Thursday the 19th Kirsty was working with the youngsters from the Nevada slaughter auction. It was time for them to learn how to tie. Sienna did really well with her first tying lesson.
Once they were nice and relaxed while tied, Kirsty showed them what water is. They are all doing so well, she is such an excellent trainer.
She also started working with Merinque the hinney. After spending a lot of time with her and gaining her confidence, Kirsty tried a bridle on her to see if she knew what it was. She did! Then a saddle was put on Merinque…
…and she just stood there like a good girl. Was she really trained to ride?
Sure enough, Merinque is trained to ride! Kirsty will continue working with her. Hopefully her confidence in humans will continue to build. She is looking for a home with lots of love where she can learn to love again.
Saturday night was the auction rescue. It was a very long night. The prices were much higher than normal, which reflect current meat prices for horses. (To see current meat prices, click here.) In the end our rescuer was able to save 7 precious lives from being shipped to slaughter.
Sunday morning found the auction horses relaxing at our shelter. They had been through a lot, but thankfully they will never know the horrors of slaughter.
We would like you to meet the horses that were saved this weekend. This is Day Star, a very pretty horse with severe problems in her hind end. She has a lot of weakness and falls down easily. Something is definitely wrong with her back and hips.
This pretty boy is Chief, a very pretty Paint gelding.
This is Grandpa, a very senior gelding in his 30’s. He has a lot of pain and lameness.
This is Squire, a very pretty Quarterhorse type gelding.
This very cute paint mare is named Joesy. She is very friendly.
This is Mya, a pretty paint mare with a foal at her side.
This is Kinley, a 3 month old colt, Mya’s baby.
Kirsty got to work with teaching Kinley to lead. He leads a little bit, but soon she will have him leading properly. He is such a big boy for a 3 month old!
At the August auction we rescued Clover. She was a thin yearling.
Sunday she was adopted into a wonderful home. She has filled out and looks like a different horse.
With a little encouragement she hopped right into the trailer. Kirsty was loading her, and you could see the trust in Clover’s eyes. As Kirsty encouraged her to get in, she looked at Kirsty and you could almost hear her say “If you say it’s safe, I’ll believe you” as she hopped in.
Before long she was unloading at her new home. We are so happy for Clover and her new mom!
Monday Jason, Tawnee and Taylor loaded panels on the side of the trailer.
Tawnee got her horse loaded up too. They were heading for another attempt to get the wild horse Jason had tried to rescue last Wednesday.
It’s a long drive down a bumpy dirt road.
Finally they arrived and prepared to try to load the horse. He seemed happy to have another horse around while Jason and Taylor set up a catch pen.
Before long he followed Tawnee’s horse right into the pen. Then the panels were shut and they were separated. He had a look of “What just happened?” on his face.
He wasn’t very keen about hopping in the trailer and violently tried to break through the panels several times. Finally with much encouragement he loaded up and was transported safely to the shelter.
We have some very sad news, and it was a heavy heart that we had to say “Goodbye” to one of the E-Adopted horses at the shelter. Sierra was having some health problems, and a blood test confirmed our worst fears: she had rapidly growing cancer and there was nothing that could be done to ease her pain and suffering other than give her the Last Act of Kindness. We rescued her as an emaciated horse in 2008 at an auction. To read that blog, click here. Her picture is the 2nd horse shown at that auction rescue.
Thank you all for your support!