Riley and Tootsie Update

Riley is Trouble.  He’s turning into that rebel without a cause teenager type who just wants to get the other kids into trouble.  He’s rough and tumble when he plays, chews on people whenever he gets the chance, and is already starting to show stallion behavior.  Now he’s trying to corrupt Huey… and I think it’s working!

 

He’s also turning into quite the ladies man!  I caught him and Jubilee trying to groom each other this morning after breakfast.  So cute!

 

Come on Huey, let’s go find something chew on.  I’m bored!!

 

Tootsie is quite the little lady.  She’s gentle with everyone, doesn’t try to bite, and knows when to say NO to Riley.  Usually.

 

 

Now that Huey has come along, Tootsie spends more time with mom than with Riley.  Unless there are humans around, then she’s all about the people.  Pet me!  Love me!  I have enough teeth to eat cookies now!

 

She also LOVES having her belly rubbed. 

 

For my next trick, I’ll teach her how to bark.

That didn’t take long!

Riley’s persistence has paid off and Baby Huey is already playing.  They’re not running around much since it’s been really hot here this week, but they do enjoy a good game of bite face.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes Huey just gets a little confused as to which end has the face.

Another Happy Ending!

Back in February I asked for help identifying a farm in Prichard, WV that supposedly had way too many dogs and horses – all of them starving.

I had nothing whatsoever to do with the rescue of those horses, but I sure am ecstatic about it!!!  It’s about time!  I certainly hope this guy gets the full penalty under the, very inadequate, West Virginia laws.   More importantly, I hope his “business” of holding horses for slaughter is shut down permanently!!

Baby Chick Overload

Months ago I placed an order with Ideal Poultry for a bunch of different varieties of pullets that I didn’t already have.  They arrived a week or so ago and I’ve got them in the brooder in the side room.  Two were DOA at the post office and three more died within the first 24 hours.  I wasn’t too upset about this since I ordered 25 Cornish cross and 27 mixed variety pullets. 

About a week before my order came in, I noticed one of the hens that hatched here last year was broody and sitting on about a dozen eggs in the coop.  They haven’t hatched yet, but should be getting pretty close.

This morning when I went to feed Lucille, imagine my surprise when I saw this:

 

 

I had no idea this hen was even broody.  I still don’t know where she was hiding the eggs, but I now have five more little chicks running around.  I thought about catching them and bringing them inside to keep them safe from cats, dogs, and whatever else, but then I saw the hen successfully chase off a Lucky kitten…

 

…and thought that maybe she’d be able to protect them without my help.  When I got back from the quarantine farm a few hours later, all five chicks were still alive and well.

 

 

 

Anyone want some eggs? :)

Opie gets a bath

This was Opie back on 4/12.  Am I the only one that thinks he resembled a miniature wooly mammoth?  Trust me, that wasn’t fat, it was fur.  Tons of fur.  He was also afraid of humans and couldn’t be touched.

 

It only took a handful of cookies to get a halter on him, and about five more minutes to teach him to lead.  Now he thinks all humans are made of cookies and likes to “taste” humans whenever the opportunity arises.  Some humans don’t appreciate this, but I happen to like the little bruises his teeth leave behind when my back is turned.  Honest. 

Yesterday was bath day and little Opie was first on the list.  He did really well!  He was afraid of the water at first, but quickly figured out that the cold water felt good in yesterday’s heat.

 

He just wasn’t crazy about having his belly cleaned.

 

 

The first thing he did after his bath was roll in the dirt.  Of course.  But he was still pretty clean today when I handed the shedding blade to a volunteer and told her to have at it.

 

 

He handled the torture really well and just stood there looking cute and begging for muzzle kisses the whole time. 

 

He’s got a lot of shedding left to do, but at least he’s finally starting to resemble a horse!

Dilbert

When the Fairmont horses first arrived here, they were not friendly and they were incredibly furry.  So it was difficult with some to tell which gender they were.  For instance, this one never peed when I was around and we couldn’t get anywhere near it.  So we thought, with that belly, it must be a pregnant mare and named it Daphne.

 

It wasn’t long after I posted about Daphne that I was able to catch her and get a little fresh… and found that Daphne was actually a Dilbert and a gelding at that!  Woohoo!

Dilbert has been turned out with the mares and the other gelding, Casper, for a few weeks now and he’s a lot happier.  Chip and Dagwood were constantly chasing him around once the mares were gone and he was always looking for an escape. 

