{"id":18503,"date":"2019-09-16T10:11:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T16:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=60183"},"modified":"2019-09-17T07:46:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-17T13:46:24","slug":"granby-rescue-gives-horses-a-second-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/granby-rescue-gives-horses-a-second-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Granby rescue gives horses a second chance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.1858407079646\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-60183-826\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3011-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3011-1024x678.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"McKenna Harford \/ mharford@skyhinews.com | Briannah Swope and her rescue Finnegan, who lost his left eye to cancer.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.80530973451327\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7.2477876106195\">\n<p><strong>Briannah Swope and her rescue Finnegan, who lost his left eye to cancer.<\/strong><br \/>McKenna Harford \/ <a href=\"mailto:mharford@skyhinews.com\">mharford@skyhinews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3011-1024x678.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3071-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3071-1024x678.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"McKenna Harford \/ mharford@skyhinews.com | Swope with Finnegan and her first-ever rescue horse Clee. Clee helps calm and guide Finnegan during training.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.28\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"6.8266666666667\">\n<p><strong>Swope with Finnegan and her first-ever rescue horse Clee. Clee helps calm and guide Finnegan during training.<\/strong><br \/>McKenna Harford \/ <a href=\"mailto:mharford@skyhinews.com\">mharford@skyhinews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3071-1024x678.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3049-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3049-1024x678.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"DSC_3049McKenna Harford \/ mharford@skyhinews.com | Mikayla Springer, Swope's friend and a helping hand at the rescue, treats rescue horse Cricket to some attention.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.43292682926829\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8.6585365853659\">\n<p><strong>Mikayla Springer, Swope\u2019s friend and a helping hand at the rescue, treats rescue horse Cricket to some attention.<\/strong><br \/>DSC_3049McKenna Harford \/ <a href=\"mailto:mharford@skyhinews.com\">mharford@skyhinews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/DSC_3049-1024x678.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/5811D503-7EED-4271-B1D7-DB5382CA68C6-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/5811D503-7EED-4271-B1D7-DB5382CA68C6-1024x716.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Briannah Swope | When Swope adopted Finnegan, he had untreated eye wounds from cancer that led to the removal of his left eye.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>When Swope adopted Finnegan, he had untreated eye wounds from cancer that led to the removal of his left eye.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Briannah Swope<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/5811D503-7EED-4271-B1D7-DB5382CA68C6-1024x716.jpg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/IMG_1685-150x150.jpeg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/IMG_1685-1024x1024.jpeg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Briannah Swope | Top: Finnegan when Swope first adopted him. Bottom: Five months later.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>Top: Finnegan when Swope first adopted him. Bottom: Five months later.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Briannah Swope<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/IMG_1685-1024x1024.jpeg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/FE30DB12-044F-4961-BFC4-006EECE2CB75-150x150.jpeg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/FE30DB12-044F-4961-BFC4-006EECE2CB75-1024x768.jpeg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Briannah Swope | Finnegan in one of the many surgeries he's gotten since being rescued by Swope.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Finnegan in one of the many surgeries he\u2019s gotten since being rescued by Swope.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Briannah Swope<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2019\/09\/FE30DB12-044F-4961-BFC4-006EECE2CB75-1024x768.jpeg\" alt><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/granby-rescue-gives-horses-a-second-chance\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/granby-rescue-gives-horses-a-second-chance\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>When Briannah Swope picked up the sickly white horse she would name Finnegan, he had already been to auction four times.<\/p>\n<p>The horse\u2019s face was bloody from an eye injury caused by cancer. He was underweight. He had 62 spider bites on his left flank, and he was deaf.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHad I not intervened \u2026 they would\u2019ve sent him to the kill buyer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Swope, an avid equestrian, has been rescuing horses the past four years with her own money, time and property on Highway 125 in Granby, where Swope works to heal and rehome horses that would otherwise be put down, as was the case with Finnegan.<\/p>\n<p>It took months of vet visits, multiple surgeries and hours of therapy to help Finnegan get healthy again.<\/p>\n<p>Swope said kind-hearted sponsors donated money to cover some of the more costly treatments. However, in the process, Finnegan lost his left eye, leaving him half blind and fully deaf.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s just a first,\u201d Swope said. \u201cI reached out to a lot of trainers and none of them had dealt with it. They just said, \u2018We can\u2019t help you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Typically, once a horse has been given the thumbs up from the vet, Swope trains the animal to ensure it can be ridden and to determine its skills so the horse can be adopted out.<\/p>\n<p>With Finnegan, Swope had to start by gaining his trust and figuring out a way to communicate with him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, you get the full story of the horse, and other times you don\u2019t get anything,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of the communication you do with Finn is with your hands because you can\u2019t talk to him because he can\u2019t hear you.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, Swope found a Denver-based trainer who owns a blind and deaf horse and could share some tips. Swope\u2019s trusty sidekick and the first horse she ever rescued, Clee, also helped make Finnegan feel comfortable in his new home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The experience of seeing Finnegan go from not letting people touch him to happily running and bucking in a round pen has been deeply impactful, said Mikayla Springer, a friend of Swope\u2019s who regularly helps out at the rescue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never experienced something more rewarding,\u201d Springer said. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with a lot of horses and that was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of the 16 horses Swope has rescued, Finnegan was her most difficult, Swope said. Unlike the majority of the rescues, Finnegan will likely find his forever home with Swope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhoever trains Finn will be the person he connects with, so he\u2019ll probably stay here,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<p>Although Finnegan is still adjusting to his new life, Swope already has her next rescue, a 19-year-old horse from Empire.<\/p>\n<p>She said that she receives up to six messages a month about horses that have been abused, abandoned or can no longer be cared for by their owners.<\/p>\n<p>In order to help as many of them as possible, Swope\u2019s next project will be formalizing her rescue by creating a 501c3 nonprofit business and finishing a new barn on her 40 acre property.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to take in more once we get the barn up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/news\/granby-rescue-gives-horses-a-second-chance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Briannah Swope and her rescue Finnegan, who lost his left eye to cancer.McKenna Harford \/ mharford@skyhinews.com Swope with Finnegan and her first-ever rescue horse Clee. Clee helps calm and guide Finnegan during training.McKenna Harford \/ mharford@skyhinews.com Mikayla Springer, Swope\u2019s friend and a helping hand at the rescue, treats rescue horse Cricket to some attention.DSC_3049McKenna Harford [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-18503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 09:01:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18527,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18503\/revisions\/18527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}