Riley and Huey Return

 

Remember these two trouble makers?  This picture was taken last May, shortly after Huey was born, and about a month and a half after the horses were seized.  That’s Huey on the left.

 

Ginger, Shortcake, and Huey were adopted and Riley was fostered as a buddy for Huey to grow up with.  The adopter did a wonderful job with the two, but things have changed and she realized that she just didn’t have the time necessary to devote to the two munchkins and brought them back to HHH.

 

Little Huey hasn’t dropped his testicles yet, so they are both still stallions.  When I put them in with the stallion herd everyone took a sniff, Dagwood and Rusty chased them around for a minute, then everyone settled in to the hay like nothing exciting had just happened.

 

Both boys are friendly and love attention.  I can’t wait until they are old enough to send over to the foster that took River and Casper --  little Lexi will have a blast training these two cutie patooties!

Baby Update

I moved Blondie, River, Riley, and Casper over to my place yesterday after putting up electric fence and trying unsuccessfully to mow down all the weeds in their new “pasture”.  Now the only horses left on the quarantine farm are the studs:  Don Juan, Dagwood, Chip, Rusty, Fraggle, and Kincaid.  Everyone else has moved on to their new homes already, and Rusty will be leaving for his home once the weather cools and he’s castrated.  I’m going to try and get electric up on the quarantine paddock here on the farm today so the studs can be moved here tomorrow.  No more running back and forth between farms!  Woot!

The ponies seem to like it here -- the boys spent most of yesterday chasing each other through the weeds, running and bucking, and playing several entertaining games of bite face.  Riley thought it was fun to charge at me, stop right in front of me, and rear.  That’s a habit I had to break quick!  He hasn’t done it yet today,so hopefully I’ve made it clear that it was unacceptable behavior.

 

He loves River and Casper and spends more time with the two of them than he does his mother.

These four are still available for adoption if anyone is interested.  It’s also looking more and more like River is pregnant.  Doc can’t palpate because he says his hands are too large for the little ones, but her belly is getting bigger and it’s a “lumpy” kind of large.  It’s not the smooth roundness that you’d have with a pony that was just fat.  Her teats are still hidden by a large fat deposit, so I’m guessing she’s still a few months away from foaling.

In other news, Jubilee’s little long-eared baby is turning herself into an adorable nuisance.  She spends her days chasing goats and charging at the local goose population.  Tootsie has been learning new tricks at her new home and the whole neighborhood just adores her.   You can ask her for a kiss and she comes at you with lips flapping like a chimpanzee!  She will not accept a kiss on the cheek, but insists on a big wet kiss on the lips.  Huey is also doing well and has made a new friend that he can see eye to eye with…

 

And they all lived happily ever after.  The end. :)

Brain Bleach

I figured we could all use a little cuteness after looking at those Fairmont pictures yesterday.  I took these the day after Baby #4 was born when I first let them out with the rest of the herd.  Riley wanted nothing more than to play, but baby thought Riley had cooties.   She’s probably right.

 

 

 

Every time I look at the new baby out with the herd, I think “one of these things is not like the others…”   I don’t think her adopter has come up with a name for her yet, so I’ve been calling her Sienna.

Riley and Huey

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted videos of the munchkins playing and I wanted to get something up here before there were riots in the streets.  So you can calm down now. 

 

 

Want some good news?  I talked to the sheriff down in Fairmont this morning.  He said there was a slim to none chance that asshat would be awarded custody of the horses, due to a couple of things: 1) this was his third animal cruelty charge in a six month timeframe, 2) he doesn’t have two pennies to rub together and the authorities dropped the last $720 bail charge so he could use that money to take care of the nine cattle he still has.  Also of note, is this guy’s father was recently arrested for robbery!   What a family!

Sheriff said it would be ok to start adopting out the Fairmont horses.  I’m just going to include a clause in the adoption contract that states the horses have to be returned if asshat ever gets custody and pays restitution.  The one problem is that I still can’t castrate the studlies, so they will probably have to stay with me for awhile longer.   The mares and geldings will start going to their homes this week, but I won’t be posting “Go Home” posts or updating the rescue site until the court case is finally done and everything is official. 

Oh, and go check out Maverick’s update over on Training the Unwanted!

Stampede!!!

Well… a mini stampede anyway.

Every morning when I head over to the quarantine to feed everyone is usually already in the barn hiding from the bugs.  At dinner time everyone is usually out in the pasture enjoying the cooler weather and shade.  All I have to do is get their attention, then stand back out of the way!

 

 

 

 

 

The hearing is still set for Thursday, last I heard.  Please keep your fingers crossed and break out the rabbit’s foot!

 

 

Because if I have to give these guys back to the asshat that starved them…

 

… well, let’s just say I won’t be happy.

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.

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!

Babies

 

I just thought I’d provide a little afternoon cuteness on this beautiful Spring Monday.

 

 

 

Nope, still no Shortcake foal, but her bag is starting to fill again.  Maybe this time she’ll follow through with it!

All sorts of stuff

First, I have pictures of the play time before dinner tonight.

Blondie and Riley, doing what Riley loves best. 

 

Jubilee running past the camera at breakneck speed (or at least top very pregnant pony speed).

 

Another video of Tootsie.  Because you know you want it.

 

Then I have updates on some of the larger Fairmont horses.

Dahlia has gotten so much friendlier and will walk up to anyone out in the pasture and stand there to be petted and admired.  She’s quite the little attention hound now, and looking more pregnant every day.  Ugh.

 

Poor Chester.  His skin is healed and his hair is finally growing back, but that doesn’t make him any less fugly.  At least he’s sweet.

 

Apollo would like to be groomed now.  Would someone else please take care of that?  Every time I do it, he looks like this five minutes later.  So I give up.

 

Quarantine is just about over so the big mares and geldings are moving to my farm on Thursday.  Hopefully, they’ll all jump on the trailer like they did the day we rescued them.  Cross your fingers, please!

Xena is my favorite dog to take over to the quarantine farm.  She does her herd dog thing and just lies in the grass and watches the mares and babies while they are out.  If one strays away from the others, she quietly gets up and follows them.  She knows she’s supposed to do something like that, and sometimes she even manages to gently push them back to the rest of the herd.   Tootsie has taken a strong interest in playing with Xena, but Xena tucks her tail between her legs and scurries off.  Who would have thought that little Tootsie was scary??

 

Finally, a picture of Willow’s filly.  She really deserves her own blog post, but I swear she’s camera shy.  Every time I break out the camera she either lays down, or gets right in my face and follows me around so I can’t get a good picture.   Little hussy takes after her mother!  The GBH named her Mariah. 

Jubilation

 

Main Entry: ju·bi·la·tion

Pronunciation: \ˌjü-bə-ˈlā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1 : an act of rejoicing : the state of being jubilant
2 : an expression of great joy

3 : See Riley

 

That picture was taken when he was just a few hours old.  The following video was taken this evening.  It takes him a bit to wind up for his run.  Which is what he does on and off the whole hour and a half that he’s turned out.  Run.  Buck.  Jump on mom.  I can’t wait until he and Tootsie are allowed to play together.  That will be some show!

 

 

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you Tootsie fans.

 

If I had that kind of energy I could get my chores done in half the time and maybe have some time to ride!