We are currently at $4,367 out of our goal of $6,000 for the rescue, shelter and care of slaughter-bound horses at auctions in Oklahoma this weekend. We only need $1,633 to reach our goal! Every dollar helps so much, if everyone who reads this donated just $1 all the needed funds would be raised. Please donate now, click here.
Monday Tawnee was on the road again heading out to do a welfare check.
Tawnee checked on the horses that were featured on our blog last week. She was happy to see that they were still eating hay and that the horse that was in the shed with no water was now out with the other horses and has free access to a pond for water. If you missed that blog, click here.
The other two horses were out eating the grass that is starting to grow. We are still very worried about the Palomino due to the severity of his body condition, but it looks like this case is improving.
Next Tawnee stopped at Walmart to pick up the pictures that will be sent to our February donors.
Tuesday the old order Mennonite farriers were out trimming and shoeing. Jason was making sure they were doing a good job.
Inside Kimberly was helping fold papers for the February donor receipt mailing.
Darin was busy printing the receipts and going over calculations.
Tawnee got our paper folder out. This was one of the first pieces of office equipment we bought over 10 years ago. It has been through many moves and has folded a lot of paper.
Pretty soon Tawnee had it set up and folding again.
Every so often there was the inevitable paper jam. If you are a February donor and you get some paper that isn’t quite folded right, you’ll know what happened.
The photos from Walmart had to be trimmed down so they would fit in the envelopes. Debbie did a great job getting those done right.
By the time she was done there were a lot of clippings from the photos.
Finally everything was in order and Kimberly and Tawnee got busy stuffing envelopes.
Back outside Cocoa was being adopted, we are so happy for her. We rescued her from an auction in TN. She was so scared at the time, but now she is an excellent little kids pony and we know she will gets lots of love.
The farriers were getting the last horse trimmed. The prices are amazing – $10 a trim and $35 for all 4 shoes.
King was the last horse being shod. He was tender-footed and we knew the shoes would help him out. He came to us from an Amish family who didn’t want to take him to auction because “You never know who will get them.” There is a lot of criticism of the Amish and their treatment of animals, but just like in any culture, there are those that abuse their animals, but mostly, they take good care of them. We are only familiar with the Amish in TN, we do hear there is a lot more cruelty that goes on in PA, but we have not seen that in the TN Amish.
After shoeing was all done it was decided to take King over to the farriers’ farm to test him out with a buggy.
Before long King was all harnessed up. These old order Mennonites live like Amish. They do not drive vehicles or have electricity.
It was amazing to see how much King perked up when he was in the harness. His ears went forward and he trotted on, delighted to be doing his old job again.
King is a beautiful boy. It was neat to see him in his natural environment since he was a young horse. He is a 15 year old Standardbred but was never raced as he wasn’t fast enough. He was then sold to the Amish family as a 3 year old.
After the cart evaluation King loaded back into the trailer for the short ride back to the shelter.
One of our volunteers has decided to adopt King. He loves going on occasional buggy rides and King will be perfect for him.
Our Oklahoma shelter is busy preparing for our One Day Open Door Shelter. For more information, click here.
We rescued a mare, Noel, at an Oklahoma Slaughter Auction last November. She had a severely sun burnt face. To see her rescue blog, click here.
We are very happy that Noel was adopted by a family!
Noel loaded up into the trailer with a little coaxing and headed off to her new home.
Noel’s adoptive family sent us a photo of her all settled in. Her family has a special sunblock fly mask so she doesn’t get sunburnt, but took it off for the photo. We are so thankful for adoptive homes that are willing to go the extra mile to help horses in need.
Our California shelter has been busy too. As you know, we relocated to near Sacramento when we absorbed Freedom Horse Rescue (a nonprofit.) We still have a year left on the lease for the old shelter (we have it subleased out and they are covering a big part of the lease expense.) We have the option to buy it or assign a buyer. Every month a portion of the lease has been going towards the purchase price. We have nearly $100,000 towards the purchase price, which if it sells, will come back to the shelter and help in a huge way. If you know of anyone who is wanting to relocate to a beautiful ranch with 30,000 sq ft of barns, send them to this link: http://1944robinson.com/
Another reason why we moved the shelter was our shelter manager, Kirsty, got engaged and moved to central California in January. We are very happy for her and Cody. Although Kirsty is no longer working as an employee she will be joining the Board of Directors.
The shelter near Sacramento is doing great and settling in. With all the rain (which was definitely needed!) California has been getting, setup has been slow going. Starting April we will resume the Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday schedule. The 1st Sunday of each month will be a Volunteer day, and the last Sunday of each month will be a low cost Last Act of Kindness surrender day.
Ginger has been doing very well. She was transferred from our TN shelter to our CA shelter.
Ginger has been adopted by an elderly gentleman who enjoys going on trail rides and needed a smooth, gaited horse. Ginger is perfect for him!
Kirsty stopped by the CA shelter the other day. She was in the area and just had to stop in to see her friends. Parcy has a special place in Kirsty’s heart.
Nike, thanks to everyone who donated, will be going in for his surgery today (Wednesday the 16th.) Everyone at the California shelter wanted to say “Thank you for your donations that made his surgery possible.”
Please remember our Oklahoma Slaughter Auction Rescue! We are counting on your support to be able to save lives. Click here.
