Horses regain strength at ranch

CHATTOOGA COUNTY, Ga. (WDEF) – At Red Clay Ranch Equine Rescue and Sanctuary in Lyerly, Kirby and Dakota are working to regain strength.

“If you see something. Please say something,” Co-Founder and Executive Director Lee Rast said.

The two were rescued from Dade County.

Dakota is doing well.

She’s expected to make a full recovery.

But Kirby, now in a sling, still has a ways to go.

The problem is that he can’t stand up.

“If he cannot get up on his own, he’s not going to make it. But, his back end is so emaciated. There’s no muscle left,” Rast said.

Kirby and Dakota are just two of the 87 horses at the 180 acre rescue and sanctuary.

The ranch no longer takes owner surrenders because of so many emergencies.

Rast said the horses prove that equine neglect and abuse are anything but rare.

“We get calls every day. Every single day,” she said.

Rast said most of the rescues come from situations of starvation.

Those horses are put on a strict refeeding protocol.

Once healthy, if they can be adopted out they will, but Rast said it’s a stringent process that includes a background check and a legal contract.

“They will never have the opportunity to sell the horse, trade the horse, lease the horse. They can’t breed the horse. Some people don’t want those kinds of restrictions. And I understand that. But I can’t put these horses back into the pipeline for abuse,” She said.

As for Kirby and Dakota, Rast said at this point they’re not even thinking about adoption, but rather just working on getting them back to health.

Red Clay Ranch runs off of donations.

Information on how to help the horses through donations or through volunteering is on their website, http://redclayrescue.org/.