On Friday, Darlin was brought into the rescue by one of our previous adopters, Christina, who found her being neglected in someones back yard. Apparently, that person thought she was doing just fine. Our vet will be evaluating her, but we do know that she has bad arthritis in her knees and probably cushings. She is a sweet little girl, it is so sad to see any emaciated horse, but especially a pony. They don't need much food!

Christina also brought in this mare, Dancer. She is an older mare who's owner was no longer able to keep her, so Christina brought her too. She has a bad hip problem, and Christina was quite fearful for her future. It's always great when our previous adopters become more alert to equines in need and do what they can to help.

Sunday morning was an exciting morning. Buckeye was ready to come to the rescue to find his home! He is doing so much better it is unbelievable. We would like to thank each and every one of you who made his surgery possible.

At the vet, Tawnee stopped in to say "Hi" to Betty. She too is doing absolutely amazing, she is actually able to walk on her little leg now and was happy to have some company.

We hope that soon she too will be able to come to the rescue to find her forever home. She is a little sweetheart and loves attention.

Back in the trailer, Buckeye was saying "Goodbye" to his friends at the vet. Soon he realized he had a new friend in the trailer, Lady. Lady was one of the kb horses that came to us August 12th. She had a runny nose when she came, but now it has cleared up and she was ready to head to the rescue to find her home too. Due to the length of this blog, we will have more pictures of Buckeye in a future blog.

Lady posed for a quick snapshot. She is such a cute girl. She has TB looking legs on her, but any guesses on what her head might look like? We are having a hard time guessing her breed.

We would like to send a huge "Thank you!" to each and every one of you that helped fund the euthanasia clinic this month. All of the needed funds were raised thanks only to you. As we expected, with winter coming on, it was a very busy clinic. We even had to start directing traffic because trailers were getting piled up at the rescue! We wanted to share a few of the stories of some of the horses that came to the clinic.

We almost fell over when we heard this guys age: 45 years old! His owners had him for a very long time, they had gotten him when he was in his 30's. They figured they would have him for a few years. A few years kept stretching on out. The last few months his health has started failing him and he has started rapidly losing weight. His owners knew it was time to say "Goodbye." What an amazing horse!

This beautiful horse was 34 years old. She was owned by her owner since she was a 2 year old. That's 32 years in the same home, the way it is supposed to be. It was a hard "Goodbye" but she didn't want to put her horse through another long winter. Her health was starting to fail and it was time.

Sassy didn't come into our euthanasia clinic, but was surrendered into our adoption program. Her owner could no longer keep her. She is really a cutey!

We posted this picture on our Facebook with some information about her. Shortly after posting her, one of our previous adopters put her in adoption pending.

She can't wait to go home! We hope that the potential home works out, they are an A+ adoptive family. Every horse that can live at their house is a lucky horse indeed.

Today was a hard enough day, euthanasia clinic surrenders are always tough, but then to make matters worse, volunteer Connie came over and drove her tractor away. It was a wonderful tractor and it only blew 1 hydraulic line while at the rescue. She says she'll bring it back when we need it.

There were so many trailers coming into the rescue it was mind boggling at times. We are so thankful they were there, we are so thankful that each and every horse that came to the clinic will never know the horrors of the slaughter house.

This horse was over 20 years old, and owned most of her life by the same family. Sadly she was sold, and the people that bought her foundered her, so the original owners bought her back and tried to make her comfortable. But now they knew it was time, her feet just couldn't hold her up comfortably anymore.

We had a potential adopter looking at Scarlett. She had come out to look at her last Sunday, and wanted to come spend more time with her today. Tawnee explained to her that it was our clinic surrender day and that things would be very busy. Finally Tawnee got a moment to show Scarlett's riding ability. Tawnee says she feels like she is riding on an elephant when she is up there.

Then the potential adopter rode her and is absolutely in love with Scarlett. She is going to go out to the vet for a pre-adoption / lameness exam. We are excited with high hopes that soon Scarlett will be heading home.

One of the last horses surrendered into the clinic was very hard for the family to say "Goodbye." The horse had been in their family for years. He had been passed down through their family for awhile, he is the oldest horse we have ever had at the rescue that we know of. He is 47 years old!!!

He is a registered Pony of America, and was registered about 9 years after the POA registry actually started. It is amazing to see such an old guy with such a shiny coat. Imagine all the rides he has given and all the smiles he has made.

