We have only 4 more days for the ‘like’ fundraiser. For every new like we get, up to a total of 16,209 fans, on Facebook, we get 55 cents. Thanks to all Roads Communication and a pet clinic for stepping forward to help! We really appreciate it. Please continue sharing and tell your friends to like us too.
The 12 horses from Animal Control fundraiser is still underway, we only need $882! The 2 colts are ready to be gelded and are waiting at the vet, but we do not have the funds to geld them. The next $600 in the fundraiser is dedicated to their gelding cost. They are not halter trained yet, but are young, curious and friendly. These guys are counting on your support, to donate to Reggie and Shiloh’s gelding operation in this fundraiser, click here!
Friday morning found the rescue rig on the road once again. Jason drove and drove to where two horses needed help.
Finally the road ended where Jason saw a beautiful white horse tied to a tree waiting for him.
Under another tree a different horse was tied.
These two horses are the victims of a divorce case. We were told that if we did not take them they could be shot. Thankfully other arrangements were made for these horses and they were coming to our shelter to hopefully find their forever home. Meet Maggie, a beautiful German Holsteiner mare who is about 15 years old. We are told she is trained to ride, and would be good for intermediate or advanced rider.
Meet Rose, an older Thoroughbred mare. She is also supposed to be trained to ride good for intermediate to advanced riders.
On the way back to the shelter Jason saw smoke in the distance.
Thankfully it was a control burn to clear the dead grass off the side of the road so a real fire wouldn’t come through and cause major damage.
Rose was so happy to get out of the trailer and stretch her legs.
Maggie was also happy to be out and seeing all the new friends. In the body score Maggie is pushing a 9 (obese.) She has fat pads all over her body. She is one of the chunkiest horses we have ever gotten into the shelter.
Soon they were in their pen. They looked wide eyed at all the new friends that could be made. They are best friends, really love each other and would love to be adopted together.
Sunday morning the shelter was getting ready for a busy day. Monikar, the recentled gelded horse that came from Shasta County Animal Control cannot be with the other horses. He was a breeding stallion and it will take some time for him to calm down and get the testosterone out of his system.
Foretune was ready for his makeover. It was time for him to say “Goodbye” to his matted mane.
After a lot of work by one of the volunteers his mane was beautiful, shiny and flowing in the breeze once again. Thanks Tanaya, you did a great job!
The fly traps were getting hung up that recently came in an order from Horse.com
Soon they were inviting all the neighborhood flies to come check out the sweet smelling juice. Poor things, it says “rescue” on the front of the bags, how deceiving.
A potential adopter came out and looked at Keys. They met a bunch of other horses at the shelter but they had to come back to Keys and spend a little more time with him.
They fell in love and Keys is in adoption pending now. He is a great boy and we know that he will have a great home with them.
Monday morning another load of horse feed was pulling through the front gate. This time the bill is $3,600. The feed price went up by 20%, ouch! With so many horses coming into the shelter, we could really use some donations to help cover this huge bill. Please help out, click here.
The full trailer was backed in next to the now empty trailer that had been full of cubes.
Tawnee crawled up on the huge pile of cubes (over 10 tons.) It’s hard to think that in less than 2 months this will all be converted to horse manure. The horses love it and they all do so much better on the cubes than they did on hay. They gain weight faster, their coats are shinier and overall there is lots of nutrition packed into each little cube.
A bunch of stuff was on the schedule to be done. Tawnee was moving some mats, when she lifted one up she found a gigantic spider. She couldn’t believe how big it was, it looked like a spider from the tropics. It must be eating all the flies, hope it doesn’t starve now that the fly traps are up.
There was a lot of general cleanup that was being done Monday. It’s always amazing how stuff can constantly be cleaned, but it’s never quite done. Larry had fun driving the Hay Wagon (a big Thank You! to all the Hay Wagon sponsors, it’s still not paid off, your monthly sponsorship is still being used to pay for it.) Someone complained about us getting the hay wagon, they said a golf cart would work just fine for our needs. Anyone know of a golf cart that can haul panels like this?
Some potential adopters came out to look at the horses. The lady had put a hold on Shanti, who has been with us for over a year, and they were coming out to meet her. To read Shanti’s intake blog, click here. Before they were able to meet Shanti, Parcy made sure he got his loving in too.
Shanti was all smiles about the prospect of finally getting a home. She had been working on the cutest smile she could get on her face for over a year, she was hoping she finally had it good enough to get someone to adopt her.
