7-25-10

Thursday was a day off for the staff and volunteers (other than the necessary chores) which gave Jason a chance to head out at 7:30 am with the big stock trailer to pick up some hay that was donated.

Bale by bale, row after row.

Near the end of the loading Jason says his arms felt like they may have been a little bit longer from picking up so much hay. In all he loaded about 105 bales in the trailer single handedly.

Jason is very thankful that the kind people donated the hay, it is something we use every day, and the supply has to keep up with the demand. He was very hot and sweaty by the end of the loading, and his shirt was dripping sweat because it was too soaked to hold any more.

After taking the hay back to the rescue, Jason switched to the little trailer and headed out into the mountains to pick up 4 donkeys. Along the way he crossed over 'Li'll Hoover Dam.' It's a concrete dam that looks just like Hoover Dam.

At the donkey's home the trailer was backed up to a bank to make it easier to load the donkey's. Donkey's are notoriously stubborn when it comes time to load, but if they don't have to step up, it sure makes it easier.

This little girl is a jenny. Their owner had died and left them without a home.

This is a jack donkey. He is going to be gelded and will no longer be known as a jack.

After pulling, coaxing, convincing, begging and pleading, all 4 donkey's were in the trailer.

Two of the donkey's are jacks, so from their home Jason took them directly to the vet. By this time it was around 9:00 pm

It is almost always easier to unload a donkey than to load a donkey. These two boys were no exception and were more than happy to hop out of the trailer.

The dark donkey is a gelding and the grey in the back is the jenny. Jason took them back to the rescue were an empty pen was waiting for them, but by that time it was past 10:00 pm and far too dark to get any pictures. So much for Jason's day off!

Friday morning Jason headed down towards Sacramento to pick up a 2 horse trailer that was donated.

It is a very cute trailer and will be very useful. It is nice to have a trailer for the wee ones at the rescue.

The trip back to the rescue was completely uneventful and soon the little trailer was parked next to the big brother trailers.

Sunday morning Jason and Tawnee were back to work full swing. The first thing they did was go check on Gato's progress in recovery. Gato is visibly gaining weight now and is on his path to recovery. He scarfs down every bit of food the vet feeds him. When a horse is this emaciated you cannot just start free-feeding them immediately.

Just 10 days ago Gato came to us. He was dehydrated and definitely experiencing a lack of food.

Now with only 10 days of care his sides are starting to fill in.

He has a new look to his eyes.

The two jacks are unable to be at the rescue as we have no room for jacks at the rescue. We are hoping that we can raise the funds soon to have them gelded.

When Jason and Tawnee arrived at the rescue, the first surrender of the day was already waiting.

The Angels Rescuing Kittens brought in a 32 year old TB mare who is experiencing extremely poor health due to her age. ARK has a lot of cats right now that need loving homes, especially seniors that are waiting for a home to spend their days. Click here to view their kitties waiting for homes.

Ivy is a 2 year old Mustang mare who recently came in. She looked on with wonder as...

...Whinny, her buddy, was being evaluated for her riding abilities.

She is trained to ride, but it has been awhile. She is a sweet mare in her teens and would make a nice youth horse for going along on trail rides with a little tuneup. She is kind of short and very stocky.

At this time another surrender was being unloaded.

Meet Al, a 21 year old QH gelding. He is trained to ride but has arthritis and is looking for a loving home where he can sit back and give a kid an occasional ride.

Next Tawnee evaluated Forest, one of the geldings rescued from the auction last Monday.

He is trained to ride, neck reigns nicely and moves off your legs. He is about 10 years old. He seems as if he has been worked hard and is worried about pleasing his rider. He needs some time to hang out and go on leisurely trail rides with someone that will let him know he won't be hurt if he makes a simple mistake. He is very nice and will make a very lucky someone a very wonderful horse.

After closing time Rose and Dobbin, the gelded donkey rescued on Thursday, were loaded up into the trailer. They were going home! Home at Last had been wanting Rose for quite some time, and we knew that Dobbin would have another donkey friend at Home at Last that would be his best buddy.

Rose was so happy to finally be home.

Dobbin showed absolutely no signs of emotion, he just started wandering around eating. He is such a sweet old boy.

This is Jonathan, he was rescued earlier in the year. He is in his 30's and doing great now! We knew we had to get Dobbin up there so Dobbin and Jonathan could spend their days basking in the sun together, sharing stories from the good ol' days.

Soon they were off and down the road towards the rescue.

We would like to ask for a little help with gelding the two jack donkeys. Older donkeys are much harder to geld, and the gelding cost can run up to $500 per jack. We are going to put a thermometer on our homepage for $1,000 to cover the cost of gelding these two sweet boys and for initial care after surgery. Please help if you can! Click here.

If you wondered where Tawnee was in the middle part of last week, she had to have a couple teeth yanked out and was quite under the weather.

Many thanks to: Carla G. - Janice M. -Peg G. In memory of my $30.00 rescued horse Rusty - Sara H. - Constance W. Your Support really dose help a lot!