Sadly, the poor guy has cancer in his sheath area which causes him a lot of pain, bleeding and problems urinating. He is such a sweet guy, we are thankful that we are able to have this clinic to provide the last gift of kindness for horses like him. This is what this clinic is all about, giving horses like him a peaceful ending to their magnificent lives. We heard the words "If it wasn't for this clinic, I would have had to my horse to a sale."

It was break time for some of the volunteers. Crow, the original chicken at the rescue, has become a begging chicken. We all seen dogs begging for food, but now we have a begging chicken who won't stop begging until he gets something yummy.

He is perfecting his begging art and no one can refuse his pleading looks.

His begging got really rewarded when he managed to get some soda from volunteer Amee. He got really energetic after that. We're not sure how many chickens beg and drink soda, but Crow is definitely something else.

Once everything settled down, there was a big project that needed to be done. The office / feed room needed to be moved in preparation for winter to a better location. Everyone looked at Jason and said "Can your truck do it?"

Jason, Larry, Colby, Amee, Tawnee and April all pitched in it make sure it was done right. It was the biggest load Jason's truck has ever pulled, but it did it like a champ. It was amazing to see such a small looking truck moving such a big looking trailer.

It only needed to be moved 100' , and soon it was right where it belonged.

Once it was all set up, Crow came by to see if anyone was taking a snack break. He didn't find anymore food, but he did give his stamp of approval to the new location of the office.

For all you "My Little Pony" fans, this is the chance of a lifetime. There is a huge My Little Pony set on eBay, with 50% of the proceeds going to help the real ponies at the rescue. It has pony's from the early 80's - 2004. There is a total of 77 pieces. All of these pony's need a new home. No adoption approval needed. The "adoption fee" is currently only $9.99 for all of them and the "transportation fee" is pretty cheap too. Bid today, click here.

Don't forget to vote for us in the shelter challenge! We are #5 in California and #82 overall. We're moving up thanks to you! Click here.

We would like to send a huge thank you to everyone once again who made the euthanasia clinic possible and for supporting the horses at the rescue. Thank you - Mari J., Stephanie D., Catherine J., Kim H., Janet M., Kathleen S., Joni M., Susannah J., Pamela N., Margaret O., Annie W., Roberta A., Carla G., Theresa N., Deb B., Ruthann C., Susan T., Sondra W., Marsha H., Jessica B., Stormy May Productions, Glennis R., Lawrence R., Angela T., Neatha C., Jody W., Sara H., Laura C., Misty C., Michelle P., Irene C., Karen B., Constance W., Donna C.

Do you recognize this horse? She came in with the last group of horses from the kb. One of our sharp eyed blog readers recognized her and was able to share a lot of her history. It's always exciting when we are able to find out history on a horse that comes into our rescue, especially when it comes from the livestock auction.

She wrote through a series of emails: "I am pretty sure that I know the four year old bay roan mare that came from the auction. She belonged to a very inexperienced horse friend of mine and the mare was extremely green so I convinced her to put her up on CL so we could find an older and way more broke horse for her so she did not get hurt. The guy we traded her to said he loved her and was going to keep her forever - guess he fibbed. I hope we didn't trade her directly to the killer buyer.

"Sophie, as we called her, belonged to a 48 yr old VERY beginner rider friend of mine. A horse trader that we know of sold her to her because my friend thought she was 'pretty to look at.' The horse trader gal actually bought her from the Madera auction quite a few months back and supposedly started her with about 10 rides total. I took the roan mare and another little bay mare from my friend, turned them out, and loaned her one of my broke horses until we could sell her two and find her something more broke for her to learn how to ride on. The horse trader gal said she put 10 rides on her and that she could really buck. She said she bucked while trying to tighten the cinch and when riding her. She said she got better as the rides went on but those 10 rides were at least 6 months ago. She is a sweetheart on the ground but does get a little worried if stuff starts moving too quick around her. I gave her her first bridle path and shave with clippers and she did real well, little nervous and ticklish at first but she trusted me after only a couple minutes.

"I put both her horses on CL and a gentleman who went by the name 'Dee' emailed me wanting to trade me a dead broke old mare for both of them. I said ok since that is what my friend really needed anyway and he oddly insisted on coming and getting them ASAP. He got here with his buddy who went by the name 'Que' and unloaded the old mare, caught the two other mares, said goodbye and left. The old mare was supposed to be 15 yrs old, dead broke and completely sound. She turned out to be dead broke- but skinny, a little sway backed, 25+ yrs old and LAME. She is sound at a walk but anything faster and she limps like crazy. My friend loves her to death though so she took her home and has her a vet appt scheduled the beginning of Oct for her teeth and a soundness exam.