 

 

Now instead of running from something, he just runs because he can.  :)

More Comparisons

With the Fairmont hearing coming up soon, I wanted to show you some more comparisons of what the horses looked like when they were seized and what they look like now.  You’ve seen the big horses, so I thought we’d concentrate on the ponies and minis today.  The first picture in each pair was taken on 4/13, the second picture of the pair was taken 5/25.

 

Note the backbone and skinny butt on Peppermint. 

 

She’s fatter now than she was right before having Tootsie.  No wonder I didn’t see it coming!

 

Blondie was one of the healthier minis.  She wasn’t that thin and her coat wasn’t nearly as bad as some of the others.

 

But she still looks a heck of a lot better now.  What a pretty girl!

 

We all know what poor Shortcake looked like six weeks ago.  Shaggy, so thin her back and hip bones jutted out, and an overall poor appearance.

 

 

Her coat is now a gorgeous strawberry color and she’s got a nice layer of fat and muscle on her top line.  She’s also fatter after popping out baby Huey than she was when she was seized. 

 

Poor Frankie.  She was so misunderstood.  We thought she might be a Cremello because she appeared to be white with slightly darker points and blue eyes.

 

So much for Cremello.  Where’d those spots come from?  At least we got the blue eyes right!

 

 

Michelle is coming out later today to help me bathe some of the little misfits that won’t shed out.  I’ll get pictures of the others after we’re done.  Should be fun!

Baby Huey

I took these pictures yesterday evening at dinner time.  I let Shortcake and little Huey out to pasture while everyone else was locked in the barn inhaling their dinner.  Shortcake didn’t want to be caught to be brought back in, so I think tonight I’ll let her back out with the rest of the mares.

 

 

 

 

How cute will it be when Baby Huey is allowed to play with Tootsie and Riley????   I can’t wait!

Baby #3 – FINALLY!

Shortcake’s udder was practically empty last night at dinner, so when I realized that I was driving off without my camera this morning I didn’t bother turning around to go get it. 

That will NEVER happen again.

 

It’s a boy, and oh my, isn’t he just too cute for words?? 

 

Shortcake is producing plenty of milk now and the little one knows exactly where the milk bar is located. 

 

 

I’ll let Shortcake’s adopter name the little tyke and hopefully she’ll put it in the comments…  ;)

 

Jubilee has started to produce milk, so baby #4 will probably make it’s appearance soon.

 

And more good news!  The asshat that starved the Fairmont horses has his hearing on June 2nd!  Let’s hope this doesn’t need to go to trial and the judge makes the right decision!

There’s a donkey in my yard

 

But boy, is she ever cute!  Go check her out over on Rescue Recoveries!

Tiny Feet

When Brannon was out last week to trim horses it was too rainy and muddy to get up to my barn, so we went over to the quarantine farm and did some of the minis.  Peppermint was the only one of the six that gave us much trouble, but Tootsie more than made up for it!

At one point he said “it’s official, this is the smallest foot I’ve ever worked on”.

 

 

 

 

She was very interested in climbing all over his hoof stand, so he helped her out.

 

 

Her back toes look tons better now and her pasterns are a good bit straighter. 

 

Nothing like training them young! lol

 

Speaking of training… go check out today’s three posts on the Training the Unwanted blog.  You won’t want to miss Maverick’s first ride!!

I’ve been holding out on you

Don’t hate me.  But there’s something big happening on June 12th and I’ve only hinted about it once.  I haven’t told you anything, which is pretty amazing in itself because I typically can’t keep anything secret.  Especially when it’s this good.  But today I realized that there’s less than a month left before the event, and maybe, just maybe, I ought to fill you in. 

Remember my friend, Elizabeth?  Last year she told someone that now that she was retired, she’d really like to get a horse.  That someone pointed her in my direction and the rest is history.  Despite the age difference, we’ve become fairly close (and she feeds me, which helps).  Shortly after adopting Buddy and Donkey from me, she and another friend came up with a fundraising idea.  It started out as just a flea market type deal, but quickly blossomed into one big honkin’ shindig!  So big, in fact, that she reserved the Tyler County Fairgrounds for the affair!

I got to sit in on the first real “meeting” about the event, but was told that all I needed to worry my little head about was getting the horses ready.   Sounded like a plan to me!  Elizabeth and her friend are handling just about everything.  They’ve put flyers up all over the county and beyond.  They’ve contacted newspapers, radios, and TV stations.  They approached businesses for sponsors and donations.   What they’ve pulled together in just a short time is really incredible.  They didn’t even start working on this until February!

