Tolkien's Fund

Tolkien was a very special gelding who entered our lives on Halloween of 2020 after a successful career as a rodeo pick-up horse. He was surrendered into our care due to severe lameness in his front feet. Subsequent x-rays revealed extensive ringbone and bone chips in both front fetlocks and pasterns. Treatments for these conditions have spotty success at best, but we felt we owed him a chance. For the following year, we attempted various courses of treatment, from physical therapies to pharmaceutical pain relief. While some of these treatments showed brief and measured success, none proved capable of giving him sustained relief from either his lameness or the pain that it caused. It was with great sorrow that, after exhausting all of the options recommended by our veterinarian, we decided that the most humane course of action was to euthanize in order to set him free from his pain. We said goodbye to this gentle giant in early December of 2021.

Tolkien’s Fund was established in his honor as a trust specifically set aside to help horses like Tolkien who need extra time and medical attention to attempt recovery from lameness, or who need a final act of kindness in order to prevent further suffering. Please consider donating to this important part of our mission in service of at-risk equines.