7-5-09

Today's Events - Hotshots parents were really upset about having to let him go. He comes with all of his goodies and you can tell they really loved and cared for him well. He has a two page letter in his file with all the information we will need on him.

They donated a bag of senior feed while they were there.

Tonka, a horse that came in today, was in adoption pending less than an hour after he arrived and his new potential family is more than happy to allow him to retire in a pasture if that is what he needs. He, Dolly and Brighty are going to have an amazing new home! Deb and Jamie did the regular stuff. Pouncy was adopted, here is a picture with her new mommy.

If you're wondering what happened to writing style on the blog, Jason and Tawnee took the day off and the above is the field notes and pictures from the day. Jaime and Deb took over the rescue today to give Jason and Tawnee a much deserved day off. Jaime emailed the pictures and field notes, so they just copy/pasted and matched it up.

Jason and Tawnee decided to let you join them on their mini 1 day vacation. They took their kids to the Sacramento Train Museum for a birthday party!

Justin, the birthday boy, is absolutely crazy about trains. Here he is listening to the information about the train behind him.

One of the days highlights was taking a ride on a real working steam engine train.

Along the train route the California capital building was clearly visible, where laws are made and can be made that will protect horses all throughout California. Slaughter is already illegal here, why are so many California horses being shipped out? Jason wanted to run over to the big white building and ask Arnold, but he remembered he had a day off...

It was wonderful for Jason and Tawnee to have most of the day off of work, many thanks to Deb and Jaime for stepping in and making it happen!

We would like to thank Blue Horse Design - Pamela M. - Teresa L. - Sigrid V. - Mandy H. - Liane H. for their generous donations over the weekend.

7-3-09

We at NorCal Equine Rescue wish you a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Tawnee rousted up some old newspaper clippings and pictures of her Taylorsville 4th of July parade days. Her mom didn't have a digital camera back then, but the newspaper recorded it.

1994 The buggy picture was taken, Tawnee is the little girl sitting in the front with her cousins.



1997 Here is Tawnee leading an emu and goat through the parade. This photo is still in the Plumas County visitor guide to this day, at least she check it was.

2001 - Tawnee had lots of critters and organized a walking petting zoo through the parade with many local children leading the animals.

2002 - Tawnee and Cherokee, and her foal Kika. Tawnee went through as Best Dressed Cowgirl, and got grand entry!

2003 - First place Best Dressed Cowgirl on her little BLM donkey who came from the BLM about 5 months earlier as a wild little donkey.

The newspaper clipping about the little donkey said "Impressive - that's how folks described Tawnee Preisner's ability to gentle and train a wild burro in five months." Tawnee had her own extreme Burro makeover going on.

2004 - Jason and Tawnee, Tawnee convinced Jason that going through the parade on a horse was the greatest thing around... Tawnee got grand entry, Jason got 2nd place (out of two guys.)

2005 - Jason drove through this year as NorCal Equine Rescue. Yes, that was our original rescue rig. We led 3 horses through the parade, with volunteers sitting on the tailgate. Tawnee, who was extremely due with Justin, sat this one out on the tailgate leading a horse or two.

2006 - Tawnee got grand entry for Best Dressed Cowgirl yet again. She was be wearing a outfit that she decorated by hand. It was cheap white jeans and button shirt from Walmart, all decorated out with purple.

2008: Tawnee riding through as Best Dressed Cowgirl (1st place!)

2008: NorCal Equine Rescue got 3rd place in Commercial category.

Once again, have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

7-02-09

This is, believe it or not, blog post #500. That's right, 500 blog posts ago we started writing about the days events as they happened. Click here for the starting month, it's amazing how much more happens every day a year and a half later. If you are a regular blog reader and have been reading it ever since the start, we would love to hear your story!


We have some great updates with before and after photo's to share with you. We hope you enjoy them.


Lyla was rescued May 13th. This is a picture the day she was rescued. She still had her shaggy winter coat, but you can clearly see her ribs and her backbone or anywhere for that matter.


Today, she is a different looking girl. She looks more like Tawnee remembers her looking like when Tawnee competed against her in Gymkhana competitions. Lyla has a strong will to live and has proved it.

Tehya was rescued May 10th from Roseville Livestock Auction. She is an off the track TB mare.

