August 22, 2011
Ok, today has already been exciting! As I finished the first 9 stalls and was about to leave the arena area, I was looking at Sarge who was standing alone parallel to the arena fence, and suddenly, he fell over! Snapping a pole and bringing down the fence underneath him! I ran over, and he was laying, hind legs a little in the air, grunting a little... I was scared he was dying! I got a rope and used it to pull his hind legs over so he could roll over and be 'feet downhill' and thus be able to rise, which he did. He walked over to the gate, joined his ladies and stood there wondering what happened! Of course, Pepe was at my makeshift repair when I return with materials and equipment to repair the fence, half in the rope, so I had to lead him out and put HIM back in the arena. During the repair, he escaped again and went to see Silver who is on stall rest for what may be an abscess in his right fore. He wouldn't let me catch him until he and Silver chatted and I had the fence repaired, and then went right back in. I've talked to Fred Z and he'll be coming 9/2 to float Narvi and Buck; and now finally can sit and cool down a little, and get to work. Hopefully, I can get most of the other stalls done later today.... Whew!
August 21, 2011
O.M.G I am soooo sorry that I've been gone so long! It's been a busy busy summer here, and the last three weeks I've been struggling with health issues that landed me in the ER on 8/5/11. I have much to report, but will be working on a newsletter to go out hopefully in a few days. We're still here - we still need your help and support - and if you have any questions, please call me or email me.
July 1, 2011
Today, Spencer arrived. 29 year old Appendix QH, huge, sweet, and more than a little confused. So heartbreaking to see first Megan, his former owner, cry as she left; and to hear him nicker after the trailer as it drove off. He's handling the herd alright and I just came back in from checking on him and luring him over to get a big drink of water. That might have gone on longer, but Remy had to take that opportunity to come up his butt and sniff him, so he stopped drinking to walk away from the unwelcome attention. At least I know that HE knows where the water is. I hope to have his page, and Sooner's page, up soon.
June 29, 2011
Today Ashley came to volunteer again. Working together, we got the rest of the stalls clean, and I put her up on Falcon for a lesson. She did well, and for Falcon, he got a bath (including removal of a ginormous bean!) and many carrots. Now, for paperwork....
June 28, 2011
Today Sooner arrived. Taking this 20 year old Appendix QH gelding for Courtney at Under the Angel's Wings Rescue provides him with much more turnout which he needs. And Courtney can bring in a more adoptable horse. Courtney was kind enough to donate several hundreds of dollars of supplements, supplies and dog and cat food to help! Sooner has some kind of bad hip injury, LOOK at that back end!, and I've scheduled a visit with Laurie Henkel for next Thursday, July 7. Fingers crossed she can make a difference for him!
June 27, 2011
Today, Juan came and we got Bruhad, Peanut, Dion, Pepe, Song and Sarge trimmed. Also able to get Star's last foot done (damage to her right hind made it hard for her to stand on her it to do the left); Brave still 'tetchy' about his bad foot and unwilling to lift his good forefoot yet. We'll get that one foot next week. With so many behind thanks to Rocky's antics, I've got Juan to agree to come for a whole day next week, to get caught up with as many horses as possible. Several sets of shoes due next week too.... Got all stalls to clean now, and saw that Beau just HAD to taste a weed, and snapped another fence post off - one more stump to dig out and pole to reset.... sigh
June 22, 2011
Had my volunteers today - briefly gave Kasey Marie a shot to ride Prophet around the round pen to prepare her for her upcoming job as a wrangler in Mammoth; Ashley cleaned stalls for me and Kasey helped by filling water barrels. I worked with Juan again - we didn't get a shoe on Rocky, but tied up his leg and let him give a little fight. When he stopped, we removed the rope (a little positive reinforcement). Next week we hope to get a shoe on that other foot. Got Star done - bad damage to right hind repaired where the toe of her hoof had folded back under and torn; Brave, who had an abscess in his left fore, which we treated with ichthammol and bandaging to draw it out; Medina who was lovely even on her bad leg (the knee of which barely bends at all); Ronan and Navigator. Also had a lovely couple of ladies visit, Marilyn and Kathy. With the farrier to deal with, I gave them the cart and they drove around and checked out the facility. And then Marilyn made a wonderful donation! Whoohoo!! More to come on this, newsletter July 2 or 3, keep an eye out for that...