So listen up, ya’ll.  Here’s what’s happening that day:

Live music all day from 9am – 5pm

Adoptable dogs from Doddridge and Pleasants county shelters

Dog training demonstrations

Horseshoe throwing competition

Food, food, and more food

Pony rides for the kidos, as well as a ton of other kid-related activities that I don’t know much about

There’s going to be a clown there.  So if you have coulrophobia, beware. 

Tons of things will be raffled off, including an autographed picture of Brad Paisley!   Also a whole pallet of Nutrena feed, generously donated by the Tractor Supply in New Martinsville!  There’s a bunch of other stuff that will be raffled as well, but please don’t ask me to list it all.  I don’t even know half of what Elizabeth has collected from local businesses.

The day is not all about fun and games, either.  My main goal is education!  I can’t believe some of the things I’ve heard from people around here.  Like, you only have to deworm your horse once a year in the summer.  Or, you can tell how old a horse is by how many fingers you can get between their ribs.  Or, they don’t slaughter horses anymore since the plants in the U.S. closed down.  And my all time favorite, horses don’t need water every day if they’re not being worked.   ACK!

With that in mind, I’ve been working on brochures and pamphlets to hand out about deworming, vaccinating, the costs of horse ownership, horse slaughter, etc. 

Brannon will be there to do a farrier demo and talk about the importance of regular trimming. 

I’ve asked Doc to do a mini-clinic, but he hasn’t given me a yes or no answer yet.  Smartass that he is, he’ll probably just show up that day and ask me where he should set up. 

I wanted to get some people in to do riding demonstrations, but that just hasn’t come together as I had hoped.  I really wanted to show people dressage, mounted vaulting, jumping, etc.  And that’s only failed because of me.  Oddly, I just couldn’t find the time or energy to track people down and lure them into coming.

I’ll also have adoptable horses there.  People will not be allowed to ride the horses there, but will need to make appointments to come out to the farm if they are interested.  I can’t have five different people wanting to ride the same horse throughout the day!  Plus, I’ll need time to check references and facilities.   Unfortunately, the training of certain critters has not gone as planned this spring, thanks to all of the Fairmont horses coming in.  So most of the horses I’ll have there will be the cute, charming, adorable youngsters, including Traveler, Summer, Mick, Milo, Maggie, and possibly Quill.  Thunder will also go if he hasn’t found a new home by then. 

Want to know the best part?

Admission is FREE.  So I’ll see you there?

Helping Out

People from afar keep asking me how they can help.  They read the blog and see the horses that I’m helping and understand that it costs a lot of money to keep these guys healthy and happy.  They just want to help, but until recently I was being pretty stubborn about it. 

 

When Glenn and I started this rescue we didn’t want to become completely reliant on donations and adoption fees to keep things going.  My theory was that if we couldn’t afford the expenses out of pocket, then we shouldn’t be doing it. 

 

Since starting this rescue in June of 2008 we’ve received $1,800 in donations.   I think that’s pretty good, considering we’re not 501c.3 yet and never even asked for donations.  The generosity and trust of people we don’t even know has really been astounding.  Because let’s face it, even 501c.3 rescues aren’t always on the up and up and take donations to line their own pockets, or sell horses to slaughter for money. 

 

So how do you know that I’m honest and will use the donations for the horses?  Well, you don’t.  I could show you all the feed, farrier, wormer, vaccines, and vet receipts.  I’m sure my hay guy would be happy to write a receipt for the 250 round bales I bought from him just in 2009.   You could come out and visit the farm for yourself, but beware the attack mule.  She’s cranky.

 

As I’m sure you’ve probably noticed, I do not charge a lot for adoption fees.  I base the fee on the usefulness of the horse (age, soundness, training, etc.) and try to keep it within a range that the current local market can bear.  I am smart enough to realize that you do NOT make money doing rescue, so I don’t even try.  What I do try to accomplish is placing horses in homes where both the adopter and the horse will be happy.  So while the purpose of this blog post is not to beg for money, I am going to provide ways to help for those that feel so inclined. 

 

For you Paypal people, I’ve setup a Paypal account for horsehavenholler@frontiernet.net. 

You could also call our vet and help out on our account:

Mountain Valley Vet

Dr. Shaun Meckley

RR 2 Box 305B
New Martinsville, WV 26155-9621
(304) 337-8080

 

 

As for volunteers -- anyone willing to sleep in the barn with Shortcake until she finally pops out that foal would have my undying gratitude.  Because I’m as tired as she looks!