In May Redwings received an email from Animal Services asking if we had space to rescue an emaciate little Arabian mare. Once we saw the photos of the horse, we immediately agreed to pick up the horse the next morning.

Becca had been with her owner for many years and was a loved and cherished member of the family. There were even photos of Becca at Christmas time with tinsel around her neck and a stocking on her stall door. Unfortunately, after many happy years with her family, the family fell on very hard times and struggled to make ends meet. Then Becca's owner fell ill and was diagnosed with terminal cancer. In the months that followed the family struggled to care for Becca's ill owner and pay the bills and then her owner passed away. Becca had minimal care after her owner's passing and slowly she began to lose weight until she reached a body score of 1 and was completely emaciated when Animal Services stepped in.

When Redwings arrived to pick her up Becca was so weak that we were concerned about trailering her. But Becca had a lot of spirit and hopped right in the trailer. She seemed to know she was headed to a better place. Upon arrival at Redwings Becca began a strict refeeding program following the UC Davis guidelines for refeeding an emaciated horse. We were amazed at how much spunk and spirit Becca had considering her terrible condition. She had a great appetite and absolutely loved all the attention she was receiving.

Becca still has a long way to go to regain her weight and get to an ideal body condition, but she is improving every day. She loves life at the sanctuary, and you would never know she was 31 years old because of how energetic she is.