10-1-10

It's October and it's official: NorCal Equine Rescue is now Horse Plus Humane Society. We have been excitedly waiting this day ever since we knew the change would take place. Today it's official!

Many of you may have grown fond of the old website, but now it's redirects to the new website automatically. Although www.SaveTheHorse.com will take you to the new website, the base url is: http://horsehumane.org. Please make a note of this!

We know many of you may have questions. Why the change? Has NorCal become part of the Humane Society of the United States or affiliated with other humane societies? Who is running it now?

Rest assured, Jason and Tawnee Preisner, founders of NorCal Equine Rescue way back in 2004, are the driving force behind the change, and are still responsible for the day to day management of rescues and operations and oversee shelter operations. The day to day shelter operation are managed by Larry and April who are doing an A+ job. Jason and Tawnee will still be doing most of the hands on rescue work, and are working hard on becoming California Humane Officers to better serve animals in need. Jason and Tawnee are going nowhere! The focus and mission of H+ Humane Society remains the same as that of NorCal Equine Rescue.

The new blog site is: http://horsehumane.wordpress.com. Check it out, we think you will like the layout and look! The entire savethehorse.blogspot.com blog has been imported into the new blog, so you can read the archives to your hearts content. This blog post will be up for a week as an introduction to the new Humane Society, after that the blog will be written once a day again.

The new Facebook page, of which almost 550 people like it already, is: http://www.facebook.com/horsehumane. Please visit the Facebook page for updates during the first week of the launch. The Facebook stream can also be seen on the homepage of the website.

The shelter challenge hasn't change, we still need your votes every day! We are moving up the ranks, can't wait to be #1! Click here every day to vote. The name is still NorCal Equine Rescue, so please enter that to vote for us until further notice.

Welcome to the new Horse Plus Humane Society!

9-29-10

We have some exciting news - we are in 40th place overall for all of the shelters, and 3rd in California. Thank you for your votes, it is really making a difference! Let's keep pushing to the top, click here. Remember the C has to be capitalized in NorCal Equine Rescue.

Today was a moving day. Moving the little original office from the old rescue location to new facility. Tawnee took down the "Welcome to NorCal Equine Rescue" sign off the post by the old office. The sign will have to go into our museum, it was the first sign ever made for NorCal.

Larry borrowed a wonderful flatbed trailer with a strong winch on the front. The office was carefully packed and readied to be moved, the big straps were put on, and they started winching.

Up up up it went, slowly but surely.

Finally it was up on the trailer and ready to go. By now it was 1:00 pm and everyone was hungry.

Tawnee made a nice vegan meal for everyone. It's amazing how excited people get to eat when they have a chance to eat yummy food. Someone recently asked if we were affiliated with PETA after a comment about eating vegan. No, we've not joined PETA or the Humane Society of the United States. Jason and Tawnee were both raised vegan and it's works out really good for them.

Colby had never had vegan mac 'n cheese before. He ate it all, but he didn't say he liked it either... Larry, on the other hand, loves it and ate like 4 plates.

Once the humans were done eating, Phoenix wandered over to check out the menu. First he sniffed the chips.

The chips were OK, but what was in this kettle?

Hmm, vegan mac 'n cheese. Horses are typically vegan, but this was definitely a step above hay!

Soon Phoenix had his own plate of mac 'n cheese, along with chips and nacho sauce. Napoleon had to come over to investigate...

Napoleon is Phoenix's buddy. Phoenix was more than willing to share, but Amee got Napoleon his own plate.

Napoleon really enjoyed the days menu.

He didn't care too much for the chips, but he really loved the mac 'n cheese.

His lips got all dirty. Napoleon, you need a napkin!

He didn't want a napkin, he wanted to lick his lips clean instead. What a nice lunch for everyone!

The office was ready to go so Jason started pulling out. April drove her truck in front with the flashers on while Larry drove his behind with the flashers on.

Down the driveway it went.

Up the horribly steep hill... We are so thankful the rescue has moved, the adopters do not have to slip and slide trying to drive their newly adopted horse up this hill. 2wd doesn't make it.

...and off down the road.

Soon they were at the new facility and wondering where to put it.

Once the location was decided, it was time to slide it off the trailer. The ropes and straps were placed just right, Jason drove forward, and...

...soon it was sitting on the ground. Then the hard work of leveling the office commenced, hours later Jason and Colby finally announced it done. Sadly, there are no pictures of it sitting level for the blog yet.

Little Bear was surrendered to us Wednesday. She was originally turned over to our organization in a seizure case in Plumas County in October of 2008.

She was a bedraggled little baby. An individual, not knowing the horses were seized in place, went to try and help them. They offered to buy the baby, which the abusive owner was more than happy to sell, even though she had no right to do so. This was the only picture the county had taken of Little Bear that we had. The person in the county assured us that the baby would have a great home. To see the others that were rescued from the place (the Lucky 7 group) where Little Bear came from, click here. You really should read it, it's a great blog entry.

We are thankful that Little Bear did make it to a very loving home where she was cared for. Sadly, they are moving out of state and were not able to take Little Bear with them.

In the previous blog we said there were 3 surrenders Tuesday, we were wrong, there were actually 4. There was also a very friendly goat surrendered, Buttercup.

Buttercup is a cute goat who loves attention and loves following people around. He thinks he is a dog, not a goat. He wants a forever home, maybe yours?

