Peaches had her tail removed due to a large tumour, but the Outbackjack Horse Rescue has a new one on the way for her.
Image Credit: Outbackjack Horse Rescue
February 05, 2015 - 4:58 PM
FALKLAND - You might notice something slightly unusual about Peaches, a rescue horse in the North Okanagan.
The Arabian/ Quarter Horse cross has only a stump where her tail should be. When Outbackjack’s Horse Rescue in Falkland took her in, she had a football-sized tumour on her tail. The surgery would cost $1,800.
“People said for that kind of money you should just put her down,” Gena Sandli says. “I just couldn’t do it.”
The surgery went well, and Peaches surprised everyone by maintaining some mobility in what was left of her tail.
“We thought there wouldn’t be any movement in her tail because it was severed,” Sandli says. “But her tail wiggles like a little pit bull. It’s just so hilarious, everybody calls her wiggle butt.”
Pretty soon, Peaches is going to be able to put all that wiggling to work. Thanks to some donated horse hair, Outbackjacks is making her a pair of attachable tails. The plan is to design them to Velcro onto Peaches’ nub of a tail. Sandli says it’s very important that Peaches get a new tail.
“So she can swat off flies and bees and cool herself down,” Sandli says.
Peaches still has to take 36 pills a day—ulcer medication that will decrease her risk of melanoma—but Sandli says she could have another 15 years of life ahead of her. For now though, she’s not out for adoption. Peaches requires quite a lot of care, and besides, Sandli has developed quite a soft spot for her.
“She’s so full of spunk,” Sandli says. “She’s become special to all of us.”
After seeing photos on the rescue’s Facebook page, people from across Canada made donations to ensure Peaches’ surgery and vet bills were covered, Sandli says.
“It was unbelievable. I didn’t ask for money—people just started to donate,” she says.
Image Credit: Outbackjack Horse Rescue
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015