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!

So Much for Spring Fever

 

It’s group snooze day around here.

 

And I would just love to be curled up snoozing in the sun with Summer right now.  Except it’s cold, windy, and muddy.   So, nevermind.

 

 

I should be starting up with training next week, and will try to keep up with the Training the Unwanted blog.   Sassy and Miles are still my two holdouts, but both are starting to come around and see that I’m not totally evil.  Sassy follows me down to the house after every feeding, braying at me as if to say she’s still hungry and why did I not give her 10 times more food?  Miles allows me to lock him into a standing stall to eat and I’m allowed to touch his head while he’s eating.  Otherwise, he keeps one eye on me at all times, just to make sure I’m not going to turn into a lion and devour him whole.  Next week I’ll try luring him into the round pen at feeding time and see if I can convince him that halters aren’t all that bad.  What fun!

Winter Fat

Sadie looks good.  She’s going into winter with a nice layer of fat that will help keep her warm, but not too much fat that would be hard on her joints.  Let’s just hope she doesn’t stick that tongue on any lamp posts this winter.

 

Stride is also looking good for an older gentleman living with two younger women (and a bunch of hens that just adore him).

 

 

And then there’s fat boy, who kind of reminds me of a small beached whale when he rolls.

 

Fatrick will have NO trouble keeping warm wrapped in all that blubber this winter!

Sadie Update

As you can see, Sadie is just about healed up from her encounter with a mountain lion.

 

She healed up very well, considering she ripped out most her stitches three days after Doc stitched her up.  What you see there is only holding on to one side of the wound.  Anne keeps telling me she wants to come out and remove the stitches herself, but… ahem.  Anne?  Oh, ANNE!  Where are you, Anne??

Oh, there you are, buried under 16 hour days at work and three hours of sleep for the past two weeks.  I guess we’ll forgive you.

 

Anyways. 

As you can also tell, Sadie’s personality hasn’t changed at all due to the penicillin shots and gooey antibiotic being rubbed onto the wound twice a day.   She’s still an attention whore.

 

And an itchy butt slut.

 

We tried leaving her, but she just kept getting in front of us and herding us back together in order to scratch her butt more. 

 

 

Once you’ve become a Sadie slave, you’re always a Sadie slave.  There’s no escaping her merciless nudging, nuzzling, an pathetic looks with those big brown eyes of hers. 

At least Stride and Lilo haven’t fallen into her trap yet. 

Yikes!

Yesterday morning I woke up to find Sadie had been attacked during the night, by what Doc thinks was a mountain lion.  He’s treated several other horses this year with the same wounds, one of them died from it’s wounds.  It also looked like Sadie had been running all night, as she’d lost a bunch of weight in just 12 hours.

These long claw-like scratches were only down the one side.  She also had small, shallow punctures on top of her back, grouped together as a large paw might be.

 

This was the worst of the wounds and required stitches.  She also had two small punctures on the inside of her front left leg that you can’t see in the picture.  There were no wounds at all on her right side.

 

 

Doc thinks the chest wounds are from her going through something to get away from whatever was attacking her. Usually a mountain lion will attack from the back, grabbing at the hips and biting on top of the back and haunches.  Glenn came home Thursday so he was out with me yesterday looking for fence that had been torn down, but we didn’t find any.

The DNR for West Virginia refuses to admit that there are mountain lions here.  Rumor has it that they released the big cats years ago to help control the deer population and they don’t want to be held responsible for incidents like this.  However, they’ll be happy to tell you that hunting the animal is illegal.  I’m not sure I see the point in that law since they don’t exist?

All I’ve got to say is that if it happens again, Glenn will be doing some night hunting and I don’t care if shooting them is illegal!

Diamond in the rough

When Sadie got here from the Sugarcreek Livestock Auction back in October, we had no idea what kind of training she’d had, or what kind of health issues we might end up with in the end.  I shoved grain down her throat all Winter, but she still wouldn’t fill out the way I wanted.  She was a terrible cribber, and was on again, off again lame on the left hind where the vet had said there was some arthritis.   This Spring she dropped a bunch of weight and increased the cribbing to the point where she was as bad as Indy.  I kept increasing her feed, but the weight just kept coming off.  Doc came out and diagnosed Bronchitis and gastric ulcers, and had me change her over to a low sugar diet consisting of rice bran, rolled oats, and corn oil.  No more sweet feed for Sadie!

And you know what?   The cribbing stopped IMMEDIATELY.  The lameness went away completely a couple of weeks later, her coat started to shine, and the weight is still piling on.  She became more active and less lethargic, running and playing in the pasture with Jewel and the youngsters.

Indy had done the same thing.  I knew he had ulcers when he came here, but having little experience with ulcers, I didn’t put two and two together with the increased cribbing and weight loss in the Spring when the grass started to grow.

Lesson learned? 

Cribbing + unexplained weight loss most likely = gastric ulcers. 

