Photo credit: Robert Dawson
Sweet Diamante Needs Your Help
Just a few days ago, Jason, our dedicated ranch manager, found one of our stallions Diamante on the ground, bloated, his lower intestine filled with gas (colic). Jason could hardly get him up but he didn’t give up and quickly transported him to the vet.
Though we love all of our resident wild horses and burros, 21 year-old Diamante, who lives just a few steps from our office and education barn, holds a special place in the hearts of our staff and volunteers.
While stallions are often indifferent to visitors, DeeDee (as Diamante is affectionately known) likes lots of scratching and comes over to see them eagerly. When he is in an open pasture, Diamante fires up and is ever-active, amplifying his strikingly beautiful liver and white overo color.
Diamante is very rare, hailing from the Wilbur-Cruce Colonial Spanish Mission horses, an important conservation herd at our Sanctuary.
The vocal Diamante also loves keeping tabs on the horses who happen to being led through the area — and on Balthazar, one of two wandering resident pot-bellied pigs. He is a perfect gentleman while being led, getting a bath, or standing before guests learning about the important role that horse like him played in the Colonial Spanish era, his piercing blue eyes captivating all who see him. Diamante makes a strong statement for the American mustang and the original Spanish mustangs that are almost all gone.
The veterinary team acted right away. We couldn’t fail Diamante in his time of need, not after his 15 years of service as an ambassador for RTF. His overall good health qualified him as a good candidate for surgery with prognosis for recovery.
They were right. A long-time supporter made a very generous donation to enable us to move forward with this urgent veterinary cost. Now, Diamante needs five more days of recovery at the veterinary clinic. We can’t short him of this important stay period at the veterinary clinic, or allow the needs of our other senior and special needs horses to go unanswered.
Veterinary care is expensive, but we must uphold our promise to provide the best care possible to the deserving horses in our care at the sanctuary.
As the RTF horses age, we endeavor to have our veterinary team provide regular preventative care. Visitors and experienced equine professionals alike remark on how wonderful our horses look, with many now in their late 20s and 30s!
Thank you for continuing to show how we stand apart—and most urgently to get Diamante well— by donating to our Vet Fund today!
Photo credit: Susan Papa
More about Diamante—
Diamante (Spanish for “Diamond”) and five mares arrived to Return to Freedom’s American Wild Horse Sanctuary in 2003. Diamante’s sisters, Isadora and Inez, were both born at the Sanctuary. Isadora was Breyer’s 2010 mustang model horse.
They are ambassadors of the Wilbur-Cruce Colonial Spanish Mission herd, a high-quality rancher strain that arrived to America in the 1600’s with Jesuit Priest Padre Kino. Diamante has been a long-time neighbor of Spirit, the Kiger mustang who served as the muse for the DreamWorks film, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.