Blog

By Jeffrey Richard, Jameson Humane Volunteer

Jameson Humane and other rescue organizations in and around Napa County cooperate and coordinate to rescue and care for neglected, abused or unwanted horses. Eleven horses now live on Jameson’s Los Carneros ranch property and are so happy they do! Why? Because Jameson’s staff and dedicated volunteers provide these horses with loving care, companionship, and all the comforts of retirement.

Dawn English left a career in property management and moved to Napa several years ago to undertake a second career in animal welfare.  Dawn is now the Equine Manager at Jameson, and supervises another staff member and 8 volunteers who help care for the stable of 11 horses (9 full-sized and 2 minis). The care, feeding, and attention necessary for the 11 horses takes up about 8 person-hours per day, seven days a week. A typical 8-hour day of caring for the horses involves the following:

• Presoaking breakfast for Lola
• Feeding breakfast to all horses
• Checking/cleaning and filling their drinking water
• Picking up poop
• Presoaking lunch for the seniors
• Grooming all of the horses
• Fly spraying
• Checking hooves and removing objects/debris
• Taking them out for grazing or exercise
• Feeding lunch
• Checking their water again
• Administering medications and supplements
• Presoaking dinner for seniors
• Picking up poop again
• Feeding dinner
• Topping off waters
• Cleaning up/putting away supplies, buckets, etc.
• Supervising volunteers, including oversight of volunteers when they take horses out to gain experience working them.

Dawn and her team are justifiably proud of the results of their care for the horses, of what they have done to meet the special needs of all the horses, and their efforts to make the horses more sociable, approachable and manageable by staff and volunteers. But most of the 11 horses have suffered a variety of hardships in the past and came to Jameson psychologically and physically injured and neglected. And due to their physical impairments or age, they cannot be ridden or expected to do any work.

As a result, even though Jameson’s care for them has yielded remarkable improvement in the horses’ conditions and socialization, for the most part they still would not be candidates for adoption. Dawn English: “It is not realistic to think we can find homes for them all. All of them have special needs, diets, or medical conditions.”

Nevertheless, according to Dawn, it should be recognized that older horses or those with physical or emotional challenges “deserve a place to retire and live out their senior years in a pleasant, loving atmosphere.”

The following describes just a few of the stable mates, the challenges Jameson faces in caring for them, and their progress under Jameson’s care.    

The Family of Lola, Magnus and Dharma

Although rescued at different times and for different reasons, it turns out that Jameson has three generations of horses from the same family in its stable.  Lola is a mare in her mid-20’s and is Jameson’s most recent equine rescue. A concerned member of the public had seen Lola in a terribly underweight condition and tried without success to persuade Lola’s owner to surrender her to a rescue organization. The owner was reluctant to do so but Jameson stepped in and was able to convince the owner to give Lola up.  When she was rescued last August, Lola was in dire need of nourishment. On a bodyweight scale of 1 to 10, her weight registered at 1.5.  Jameson’s staff and volunteers nursed Lola back to a good weight. People are amazed at how she has been restored to health under Jameson’s care.

Jameson’s staff learned from an acquaintance of Jameson’s co-founder Monica Steven that Lola is the mother of another horse under Jameson’s care – Magnus – and the grandmother of yet another horse at Jameson, Dharma.

Lola’s grandson Dharma turned two-years old in February and is Jameson’s youngest horse. Dharma is still a baby but is doing great with his continued training. Since he is a little unpredictable due to his age, volunteers are only allowed to interact with him while Dawn is present so she can correct any unwanted behaviors. As of now, his veterinarian has indicated that Dharma will likely never be rideable due to his multiple heart murmurs.

Lola’s son Magnus is a gelding now but still exhibits stallion-like behavior when around other horses. Dawn English is making progress with Magnus by using essential oils and body wraps along with other training to help relax him.

Tubbs

Tubbs is another horse who presents behavioral challenges. As described in her staff bio piece on the Jameson website, Dawn English “enjoys the challenge of working with and building relationships with horses that are wary of humans, no matter the length of time it takes. One such example is Tubbs . . .  Tubbs has shown an amazing transformation with Dawn, from being fearful of her touch to building a sweet, trusting bond and enjoying Dawn’s presence. Dawn has employed essential oils and bodywork for emotional and physical healing in horses and humans with great success.”

Izzy

In our January 2024 blog, we described some of the animals at Jameson and the circumstances of their rescues. One horse covered in that article was Izzy, a paint in her mid-20s. She was rescued from a Texas horse auction in late 2022.  At the time she was rescued, Izzy had been sadly neglected and was very poor condition – on the brink of death, severely underweight, nervous, and unable to see out of one eye.  Although still shy (and blind in one eye), Izzy is a sweet, gentle soul who has been restored to health through the loving efforts of Jameson staff and veterinary care.

Molly

Molly is a 21-year-old quarter horse mare. Molly was rescued from a situation where she had been neglected and had never been handled. She was extremely nervous and frightened by contact with people when she first arrived. But the care she has received at Jameson has paid off. Molly now accepts and enjoys a halter, grooming and attention. She feels confident enough around people she knows to approach them at the gate and welcomes their attention, petting, and (of course) treats!