"Anyway, Dee kept in touch with me for a few more emails saying he really liked Sophie (Opel) and that he had tried to ride her but she kept trying to buck him off. He wrote, 'She doesn't like going going in circles and I don't like falling off, so we are not going to do either anymore.' He said he liked her though and was going to keep her forever - guess he fibbed.

"So the only thing I really know about her is that she is 4-5 yrs old, extremely green, has been passed around about 6 times, and has a history of bucking. She would most likely benefit from being restarted completely."

Well, now we have more information on Opel. It's always sad when horse traders take advantage of situations and are completely dishonest. The horses are the ones that pay the price. She is a beautiful girl and we are glad she is safe now.

Thanks to your votes, we are now at 6th place in California. When this screenshot was taken, we were at 8th. We are moving up fast thanks to your votes! Please keep it up, you can vote once a day. We sure could use $100,000, it would go a long ways in setting up the new facility! To vote:

1. Go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com


2. There is a purple button to click on to donate free food to rescued animals. This is free to you, it is all paid for by the sponsors.


3. After clicking you get to a page where you can vote for your favorite rescue. Click on the word Vote with a heart next to it.


4. Put in NorCal Equine Rescue in Oroville, CA, click to vote.


5. You will then come to a page to confirm your vote by saying what animal’s picture is being shown that day.


6. On the homepage, You can register for a reminder to be sent to your email every day so that you won’t even have to remember to do this. You can only vote once a day, but every vote is precious.

There has been a lot of work going on in preparation in getting the new website up and going. One of the things that has been worked on is a new store where you can buy some really neat items. There's a bunch of new bumper stickers, anyone that loves animals should get at least one. Some of them are Tawnee's favorite sayings that she thinks would be neat to have on bumper stickers. Now they're there. This is a great way to support us and get cool stuff all at the same time. To visit the store, click here.

One of the really awesome items is a 2011 calendar. All of the horses ponies and donkeys were rescued. Some are recent, some are from years passed. All are precious, all are beautiful. To buy the calendar, click here.

Today's eBay giving works item is a vintage Oakland A's cooler, circa 1989. Great collectible, it's only $5.99 and 25% of the sale price goes to help the horses. Click here.

Many thanks to Diana C. for her generous donation! We really appreciate it.

Below is a copy of the "Urgent Need" sent out this morning to our E-News group. Please help if you can!

Urgent Need -

We need your help! Our Free/Low Cost Euthanasia Clinic is this Sunday. It cost about $2500 to conduct one of these clinics and we currently have only $550. We need $1950 to have this clinic on Sunday. We have been holding these clinics monthly since November 2008, but we really need your help with this clinic.

With winter coming on there are a lot of people calling that are desperate to bring their horse that are suffering to this clinic. Their horse is getting older, and has health complications, and due to the hard financial times, they cannot afford to keep their horse comfortable through another long cold winter. The horses need your help to be given the Last Act of Kindness before winter hits.

We have owners calling us pleading with us to take their precious old friend and give them the last gift of love and kindness. If we do not have the funds to take them in the owners will be forced to give them away. The only folks who are looking for older horses with health problems are killer buyers waiting to fill up their slaughter trucks so they can make the long haul to Mexico. Their only thought is making money on the precious lives of horses that have given their all in serving humans.

Please help us keep older horses out of the slaughter trucks, let them know that someone really did care about them in the end.

As always, our vet and staff will be evaluating each horse for quality of life and adoptability. Horses that have a good quality of life and are adoptable will be brought into the adoption program.

Donate Now

9-22-10

Jason and Larry had to head to Chico, so they stopped by the railroad yard to get some more ties for fence posts. We can't thank Dustin at Union Pacific enough for arranging these extremely cheap posts for us!

One by one Jason loaded them into the trailer. Some of them really are heavy, others were fairly light.

This one looks like it's heavy, and he says it was!

From the rail yard they headed to Tractor Supply to get the material for the 1st pen under the shelters. Jennifer G graciously donated the needed funds for the 1st pen. She wants horse living under the shelter she donated!

The plan is to have 20' x 32' pens, 1 horse per pen. 20 pens in total for the first group of shelters.

These 16' sections sure are long.

One by one Jason and the Tractor Supply worker loaded the panels on top of the railroad ties.

Soon the panels were all loaded and they headed to the rescue.