June 20, 2011
With help from my friends Mike and Betty up here I gave a minivan of stuff to a local woman who told me she was taking it to a local thrift store; another visitor who couldn't make it on Father's Day, Mindy, took a whole truck load to Angel View for me, and I took the last truckload myself. Time to tidy, and get caught up with housework and other stuff I couldn't get to for the past 10 days...
June 19, 2011
Second day of the OH/Yardsale/BBQ. What a bore! All by myself most of the time. Had three visitors, who bought very little and didn't want BBQ. Total donations/purchases today were almost $200. This basically covered my expenses for this event, making our "take" $700. And now, what to do with all this stuff???? I don't have storage capacity, so it's all going to Angel View Thrift Store in Hemet, but I've got at least three truckloads here!
June 18, 2011
First day of our Open House/Yardsale/BBQ. We generated $700 in donations - with barely a sale made. In fact, most people who came actually dropped off items to sell - we ended the day with more to sell than when we started! My volunteers Jan, Lisa, Alexa and Julia cleaned stalls, filled water barrels and bathed several horses. Carolyn mostly manned the yardsale for me, as she promised, with Shirley's help. Mike worked the BBQ. Nadine disappeared with the cart on a regular basis! (She was in charge of tours ...).
June 17, 2011
Chacha has passed away. Click here to read her story.
June 15, 2011
Today the farrier came out to do several horses, but unfortunately, we started with Rocky. Now, Rocky was doing great for the farrier after a year, but in the spring of 2010 got several small abscesses, which re awakened his mania about the tapping on his hoof to drive in the nails that hold the shoe on. He has no problem wtih picking up his feet, having them cleaned, the sole knifed out, or the nippers removing excess foot or the rasp leveling it. But even the tiniest tap on his foot makes him jerk - in fact, after the first tap, he jerks anytime he thinks there will be another tap! And he fights, the more tapping goes on, the more he pulls his foot away, and rears up striking out. This is all part of what we consider must have been a bad abscess in his foot before he came here, which was not opened up and caused him a lot of pain for a long time, and ultimately has deformed his foot. We don't really think he's in pain anymore - but he THINKS he is, or may be, and reacts apprehensively. So, today, planning to put a set of shoes on him after letting him go barefoot wasn't really working out, we started our usual semi-battle. But I made the mistake of giving him bute the night before to limit any possibility of pain; and starting the shoeing in his stall. He got upset when the other horses left; and it all went downhill from there! He ended up breaking the whole front fence of his stall down and running off, with one leg tied up! We caught up with him, and with further rearing and attempts to strike out with his tied leg, finally got a shoe on his bad foot. Doctored his many booboos, and let him go. We were wrung out, it'd taken 1.5 hours to get that shoe on, and Juan had to go. So no one else got done. Bad Rocky!
June 11, 2011
I hope everyone can come - but if you can't, please consider shooting a quick $10 to us, to show that you support this effort and these sweet old horses!
We got one donation of 7 fly masks from Linda Pavey, thanks Linda! Buddy's former owner came to visit him yesterday - she was pleased at his condition and he seemed happy to see her (she brought lots of apples and carrots!) Got another feed delivery, so have pellets for the next three weeks, and was able to buy some really nice hay for breakfast, which will last another 3 weeks also.
Now, Mary is still leaving a lot of her feed. She was happy briefly with soaked pellets, but now is leaving just as much. She likes any change of feed for a day or two, and then is back to leaving about 1/2 of what I give her. Debbie continues to eat better, likes the soaked pellets, but is clearly still dropping weight. And dear Chacha stands chewing on her soaked pellet mush, but leaves 3/4 of what I gave her. She's hardly drinking either... She is clearly declining. Mary's sponsor has stepped up to pay for her final costs, but I could use some help for Chacha, who is not sponsored, and for Debbie, who has a part sponsor. I'm watching, and can put them down on an emergent basis if necessary (if they become cast, or seem in distress instead of just 'down', but that money is now earmarked for feed. Any help I can get with their final expenses leaves me money to buy feed with .... Or, send me more money for feed, and I'll use what I have towards the final expenses. I know this is hard. But this is our final act of love and mercy for these sweet very elderly ladies. Do we want them on the ground, struggling in fear and pain to get up? I don't want it to go that far.....
