Harry, who was called Harry Trotter during his time at the former Twist of Fate "sanctuary" is a flea bitten gray gelding who is about 20 years old.
He was originally rescued from a kill pen in April 2018 within hours of being shipped to his death. Before Ashley DiFelice cowardly hid all of her previous Twist of Fate social media posts on Facebook and Instagram, a few people were able to take some screenshots. Here is a quote from a post about Harry in November of 2021, about 9 months before her horrific actions were discovered. However, she had already been neglecting animals at this point yet still posting about them as if everyone was fine just to keep collecting donations:
"We rescued Harry a few years ago, after we found him extremely lame, only using 3 legs to walk, on a feedlot where he was going to be shipped. We ended up being sent the wrong horse, another one who could have been his twin, but we didn't give up on Harry. We fought until we found him and were able to get him to us. The other horse we were initially sent needed us just as badly, so we kept him*. When Harry arrived, he was in so much pain he could barely walk. Harry needed surgery on one of his legs to be comfortable. We went through with it and he has been living his best life ever since."
He arrived in quarantine in April 2018 limping and in a lot of pain. He hadn't had any farrier work done in a long time, and another post mentions that she needed to find out what was wrong with his leg, and that once that was determined he would have his hooves trimmed since holding up a bad leg during this process would have only caused him more pain. Some x-rays were taken a few days later and it was discovered that he had a bowed tendon from a previous injury. It didn't seem to be causing him any issues, but could have been the source of his limp at the time. One of Harry's major problems was his hoof - it was very overgrown and very thick and needed to have a few inches trimmed off. (Basically it would be like walking with only one high heeled shoe). The x-ray also showed that his coffin bone might be fractured. After a few more x-rays it was determined that his coffin bone was okay, so the main issues for Harry were his overgrown hoof as well as arthritis. He ended up having surgery at some point and became mechanically lame as a result.
Unfortunately the last post I have of Harry from his time at Twist of Fate is way back in May of 2018. The last sentence of Ashley's caption reads "Hopefully we can keep him comfy for years to come!!"
Along with over 100 other animals, Harry was not "comfy" for long and had to be rescued from Ashley DiFelice's neglect and abandonment. His body score was listed as a 3.5, which means that it in actuality it was probably even lower, and he had a horrible sunburn on his nose since along with not having any food or fresh water he also had no shelter from the hot sun. Harry was a favorite of many, including his pasture mates. Lakyn of Furvivors Horse Rescue & Sanctuary (@furvivors) arrived on the scene to help along with dozens of other sanctuaries and volunteers, and ended up taking 3 horses home with her - Harry and bonded pair Billie (formerly Tulip) and Finneas* (formerly Leo). Harry had a wonderful send-off when Lakyn loaded him on the trailer - he walked down the path to freedom while people cheered, applauded, shouted his name, and told him how handsome he is.
When Harry arrived to his new home he was very sad that all his friends were gone - this was the case with so many of the surviving animals from Twist of Fate. Some of them had been there for 3, 4, 5, 6 years or more and were incredibly bonded to the other animals. Animals grieve losses in their relationships, just like humans do, but being an animal and not knowing what was going on, where all the humans had gone, who the new humans were that were suddenly all over the property and taking all of the animals away, not knowing where all your friends were going and if they were going to be okay would be especially traumatizing for them, and many of them lapsed into sadness, fear, and depression for quite a while over the turn of events of their rescue. Even though they were all now rescued and safe, to the animals it was just more confusion and loss.
Harry soon bonded with other horses at Furvivors and though it took him some time to decompress from all of his emotional damage, he gradually started to relax and happily settle in. He eventually learned that he could trust his new humans and that he would never lack food, water, shelter, basic care, or love ever again. He is described as independent and a sweet boy and he loves his new friends, especially ladies Strawberries, Latte, and BunBun. He's not a fan of apples, but does love cookies! Lakyn did some additional research and found out that Harry is a registered AQHA horse and believed that he was a former "roping" horse, which is exactly what it sounds like. Roping horses, or American Quarter Horses are known for their speed and agility, so along with the poor calves, these horses are exploited and used for rodeo and roping events. Being used in this way would be consistent with Harry's leg injury.
To see all the Harry Trotter content, please give Furvivors a follow on Instagram! You can also find them on Facebook and TikTok. If you would like to donate towards Harry's care, you can do so via the donate page on their website, PayPal, or Venmo (PP and V are also linked on their website). You can also send them something from their Amazon Wishlist (including a bag or two of Harry's favorite cookies!). They also have cute tees, totes, hats, sweatshirts and more for sale on their site, and one of the best ways to support any sanctuary is to join their Patreon and donate on a monthly basis in any amount.
You may remember from Finneas and Billie's story that a few weeks ago Lakyn, the founder of Furvivors was in a near-fatal car accident. She ended up having emergency surgery to get her spleen and half of her pancreas removed due to internal trauma. Her bloodwork was all over the place, and her pancreas also started leaking enzymes, and the overload of fluid in her body has been making it hard for her to breathe. Lakyn also suffered a broken foot from the accident, making rehab and recovery even slower and more difficult for her. There is potential damage to her kidney, and she hasn't had much of an appetite. This information was taken from a post that is about a month old, but my understanding from other posts is that she is still recovering and is dealing with a lot of mental and emotional trauma. Lakyn loves caring for the Furvivor animals and draws a lot strength and happiness from it and is incredibly sad and frustrated that she's not able to do that, on top of dealing with the boredom and insomnia that comes with injury recovery.
If you would like to offer any help or support, the GoFundMe for Lakyn is still open. Furvivors is also in need of volunteers if you're anywhere near Chester Springs, Pennsylvania or would like to plan a trip. They are actually hosting a Volunteer Day this Saturday, January 27th. No experience is necessary, and you can register for this event or for volunteering in general by filling out the form on their website here, or you can send them an email at furvivorsjojo@gmail.com.
ETA: Harry, Billie, and Finneas are still ALL in need of sponsors!! For details please contact Lakyn or JoJo at Furvivors through a message on Instagram, or you can send them an email at furvivorsjojo@gmail.com. Thank you!!
Thank you for reading!
*I'm still trying to find out the identity of the other gray horse that TOF kept that was mistakenly sent in Harry's place as well as whether or not he/she survived. If and when I find out I will update this post! Also, you can read Finneas and Billie's story here.
To find out how you can help ALL horses, please click here to sign The Safe Act. You can also sign a petition that was created to save the wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park here.
Also: Animals are here with us, not for us, and should not be used, abused, exploited or commodified in any way. None of should look at an animal and wonder what they can do for us or what they can provide for us, whether that is food, clothing, recreation or entertainment. To learn more about how riding horses or any animal is exploitative and cruel (whether or not you identify as a vegan), please click here and here.
Ashley DiFelice's next court date is Thursday, February 22nd. Please continue to share the petition in the meantime! Thank you.