Abused, Neglected Horses Rescued by Riverview Nonprofit

Waving Monarch was living the good life.

A Kentucky-born thoroughbred race horse, Monarch resided in a palatial stable where he ate the best food and received the best of veterinary care.

But he earned his keep. On the race course, he netted his owners hundreds of thousands of dollars and even placed first at Tampa Bay Downs.

Unfortunately, a race horse's career is over all too soon.

When Monarch was no longer winning big purses for his owners, he was sold.

Monarch changed hands multiple times before ending up in Plant City.

Monarch today

When Shawn Jayroe and Michelle Russell of RVR Horse Rescue in Riverview discovered him a few weeks ago, Monarch was starving to death. His ribs protruded, his coat was lackluster, and the once-active race horse was listless.

"You could see every bone in his body," said Jayroe, founder of the horse rescue organization. "He probably would have died after another week of neglect and starvation."

Jayroe and Russell talked the owners into handing Monarch over to the rescue group, where the 8-year-old horse is slowly being nursed back to health.

"His owners had just quit feeding him because he wasn't of any value to them," Jayroe said. "We put him on a specific feeding regimen, and today he's a different animal."

The making of RVR Horse Rescue

A lifelong horse lover who was raised on a 1,000-acre ranch in Texas, Jayroe has been rescuing abused and neglected horses for 20 years.

"I'd rescue a horse or two at a time, but I wanted to do it on a bigger scale," she said.

So, she officially started RVR Horse Rescue eight years ago after purchasing a 40-acre wooded property with existing horse stables in Riverview.

"I'd wanted this property for a long time," Jayroe said. "God finally made it available."

In the years since, she's rescued dozens of horses, funding her rescue efforts with money she made as owner/operator of Hair Perfections salon in Temple Terrace and by boarding horses at her stables.

"I did it all out of my own pocket, but then I started getting more and more calls about horses that needed to be rescued," she said.

When her collection of rescues grew too large to care for with receipts from her hair salon, Jayroe filed for nonprofit status for the horse rescue organization so she could host fundraisers and accept tax-deductible donations for her work. She is now in the process of getting her nonprofit status.

"With the bad economy, more people are unable to afford to feed and care for their horses, so they're being neglected and abused," Jayroe said. "These people look at horses as business, as property, not as pets. We get calls all the time about horses that are being starved to death."

Russell came to RVR 2 1/2 years ago, seeking a place to board her adopted horse. A veterinary technician for 24 years, Russell found she had a heart of RVR's mission and took on the role of medical director in December.

Together, Jayroe and Rusell, with a core group of eight volunteers, travel around Florida rescuing horses and nursing them back to health at the Riverview stables.

"I really don't take horses that are in good shape," said Jayroe. "I'd rather take horses that really need me and rehabilitate them. Once they're healthy, we don't rent them out, and I don't make any money off them. We either adopt them to good homes or the crippled ones become permanent residents here."

Stormy's story

One such resident is Stormy, a horse they rescued from Arcadia on Sept. 24, 2010. Used for barrel racing, the horse was forced to run around barrels every day in the heat.

"He was so skinny that the saddle was tearing him up," Jayroe said. "Stormy finally collapsed after his suspensory ligaments were torn."

When his owners realized Stormy wouldn't be barrel racing anymore, they tied ropes to his feet and dragged him by truck out to a pasture to die.

A neighbor saw what was happening and alerted RVR Horse Rescue.

"We were in close contact with the neighbor who saw everything that happened to him," Jayroe said. RVR Horse Rescue called the sheriff's department several times, but nobody responded.

When Jayroe and Russell found Stormy, he was barely alive. One of the ropes almost severed one of his hooves, and he had wounds all over him from pressure sores.

Jayroe talked the owners into relinquishing Stormy as well as another abused pony.

"Stormy, even in his close-to-death condition, could not get up on that trailer fast enough," said Russell. "Somehow we believe he knew."

Stormy arrived at the Riverview ranch two hours later.

"It must have been a very painful ride because, as soon as he got off the trailer, he collapsed," Russell said.

"It's horrible how cruel people can be," Jayroe said. "There are nights I don't sleep thinking about how these horses have been abused."

A vet was waiting at the ranch and immediately put Stormy on antibiotics and painkillers.

"The infections around his ankles were green and nasty," Jayroe said. "The vet was pretty mad about the whole ordeal and told us we needed to get an investigation going and he would be more than happy to testify about the severity of his wounds."

