1-11-09

We received some more hay donations today, we are hoping that more funds will come in shortly though! There is currently $3,198 left to raise to pay for the big round bales of hay.


Tawnee did an interview with the Modesto Bee on Friday about the fate of horses in California. They did a really good article, other than they stated we only had 93 adoption placements since 2003. Oops. That was actually 93 adoptions since October 2008. Oh well, it's a good article, click here to read it.

This morning Jason got right to work feeding the horses. It takes so many square bales to feed every day, at $12 a piece, our feed bill is really high right now. Jason can't wait for the big round bales to make it here! It's not much fun unloading them, but they sure make the daily chores easier and it saves money!

As Tawnee was getting ready to head out to the auction the first potential adopters were arriving, anxious to visits the horses and hopefully fall in love.

Tawnee headed out to the auction, it sure is nice being able to cruise right up the hill without spinning tires.

On the way to the auction Tawnee passed a pretty green field. While most people drive on by without a second look, we are in negotiations to buy all 400 round bales that the grower is expecting to get off of the field. 400 round bales should be about 18 months of feed. It would be a huge undertaking and would be our largest fund raiser, but we know that together we can all make it happen! We estimated that it would around $1600 vs the $4000 monthly or so we pay when we purchase small square bales. We will keep you informed as negotiations proceed.

Tawnee arrived at the auction, met up with Becky, Amber and Brianna, and started checking out the horses. To Tawnee's absolute horror she discovered 3 of our horses in one of the pens to be sold! This made Tawnee's blood boil for a very long time. The adopter had some silly excuse "They are not supposed to be here and my brother brought the wrong horses." Tawnee stood by the gate taking deep breaths, trying to remain calm and not say something in haste she would regret later, as Jennifer G says "Sometimes you just have to bite your lip until it bleeds."

Meanwhile back at the rescue, Ron and Claire were busy showing horses to potential adopters. There were quite a number of groups that came out today, and it's no wonder. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the horses were all happily enjoying the warm weather. Everybody was in a great mood today.

Fire was adopted by a very wonderful family. He is certainly going to be one spoiled boy!

Before coming to us Fire had been in a serious trailering accident where the trailer actually flipped over with Fire inside. Naturally he is quite cautious, anxious and hesitant when it comes time to get into a trailer. Since having several positive trailering experiences, he is starting to learn again that just because it is a trailer does not mean that it is going to flip over and try to kill him.

Thanks to Ron's experience he was loaded up and ready to go off on his new adventure!

We had to say "Goodbye" to Kassandra, she was finally being adopted! She is such a sweet, pretty pony and she certainly has made a soft spot in our hearts. She has gone from being almost wild and uncatchable to being easily caught in a 20 acre pasture. She actually loves people now! We received an update from her new home already: "Kassandra is home and doing well. Full belly, treats of carrots and fully brushed. She seems content. " Thanks for giving her such a good home!

Sugar was also adopted today by our local county Environmental Health (septic and well) inspector. While everything was getting set up here at the rescue she kept coming out to inspect various stages of getting it all set up, and sure enough she just had to go ahead and fall in love with Sugar and take her home.

Sienna's adopter brought out a trailer today to take her to her forever home. She is so excited to finally be able to take her new best friend home! But Sienna had a best friend here at the rescue, Ebony.

So, when Sienna left, instead of 2 little ears peaking out of the trailer, there were 4 little ears. She adopted Ebony as well. Best friends forever!

Towards mid afternoon Jason and Ron loaded up Patty and Buck so they could be delivered to their new home.

They are loved greatly and will be having wonderful times with their new family. Buck and Patty will be living right next door to each other, so they will get to say "Hi" to each other over the fence. They really settled down here at the rescue from when we first brought the wild hooligans to the rescue.

Meanwhile back at the Auction Tawnee and the volunteers were sorting out the horses. Amber and Brianna took pictures of each horse.

And of course at the end of the day, the 3 Norcal horses were in our pens as well. A total of 14 horses were rescued by this time. Please enjoy the photo's of each horse, as we get to know them we will be lining up names with the horses and putting the information on our available page. For now we have extremely limited information about each. If there is a horse you are interested in based on its picture, please contact us!

This poor little mini mule was auctioned off, but no one met the reserve. The full grown man riding the poor little mule kept swinging the lead rope, whacking her on the side trying to get her to spin. Tawnee could not bare the thought of the mule having to go back to its abusive owner, so she purchased her for the reserve price. After the sale Tawnee went back to see the little mule, and she was so terrified she would race back and forth in the pen trying her hardest to get away from people. She managed to stand still long enough for the picture to be taken.

This horse is completely blind.

This is a Arab stallion that has apparently been running loose with mares. Just what the world does not need, more half breed babies on the way. If anyone is interested in adopting him and having him gelded, please let us know as soon as possible. He is halter broke but needs a lot of manner training.

This mare may be pregnant with the above talked about Stallion's baby. She sure appears pregnant! She looks like her belly is going to pop.

And yet another possibly pregnant mare.

Another little mule, this one is friendly but does have very long hooves.

While Tawnee and the volunteers were looking over the horses, Tawnee noticed a family standing by a horse that they had purchased, looking teary eyed. This horse had been brought in by a man who claimed the horse flipped over backwards trying to load this morning and so the horse was sore. That didn't stop him from hopping on the poor horse, making him ride all over, and making him dance. The horse seemed to be moving almost ok. Until after the auction when the poor horse could barely move because he was in so much pain. Every step he takes he actually grits his teethe and moans from the agony. They felt overwhelmed and asked if we would take him. Of course we said yes! So, in total, 15 horses came to the rescue this evening.

It was getting darker and darker at the auction, finally all the horses had become aquainted and were ready to be loaded. The stallion was placed in a pen with some of the geldings we rescued. They seemed to be getting along well, so they were put in the front of the trailer by themselves and divided off.

Finally all the horses were loaded and it was time to make the trek back to the rescue.

Kim, the lady who is looking for her lost horse Jake, attended the auction today and brought her trailer to volunteer haul some horses back to the rescue for us. At the auction Tawnee introduced her to Sandy, one of the auction owners. Sandy looked at the records and was able to pull the first name and phone # of the person who purchased Jake back in 2005.

After a long, uneventful trip back to the rescue the horses were safely unloaded.

Jason had food and water waiting for them, so when they were unloaded the settled in quickly.

The poor, lame, agonizing horse simply was in too much pain to step out of the trailer. We had to give him some pain medication before he could be unloaded.

After all the horses were moved out of Big Silver, other than the stallion who will be spending the night in the trailer with food and water in his large roomy stall, Kim's trailer was backed up to a smaller pen where the mini's and baby were unloaded.

Kim had brought some metal troughs to donate to the rescue. Thanks so much, we can put them to good use!

On the way to the rescue Kim's husband was doing some research and found the purchaser of Jake's Myspace page, along with a couple pictures of Jake! He emailed them up so that Kim could see Jake's pictures. Kim is so excited, she is wanting to have Jake back in her life more than anything right now, but she understands that Jake's owner may not want to sell him, but she would love to see him again.

We apoligze in not getting the blog out on Sunday, it is now long past midnight, which makes it technically Monday. We tried our best to get it out on Sunday!