Today's eBay Giving Works item is a child's XS chaps by Dublin. They are only $9.99 and 25% of the sale price goes to help the horses!

Many thanks to anonymous for their generous monthly support!

9-28-10

We are almost in the top 50, currently 64th, for all of the Unites States in the voting contest that is going on! That is really great, please keep voting every day! Click here, select "NorCal Equine Rescue" in Oroville, CA and press vote. Make sure the C in NorCal is capitalized. The system is being updated, so hopefully soon it switches over to Horse Plus Humane Society, but for now, keep entering NorCal Equine Rescue. Click here.

Jason, Larry and Colby headed out to get hay. We have been having it delivered, but a great deal popped up on Craigslist, and it's only 4 miles from the rescue! $6 a bale for grassy alfalfa, can't really beat that price. First Jason hopped up on the hay pile and threw the hay down for Colby to load.

Colby worked extremely energetically loading the hay.

One by one the bales went into the trailer.

But, eventually his stacking muscles got fatigued so Jason and Colby switched spots. It is so much easier to throw the hay down then to load it.

Finally both trailers were loaded, 108 bales of hay. This load of hay cost $708, saving over $200 from having it delivered, and will last about a week. Please help pay for this load of hay, click here, Even $6 to buy a bale of hay helps a lot!

Back at the rescue, the girls volunteered to unload the hay. They got right to work and soon the trailer was unloaded. Hay prices have dropped so much, $6 for nice heavy bales of hay. A couple years ago you couldn't touch hay like this for less than $12 a bale. Hay prices are no longer an excuse for starving your horse.

While the volunteers where hard at work, the horses were taking it easy. This funny horse believes that it's good to drink and eat at the same time. How cute!

We had 3 surrenders come in, two of which are seen below, one of which was camera shy somehow and should be in the next blog. This is another horse that came into the euthanasia clinic. It seems that horses just keep coming in, it is definitely the busiest clinic we have had in a very long time. Thank you for making it possible, enabling us to help horses in desperate need.

This poor guy has been in unmanageable pain for quite awhile. He has body sores from laying down, trying to relieve his pain, ultimately making more pain.

He was bit by a snake, which got into the tendon sheeth, and with a lot of other complications, it refuses to heal. It causes him continuous excruciating pain.

We also had a henny surrendered. He is a wildy little critter that is not halter trained. He is about 9 years old. He was too much for his previous owner, who called up pleading for us to take him. They were extremely grateful that we were available.

Our flock of chickens keeps getting smaller as we find them homes. We are getting less and less hens and more and more roosters. Everyone seems to want to have hens. One thing for sure, the horses will know when it's morning at the rescue!

Today's eBay Giving Works item is two sets of "raised braid" English reigns in excellent condition. They are only $8.99 and 25% of the sale price goes to help the horses! Click here.

Many thanks to Faryn K. and Gail G. for their generous donations!

We are slowly moving up the ranks, we are now #4 in California for the Animal Rescue Site's $100,000 shelter challenge. We are at #77 overall. Keep up the good voting and tell your friends to vote too, vote now - click here.

Jason and a volunteer hooked up the trailer and hit the road. There was a horse that needed to be surrendered, they wanted to bring him to the clinic but had no way to transport him. We also had an older cushings horse come in this morning for the clinic. What a busy clinic! We are thankful that this clinic was made possible to keep horses out of the slaughter pipeline and to give desperate owners a humane solution.

Quanta is a sweet 28 year old blind Appy. He recently became blind and was not adjusting well at all to his new situation. He had injured himself in his pen and his owners, who had him for 8 years, knew it was time to say "Goodbye" as they were no longer able to properly care for him with his blindness.

They lived in a residential area on a busy street, Jason was hoping that Quanta would be able to get into the trailer without too much fuss.

While bystanders blocked traffic, Quanta was slowly given direction on how to get into the trailer. First one leg, then the other. He wasn't too keen on getting in, but with time and patience...

...he hopped in the trailer and was ready to go. It's odd how almost all horses prefer to ride backwards in a trailer, even blind horses.

Then the long trip back to the rescue.

Back at the rescue, Quanta unloaded without too much fuss.

He was gently led to the waiting pen, where he was shown his food and water. It is free of obstacles and is the safest place for him.

We are going to evaluate him for quality of life, ideally we would love to see him go to Home at Last. They have taken a lot of other blind horses from us, and have had wonderful results in helping them adjust to their vision impairment and finding them the right guide horse. They require $150 month sponsorship for horses, and it would be wonderful if Quanta would be able to go there, if he has a good quality of life after being evaluated by our vet and staff. Home at Last Sanctuary recently had a TV interview with Channel 12. You can watch it, click here. Wouldn't it be great if someone would step forward and give Quanta a lifetime sponsorship?

Today's eBay Giving Works item is 2 pair of Children's boy or girl riding pants size 6. They are only $9.99 and 25% goes to help the horses! Click here.

Speaking of eBay Giving Works, it has now been updated and changed to Horse Plus Humane Society. A lot of the listings currently say "Funds go to help NorCal Equine Rescue." We are one and the same, bid with confidence! On the updated information it says "Formerly NorCal Equine Rescue" to clear up any confusion on these items. Just remember this is a great way to help the shelter, we have raised over $850 through this program. Simply list your items and click what percentage you want to go help the horses, it really does help and it all adds up.

Many thanks to Vicci B. for their generous donation today!