Early this morning we got to work loading up various horses to send off to their new homes. Here a volunteer is loading up Check, he is heading up to the mountains so we put a blanket on him so he wouldn’t get cold.
We got a surprise phone call from Home at Last and they had a couple openings as they had a couple horses going into long term foster care. Donna asked Tawnee to pick out two horses and surprise her with them. Tawnee picked out PeaPod and StarSong. Both of them would be really hard to adopt into a home, StarSong has lameness and PeaPod is an older unbroke broodmare. We are so glad that Home at Last can give them a loving forever home.
Ron loaded up 5 horses to deliver in the northern Ca to their new homes.
An adopter who has had Cinnoman in adoption hold came up. She began pulling some tack out of the back of her truck and Tawnee said “Oh wow, you’re going to donate some tack?” Her reply: “Take a look at this” while she led Tawnee to the trailer door and opened it up. Wow! She’s been collecting tack for quite some time, and got 10 bags of complete pelleted horse feed for us. Thank you so much for the donations! Ever since we got the Lucky 7 group we have been feeding a pelleted complete feed every day. More and more skinny horses come in, and more and more they need special feeds. Every time we almost run out, someone brings a few more bags. Thank you so much! We were down to two bags this morning, but now we have enough for another week or so.
Almost all of the board members were out for a visit today. They seemed pleased with how the rescue is being ran and operated. Scott evaluated Jason’s work today and gave him 5 stars for professionalism with the clients, safety in transport, and a kind hand with the horses. Josh couldn’t spend the whole day but he enjoyed the visit. Claire was also out for the whole day helping out.
Kathy fell in love with Zanita and adopted her today. Since Zanita’s blood panel was good we felt comfortable letting her go to a new home. She just needs TLC and groceries. Zanita wasn’t too keen on having a great big kiss on the nose, but oh well, that must be what humans like to do.
While Kathy was holding her horse trailer door open waiting to load Cinnamon, Boss decided that since Kathy enjoys giving kisses, she would like one on her arm. He stuck his tongue all the way out and started slurping. It seemed to catch Kathy by surprise!
Cinnamon jumped right into the trailer ready to start her new life. Thanks Kathy so much for adopting Zanita and Cinnamon.
Many of you may remember Rowan, from the June auction. Kathy had adopted him several months ago.
Here is a recent picture of Rowen, he looks like a different horse! He is gaining his weight and looks like a new horse. Way to go Rowen!
Soon, with Cinnamon and Zanita loaded up, Jason headed out to take PeaPod and Starsong to Home at Last and Check to his new home. Kathy followed Jason up the hill, around the incoming traffic, and they parted ways. Everyone that has been to the rescue knows the road is a little narrow, but volunteer Amber managed to get far enough off the road to let Jason and Kathy pass.
Deb showed horses today, today was actually fairly slow compared to a normal Sunday. It was good though because we were able to spend one on one time with each adopter. John was falling in love.
These approved adopters fell in love with both John and Nina. They will make a great home for them. They were so excited about getting them delivered, they scheduled delivery for this evening once Ron was back from his other deliveries.
Jason arrived at Home at Last and delivered the two horses safely. We are always so happy when horses are able to go there, they are guaranteed a forever home full of love, kindness and great food.
From there Jason took Check to his new home. They were so happy to get him! They’ve had him on hold for quite awhile, they wanted to make sure everything would be perfect for him when he comes.
Ron made it to his delivery. All the horses were going to the same boarding stable, so it made it quite easy. All the horses settled right in and got some great food.
The four little troopers that Ron picked up and brought to the rescue the other night are doing fine. It is so sad to see so many skinny young horses.
We are seeing more and more skinny, underfed and underloved babies. They are just being dumped left and right.
Tawnee and Amber spent a great big portion of the day cleaning out the tack room. With all the donated tack recently it was hard to get into the tack room. Tawnee and Amber got to work, and soon it looked like the tack room had exploded out the front door.
Ron made it to the next stop on his route, he was picking up 5 horses. The folks had seen us on the news, and simply were unable to take care of the horses they had bred in their backyard over the years. They called up to reserve some spots in the clinic for them, but Tawnee wanted to bring them into the rescue and try to find them homes, and she told them that the clinic would be a last resort.
Ron was hoping it would be an easy operation to get the horses into the trailer, but one of the horses put up a royal fight. She is a 12 year old, not-halter broke mare that has been able to do what she wants to do when she wants to do it. She has learned that if you kick, people stay away. This is a more dangerous loading job than Ron is used to.
ason got to his next stop, and picked up Lola, a donkey that was already lined up to go to an adopter. Lola’s owners were simply unable to continue caring for her. They loved her dearly and are sad to see her go.
Tawnee and Amber worked late into the evening segregating all the tack that is going to be sold at the upcoming auction to help raise money to rescue horses.
Finally, everything was packaged up and ready to go, back into the tack room for now.
Ron finally pulled in long after dark. We really need some good outdoor lighting, now that the sun is setting so early the days are just not long enough for us.
His first words were “Be careful Tawnee, that horse kicks!” She didn’t want to come out, so Tawnee walked over to the side of the trailer, gently put her hand on her rump. She was fine with that, but when Tawnee gave her some little pushes, she went into a flurry frenzy of thrashing the trailer while kicking in every which direction.
Finally all 5 were unloaded and settled in for the night. Hopefully she treats horses better than she treats people.
By this time Jason and Scott arrived back with Lola the donkey.
She was wide eyed and wondering what her next adventure would be. Since her adoptive home is only 30 miles away, Jason decided to continue her journey. But first he had to help Ron load up two horses, John and Nina, for the evening delivery.
It’s a good thing horses only sleep for 3 hours out of 24. Sounds about like the rescue staff sleep schedule too.
They were both loaded up and ready to go.
So, the three of them headed out again. Ron to deliver John and Nina with Jason and Scott heading out to deliver Lola.
Lola arrived and they were just thrilled to have her. They have been waiting just too long to get her.
They had 2 donkeys, and one of them died of old age, so the white guy was just so lonely. Lola will bring a lot of joy to his life. He was so happy to see another donkey he went off on an infamous 2 minute breying session.
Ron called and he has delievered John and Nina to their new home and they are settled in. He is now making the long trek to his home.
It was a long, busy Sunday but a lot of horses went to their new homes today. We absolutely love placing equines in loving, forever homes!
No one wondered enough to guess or ask, but the answer to yesterday bog question: Tawnee was leading the horse. If you missed the picture, go back to the 11-21 blog entry. It’s a pretty neat optical illusion.