Little Lotus Rescue and Sanctuary

I watched as they did CPR on him.

After his MRI we decided to do the surgery. We could have made the decision to euthanize but death was sitting patiently with both decisions. On one side it was a certainty and the other only a possibility.

Goonie lived so hard with us. He was joyful and a trouble maker and deeply endlessly loving with his foster and LLR founder, Annette.

He deserved our try.

The surgical team was able to remove 85% of the tumor and the rest was to be scheduled for later in the month or to try radiation.

The team stayed well after hours with him and when I went to pick him up everything changed. Sometimes when the strings of fate are cute there is no amount of retrying we can do to keep them with us.

His doctor and medical team tried. In seconds he was on oxygen and fluids. Injections were given. Compressions were done. I walked into the waiting room and gave them space to do their job but if we’re being honest I knew. I didn’t need to watch. That team who spent hours that day trying to save his life didn’t need an audience to losing him. “Give him a breath” “draw up another” Fast footfalls. Urgent voices. Drawers opening and closing. Equipment moving. Compressions. Quiet.

Goonie came home with me in a cardboard coffin on the passenger seat instead of his carefully prepared recovery crate in the back seat.

He deserved that try. I only hope he knew how hard we wanted him to stay.

Gillys second veterinary team in a week. We took Gilly to the same surgical team that: helped Lumis osteomyelitis, Dandilions massive abdominal hernia, Pod, Pocket and more. If anyone can save Gilly it’s this team.

New X-rays were taken to better see the joint. Bloodwork was done. Fluid was taken from the joint for analysis. Pain management was adjusted.

It was a 4 hour drive for Gilly so after his diagnostics we put him in a big stall and let him rest. No one loves a fresh bedded stall like Gilly does❤️

We were given two options:
1) Euthanize
2) Surgically flush the joint and inject antibiotics directly into the joint. Follow with aggressive IV antibiotics for a week.

These are his only options because leaving him with this infection is abuse and treating any other way will not work.

We need your help to say “yes”. Ways to donate are below including directly to the hospital.

littlelotusrescueandsanctuary.org
Venmo: LLR-Littlelotusrescue
PayPal: [email protected]
Zelle: [email protected]
EIN: 46-0820395

Arizona Equine Medical & Surgical Centre
+1 (480) 962-6660

🚨Gilly needs you🚨

Gilly has a septic joint and our choices are surgery or euthanasia. Those are the only two options and we need your help. He needs us and we don’t want to say “no”.

He was once a race horse. Then he was someone’s riding horse. That owner drove away from the barn one day and never came back. The stable owner let him live there for years until one day his leg swelled many sizes too big. The stable manager medicated him and cared for his legs for weeks as the tissue on his leg continued to fall away exposing a tendon and that’s when he was signed into our care. With cultures and sensitivities, antibiotics, and a million bandage changes his wound has almost healed and he was doing fantastic until one day he didn’t. His hock swelled and the vet came out for X-rays and to pull fluid from the joint for analysis. They think his joint is infected.

This is painful and a death sentence without surgery. He’s come this far. He’s been let down before and we cannot let him down now. His surgery is $7000 and ways to donate are below or you can call the surgeon to donate directly. This is the same surgeon who helped pockets legs and who corrected the MASSIVE hernia on the pony Dandelion.

littlelotusrescueandsanctuary.org
Venmo: LLR-Littlelotusrescue
PayPal: [email protected]
Zelle: [email protected]
EIN: 46-0820395

Arizona Equine Medical & Surgical Centre
+1 (480) 962-6660

“No hoof, no horse” it’s a saying that a lot of us who live with horses know. Unfortunately, it’s so easy to neglect a horses feet to the point of permanent damage and that’s when they find their way to us. When a horse has painful feet, they can’t be ridden and people stop caring for them. Typically this is when horses start getting bounced around. From performance horse, to trail horse, next is walk/trot only, little kids only…until they just disappear somewhere. It’s wash, rinse, repeat in the horse world.

Pen came to us emaciated, with painful feet, and malignant tumors on her neck and belly. Her previous owners asked how to put weight on her and when we said feed more hay, they said they would put her down themselves instead. We got her that day. She had the opportunity to retire with dignity, medical care, friends, and a pain free end. She was a beautiful kind soul who deserved more from this life.

Clover you all rallied to save. We went to the kill pen to save someone else but she and Summer caught your hearts. Summer we let rest months ago. Clover had a significant injury to her hind leg that affected her whole body, including her feet. Her feet poured blood when we first met her. Time spent neglected led to irreversible damage. We managed her pain the best we could but when the boots stop providing comfort, the icing no longer helps, and the medication is at maximum dosages, that’s when we give them one last kindness and let them go.

So much of our time with these girls was spent providing supportive care. Soaking feet. Extra grooming. Medicating. Adjusting bedding for comfort.

These girls had already been given up on. They had hit their “expiration date” as riding horses but we took them and gave them borrowed time. Sometimes we can steal years for them and sometimes only days but if it means their last moments are pain free, calm, and with a kind hand then it’s always worth it. It still feels so heavy. One day maybe letting them go won’t feel so terrible. Sometimes I wish I didn’t care.

Rest easy Pen and Clover. I hope you have pain free feet and green grass forever and always.

Apparently our blower and a hay basket had a meeting and decided to retire on the same day. 🙃

The blower helps us clean multiple areas quickly and efficiently. The hay basket keeps hay up off the ground, reducing waste and the amount of dirt and sand the horses might eat with it. They’re two of the quiet workhorses behind our daily care and we’re feeling their time because it means we work double time.

If you’d like to donate toward replacing this equipment, here are ways to do that:

littlelotusrescueandsanctuary.org
Venmo: LLR-Littlelotusrescue
PayPal: [email protected]
Zelle: [email protected]
EIN: 46-0820395

Thank you for helping us take care of the things that help us take care of them. 💚

Happy life Mr. Tello💙

Every dog deserves to have this type of smile directed their way.

Itty bitty intake. Who do you think we have?

About 14,000 wild mustangs and burros were rounded up in the United States in 2025. About 75,000 wild mustangs are in holding pens currently.

No longer living wild. Now they live in waiting.

Some of these wild horses find fantastic homes but right now we’re seeing truckloads of them go straight to the border because why would someone choose an unhandled wild animal?

Maybe in a more perfect world we would have hundreds of acres and be able to release mustangs to live out their lives within protected boundaries but that’s not our reality today.

Thankfully, what we lack in land we make up for with an incredible team who knows how to best set these unhandled horses up for success in a humans world.

We can save two and give them the most kind transition into living with humans. A life that gives them the best chance to succeed in a world they have no control over.

This little girl was born in the wild and rounded up as a baby just like Brio, Maia, Verde, and Lumi. Where those babies all came to us with catastrophic medical concerns, this baby girl was simply overlooked by adopters 3 times, leaving her “sale eligible” and in the world of wild horses, that means zero government protections.

She looks black today but her coat shows some sooty grey hairs poking through so weve named her Fleu. Taking on horses is a large financial commitment so we need your help to make sure she gets the chance in life that so many Wild American Mustangs today are losing.

littlelotusrescueandsanctuary.org
Venmo: LLR-Littlelotusrescue
PayPal: [email protected]
Zelle: [email protected]
EIN: 46-0820395