AULT, Colo. — It’s been a few weeks since Denver7 met with a Weld County woman in the process of rescuing three seemingly pregnant horses from a kill pen in Oklahoma. On Wednesday, the horses arrived in Colorado, thanks to rescuer Morgan Ryan, who created MoJo Acres Horse Rescue.
“We got them in and settled and food in them. And they’re some happy girls right now,” said Ryan.
However, it wasn’t an easy road to get them here.
Ryan found the horses on a kill pen website in Oklahoma, managed to get them out of the pen with help from an "angel donor" and got them into quarantine in Kansas before they arrived in Ault on Wednesday.
“Seeing them come off the trailer, they were definitely skinny,” said Ryan. “We can see some hip bones and some ribs. And their feet are also very long, not managed. So it’s going to be a bit of a process.”
On top of all of that, Ryan said she can tell just by looking at them that two of the horses are pregnant — she is unsure about the third. She said she will eventually have a vet check them out to confirm if they're expecting.
But before that happens, Ryan needs to gain the horses' trust and train them.
“We want to make sure they’re handleable — that we can handle them, and vets can handle them,” she explained.
Ryan expects to have the mares in her care for probably at least a year before she gets them adopted out to a good home, which costs a lot of money. She’s already raised more than $5,800 through her GoFundMe after our story aired a few weeks ago, which will cover the rescue and travel costs. But the expenses won’t stop there.
“With getting them more food to get them healthy, feet done, vet work, everything to get them healthy,” said Ryan. “Make sure they’re super healthy so they can make super healthy babies.”
Denver7 Gives is collecting funds to help with the care and recovery of these horses. To donate, visit the Denver7 Gives website, then select "Help Care for Rescued Horses" from the dropdown menu.
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