They really liked Shanti, and she really liked them too.
After riding Shanti, they were so excited about the prospects of taking her home in a few weeks. After their adoption application is done and arrangements are made, Shanti should finally be going home.
Monday was warm, so Breeze enjoyed standing in the water spray getting cooled off. She is one of the curly horses, and she has come so far. She is ready to start her halter training.
Cathy has been doing her best to become friends with Ducky. He is very shy of strangers and he isn’t halter trained. His feet need to get trimmed, but he just doesn’t like people. Monday was the first day he actually came up with no bribing, just the soft sound of Cathy’s voice talking to him. He didn’t let her touch him, but there was a look in his eyes like he is thinking about it.
When Reggie and Shiloh came from Shasta County Animal Control, we were told they were geldings but that they were not halter trained. They were turned out into the pasture with everybody, but then it was quickly discovered that they were not gelded. They are both about a year old and didn’t have a clue about breeding, thankfully there was no horsin’ around in the pasture. They were separated and put into their own special pen. Half of the horses that came from Shasta County Animal Control were stallions, and one had been gelded the week before. What a rough group to rescue, especially when donations are down.
But, today they were heading to the vet. They can’t be with mares, and with limited space, they are the vet.
They can’t come back to the shelter until they are geldings. And we can’t geld them unless the funds come in. To give the gift of life, please donate to our urgent need so we can get these guys gelded and ready for adoption. If you know of anyone that is looking for a project gelding to start from the ground up on training, let us know as soon as possible. Several people commented that they were willing to adopt and train wild untrained stallions. Here is your chance, these guys are young and have the potential for a long beautiful life. They will be gelded as soon as the funds are donated, and they will then be waiting for those promised homes. We wish there was another way, but there are so many unwanted horses coming into the shelter. To donate to their gelding operation, click here.
Maria was also taken to the vet. The kind people who adopted Blaze a couple weeks ago (no adoption photo was taken) wanted to adopt another horse, and they offered to pay to have her checked out at the vet office to find out what is going on with her. Everyone is hoping that with some rehab she will be OK and they can adopt her.
There were 3 more horses at the SAFE Surrender Site. One of them had a shoulder problem and was experiencing a lot of pain from it. Another was 30 years old and could hardly get around. The other one was this 10 year old off the track Thoroughbred who was very skinny and very lame.
We hoped that we would be able to save Icy, so X-Rays were taken to determine what was going on.
In his hind leg his fetlock looked like it had a lot of calcification. Maybe it was just scar tissue and wasn’t causing him problems? His front legs seemed to have problems too.
The x-rays showed that he had a lot of arthritis and that it was just going to get worse. Poor boy! It’s always so hard when horses come to the SAFE Surrender Site and there is nothing that can be done to help them. It causes such heartache, but knowing that they are not standing in a field experiencing continuous pain, starving in a back yard or on their way to slaughter is what we must take to heart.
Woody was finally ready to load up and go back to the shelter. He had been waiting for his ride for awhile. We knew that he would have a surprise at the shelter, and Ducky would have a surprise too.
At the shelter when Woody was unloaded he was put in the same pen with Ducky. Ducky was so happy to see another long eared donkey friend! We are really hoping that with Woody’s loving-outgoing personality he will help show Ducky that some people are A-Ok. We are calling the two of them “Wood Duck.” It wasn’t on purpose, it just happened that Ducky came in with his name, and Jennifer G. who donated to rescue Woody, wanted to name him Woody. So, we have a donkey herd named Wood Duck.
It was time to evaluate Monikar. We hoped that somebody at some point had done something with him. So many times people who have stallions only use them for breeding, never teaching them ground manners or anything useful, just make as many babies as possible. Monikar accepted the saddle and bridle like a pro, and Tawnee’s hopes started rising.
It turns out he is trained to ride. Thankfully somebody cared enough about him to put time and energy into him. He is still very studdy acting and is not available for adoption until he calms down, so keep an eye on the blog.
He is such a beautiful boy. As the sun set Monday evening, everyone was so happy. If only more people would put training into their stallions they would have a much better chance at leading productive lives as geldings.
Please remember our urgent need. We would love to call the vet and say “Go ahead and geld Reggie and Shiloh, we have the money now.” We are counting on you to make that phone call possible. To donate, click here.
The names of all the people who have donated over the last few weeks were not put in the blog, but we would like to thank you! We will start putting the names in the blogs once again, but remember if you want to be anonymous just let us know.