Sawyer Needs Your Help!

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:05][music] >> In September of 2025, um we intercepted a cute little colt from the slaughter pipeline. His name became Sawyer. That is what our supporters named [music] him.

[00:00:31]He, like most of the little guys that come in, um was really scared. He didn't kind of know what was going on.

[00:00:37]But, he seemed super sweet. [music] We had a hard time telling if he was already castrated or not. So, we just kind of had him down to monitor that and see if later on, you know, we could [music] palpate his testicles after he had calmed down a little bit. So, usually we will check to see if there's [music] either a scar or testicles, um so that we know if we need to get them castrated. At his intake, we aged him around one. Usually, up until the age of two, they can drop their testicles to where both are palpable. It's usually earlier than that, but typically, [music] once they hit two, at that point, you can know for sure if both [music] testicles are going to come down. With these guys coming in through the buyout program, through the auctions, we don't know their foaling date. So, we don't have exact ages on anybody.

[00:01:26]So, with the younger ones, the easiest way to know a pretty close age is by just watching their adult teeth come in.

[00:01:34]So, we just kind of had him down for a monthly recheck. [music] We would check to see if we could feel the other testicle or check his [music] teeth and see if his two and a half incisors were coming in. About a month or two ago, we realized it still was not palpable. Our best option was going to be to fully anesthetize him like we would for a castration, be prepared to castrate him if we could find that other testicle cuz sometimes it can be kind of like pushed up to the surface so that you can get at it. So, we went ahead and did that. Dr. Lydia and Dr. Jess were both here. We were not able to feel it at all, but we had our ultrasound with us and so they were [music] able to locate that testicle. It looks like it is underneath where the scar is on the surface. There's a lot of scar tissue over it. And then it's kind of looks like it sits right underneath all of that and then really close to the GI tract. So, for a surgery like that where you're risking possible having to go into the abdomen, [music] that needs to be extremely sterile um in a very controlled environment and that just isn't something our facility is set [music] up for and that is the reason that they both agreed it was not something we should try to do here and [music] instead should send him to an equine surgical facility to have surgery. We don't adopt out cryptorchid horses um because of the fact that they can still breed. With his demeanor and his personality, he is super adoptable.

[00:02:59]He is going to be a great horse for somebody. We really want to figure out a way >> [music] >> to get that surgery for him so that we can get him adopted. We have gotten a couple estimates from two different facilities here in Tennessee that do cryptorchid surgery. They would basically do their own diagnostics to figure out exactly where the testicle is, the best way to approach it, um safest [music] way for him, things like that. And he would have surgery, come back down here, recover from that.

[00:03:27]We'd make sure that everything goes [music] well um post surgery and then as soon as he's healed up, he'd be available for [music] adoption. Sawyer is a really special horse to us here at Horse Plus. He's been a member of our family for many months now. You know, we feel very strongly that with a successful [music] surgery, Sawyer is going to be very adoptable and be able to live a very, [music] very happy life.

[00:03:50]And so, I'm coming to you for help. We need to raise some money for Sawyer's surgery. It's going to cost about $5,000 >> [music] >> to get the surgery that Sawyer needs done in the near future. And so, today I'm just asking if you have a dollar, two dollars, three dollars, anything you have to put towards Sawyer's $5,000 surgery, it would be so, so helpful. You know, here at Horse Plus, we believe in helping every animal, no matter what the condition is. And this animal, our beloved Sawyer, needs our help. And so, I'm asking you, would you help us help Sawyer to raise $5,000 for his surgery?