The first phase of development at our Tennessee shelter is coming to an end, and it’s so amazing what has happened! We ran water lines, built pens, fencing, an arena, round pen, tack room, shelters, small office, and more! The horses really love the shelters we built for them and the new pens.
After most of the pens and shelters were up, we started getting the tractor work done on the entry way and parking lot. We put gravel down so it won’t be muddy this winter. We would like to thank everyone for donating for this first phase of development. Now the shelter is able to operate at a much better capacity for horses. We will be moving on to our second phase soon.
Eeyore is such a friendly guy, and he got so excited when he saw visitors coming his way.
I informed him that yes, he had visitors, and it was the vet. The vet was there to geld him and some other stallions. Eeyore looked a little bewildered about the idea of being gelded, but I assured him that it would all be fine.
Before Eeyore knew it, he was off in la-la land and the vet was working on him. He was successfully gelded and will make such a wonderful donkey for someone.
Stormy was next to be gelded. He didn’t know what was happening at all as he was fast asleep under the sedation.
Next Soquili was sedated for his gelding operation. After being given the sleepy drugs, he was finding it very hard to stand.
As soon as he was asleep on the ground the vet got to work on him.
While Soquili was still under sedation, the vet looked at his teeth to see if he needed some dental work. Sure enough, he really needed a dental, so the vet got to work on his teeth.
With every bite that Soquili took sharp edges on his teeth were cutting into his gums. Now that he has had the dental, the sores will heal in his mouth and he will be pain free when he is chewing.
I took a silly little video of Stormy and Eeyore as they were waking up from their operations. To watch it click here .
After we knew the geldings were all recovering, the vet started working on the other horses that came in from the auction. The vet checked out Diamond, the skinny mare we got after the auction. We are really hoping she will pull through. She is in her twenties and in pretty rough shape.
She needed a dental so the vet sedated her for the procedure. While she was getting sleepy, the vet took notes.
The dental should really help her out a lot, she is such a pretty girl and we hope she will pull through.
Next it was Trooper’s turn to get his teeth checked and he needed a dental too. The vet sedated him and he started getting sleepy.
Even though Trooper was sedated he was not happy to have dental work being done and the vet had to give him more sedation.
With the extra sedation Trooper settled down and the vet was able to fix his teeth. All in all it was a busy vet day.
One of the farriers (Quint) that works on our horses is also very good with training horses. We are going to need a good trainer at our Tennessee shelter and we asked Quint to come over to the shelter and work with some of the horses that had not been evaluated yet. Quint has over 20 years of experience working with horses of all varieties. He specializes in starting horses under saddle. It was easy to see that he knows what he is doing when he started working with Ceila.
Ceila did really good with Quint working with her. She was started under saddle before we rescued her from the slaughter pipeline.
Quint spent some time with Ceila in the arena and you could tell she was doing her best to remember all her training. She is a really nice horse and with more training she will be amazing!
Next Quint worked with Diamond. Yes we have 2 Diamonds at the TN shelter right now. Diamond did really well under saddle.
He is a very nice 4 year old Tennessee Walker and is going to make an awesome horse for someone.
The last horse that Quint worked with was Dixie. Dixie is a 6-7 year old Appy / Paint mare who was started under saddle as a 3 year old, but then her owners didn’t continue her training, and she pretty much sat with no furthering education. I was interested in how Quint would do with her and how she would respond to him since she hasn’t been worked with in over 3 years.
Before long Quint was riding her around the round pen and she was doing very well.
Quint’s wife, Rebecca, also trains horses. With their little boy, she is quite busy at home, but loves spending time with horses when she can. She studied Parelli for over 10 years, obtaining level 3. She graduated the requisite Parelli four week Fast Track course for entrance into the instructor program. She specializes and enjoys finishing horses training and fine tuning their skills. These two trainers would make an amazing team to help the horses at our TN Shelter. While they were at our shelter, they fell in love with Gumby and are going to be adopting him. Yay for Gumby!
Later on the same day Star had an approved adopter come out to look at her. The mom led Star over to the van to meet someone special: her daughter.
Her daughter has a disability, but she isn’t letting her disability stop her from enjoying horses! She is an avid horse lover and enjoys riding in her special saddle with straps to help her stay in the saddle. Star is one of the most gentle horses we have had in our shelter, and I thought the two of them might be a good match. I saddled Star with the special saddle, and soon Star and the daughter were ready to see how they would do together.
Star was such a good horse, so gentle and easy going. When she came to us, we had to work on her to get her into a trot because she only likes walking under saddle. She still prefers to walk, which is perfect for this match.
The two of them did really well and you could see the huge smiles on both mom and daughter.
After riding, they told us Star was the one for them. We are so happy for all of them and we know that Star is the perfect horse for this family.
I want to thank everyone for your support of our organization. It has grown so much over the years, and your support is what has made it into the organization it is today.
I also want to thank everyone who has donated to the auction rescue fund this month. I know we are doing it a little different than normal, but if the funds allow, we have the room to rescue 8 more horses this month! Our Oklahoma shelter has only 2 horses right now, and they have the capacity for more. Please donate now and help save horses from the slaughter pipeline in Oklahoma.
Thank you! Tawnee Preisner – Founder
