The Mini Brew Crew, a group of mini horses, raises awareness

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

ey are called the Mini Brew Crew. Together these four mini horses, Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and their friend, Mariah, are going out to the public to raise awareness for Zuma’s Rescue Ranch, located in Douglas County near Louviers.

Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and another horse, George, had curled feet and were ill when they came from an auction in Montana.

“ ey were in rough shape,” said Jodi Messenich, owner of Zuma’s Rescue Ranch, a local nonpro t.

Due to di erent kinds of infections, parasites and ticks, all four horses were put into quarantine at Zuma’s.

eir feet had become what Messenich described as “slippers” because their hooves had overgrown so much, they curled up. It took several rounds of trimming their hooves to get them back to a healthy condition.

Unfortunately, George did not make it as his conditions were too chronic.

Once trained as a tick pony in Los Angeles, Mariah was being fed an unhealthy diet and was overweight when Zuma’s rescued her.

Messenich founded Zuma’s Rescue Ranch in 2008 after rescuing 16 horses within four years.

Zuma’s is now a nonpro t organization and partner-based behavioral health center, dedicated to o ering animal-assisted learning and therapy programs.

In addition to two licensed therapists, the ranch currently has over 60 rescue animals including horses, donkeys, goats, a cow, a sheep as well as cats.

Some of the behavioral health programs consist of support groups, family therapy and an equine assisted learning program. Messenich said one of their biggest clients is Denver Children’s Home who bring a group of kids to the ranch every Tuesday. e nonpro t also works to help Veterans through the Department of Defense’s Skills Bridge Program for Veterans.

“ ey intern with us and they learn a trade,” said Messenich. “We help veterans in that way and we get funding from Lockheed Martin for our veterans program.

As caring for the animals and the ranch is expensive, Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and Mariah are out in the public doing their part to raise awareness for the ranch.

According to Messenich, most of Zuma’s funding comes from their equine education and their mental health programs.

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