“A Christmas Rescue — The Story of Blue Jeans and the Ones We Couldn’t Save”

Bringing our very nervous BlueJeans home!!!

Christmas 2024 wasn’t filled with lights and ribbons for us at Davis Dewberry Farm, it was filled with fear, mud, and the desperate sound of hooves shifting restlessly in a crowded kill pen. That day, we made the decision to save two lives: a frightened, severely underweight Arabian gelding we later named Blue Jeans, and a large, gentle draft mare whose kind eyes still haunt us. Both were bound for slaughter within days. We couldn’t turn away.

BlueJeans: under weight and covered with bites from other horses at the auction

Blue Jeans arrived terrified of everything; every sound, every touch. He trembled constantly, his body thin and frail, his spirit broken. But he was alive. The draft mare, though majestic and full of grace, was already too weak. Just three days after arriving home, she went down and couldn’t get back up. For hours, we worked beside rescue partners who drove miles to help. We lifted, comforted, prayed, fighting to give her another chance. But as the night grew long, we made the hardest, kindest choice we could: to let her rest with dignity. She left this world surrounded by love, not fear.

The late Lady Phoenix although we did not have long with her, we were honored to show her love and dignity as she crossed the rainbow to rest in peace

At the same time, we had bailed another gelding who never even made it out of the kill pen. Despite immediate medical attention, his body gave out before he could experience the freedom he deserved. Their losses broke our hearts, but they also ignited a deeper commitment, to keep fighting for the ones who still can be saved.

Blue Jeans is that hope made real. Though once anxious and skeletal, he has begun to trust again. He nuzzles volunteers, stands calmly during grooming, and grazes in the pasture with the quiet confidence of a survivor. He carries the memory of those we lost, a living reminder of why this work matters.

Every rescue doesn’t have a happy ending, but every effort, every mile, every tear is worth it when one life like Blue Jeans gets to live.

BlueJeans now after gaining weight and learning he is safe and loved!

Sponsor a horse like Blue Jeans. Your compassion gives the forgotten another chance to heal, to trust, and to finally come home.