraiser to cover medical expenses, plus bail and transport. We have found that transporting the horses ourselves is much more cost effective than hiring a transport company. However, there have been times when we needed a transport company.
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All these costs go into our fundraisers for a new rescue horse.
We can not thank our veterinains at Mobile Veterinary Practice, Claude Animal Hospital and Amarillo Equine for all the excellent medical care they have provided for our horses.
If there are any questions regarding donation allocation, please feel free to email us at bighooffoundation@gmail.com and we will address any concerns you may have.