5-3-09

We received word towards the end of last week that we had to get our horses and fencing off of the neighbouring 20 acres. The neighbour immediately south of the rescue, who owns 10 acres, is going to be putting it on the market. They have contacted us off and on over the last few months inquiring if we were interested in purchasing it. At first we were interested in the property, and started looking into what it would take to purchase it, but the more we all thought about it, the more we realized that this is just not an optimal permanent location for NorCal. Among other things, the 3 miles of dirt road really hinders adopters, volunteers, visitors and donors. The 10 acres further south past the immediate neighbours has no water access for the horses so we will not be improving the fencing to keep horses there.

The neighbours were kind enough to allow the horses to roam freely over it, for which we are thankful, but now it is time to take them off the 20 acres and put them back into pens. This means that unfortunately we only have room to rescue 7-10 horses this month at livestock auctions, so the auction fund has been reduced to $2,500. We still have use of the 10 acres in Gridley, we are hoping to have the grass baled this week, if the rain lets off, then we will be able to take horses out there. All in all we went from 40 acres to 20, two 10 acre parcels separated by 25 miles.

Today we officially kicked off the 3rd annual May Hay Days! This is the time of year where we ask you to help us purchase a lot of hay for the rescued horses. This year we would like to purchase around 1600 bales, which would feed the rescued horses for a long long time. Click here to learn more about the May Hay Days.

We got some updates on three horses that have been adopted from us. Two different pictures, but they are all so beautiful that we put them in the blog.

First, the bay, is Promising Lady / River, rescued from a Livestock Auction, and the chestnut is Paso, who's owner could no longer keep him, and he made his way down from Washington to us where he found his forever home, along with...

...Comet. All the horses are doing great and are truly looking beautiful.

This morning we were greeted with water everywhere. Puddles of it seemed to be sitting everywhere around the rescue.

Faithful Deb came out to work with the horses, and she is quite thankful it did not rain on her all day. Half of the round pen was dry enough to work in.

Deb utilized the dry side of the round pen and was soon showing horses to potential adopters.

Soon the rescue had a lot of visitors parking here and there. We were getting reports from visitors that in the hills it was pouring rain. Later in the day we also got phone calls from volunteers stating they would have come but it was raining too hard. One of the benefits of living in the valley, it stopped raining about 9:30 and didn't rain again all day.

Lippy Conner talked his way into someones heart today. After his leg surgery he has been in rehab, but now his leg is now completely healed and it was time to find a new home. We will really miss his insightful insights! His adopter definitely enjoyed riding him around and Lippy enjoyed showing her all the tricks he knows.

Lippy's mommy was pre-approved and she was wise enough to bring her trailer. It was hard saying "Goodbye" to this comedian of a horse, but we know he's going to have a great home.

Little Blue was excited to meet her new potential mommy. Remember the picture of the phone call with Tawnee standing on the hay bales? Well, she was talking to this lady, who is looking for a companion to her little donkey. She came out today and fell in love with Little Blue. She's just waiting for her application to be processed, and she can't wait to open her heart and home to this sweet little mule.

Deb showed horses off and on throughout the day. Buddy had a potential adopter test ride him and they seemed to be a great match. Now all the arrangements are being made and hopefully soon Buddy will be on his way to his new home.

Jamie was out today and helped out in the office and other places, despite feeling under the weather. Thank you so much Jaime for your dedication and hard work. By the end of the day everyone was happy to sit down on the picnic table and rest their tired legs and muddy boots.

There is a website that has been made for the Nebraska horses we helped load so they could be taken to safety. Click here to view it. So far there are over 100 stallions / geldings, almost 50 mares, and various mules, donkey's, etc that need homes. They are still posting information as they get it.

You can view the horses pictures on the website above, it is really sad how starved and skinny they are. It looks like a horse refugee camp, which, it really is.