Curo

Arrival Date:  August 2017

Farewell Date:  May 23, 2025

 

On August 17, 2017 County of San Diego Department of Animal Services seized seven horses as part of an ongoing animal neglect case in the East County. Fortunately, when the horses were made available for adoption, the local equine community stepped up and adopted four of the horses. That left three horses in need of a special place to call home.

One was a mare in her late teens who demonstrated sore feet while at the shelter. X-rays indicated a history of laminitis, with rotation and boney changes evident in her left front foot. Fortunately, her laminitis was not acute. Our veterinary team is optimistic that appropriate farrier work and diet will help us manage her issues.

The name Curo was chosen for her by her sponsor. Curo (pronounced koo-row) means sweetheart in Sicilian and is the perfect name for this sweet mare.

Curo was accompanied on her journey to the ranch by the two other horses that were unable to find adoptive homes of their own, Stellabella, a fourteen-month-old filly with several bone structure issues, including clubbed feet and Sky, a recently gelded stallion and sire of the filly, that also has clubbed feet and structural issues in his hind legs. We are glad we were able to offer a soft landing spot for all three of these special horses.

 

Farewell Date:  May 23, 2025

 

During her time with us, Curo experienced occasional hoof abscesses. A hoof abscess is an infection that gets trapped in the foot and forms a pocket of pus.

She had a particularly large, painful abscess in 2023. We thought it had healed until she became painful again last fall. Dr. Harlan discovered that the abscess hole had never completely filled in. X-rays indicated that the hole led dangerously close to the coffin bone in her hoof. While the prognosis was concerning, our farrier, Ray Fleury fitted Curo with a special shoe and pad that sealed the bottom of her hoof, keeping dirt out. The hope was that with time the abscess hole would remain clean and begin to close. A week ago, for the first time in months, Curo became lame on that hoof and after a couple of days, the shoe came off. Dr. Rivett x-rayed her on Friday May 23. We hoped to see a much smaller abscess hole and we planned to have to put on a new shoe.

Unfortunately, the x-rays showed that the abscess hole had not shrunk at all, in fact it had grown, with a track running the length of her hoof. We were devastated. After months of hoping for healing, there was nothing more that could be done. The infection was already causing changes in the coffin bone itself. Dr. Rivett commented that at age twenty-nine, Curo simply might not have been able to regrow hoof the way a younger horse could.

As Curo left us, Sky began calling to her. His cries carried throughout the ranch well into the evening. It was heartbreaking. Our beautiful stallion had lost the last of “his mares.” We are grateful that his daughter, Stellabella, and Kukla were there for him.