Meet Some of the Rescue Animals

Butterscotch

Butterscotch came from Bonita, CA in 2005. She was a yearling, Filly, who had been abused, terrified of humans and was unbroken. Through Meg's natural horsemanship method of training, Butterscotch was able to trust and join up with her trainer to establish a life long bond. She teaches children at M.A.R.A. as young as 2 and up. When you meet her, you will see what kind of sweet, patient, spunky, pony attitude she projects. She now works with teaching the children the be well-rounded riders. 

Hapa

Hapa was rescued in 2005 from a feed lot auction in East County San Diego. She had been abused and injured as a jumping pony. We rehabilitated her for 2 years and Meg retrained her to be safe under saddle and trust humans again. She now is a great pony in our rescue lesson program and has won many ribbons at shows. Her breed is unknown other than she is an Arab cross mare. She is sassy, smart, peppy and loves her humans again. 

Randsom

Randsom came from an animal control seizure in 2000 in East County San Diego where an animal hoarder was starving and abusing 20+ mini's and mules; the whole herd was rescued and adopted. We decided to keep Randsom as our forever mini mascot.  He is a stallion to be reckoned with and likes to show up  the other huge stallion Valance and keep him on his toes. Randsom is definitely a big man in a tiny man's body. 

Crescendo

Crescendo, our gentle giant thoroughbred, was rescued in 2020 after being shown and ridden as a junior until she tore both her back hamstrings all the way to her glutes. She was lame and scheduled to be euthanized at only 10 years old!
She came to the Rescue with badly bruised soles, the torn hamstring, and she requires special shoes as well as daily equiox and cosequin to keep her comfortable.
 
We brought her back to light riding a year after rescuing her and she is the sweetest and most willing, kind-hearted mare you will ever meet!

Peaches

Peaches is a 23 year old 1/4 pony palomino mare. She was rescued in 2016, covered in rain rot and skin fungus from neglect. She has a slight limp from an injury to her back leg and is only used for very gentle riding for children. 
She is the sweetest pony mare and loves to nuzzle and love on those who visit her!

Harley

Harley is a strapping 16 year old gelding. He was a barrel racer and is now retired to gentle trail riding and arena work. He is great with children and is a very forward and motivated alpha horse. 
He loves going out on trail rides and sunbathing in the turn out corral!

Lucia

Lucia is a Andalusian young mare of 2.5 years. She has recently arrived at the rescue in June 2020 and came with many health issues due to neglect. With proper veterinary support, we were able to bring her back to good health and have recently just started her under saddle. Lucia is like her name in Spanish, meaning light and full of life. She LOVES to be turned out in our pasture to play. She is very inquisitive and a sweet and sensitive girl. 

Lady

Lady arrived at the ranch in 2013 in her late twenties with many health issues. We reached out to animal control and the local humane society for refuge support. They both stated that they would euthanize her due to her condition and her advanced age. After exhausting all likely resources, we made the commitment to bring as much life to lady as we could, which includes a special feeding regimen.  At 33, she is doing extremely well for a geriatric horse.  Lady is the sweetest and most loyal companion horse on the ranch. She loves her humans, horse neighbors and dog friends as equals. 
Sponsor her today and commit to buying a bag of feed a month. At $25, you will continue to help support Lady. 

Jasmine

Jasmine was a Premarin foal rescue less than a year old, saved from Pomona auction with her mother by her side. Horses that are Premarin are kept pregnant, hooked up to urine collection lines for their entire life to produce this popular menopausal cream. When the foals are born they are sent to immediate slaughter. We also rescued her mom who was placed in a loving home in Fallbrook and Jasmine has been raised and loved here at M.A.R.A. ever since. When you are here to help care for her, you will see that she is very kind, gentle and is a true black beauty.  She is involved in our riding program for adults and children. 

Diesel

Diesel is a Nigerian dwarf goat that was abandoned with a group of goats in Alpine in desperate need of a home in 2015.  We were contacted by another animal rescue to adopt him and his brother Duke. You will find that he is a very curious and friendly guy who loves kids. 

Harley Davidson

Meg and her son, Josh, went to the Del Mar Fairgrounds in 2006 to visit the livestock options; , which was the same year that Meg pledged to teach her son about animal rescue like her father had done for her. At the fair, they fell in love with a baby sheep, bid at the meat price to save him and named him Harley.  Harley is very docile, gentle and still acts like a little lamb even at 14 years of age. He is very sweet to the other animals and loves to come up and eat grain from your hand.  

Duke

Along with his brother Diesel, Duke is a Nigerian dwarf goat that was abandoned with a group of goats in Alpine in desperate need of a home in 2015.  We were contacted by another animal rescue to adopt him and his brother Duke. You will find that he is a very playful, fun and outgoing. He loves to spar and play with the sheep, Harley. He is the alpha of the goat enclosure. 

Baby Bun Bun

Baby Bun Bun is a Lion Head bunny that came in from North Coast Humane Society.  A volunteer from the society reached out to us as she had been caged her whole life. She has been at our rescue since 2016 and is able to roam around and dig with teammates in the rabbit colony. Previously, she had a lot of bad habits from being caged, skiddish and biting, she has come a long way and is now happy and friendly. When you visit her she loves Kale, carrots and bunny treats.  

Rootie

Rootie came to the rescue around 2015 and is  Vietnamese Potbelly pig. She came from a family in Vista that could not longer keep her as they were moving out of state. She is extremely friendly, loves to be scratched behind her ears and is definitely the alpha boss of the sheep and the goats.  She definitely puts up a fuss if she doesn't get fed first. She is our hangry little girl. 

Einstein

Einstein came with Chickita from the farm that was being closed down in Escondido. in 2020.  He is really sweet and is a little mini rooster bantam chickens (mini chickens).  He is a nice, calm rooster and live separate from the larger size hens and roosters to keep him safe, due to his smaller size. He loves kale, mealworms and dust bathing. 

Summer 

Summer came from a chicken farm in Vista where they would be used for eggs or meat in 2016. One of our rescue volunteers wanted to save a few hens from a caged life of producing eggs and later the be slaughtered for meat.  She is sweet an friendly, allows people to pick her up. She loves meal worms and dust baths. 

Chickie

Chickie came from Alpine from a feed store in 2009. We were on a  horse rescue mission and stopped into a feed store for food for the horses, saw that the ducks were on sale for meat so we bought her. Megs son Josh named her Chickie because she looked so cute like a chickling. She loves to takes baths in anything with water including the chickens water bowls. She seems to think she is a chicken and her best friend is Peeps the rooster who she also cuddles nests together at night. 

Chickita

Chickita came in with Einstein, she is a bantam mini hen the rooster and came from a farm that was being closed down 2020. She had been severely pecked and a broken foot. Our rescue stepped in and we brought the two to the farm. She has since regrown most of her feathers and happily gets around. Her broken foot is healed to a degree where she can get around. She is sweet and sensitive and needs extra TLC due to her foot injury. Kept in a separate area to avoid others from playing with her.