11-09-08

This morning started with checking out some supplements and other items that were donated late last night. Thank you Gail for your generosity! There's some easy boots, fly mask, and lots of little things, but the biggest of all...

...was the donated item the supplements were sitting in: a 2001 Dodge Ram 4x4. Yes, that is right, NorCal now owns a 2001 Dodge Ram which will be used for the lighter hauling jobs. It will be great if we ever have to do fire evacuations or move a lot of horses at one time as we will be able to pull two trailers at once. Thank you again Gail for your generosity! It has some mechanical work that needs to be done, namely brakes and maybe transmission work, but soon it should be hard at work.


Deb came out early this morning to help get ready for the big day. We had two adoption delivery's to make which really made the day hectic.

We had to load up the ones that were heading to their new homes. This is Burly Ben getting into the trailer with Angel and Mr T, the goats, watching on.


Burly Ben was safely delivered to his forever family. They sure look happy together! They've been hanging out in the boarding stable since 7:00 am since they didn't know when we would be arriving. We didn't get there until almost 12, we felt so sorry for them. They didn't seem to care, they were just so thrilled to have him.

Pixie and Rose were also adopted by two previous adopters. Thank you so much for opening your hearts and homes to these sweet equines.

A few miles down the road after delivering Burley Ben, Tawnee noticed a wheel rolling along the road in her mirror. A first happened, all the lug nuts came loose on a trailer wheel and the tire fell off while driving down the road. An act of sabotage? A careless replacement of the wheel from a flat? It's hard to figure out, it's just odd it happened on an auction Sunday. Although almost all of the bad luck happens on the busiest days.

Amber and Deb went to find the wheel that rolled away.

Soon Tawnee had the spare tire on, she made sure the lug nuts were tightened on all 4's, and off she went again.

Finally Tawnee and everyone made it to the auction in one piece, not a moment too late as all the tack was sold and everything was ready for the horses to be sold.

It wasn't long after we got there and we noticed flyer's for a stolen horse. The pasture fence was cut and out of 6 horses the lady owns this one was taken. She's a 13 year old Mustang with a freezbrand and an old neck injury. Please let us know if you see this horse!

The sale was finally over, there were 33 horses and we were able to rescue 21 of them! Two others were rescued by previous adopter volunteers. A total of 23 horses, out of 33, were rescued today! There was a new want-to-be mass buyer at the auction today, we're not sure what he plans to do with the horses he purchased. We managed to out-bid him on most of the horse, rest assured he is not a rescue. He claimed one mare he was going to use for bucking. She was a really fat mare with a lot of flesh on her. We did our best to save her but the bid went up too high. We've seen her before at the auction, but now believe we will never see her again.

After the sale we went out and got acquainted with the horses we rescued. Each one of them is so sweet, what stories they must have to tell if only they could speak.

A local trainer to us offered for a small fee to haul 7 horses back to the rescue. It makes it so we only have to make two trips instead of three to get all the horses here.

Then it was on to load our big stock trailer. There was a mini gelding rescued today, but one of our volunteers, who is approved to adopt, along with her daughter decided to adopt the little guy on the spot. Tawnee had packed some extra adoption paperwork this morning just in case, so everything was in order.

The adoption paperwork was signed, and now we need to schedule delivery. They will also be fostering Cinnamon until after she has her baby and they are both adoptable.

Finally long after dark the rescue rig made it back all safe and sound, and all the horses were unloaded.

Becky was unable to attend the auction this month, Becky we really missed you!

Thank you everyone for your generosity that provided the funds to make this auction rescue a reality. Thanks to your donations, these 21 precious lives were saved from an unknown fate, most likely a fate that would have shortly led them across the border...