And now look at this beautiful girl! We would like to thank her foster mom for the great job in bringing her back to health.

Daisy was rescue along with Lyla on May 13th. Of all the horses that were rescued that day, she made us the most worried. She had really bad diarrhea and always seemed to hang her head low.

Today, she is quite a different looking girl. This is the essence of rescue, taking horses that are in terrible situations, been abused and neglected, and then bringing them back to health. She is still a bit ribby, but she is on her way to perfect health.

Today the three happy Appy's here at the rescue all headed off to their new home. Gage, Mo and Daisy were excited to be leaving. Gage and Mo were adopted and Daisy is being fostered to adopt while she is still in rehab.

Soon they were all loaded up and Jason was off to take them to their new home.

We had some air force support recently in the battle against the flies. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of dragon flies have decided that the rescue is a great place to get a free lunch. We appreciate their help, it actually has made a huge difference.

Soon Jason was at the Appy's home. They were unloaded and put into their new pens.

Gage and Mo enjoyed checking out their new surroundings.

Daisy, on the other hand, was doing what she loves best: eating. She will certainly be getting all the food and care she can possibly handle at her new home.

From the Appy's home Jason headed over to some very generous people's house. They donated 27 bales of hay, and Jason chose today to pick it up.

Soon Jason had it loaded up in the trailer and was ready to enjoy the air conditioning of the truck once again. Thank you so very much for donating the hay, the horses should really enjoy it.

On the way back to the rescue Jason took this picture, which he thought was kind of neat.

We had a new potential regular volunteer come out today and help out. She enjoyed meeting Honey and Prince. She has read their progress on our blog and was just thrilled to get her hands on the little guy.

Tawnee introduced the jolly ball to Prince. He wasn't sure what to do about it, but was happy to chew on the handle for a little bit.

Soon Prince got bored of the jolly ball and was more interested in getting his picture taken. He is such a cute little guy and really brightens up everyone's day here at the rescue.

We are fixing up the Dodge to sell, we are hoping to get about $5,000 for it. Volunteer Larry's brother is a mechanic so he is fixing what is wrong (cracked head) with it for a greatly reduced rate.

Another beautiful day was ending at the rescue. Tawnee got her sunset photo with Nutaka, one of the pregnant mares, who posed perfectly with the sunset.

Tragedy struck while Tawnee was doing the blog pictures. At this point, seen below, Tawnee was ready to save all the blog pictures, when the computer froze. And it didn't come back. All the pictures disappeared forever, so, she had to start all over again... While the computer was sitting there frozen she grabbed the camera so you can share in her misery.

We would like to thank Mandy H. - Sigrid V. - Suzanne F. - Cindy R. - Janet L for their extremely generous donations today. You can see your name here too, just click here.

7-1-09

Thank you so much to the generous people who donated to the hay fund! It has ceased being the "May" hay days, has been the June hay days and is now stretching into the July hay days. We greatly appreciate the support to purchase the feed so needed each and every day. It looks like we will have to close this fundraiser down and just go from month to month again.

Tawnee spent her day at the vet. Cruiser was one of the horses that were surrendered yesterday. Cruiser had no idea when he woke up this morning what all his day would entail.

He was led into the surgery room and soon drifted off into la-la land.

Tawnee drifted over to the barn to visit some of the horses that are out there. Mr Ed has been out at the vet for a little while. He went out there for a farrier day to have his feet done for being adopted. He had a small lump on his lip which his adopter wanted removed. He had his lump removal operation and he is hanging out at the vet until she is satisfied that he is doing great.

Meanwhile, Cruiser was waking up from his surgery. He found himself waking up in a padded room. He looked at the camera with the classic "How could you do this to me? I trusted you!" look about him.

Back in the barn, Phoenix was getting his picture taken. He was enjoying a nice yummy meal. He has a great appetite these days, his manure is really firming up and one by one his ribs are starting to disappear. It was a real battle for so long, his diarrhea just wouldn't come under control. We were afraid that we might lose him, but it is comforting to know he is doing so much better.

His body used to be hard like a rock everywhere, there was just no soft area anywhere, it was just skin wrapped tightly around his bones. Every time Tawnee sees him she gives him the squishy test. She's so excited to see fat coming over his body.

