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General UC Davis Young

General U.C. Davis as a baby.

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“General,” pictured here as a baby, was brought to the Equamore Sanctuary in 1999 when he was just two weeks old. The colt – blind with bilateral cataracts – had been abandoned after he became hopelessly tangled in brush and was unable to follow his mother and her fast-moving band of feral horses. A rancher rescued him from the brush and sought help from the only organization in Southern Oregon willing to take on the care of abandoned horses – the Equamore Foundation of Ashland.

Local vets quickly diagnosed the foal’s condition and recommended that the cataracts be removed without delay for the best possible outcome. The University of California at Davis offered the surgery at a reduced cost. Funding was procured from Equamore donors and the tiny horse was transported in the backseat of a minivan to California. There, the cataracts were vacuumed out, partially restoring vision in both eyes.

For the following 19 years, the newly named General U. C. Davis (“General” for short) had vision in both eyes (the equivalent of looking under water). By 2018, however, General’s sight had steadily diminished, and the pain he experienced left no option but to remove both eyes. Remarkably, if you are not up close to General and see that he does not have eyes, you would never guess his blindness. He continues commanding and protecting the ponies and minis in Equamore’s front field to this day.

Now, for the rest of the story . . .      When Equamore accepts a horse or donkey into the Sanctuary, as it did with General, the Foundation commits to the care of that animal for its lifetime. How to sustain funding over the three to four decades a healthy horse might live is the challenge Equamore faces every day. Beginning with General, volunteers came up with a new funding strategy by creating the first “Horse Sponsorship Team,” with members who still donate toward his care. Our fundraising initiative, the “Equamore Sanctuary Equine Sponsorship Campaign,” is modeled after this concept and has become the heart and soul of our commitment to all the residents of Equamore Sanctuary.

That’s where you come in . . .     “G Team” changed the world for General U. C. Davis. You, too, can change the world for another horse in need by joining an existing team or by organizing a new team for any of Equamore’s equines. The laser focus of this fundraising effort is to have every horse fully sponsored (at $450 per month).

Yes, this goal is absolutely attainable: board members, volunteers, and donors have already signed onto teams in support of their chosen equine or volunteered to be team captains. Thirty-one equines are now “out of the starting gate” (still needing sponsors); eleven are “over the finish line” (fully sponsored); and sixteen are still “in the paddock,” awaiting their very own “Team Captains” to take them “over the finish line.”

What this means for Equamore . . .     The success of this initiative will result in Equamore Foundation’s financial stability and the continuation of its commitment into perpetuity. Salute the General by signing on today!

 

General U. C. Davis born 1999

Official DDAF Grantee