EPN Sanctuary Program - Anastasia

April 4, 2003
1991 - February 22, 2005
Bay Thoroughbred Mare

Bred to race, dumped when she was born deformed. No Thoroughbred charity exists for the ones the racing industry creates & discards before they are tattooed...

Before

	The EPN accepted Anastasia into the EPN Sanctuary Program on April 4, 2003. Her owner agreed to surrender her after a cruelty investigation. The sign outside her barn read, "Muddy". One of the EPN board member's children though immediately renamed her Anastasia, because she believed that even in her bedraggled condition, she was beautiful.
Anastasia stands outside the broken "gate" of her pen, only feet away from a heavily traveled highway. Her overturned water bucket lies on the ground by the snow. She is standing in the hay that was kept just out of her reach. Anastasia broke through the old kitchen countertop that was used as a gate in a desperate attempt for food and water. In the next picture a couch has now been placed in the opening to contain Anastasia.
Anastasia's spine is visible under her dull winter coat due to a lack of food. Horses are able to maintain their body heat in cold temperatures by the heat produced when they digest hay. Poor Anna didn't have any hay, so instead her body used her own body fat and muscle tissue in an attempt to stay alive.
	Inside the old bank barn Anastasia had chewed the support posts almost completely through in an attempt to satisfy her hunger and ward off starvation. A glass picture window is also stored inside the barn with Anastasia.

She arrived at the EPN Sanctuary on a damp and cold day with the forecast calling for freezing rain and snow. Needless to say we all felt relieved that she was now in a barn with plenty of hay and water and a clean bed to lie down on. She had suffered a nasty gash several days previously that had not been cleaned and had pieces of flesh still hanging. The EPN volunteers attended to her wound and made the necessary calls to the vet, farrier and the dentist. We bedded her down in a clean warm stall with plenty of hay and water. The look on her face says it all.

Anastasia is the EPN's ambassador for all of the starving and neglected horses that are suffering due to an owner's benign neglect. Benign neglect is still cruelty under the law, and the horse still suffers whether or not the owner intended to cause pain.

Goodbye Anna, we will miss you...

PA Anti Cruelty Law-Title 18, 5511(c)

(c) Cruelty to animals.--A person commits a summary offense if he wantonly or cruelly illtreats, overloads, beats, otherwise abuses any animal, or neglects any animal as to which he has a duty of care, whether belonging to himself or otherwise, or abandons any animal, or deprives any animal of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter or veterinary care, or access to clean and sanitary shelter which will protect the animal against inclement weather and preserve the animal's body heat and keep it dry. This subsection shall not apply to activity undertaken in normal agricultural operation.

Anastasia

• Anastasia needs extensive work on her hooves to compensate for the deformity of her front legs. Both of Anna's hooves turn inwards at the ankle. At the time of her birth, her owner could have undertaken steps to try and correct the deformity, or if unwilling to make a lifetime committment to provide for her & guarantee that she would not fall into bad hands, the decision could have been made to humanely euthanise her. Her owner failed to do either of the above. Instead he sold her to a naive family who did not understand the ramifications of her deformity on her eventual soundness as a riding horse and failed to secure regular farrier care by a qualified farrier.

  The EPN's blacksmith with routine trimming every other month has been able to improve Anna's hooves.

  What a difference a year makes!

  After:

  Anna is standing much straighter and the huge wide cracks no longer exist.

  Please send your tax deductible donation to:
  
  Equine Protection Network, Inc., P. O. Box 232, Friedensburg, PA, 17933.

You can also use Paypal to donate-Paypal does accept credit cards.

• The EPN appreciates all the people who sent in donations for Anna after reading her story in the Pottsville Republican. Your kind words and support are deeply appreciated.

  Thank you to Pat & Barbara who never met Anna, yet who made the monthly commitment to help the EPN pay for her care. Too bad the person who bred her & sold her did not do the same. No, they chose to dump their "trash" on other people.

  Thank you,

  Equine Protection Network