Cruiser was doing well enough to get out of the padded room and into a regular stall. There are no babies in this little guys future for sure. It's always nice cutting the unwanted horse problem at the source.

Back at the rescue, Jason was writing emails, answering the phone, and hanging automatic waterers. Not at the same time, but he got a lot of each done today. There are still over 200 emails in the inbox, so if you didn't' get yours today, please be patient!

The outpouring of support today was absolutely wonderful! We would like to thank Victoria S. - Cheryl R. - Lari K. - Margaret C. - Show Dressed Up - Paula G. - Victoria Z. - Pamela N. - Dianna S. - Sara H. - Elizabeth O. - Jessica B. - for donating today. We can't possible thank you enough! When we started off to rescue the horses yesterday, we weren't sure where the money would come from, but we stepped out in faith that the funds would be donated, and thanks to your generosity, the costs that were involved in rescuing yesterday has been mostly covered. We can't rescue without your support! We do the hands on, front line work, but you are the ones that make it possible.

6-30-09

This is an incredibly emotionally charged blog that deals with the absolute bottom scum of the horse world. It was one of those days Jason and Tawnee just had to grit their teethe and push through it, thinking the whole time "Why am I doing this? This has to be a nightmare." The truth is, it's a reality. Rescuing and putting yourself on the front lines can lead to stomach churning days like today. Consider yourself warned dear reader.

This morning the trailer was unloaded, all of the Cal Skate fundraising items were still in there. Soon it was empty, clean and ready for the road.

We had received an email about some pregnant mares who's owner was wanting to give them away. We contacted them and they were happy to give them to us, so we headed off to pick them up.

Jason and Tawnee arrived at their neat, clean beautiful place. They were a very nice older couple who want to fully retire, so they are cutting back on their herd.

Tawnee was talking to the lady, and she said "So, 5 mares and 3 babies?" Tawnee smiled and nodded her head, she thought she was meaning maybe only 3 of the mares were in foal? It turned out the lady had other ideas. They led the mares down the barn breezeway to the waiting trailer.

They all loaded up beautiful and were such good girls to work with. After the 5 mares were loaded, the lady asked Tawnee for 3 more lead ropes. Tawnee was a little puzzled but got the lead ropes out and began to follow her.

It turns out there really were 3 yearlings that were going along too. All in all they surrendered 5 mares (4 believed to be in foal) and 3 yearlings.

Then it was off to what Tawnee and Jason knew would be a tough rescue. Little did they know how tough.

First a little history. At the last auction Tawnee attended, a man by the name of Dave knew that Tawnee had purchased one of the horses he ran through, so he came up and befriended her. He asked if we would be interested in purchasing some more horses from him, he announced he had about 50 he needed to get rid of. He had brought 3 that were not ran through the auction, they were in a holding pen behind the auction. He started working out a deal with an out of state person who had bought a lot of big, chunky horses during the auction.

Tawnee realized what was going on and soon was working out a deal with him as well. Eventually a price was agreed upon and a thin mare was pulled from the kill pen. The thin mare was seen on our blog on Sunday, she is Malibu. She is a very sweet horse that was just in the wrong pen. Thankfully, her life was saved by your donations!

There was a fence dividing the soon to be out of state horses with an unknown fate and the rescued horses. Just by looking at them, it was plain to see why they were chosen to be in that pen: they were all fat. Dave had given Tawnee his phone number and asked her to give him a call to work out a deal on some more horses.

Since then there have been some phone calls going back and forth. Dave called up and said he had some horses that were going to be heading to Fallon, he would like us to get them. He said their price was $250 each. Tawnee said "That's too high, we can get them cheaper at auction, $150 is what I'll pay." It was really hard to say those words, but we had to let him know up front that he could not take advantage of the rescues resources as so many in the killer buyer business love doing. They buy a horse for $150 at auction, turn around and sell it to a rescue for $500, preying upon rescue and donors emotions. Why not take that $500 and buy several horses just as worthy at auction that would go to slaughter anyway?

It wasn't long before he called back up with an offer of several horses for $150 each. Tawnee agreed. He said he had been in southern Ca, took some along, bought others, and now only had 40 horses.