At the rescue, there were a great group of volunteers waiting for the material to show up. April and Amee got down in the ditch and started gluing the water line while Larry, Colby and Jason set the center posts. Colby, holding the post, is a very helpful young man who has started volunteering on an almost daily basis when he is not in class. He is extremely helpful and we cannot thank him enough for all his time and energy. He hopes someday to make a career in the animal welfare mission.

One by one the posts went up, while the girls did a great job laying the water line.

Finally the center posts were done and they set up the panels in the approximate location where they will be for a visual of how it will look. We can't wait to ge the first pen done! Who will be the lucky horse to live in the Jackey Boy pen first? Tawnee says it will be Buckeye, but time will will tell.

It sure will be nice to have all 20 pens ready for residents. It will be much easier for potential adopters to visit them on an individual basis instead of visiting them in a herd setting. We will definitely have to plan a big open house when they are done.

Today's eBay giving works item is a great gift for a kid in your life. It is a Fisher Price Digital Arts and Crafts Studio that is both fun and easy. Great great gift for a 4-9 year old! It's only $14.99 and 25% goes to help the horses! Click here.

Many thanks to Vivian B for her generous donation, we really appreciate your support!

9-21-10

We are working hard on getting the new site up and going by October 1st, and officially switching over to Horse Plus Humane Society. It is amazing how much work a name change takes! From the blog (horsehumane.wordpress.com) to the Facebook ( facebook.com/horsehumane) to a new twitter name (twitter.com/horsehumane) down to the new website (still under construction, but you can probably guess the name, and if you do, give it a typo check for us!) There are even some amazing new changes taking place on the backend, one of the most exciting of which will be a new phone system. Big changes are taking place, but our mission is and always will be the same: doing everything we can to help as many horses as we can escape the brutality of abuse and slaughter. Hopefully some day in the future we will be able to only worry about over-breeding and educating owners like those in the dog and cat welfare field. Dogs and cats don't get shipped to slaughter en masse. But for now, our fight is a much harder fight. Together, we are making a difference! This year alone, we have rescued 303 animals, mainly horses but a few day old calves and some goats. In total, we have rescued 1,495 animals since 2003. No, we're not counting chickens, cats or pigeons, they haven't been put into the system. We are proud of the work we do and know you are too, because you make it possible every day.

Larry was on the tractor today finishing the water ditch to provide water to the shelters. The waters will be under the shelters so it can stay cool in the shade.

After the ditch was dug, the pipe was laid in.

Then the dirt was put back on top. Sadly, there wasn't enough glue for the pipe, and a couple other supplies need to be bought, so Larry wasn't able to get it finished.

This afternoon we got a phone call from a desperate horse owner. He had no money, and had lost everything. We told him that we could take his horse, thanks to the generosity of Caroline R and Irene C whose donations today made it possible for poor arthritic Gaily to come in under our Last Act of Kindness program. She has severe arthritis in her knees and is in lots of pain. As always, our vet will do a quality of life determination to see if her pain can be managed and she can be placed into our adoption program.

We are so thankful that we are able to bring in horses like Gaily who have no other options. Their owners are even more grateful that we are here to help no matter what.

Gaily has such a cute face. So many owners are faced with such desperate situations. Some owners simply abandon their horse. Others give them away to what they hope is a good home. Others starve them.

Soon Gaily was at the rescue eating yummy hay.

Ruthann has been diligently spreading the word about the Animal Rescue Site's Holiday Shelter challenge. We really appreciate her writing this up. We have attempted it before, but it's complicated... Way to go Ruthann! "NorCal is signed up to participate in the Animal Rescue Site’s $100,000 Holiday Shelter Challenge which starts September 20. Go to www.theanimalrescuesite.com. There is a purple button to click on to donate free food to rescued animal. This... is free to you. It is all paid for by the sponsors. After clicking you get to a page where you can vote for your favorite rescue. Click on the word Vote with a heart next to it. Put in NorCal in Oroville, CA, click to vote. You will then come to a page to confirm your vote by saying what animal’s picture is being shown that day. On the homepage, You can register for a reminder to be sent to your email everyday so that you won’t even have to remember to do this. You will be donating free food to help rescued animals and helping NorCal.If you are reading this, you see what great work these wonderful people do. Let’s all commit to share this on your facebook page and ask our friends to post it. This organization deserves all the help and blessings that they can get. Please help. We can do this!!!"

There is a gorgeous Courbette Felbach saddle on eBay we think you may just want to take a closer look at. It is currently $9.99 and 25% of the sale price goes to help the horses! Click here.

Many thanks to Caroline R. and Irene C. for their generous donations to the euthanasia clinic. Gaily thanks you too!