Bravado is available for a half lease
Bravado is an Arabian horse who came to us in 2016 from a Florida-based rescue called Faith Equine Rescue . He and more than 100 other horses were turned loose on a large piece of remote property in Florida, and had to fend for themselves and were starved for four years. (A pretty long and complicated story) They were stumbled upon by a cattle rancher, who informed the authorities. By then, about half of the horses had died from various causes.
A month after intake with Faith Equine Rescue, we adopted him and Sparrow and they were transported to Wisconsin. He had no previous training and had to finish being rehabilitated as he and Sparrow were still in poor body condition.
Since we adopted him from Faith Equine Rescue, Bravado has been a very sweet, loving horse. He has been pretty easy to train, and has a strong drive to please the rider. He has had many people ride him from small children roughly age 2, up to adults in their 60’s. Bravado has a very easy going temperament and is very calm. Bravado is 14.3 hands tall, and can handle most riders under about 150 pounds.
Leasing Information: Bravado is a beginner suitable horse who has a weight limit of 150lbs and has a bareback rider limit of 60lbs
In the late spring of 2020 Bravado came down with Botulism. Botulism is the ingestion of a botulism toxin which can be found in dead animals.
On May 16th 2020 Bravado was given his grain and it was taking him forever to eat it. Looking back on the situation he was showing symptoms earlier in the week (such as lethargy and being extra cinchy) but those are things that he had struggled with in the past so it was not super clear that he was in serious danger. He went on a ride and was his normal self but half way through the ride he started to get really stumbly and lethargic. His rider dismounted and walked him back to the barn. Jessica called the local veterinarian to come out and take a look at him – at this point it was unknown that he had Botulism. The vet said that his condition was bad and without hospitalization Bravado would die. Bravado was transported to UW Veterinary Hospital.
On May 17th very early in the morning Bravado was treated for the antitoxin botulism. There is no test to definitively say that it is botulism but Bravado was showing all of the symptoms that those horses have. Later that day he had regressed but not to the point where he did not have a strong chance of survival.
Bravado was discharged on May 23rd to return home. He was put on stall rest only and had to be fed one lb of senior grain every 4 hours and 1 feeding at midnight every day.
Once Bravado returned home his recovery went well – slow and steady wins the race. He was being fed around the clock and thanks to volunteers being able to do different feeding shifts he was able to make progress. On the 28th of May he had a pep in his step on his nightly walk and even trotted for 15 seconds on his own.
June 2nd he was reintroduced to hay since he was making so much progress. He was also allowed to be turned out to a dry lot (no grass or anything) during the day. At this point he was still being fed alfalfa pellets mixed with senior feed every 5 hours. Slowly over the weeks he was able to eat hay and start being walked more.
On July 1st he was cleared to start light exercise again and over the next few months he began to gain muscle again. As of the fall of 2020 he is back to his normal, happy and loving self. We are thankful that me made such a good recovery as he is one of the most loved program horses.