Since we were heading to the same area to get the pregnant mares today, we called him up and arranged to see his horses that he had for sale. We said we could buy about 4 of them. As we pulled up, Animal Control was there. There were definitely some thin horses. Animal Control was preparing to leave, so Tawnee jumped out and talked to the officer. Tawnee explained everything she knew about Dave, but the Animal Control officer simply said there was nothing that could be done, and hoped we would take them all. Tawnee told him we couldn't take them all, but we would do our best.

Tawnee and Dave headed across the field to the trailer where the horses were waiting. He started explaining to Tawnee that the reason Animal Control was there was there was a foal, no water, someone complained, something died. He just wasn't making much sense.

Tawnee walked up to the waiting trailer, the horses were unloaded and then Tawnee's stomach began to roll. She walked away from the trailer in horror and disgust.

Dave said "I put the dead foal in the trailer, see here it is." All the poor horses were standing there in the heat with the dead stinky foal laying there. It was utterly terrible. "The foal was found dead this morning, someone drove by and complained to Animal Control. So I drug it over here. Not sure what happened to it. It was born at my place the other day, but I didn't have any shade at my place so I brought it over here so its mom could take it up in the hills were shade is, but it died here. Since you're taking the momma you need to take it too. You can skin it and graft an orphaned foal onto the momma. She's got a good bag of milk." Tawnee agreed merely for the fact she wanted our vet to look at the poor little foal and try to figure out what happened to it. It's one of those times when you feel like screaming and yelling, throwing up your hands and walking away in utter disgust. But one very wise person once told us "You must bite your lip until it bleeds, you're there to help the horses." Sometimes it's so hard to do.

Finally Tawnee put everything behind her and started loading the horses we purchased into the trailer. Two young horses, a pack mule and the mother of the dead foal.

After everyone was loaded Jason and Dave put the dead foal into the back of the pickup. As the foal was being put into the truck you could see a large gash on its neck and blood flowing out of its nose.

It was wonderful to have all the horses loaded up and be headed away from that terrible place.

We hadn't driven 150 feet when we noticed a herd of horses standing around in a circle. Since we stopped, Dave stopped.

Tawnee got out to ask Dave about some pricing on the thinner horses in the herd. "You can have that one for $150 since its thin, but the heavy ones have to be more ya know." The water trough was empty and they were all thirsty. As we drove away he was fiddling with the water hoping to get it to work.

Finally the open road lay ahead and we were on the way to the vet. It was hard leaving those other horses there, but our trailer was about full. It's definitely one of the hardest things about rescue, not being able to save them all.

It was good to be at the vet's office with the bright green grass, and a trailer full of happy horses.

One of the little guys from the first stop is about a year old and needs to be gelded. Since we were at the vet, we decided to unload him so he can get his brain surgery. It was cute opening the door and seeing all the little faces looking out in amazement. Anyone want to donate to help cover his gelding cost? Click here. Gelding typically costs about $150, due to his age and size it should be the lower rate, any additional donated funds will be used to care for the horses.

He is such a cute little guy. The vet examined him and said he is mature enough for his operation.

The vet also looked at the dead foal. She says her best guess is that the foal had been attacked by a stallion or gelding. It had been grabbed on the neck and shook, breaking its neck and causing paralysis, and finally death. It is so very sad.

Finally they were back at the rescue and trailer was being backed up to the loading chute to be unloaded.

The trailer door opened and a little face looked out with wonder. A few hours before, the poor little guy was standing in a hot trailer with a dead foal at his feet. Now he was at the rescue, fresh food and water were awaiting him.

All the babies came piling out one after another into their waiting pen.

Then it was the adults turn.

Soon all the horses were settled, but it was heartbraking to see the mare that had lost her foal looking longingly at the trailer gate. You could see it in her eyes "Where's my baby? What has happened?" It's so hard to see a horse grieving, wondering what had happened. You wish you could tell them that it's ok, not to worry, but the only way you can do that is through time and love, proving to them that their troubles are over.

Please help us help them, click here. You can be a part in saving lives.

6-29-09

Many of you may not be aware, but the Internet has been pretty much not working at the rescue since last Wednesday. Accessing email, updating the website, etc has been virtually impossible. The blog has been made possible by driving out to where the cell phone Internet can reach out to another tower. We found out today that the cell tower we use has been out of commission since Wednesday. This morning the Internet was still not working properly at the rescue so Jason was unable to get any email done. There were still plenty of chores to get done though, and everyone stayed more than busy today.