Low sugar diet = happier horse.

 

 

Sadie could still use a little more weight, but she’s so much better that Anne and I decided on Friday that it was time to put her on the lunge line and under saddle to see what she knows.  It was obvious right away that she knew quite a bit!  She wasn’t herd bound at all and as soon as we walked her away from the herd and out to the back pasture it was like she knew it was time to work.  She was a pro on the lunge line, so I tacked her up with my synthetic all purpose English saddle and hopped on.   This mare has been well trained!   She knew exactly what I wanted when using leg aids and had a wonderful head carriage that screams either hunter or low level dressage training.  I didn’t ask for collection since she’s so out of shape and only rode her for about 10 minutes.   Then Anne got on for just a couple of minutes of walking around on her mare.   It would have been great if either of us had remembered to bring a camera up to the barn, but… well, you know how that goes by now.

It’s going to be a lot of fun polishing her up and getting her into shape.  I hope Anne decides to keep her, but if not I’m sure she’ll be easy to place in a new home.

Equine Photo Overkill

I have a new volunteer and her name is Amy. She’s 18 and wants to be a vet. She has long blonde hair, legs up to her neck, and if I was half as beautiful when I was that age I would have been dangerous. Glenn is not allowed to meet her.

Amy loves horses. So much so that she wants to smell like them. All the time. Except for the beautiful part, she reminds me a lot of me at that age.

Amy’s mom has an awesome camera, even better than my new toy. She even knows how to use hers, unlike someone else I know. They both came out on Thursday morning to take pictures of the horses in the rain. Not only that, she took one hundred and fifty pictures! And I thought I was crazy for taking 50 pictures of a rabbit!

Well yeah, ok. Maybe that really was crazy.

So here are the ones that I really liked. Yes, there are a lot of Kita pictures. So sue me.

Somebody help me, these mares are nothing but trouble, especially with Willow in the lead.

Beet pulp nose. Kind of like a milk mustache, but even cuter.

Oddly, out of all of those pictures I didn’t see Jewel, Duchess, Maggie, Marbles, Frisky, or Kenzie. She did get a couple of pics of Ellie, but they were very far off. It turns out Ellie was terrified of the umbrella. Did you know umbrellas can eat small ponies? I didn’t either, but it must be true!

Quill

Sky’s big brother has been named Quill for that adorable feather shaped blaze of his.

 

His personality is really starting to come through and he’s become quite the attention hound.  He enjoys a good scratch as much as the next horse and comes running to the gate when he sees me in the yard. 

 

I really need to get a halter on him and get him away from Jasmine because she still allows him to nurse!  ACK!  For a mare nursing not only a foal, but a yearling as well, Jasmine is holding up really well.  But Sky shouldn’t have to compete with big brother when he’s at the milk bar.

While he’s friendly about getting scratched, as soon as he sees a halter or lead rope in my hand, he’s running for the hills.  Maybe one of these days he’ll tire of running away and just get over himself and let me get a halter on him.

Or maybe he’ll just get tired.  Period.

 

Doc was here last night to take a look at Sadie, who has been off her feed for two days and acting lethargic and not like herself.  Poor girl has bronchitis and he also suspects ulcers.  So she’s on pepto bismal and penicillin for two weeks and let’s hope that does the trick.  She really doesn’t like the pepto and I don’t look good in pink.

The Power of Massage

Is it really Thursday already? Can someone please tell me where the rest of the week went and why I missed it?

This past Saturday Anne came out to learn equine massage and be with her favorite girl, Sadie. Now that Sadie has been turned out with the herd she does not, and I repeat, DOES NOT want to be away from them. Anne and I both think this is a result of never being turned out with a herd before. Usually, your fancy shmancy show horses and race horses aren't turned out with other horses because that would increase the opportunities for injuries during turnout. This would also explain why Sadie was clueless about herd hierarchy at first and had trouble adjusting to the herd. Her trouble didn't last long! Her attitude has gotten her in with the top cliques of the herd. She and Semi have been seen together on numerous occasions and she and Classy usually eat from the same pile of hay. But even though she hangs with the bitchy cheerleaders she still has time to chat up the nerds of the herd, like Willow and Radar.

But back to my point. Sadie did not want to be in the barn with us. I had brought Tabby in as well so that I could do Tabby and Anne could repeat my moves on Sadie. Tabby was all over the idea! Sadie's idea was to dance on our toes until we let her back out with the herd that was slowly disappearing around the back of the barn. After a few minutes of Anne not getting anywhere with Sadie we switched horses. Sadie was still difficult with me, but I did manage to get in a pretty good body massage on her. The poor girl was incredibly sore on her neck, back, withers, and hips. I couldn't even use the amount of pressure that I usually use on my horses because she was so reactive.

