TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Plant City Organization Rescues Unwanted, Abused Horses

GREG FIGHT / The Tampa Tribune

Shelly Giza shares a soft drink with one of the horses she cares for at her horse rescue.

ADVERTISEMENT

By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH / The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 25, 2007

PLANT CITY - Trouble was in trouble. Her feet were shot and she seemed to have a big "grass belly" her owner couldn't "cure" by cutting off her feed the past three months.

Shelly Giza got the call on one of the coldest nights of last winter. The red dun's owner, for whatever reason, decided he had enough. "Come get this mare or I'll put a bullet in her head."

Sure, Giza told him. She would be there first thing in the morning.

"No. She'll be dead by tomorrow. Pick her up right now," he said.

So the founder of Plant City Equine Rescue drove to north of Orlando, and retrieved the ailing mare: no questions asked, not even the horse's name.

Giza put her in a stall, wrapping her in a warm blanket. The next morning, the "grass belly" was gone and a sickly newborn foal stood beside the now-gaunt mare, who also suffered from founder, a painful inflammation of her front hooves.

"Her owners didn't even know she was pregnant," she said.

Ignorance, apathy and cruelty keep Giza and her volunteers stretched sometimes to the breaking point with neglected, abused and unwanted horses suffering from any number of problems.

There was the little roan mare, blinded by someone who beat her over the head with a two-by-four; Pepsi, an aged and undernourished former champion Paso Fino; Big John, a half-starved, one-time racehorse Giza rescued from a local auction; and Three, an affectionate, emaciated chestnut gelding that had been confiscated from its former owner by the Polk County Sheriff's Office — one of three horses Giza later rescued, again at auction.

Horses like these are coveted by meat buyers who purchase them for as little as $100, fatten them and sell them to be fed to big cats.

Think lions and tigers and cougars. Think exotic animal fanciers, private zoos and public theme parks.

"You really have to worry about slaughter," said Giza, who has seen her share of once-loved equines pass through many hands on their way to a tragic end. For many, it is a steady decline from one neglectful or clueless owner to the next along the way.

As their health and their looks decline, so does their value. The cheaper they become, the more vulnerable they are to be purchased by people who lack the resources and knowledge to care for them.

"They ought to understand, it doesn't matter whether you spend $1 or $25,000 for a horse. It costs just as much upkeep for either," said Plant City veterinarian L.A. Britt, who tends to Giza's rescue horses.

Hooves must be trimmed every six weeks and may require shoes as well. Teeth must be "floated" — or filed down — once or twice a year to ensure proper digestion and maximum nutrition. Regular worming for a variety of parasites is essential. And no, a grass pasture alone is not enough to sustain a horse — even in Florida.

"Basic care costs thousands per year," said Stacy Segal, an equine protection specialist for the Humane Society of the United States.

It's not easy to be a horse in a disposable world, where a single turn of circumstances — marriage, divorce, debt, unemployment or changing interests — can mean life or death, even in the most well-meaning homes.

"Not everyone should or needs to be a horse owner," Segal said. "It's a lifelong commitment."

Anyone who acquires a horse should do so with an eye toward being responsible for it for the next 25 or 30 years, Segal said. "If you can no longer keep it, you have to be prepared — that horse could go to slaughter."

Or worse.

Many of the horses that end up at Plant City Equine Rescue come from owners who know nothing about caring for a horse.

"What they really need to do if they're going to have a horse is find a good farrier and a good vet and good feed. An in-depth lesson from a good vet is what they really need," Britt said.

Giza would rather see owners who realize they're in over their heads surrender the horse to the rescue for rehabilitation and placement in a loving home than to allow it to decline to the point of no return.

"It's nothing for me to wake up to a knock on the door and find a horse in a trailer in my driveway," she said. "We haven't turned one down yet."

Giza started the rescue in 2005, when she moved to Plant City. But she and her three daughters have been taking in abused and unwanted horses since 1999, when they acquired Annie — an emaciated quarter horse they discovered at a Polk County farm.

The rescue has taken in about 80 horses since its inception. A recent divorce, however, put the future of the organization in jeopardy.

"I told my daughters, "We can't afford the house and the rescue. You choose," Giza said.

Dominique Giza, 13, and her 11-year-old sister, Kaylee, chose the horses.

"At first we picked the house," Dominique said. "And then it was like, "Who was going to save all those horses from the meat buyers?"

That was in June. The family has spent the past weeks moving the operation from her 5-acre farm on Thonotosassa Road to 10 acres on Knights Griffin Road, where Britt headquarters his vet practice.

"It's beneficial to both of us," said Giza, who manages Britt's office and cares for his horses while he's on the road, practicing his specialty: veterinary dentistry.

Giza's oldest daughter, Cortney Parker, 25, works for Britt in his office and sometimes accompanies him on farm calls.

Britt, who returned three years ago to Plant City, his hometown, after practicing for 35 years in Alabama, said it is the first time he's become so involved with a rescue organization.

"I like the way she works with the horses," he said.

For Giza, the hours are long, the work seemingly endless. If not for the help of her daughters and a number of volunteers, it would not be possible, she said.

"It's definitely taken a village of people with all kinds of experience," Giza said. "We were just people who didn't know what we were doing."

There are success stories and sad endings, all told on the organization's Web site: www.plantcityequinerescue.com, where reside the memories of each spark reignited or extinguished.

It is hard, sometimes to see the horses — the ones who will go on to a new life — leave, she said. "You get attached to them."

But there is also the satisfaction that comes from consummating a successful adoption. "The horse is happy, the people are happy. They know what that horse has come from," Giza said.

As for the skinny mare with the "grass belly" that wasn't — six months and lots of trouble later, she is about to leave the rescue for adoption to what Giza hopes will be her "forever home," just down the road.

"Trouble has a special place in our heart," she said. "She'll be going where we can keep a close eye on her."

Reporter Jan Hollingsworth can be reached at (813)865-4436 or jhollingsworth@tampatrib.com.

AT A GLANCE
PLANT CITY EQUINE RESCUE
The Plant City Equine Rescue organization is seeking donations, volunteers to care for the animals and good homes for its horses.
ON THE WEB: www.plantcityequinerescue.com
TELEPHONE: (813) 239-6525
E-MAIL: equinerescue@hotmail.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT