DIAMOND

15.3 hh QH "Cremello"
Foaled approximately 1998

Diamond is one of our "Castaic Shelter" rescue horses, saved with the help of Dawn at Horse and Man (www.horseandman.com) , and Christine Griffin (www.EquineWellBeing.org) who was willing to haul all three of them for gas money only.  Dawn is working hard to raise enough money to cover their bail, hauling, initial doctor and farrier work and a couple of months of feed.  Although Diamond is not elderly, he has horribly conformed legs, which are wracked with arthritis, and two bum knees, one much worse than the other.  His feet were awful - super long toes and teeny shoes - and only making his knees even worse.  But he's a tough guy - he's already showing improvement.

Diamond had been sent to auction - a certain trip to the slaughter truck except for his extraordinary coloring. Someone wanted those blue eyes and bought him apparently without looking at anything else. "The next day, they saw his knees" is what I was told, and immediately dropped him off at the Castaic Shelter.  A week later, he was one of three horses who were deemed unadoptable and slated to be euthanized.    Quite literally, when Christine showed up to pick him and two others up for transport here, he stood shaky legged, and the shelter employees offered to euthanize him on the spot!  Luckily, Christine had her medical kit with her and gave him a shot of banamine, put him next to the wall of her trailer in case he needed it for support, and brought him home.

These are his legs/knees/feet.   They ARE bad, but we can probably make some real improvement here in a few trims.

He IS skinny.  But he eats voraciously, and I think we will see a different horse in a few months, with some luck.

Diamond has part sponsor Shari Davies to thank for his life here!  If you can help with his expenses, please contact Casey at cocarrot@earthlink.net. Diamond is a tough guy, and may last a while, but with legs like this, he is going to need special care to stay comfortable.  Any committed amount would be appreciated, and I'd love to see someone in his corner!