James, a barefoot trimmer that has come out several times with Sally to trim, came out today to get some hooves into shape. It was very hot again today, but the portable swamp cooler sure made the job more comfortable.



James even worked with Belle, she sure is a gorgeous little pony. She is still shy of people, but as you can see she can be handled.

Trimming was slow and on her terms, but finally her fronts were done and it was decided to leave her backs for another day. James didn't want to put too much stress on her in one day.

The all too familiar sight from last year began rising over the ridge this afternoon. We are not sure where the fire was, or what kind it was, but it was an eerie sight. We sure hope that we do not have a repeat of last years events (multiple fires threatening and burning thousands of homes, hundreds of horses being evacuated, etc.) The fire was put out by the afternoon and there was no more sign of it.

Jason and Tawnee passed by the vet today so they stopped to get a picture of Phoenix. He is looking good these days, obviously a long long ways to go, but he is still on the mend.

One of the projects today was to get the supplies needed for automatic waters in the pens. With the hot summer months upon us, it will be nice to have a constant supply of water in the pens. Hopefully the horses will choose not to play with the shiny new "toys." The first stop was at Tractor Supply where the automatic water's are sold.

Next stop was at Home Depot where the plumbing parts are sold to hook all of the automatic water's up to the big tank that Ted and Katy donated last year. It is full of water and ready to fill troughs.

Thanks for all the suggestions about Snazzy! One suggestion that caught our eye was possibly part Polo pony? She doesn't appear to be gaited. More suggestions would be great! She is adoption pending, but it would be neat to find out her breed.

Many thanks to ITF Supply for sponsoring two holes at the Skating party. It's a bit late for the actual event, but they wanted to show their support for the horses. Click here to visit their website.

We would like to thank Jenette S. - Bandit Blue - Taryn M. - Anonymous for donating today. We really appreciate your financial support!

6-28-09

This morning was quite a warm morning. The little mini's and Mr T were ready for their food and were waiting patiently by the fence for their breakfast.

As the morning progressed, it definitely was getting warmer and warmer. Deb was out and Tawnee and her started evaluating horses. Malibu the mare Tawnee bought out of the kill pen at the last auction was the first to be evaluated. She is very easy to saddle up and everything, she just doesn't have a clue on what to do. She isn't scared and doesn't seem to have any buck, but she doesn't know what to do. She has no go, brakes or steering. She should be a very easy horse to train. If you've always wanted to train your own horse, you should visit Malibu!

Ok everyone, we need your help identifying a breed. Tawnee and Deb went round and round today trying to identify what breed this little mare is. If you have any ideas, please post them in the comments section with links to similar looking horses. She is really cute just has a different look about her.

Here is a side view of Snazzy so you can get an idea of what her whole body looks like.

Snazzy is trained to ride, is very sensitive and smart. She is just adorable. She is about 14 hands.

A horse came in today who's owner said she is crippled, he tried breeding her but she wouldn't take, so now she is here. We will be evaluating her to determine her quality of life and giving her lots of love.

Kramer was surrendered the other day, and today he got his evaluation. First he decided he wanted to play for awhile to show Tawnee and Deb his stuff and how talented he is.

He went leaping, bucking and flying through the air. It was really neat to see him enjoying life so much.

Once he had calmed down he stood there so majestic looking, truly a beautiful boy.

By this time Deb and Tawnee were wilting in the sun. It was about 100 in the shade by noon.

Kramer, who is in adoption pending, agreed with us about the heat. It was decided to call it quits with the evaluations for the day, it was just getting too hot.

The thermometer kept rising and soon it was bordering on 110 f. Officially the hottest day at the rescue this year.

There really wasn't any way to beat the heat but Jason brought out his portable swamp cooler and put it next to the swing. It was a relief to have at least one spot to get out of the sun and get some cool air blown over you. The visitors who braved the heat also enjoyed sitting in the cool breeze. Once everybody was done Tawnee collapsed for a minutes respite.

By evening, after the sun was gone, it finally started getting cooler.

Many thanks to Judy H. for donating! Your donation is greatly appreciated.