June 4, 2011
Ok, so, the big news now is this. On June 18-19, just a couple of weeks away, The Golden Carrot will have it's first Open House/Yardsale/BBQ! Please tell your friends; plan a road trip to TGC and bring stuff for us to sell at the yardsale! Many thanks to Carolyn Puga for promising to sit the sale for me at least one day; and my other volunteers Lisa and Jan for helping as well! My neighbor Mike has promised to man the BBQ from 11AM-1PM. I'm working to get fliers put together with the help of Barrie, and distributed, and the Press-Enterprise is going to run a News Brief (we think on June 12) about it. I'm freaking already - what if I throw a party and no one comes???? Please come!
Remy's leg is healing well. But the last few days, Chacha has been scaring me. She didn't eat most of her dinner for two nights in a row! I soaked her pellets and saw her eating them last night - will report on what I find this morning when I go to clean stalls. But this thin old lady can't go without her evening feed, all of it, and if she's lost interest in her feed as well, I may be looking to lose THREE of my eldest ladies. Deb and Mary continue to confooble me - eating one day, and not the next; eating a little another. Both far too thin. I'm not sure these ladies will make it to our open house, but since funds are too low to allow me to send them onward, I hope they're here and will get some attention from visitors in their final weeks...
May 31, 2011
A warm quiet day. Horses wearing fly masks now (more or less, some don't have one, and some are good at getting out of them!) Spent some time grooming the last of their winter coats off Mary and Deb, who were so thin under my hands. Comet and Allie have both got roofs now, after some effort yesterday with some help from the neighbor's tools. Am feeling the aches from that (just moving materials was crazy - 20 foot garage door that creates part of Comet's windbreak; 24 foot pipe panels that act like they're alive and sooo heavy). Terribly worried about lack of response to my newsletter - and TGC is broke. Never been this bad before...
May 30, 2011
Today had good news and bad news for me. The good news is, Victor's sponsor is willing to also part-sponsor either one of our unsponsored horses, or go in with someone to sponsor one of the horses I posted on Horses Need Homes! Can you join her with $60 or better to help one of these horses come here? and PS - how wonderful is Wendi? They've been there for Victor for a couple of years now ...and now this additional offer. Man. The Larson family rocks!
The bad news is .... I had been contemplating a yard sale and open house in an attempt to raise money for feed. I hate yard sales myself, and most of my volunteers do too .... but I had one volunteer say she'd sit the sale for me. Unfortunately, she'll be unavailable to do it until, probably, August! And I need to get rid of this stuff NOW, and raise money NOW. If I could get a couple of volunteers to sit the sale (spelling each other) and give me a date when you could do it, I would set up, advertise and also help. I also had in mind having a little BBQ to go along with it, and maybe the volunteers could conduct tours? And in the down times, you can play with the horses! What do you say, anyone willing? I'd like to do it end of June or early July.... I've already got a lot of stuff to sell, and could collect more ....Let me know...
May 29, 2011
A windy day, and cold again, started the day with rain. Was exhausted after yesterday, so did chores and got the newsletter for May out.
May 28, 2011
Had so many wonderful friends/supporters/volunteers out today! Am pooped, but how much fun we had! Please see the May newsletter for details and pics. Remy's leg is doing better - he still isn't bothered by it, but to my eye, much less swelling and wound pink and healing. He LOVES getting his massage!
May 27, 2011
Wow, I'm sorry it's been 25 days since I updated. As you know, I'm not getting a lot of feedback and couldn't tell who was reading these .... I won't try to cover what's been going on, will ask you to wait for a newsletter I'm trying to put together now, but wanted to note that today, Keller and Beau and Shawnee got their new shoes, and Oso's feet were trimmed. In addition, the neighbor put in a few hours and got a roof up for Allie ... I have to buy more materials to make further progress on Comet's stall. Please also check out a Horses Need Homes page, as there are MANY MANY fine horses looking for homes, or retirement opportunities. If anyone sees a horse they would sponsor here, at a monthly committment of at least $100/mo, please let me know - I have an open stall but I'm just so frightened at low donations, high costs of feed and no hep......
Please stay tuned as I am hoping to have a yard sale next month. I will post the dates and hope someone will be interested in coming to work the sale a little, and play with the horses too!
