Joanie is a horse who has had an incredibly difficult life.
Joanie was born in Illinois in 1999, and she spent the first years of her life as a racehorse. Joanie won many of the races she participated in, but when she grew too old to race, her owner was forced to sell her.
Joanie was bought by an Amish family and spent the next few years pulling a buggy. Sadly, the rough equipment of the buggy tore at Joanie’s fur on her face, leaving her in massive pain and with a great deal of hair loss.
The family eventually decided to sell Joanie for unknown reasons, and they brought her to an auction house. After she was sold, Joanie was placed in a “direct ship pen,” meaning she would be heading directly to a slaughterhouse. Joanie had spent her entire life being worked hard every day, and now she was going to be mercilessly slaughtered.
Then, just when it seemed like all hope was lost, someone stepped in to save her.
Jamie Castano, founder of Freedom Farm Animal Rescue, happened to be at the auction house that day taking photos to raise awareness of these animals’ plight. He hadn’t planned to adopt any animals that day, but when he came upon Joanie in her pen, he noticed the number “25” tattooed on her neck.
“I actually have the number 25 tattooed on my arm as a memorial for my uncle who had passed away,” Castano said. “So when I happened to see her, I was like, ‘Oh my god.’”
Castano then noticed that Joanie’s legs were marked up with pin fire markings.
“They give them to racehorses,” Castano said. “It’s pretty much like a shot of acid to freeze the tendon or muscle. So when they have an injury or they’re not performing their best, this is supposed to make them not feel that area. My vet had said, ‘Maybe four or five pin firing marks is almost normal,’ but she had 18 on each leg.”
Castano knew he had to do something to save Joanie, so he wrote a post on the Freedom Farm Animal Rescue Instagram page asking for donations so that he could buy her. The post went viral, and enough donations quickly poured in that he was able to buy the horse and change her life forever!
These days, Joanie loves her life running around the farm! It took her a little while to become comfortable around people, given all that she’s been through, but now she enjoys the company of the farm workers.
“She’s just an absolute sweetheart,” Castano said. “If we’re in her field, she’ll follow us all around. To go from a horse that was on her way to a slaughterhouse to following us around the pasture — that’s incredible.”
In the video below this story, you can see the moment Joanie first arrived at the farm and was set free from her trailer. She immediately rolls around on the ground, as she can’t be happier to be free!
We’re so glad to see that Joanie’s story had a happy ending! SHARE this story so your friends and family can see this as well!
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