However, because the horse rescue group had removed the evidence (Stormy), the sheriff's office was not able to press charges against his abusers.

"Stormy was in bad shape but we were determined to not give up on him," Russell said. "Every day we got Stormy up, scrubbed his wounds, wrapped him, medicated him, ice packed him, brushed him and loved on him. Shawn would go to his stall all hours of the night, lay with him, feed him treats, brush and pet him."

But the horse's condition worsened.

"Every morning we woke up wondering if this was going to be the day we'd have to let Stormy go to be with God," Russell said. "He laid there and moaned and groaned."

The rescuers finally made the difficult decision to euthanize the horse to end his suffering.

"It was time to let Stormy go to heaven," Russell said. "It was up to us to make the right decision for him. It was so hard. We had all  become attached to him. But we made the appointment and the vet was going to be there at 10 a.m. to walk him into his next life."

Russell came early that day to spend some final hours with Stormy and say "goodbye."

"We were in his stall on the ground with him and crying," she said. "The stall door was open as usual, and he got up really fast and took off walking through the barn yard as if he was trying to get away from us. Wow, were we shocked. The vet showed up and said, 'Not today, he's not ready!' We were jumping up and down crying tears of joy."

"We learned a lot from Stormy," Jayroe said. "Never give up."

These days, Stormy has run of the property. Nicknamed "The Ranch  Manager," he's the only one allowed to go wherever he wants. When he sees Jayroe or anyone who cared for him during this ordeal, he stops what he is doing, perks his head up and limps over to put his nose in their face.

RVR's mission

RVR Horse Rescue currently has 25 horses it is rehabilitating or boarding. Since January, Jayroe and Russell have rescued 17 horses.

"They come here in such horrible condition but they are so trusting," Russell said. "It breaks my heart."

"The thing that tugs at my heart is how appreciative the horses are," said Jayroe. "It's as if they know they've been saved."

For volunteer Karen Lewandowski, the horses represent hope.

A year ago, Lewandowski, diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer, was given little chance of survival. While undergoing chemotherapy, she happened to meet Jayroe at a fundraiser.

"I've always loved horses," she said. "I used to have an Arabian."

She came to RVR to volunteer but discovered that the horses gave her more than she gave them.

"They just reinforce the strength and peace God has given me to get through this journey," she said. "When I see the transformation they undergo, I can see the transformation in my own life. It's so reassuring and soothing. The horses and I are on a common journey."

The first time Lewandowski rode Bella, one of the rehabilitated horses, Jayroe said watching Lewandowski brought her to tears.

"She was like a little angel with wings," Jayroe said. "She was laughing and so filled with joy."

"I don't remember how I felt that day," Lewandowski. "I just know I left here feeling good."

Volunteers needed

Now, Lewandowski volunteers at RVR whenever she can, usually appearing with a carload of grain and apples for the horses.

"If it wasn't for our volunteers," Jayroe said, "we wouldn't be able to do the amount of rescue work that we do."

"We're always looking for volunteers with or without horse experience," Lewandowski said. "Even if you don't know anything about horses, you might have some other expertise we can use."

The horse rescue organization is seeking volunteers who can do marketing for the group, groom horses, muck out the stables, exercise the horses, do ground maintenance and assist is rescuing and finding adoptive homes for the horses.

Since joining the rescue, Lewandowski has helped find adoptive homes for three horses.

Horse Awareness Fun Day

Residents can find out more about the horse rescue organization when RVR hosts its first major fundraiser, Horse Awareness Fun Day, Sunday, Sept. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the ranch at 12611 Hayes Clan Rd., off Rhodine Road in Riverview.

The event will include music, barbecue chicken and hot dogs, pony rides, a 50/50 raffle and experts discussing pasture maintenance, training, hoof care, teeth care and nutrition. Horse adoptees also will be on hand to give testimonials.

"It's amazing how people still don't know we're out here doing this work," said Jayroe, noting that hers is the only horse rescue group in this area.

If you can't make it to the fundraiser, you can still help the group financially.

"Donations are gladly accepted, and we don't just mean money," Jayroe said. "We're always thrilled when someone drops off a bag of feed or a bale of hay for the horses. Or people can give us store credit at the feed store, Schiros Hay and Feed, 13411 Balm-Riverview Rd.
in Riverview."

For more information

You can learn more about the rescue group by visiting its website, emailing contact@rvrhorserescue.com or calling Jayroe at 813-310-9094. Or "like" RVR Horse Rescue on Facebook.