May 2, 2011
So, I'm typing away, having finished chores and now trying to earn a living. Bailey and Duffy start barking and racing up the long drive, so I lean back from the keyboard to see who's at the gate. OMG. Oso and Buddy are standing there, OUTSIDE the gate, asking to come in! Well, I got them in and saw that Oso, as usual, bulled down a huge hole in the south side of the arena! I'm so lucky everyone else wasn't out too. Quick cobbled together a repair.... the fence is a MESS! Everyone please keep your fingers crossed my request to Petco for money to redo the whole arena in pipe corral is granted...
However, on May 1, Sunday, when I got back from town, I did find Oso, Buddy, Sarge, Comet, Star, Song and Pepe all out - Oso was munching away at the alfafa hay I'm still feeding Comet and Allie, the others were all eating weeds. Got them back in, most thru the fence Oso'd knocked down (on the NORTH side of the arena), patched the fence, and then put everyone away so I could feed. Oso and Buddy got a real short single bucket, since I couldn't tell how much they'd eaten of the alfalfa - was terrified Oso woul colic (he was fine as we see...) Song got two bad scrapes on her left hind, but once caught, stood for treatment. She didn't seem too concerned, but I gave her bute and SMZ tabs as well.
Still struggling to find $ to pay for needed feed and farrier work. In last 45 days, only two donations that were NOT sponsors. And folks, more than half of the horses are not sponsored - if you can't sponsor, if you can't commit to a monthly amount - please please consider a onetime donation? These horses, innocent of the economic problems we're all dealing with, are depending on us. Help? Please?
April 29, 2011
Julia and Lisa came to visit, with their usual care packages (carrots for horses, mac and cheese for me!) They filled all water barrels, cleaned 8 stalls, groomed a dozen horses shedding out winter coat remnants, and Julia had a lovely ride on Silver! I don't think I'm exaggerating to say Silver and Jules fell in love with each other... what do you think?
April 27, 2011
Well, last night I thought someone had called and read my recent newsletter to Sarge and his ladies and Pepe - everyone went into their house for dinner like normal horses, all calm and relaxed! Unfortunately, I guess they were just tired, because they were yelling about an hour later, just to bug me I guess, and this morning, everyone was excited to see each other, and Pepe was styling around trying to keep the main herd horses from joining 'his' herd, and even Oso and Keller were rearing and play-biting! Spring has Sprung! Off to clean stalls and then got some work to do.... have a great day everyone!
April 25, 2011
So today Fred Zadick DVM came to see Buddy (sez he can go another 3 months without needing more dental work); Medina (sez her knee is horrible, hardly bends, and she probably has a chip in her 'good knee' as well, will wait to see the x-rays and records Cathy will obtain for him for ideas); Comet (has a bone cyst under her jaw, left side, slight heart murmur, arthritic knees but otherwise healthy) and Allie (has a severe heart murmur, trauma caused the blindness in her right eye, and decent joints for her age). Dion pooped in his feeder again; and Mary continues to go up and down with her willingness to eat....
Hoping my neighbor might help put up some windbreaks and roofs for Allie and Comet soon....
And check out the latest newsletter!
April 22, 2011
New pages added for the new horses! Please click on the 'Meet the Horses' page in our main menu, and you can read about Allie, Comet, and Medina!
April 20, 2011
So much has happened. I'm seeing that hardly anyone looks at this updates, and am considering not bothering. Am working on Happy's tribute, but his death so surprised me that I'm really not able to write without crying again. Since his passing, three mares have come to TGC hoping we can help them. Dealing with these new horses, and ongoing problems, has kept me hopping. Today I have to go to court for a ticket from last August. With luck, I will win and get back my $220 which I pretty desperately need. Please keep an eye out for a newsletter, hopefully no later than tomorrow night. I apologize for not keeping up with this, but as I said, I can't see evidence that anyone is reading it - visits to the site as a whole have been miniscule.....
April 15, 2011
A very bad day. Today I found Mr. Happy Grump, dead in his stall. I left him last night, munching and slobbering away at dinner as always. It appears he colicked, and laid down, and rolled over, casting himself. I don't know how I didn't hear his struggles, but it appears there wasn't much of that - our irascible old man's heart gave out. I'm trying to write his tribute ...
The farrier came today also, and Star, Pepe, Joyful, Navigator, Falcon, Buck and Topper got their feet trimmed; also Sarge's hind feet were done but he was clearly having difficulties with his knees - I'll start him on a course of bute and see how that helps, and Juan will do his front feet next time...