The good news is that a couple of days after the massage Sadie started moving better than ever! On Tuesday she came cantering up to the barn when she saw me and it wasn't her typical bunny hop in the backend this time. Yesterday she trotted up the hill and I saw no sign of her dropping her hip in pain. When she walked, both hind feet tracked up to the front footprints the same. Go Sadie! There's hope yet for this mare. I'm on-call for work again this weekend, but I'll find time to massage her again even if I have to bring her down to the house within phone distance to do it. I can hear my conversation with a client now... "can you hold for a minute? My horse just got loose."

Quest is next up on the massage list. I also need to teach Anastasia how to massage so she can do her two TBs who I'm sure could use it. But Quest... well, he and I need to have a serious conversation one of these days. When Quest got here he was extremely food aggressive. Meaning he'd pin his ears back and try to bite or kick anyone that got near his food. When I talked to the trainer she said that he was a real monster at feeding time at her barn too. He's gotten a lot better in the past couple of weeks and I can walk up to him while he's eating now without fear of being eaten myself. He still pins back his ears, but if I ignore him and keep coming like nothing is wrong he will relax and perk his ears up once I've patted him on the neck. He still does that impatient TB thing where he picks up one front foot and holds it in the air while he's eating. Junior used to do that when he was younger, but he eventually grew out of it.

The trainer also told me that Quest was always very nervous under saddle, which is why I've given him so much time to just relax and be a horse before working with him. Sunday was the first day I tried lunging him and it did not go well! He was a nervous wreck and just wanted to gallop around the lunge line no matter how short I kept it. I kept having to let him out further since I couldn't slow him down and didn't want him going down in the mud. Eventually, I got a walk from him and it was all downhill from there! Once he figured out that galloping is not what I wanted from him he slowed down, dropped his head and walked around like he was on a hot walker. Good boy! Whoa came easy for him, but every time he stopped he'd turn in to me and look for approval. I usually want my horses to just stop and stand, still out on the circle, but for this one time I'd let him come in and get some lovin'. He's such a pocket pony when there's no food around! He just loves having his head held to your chest and being scratched and smooched. I didn't lunge him for long, but made sure we ended on a good note of just walking and whoaing.

With the weather changing so drastically there probably won't be much more working with the horses except for ground manners (picking up feet, haltering, grooming, massaging, etc). I'd still like to get Tabby broke to saddle before the end of the year, but I'm not sure who's been stealing all my free time.

Sadie

Glenn and I got 300 bales of hay in two different trips this weekend. It wasn't fun. I don't want to talk about it except to tell you that I couldn't lift my arms over my head yesterday. And to say that maybe, one of these days, we'll be able to pickup a load of hay and bring it home without losing any on the road, getting the trailer stuck in the barn, or having the tractor die in the middle of the barn door.

One of these days.

Anne was here Saturday morning for Sadie's big day of being let loose with the rest of the herd. Meghan wanted to become friends immediately and pursued Sadie with perky ears and earnest interest in her well-being. Everyone else wanted to eat Sadie for breakfast.

Anne was the only one bright enough to remember her camera that day, so these are her pictures. Please ignore the junk behind Sadie -- that's our neighbor's place, and that junk is part of the gauntlet we have to ride to get to the wonderful trails beyond.



Poor Sadie is still gimpy even on bute. I've got some B-L Solution (Buteless) on order, which is a herbal mixture for pain relief and arthritis that I've used on Junior with good results in the past. Hopefully, that will help her feel and move better.

Meghan is excited because she has a new friend. Semi is anxious because Sadie is yet another mare that will want Junior's attention.




This is the first time I've ever seen Meghan trot like this. What a cutie!




After all the Sadie excitement, we caught Jewel in deep thought.

"Someday soon, this will all be mine!"





"Once Semi, Junior, Kita, Classy, Megalia, Tabby, Dolly, Willow, Meghan, and Radar are gone I'll rule the roost and all that pasture will be mine Mine MINE!"



"Or not."




On another note, Emily is head over heels in love with Meghan and definitely wants to adopt her and the foal next year. Her sister, Mikayla, fell instantly in love with Tabby, who now looks black with her winter coat coming in. They understand that Tabby isn't broke to saddle yet, but are hoping I can have her kid ready by Spring next year. I think if I can find the time to start working with her more, she'll be easy enough to train considering her history and personality.


The girls also want to ride in the local Christmas parade this year and represent Horse Haven Holler by passing out flyers, wearing our logo, etc. I think this is a most excellent idea! Willow is certainly parade-worthy and one of them can ride her in the parade. Semi would be my next choice, as she used to be an Amish cart horse and is totally bomb-proof. But she hasn't been ridden in a long time as she's been enjoying her semi-retirement. Hmmm... I'll have to put some thought into this and come up with the perfect horse for them to ride. Even though both girls will be led by an adult, it would still be a good idea to have a steady mount to rely on to get them through the parade safely. Anastasia has offered up either Joe or Keisha the Couch as mounts as well, so it might end up being Keisha and Willow in the parade. What fun!