Yesterday Chase called while I was feeding, at 4:40PM; I called them back today. The manager wants me to call tomorrow to talk to the person who called yesterday.... sheesh...
April 12, 2011
It's been freaky busy - have had work to do which is great news for my own bills, and have had many people contacting me about horses needing homes. I have posted on FB about two mares, ages 25 and 20 (mother and daughter) whose owner died. Her boyfriend is trying to do right by these horses, who only remind him of his loss and I'd like to help these elderly ladies who, between their ages, the one's partial blindness, and the other's lack of training, are certainly destined for slaughter without our help. I have one person willing to send $25 a month toward their care. If I could get 9 more to do the same, their basic needs would be met. Please, anyone? Even $10 a month from enough people could save these lives. The boyfriend is considering a lump sum donation he can make and has offered some pipe corrals (may be too hard to dismantle, I'll be checking on that this weekend) as well - but I need to know we can feed them for the next number of years ..... If you're more interested in geldings, another 19 year old QH is looking for a home. He may have navicular developing but is otherwise sound, but owned by a person who has fallen on bad times. How about him? Once again, his age and possible lameness issues will make him a kill buyer candidate at auction. I've posted pics of these horses on the Horses Need Homes link to the left - can we help them?
In that regard, my last stall is going to Medina, the 15 year old TB mare with a bum knee. She should be coming in Saturday. Medina was privately owned and for years helped her owner's kids learn how to ride. She was injured, and the knee wasn't cared for, and has swollen and fused. No surprise, the owner hasn't paid for her recent board, wouldn't contribute to her trailer expenses here, and offers no support whatsoever. I am not getting support for Medina either, but the young woman who has cared for Medina, and is paying for her transport, and requested our help is offering a free ad on her very popular blog - hopefully someone there will see Medina's story and be willing to help.
Am still dealing with the great Chase Bank mess, but finally got a call last Saturday from the bank manager after writing a 3 page letter to them and copying the District Attorney's office, Department of Consumer Affairs and BBB. They're "looking into it and will get back to me".
Donations continue to be low. Please please tell your friends and coworkers of our need, and reassure them that even $10 a month (all of $120 a year!) can make a huge difference, providing life for a deserving horse....
April 9, 2011
Farrier out today, got Shawnee, Beau, Remy and Keller's shoes done, and Daisy's feet trimmed. Next visit, April 15.....
April 6, 2011
Just a quick note that I've been hearing steady reports of Laddie from Karin at Neigh Savers. He's got a horse buddy, is much loved by the staff and trainer, and has really impressed everyone with his work under saddle after getting a clean bill of health from the vet. With a quick teeth floating, they're hoping he'll gain some more weight. I say let's give them 30 days, and then start bombarding them with $ for his training, and requests for pics of him working, what do you say? "-) www.neighsavers.org I'll be taking Laddie's page down in another week - we've done our part for him and now Neigh Savers, giving him training for his new career, and finding him that perfect family, should be taking credit. Without their expertise and love, Laddie would miss out on a life.
April 5, 2011
Ok, I've been busy, I admit it. Finally got some work that used up every available hour for several days, but at least I have some money coming in for groceries! Been picking away at my awful fencing - recently Oso tore down a section of the arena, and he and Sarge were out, with Buddy going insane screaming for Oso (which alerted me to the situation). And apparently Sunday the ever mischievious Chief tore down some fence and escaped with Beau and Shawnee, but my neighbor caught them without my even knowing what was happening... I've got materials, but for the life of me can't find anyone to do the work, at any price. So much for people looking for work. I can do a fence post or two per day, on top of the usual chores - more makes me ache and my hands cramp up. So, I'm trying to do the worst first and a little each day.
Have a new horse coming in on Sunday. I know, with such hard times, what am I thinking? However, I'm going to get a free ad on a very popular horse blog for it, and this sweet mare with a bum knee doesn't have other options. Her name is Medina, she's a small 15 year old thoroughbred mare (like Mary) and the blogger will bring her here -
Still trying to find a way to get my old bank to listen to me, talk to me. Can't believe the customer unfriendly behavior, the fraud and misrepresentations. Had one person, an actual person call me, and when I called back, now three times, I keep getting a machine. She hasn't called since the one time. A token callback because I asked for one? Sheesh.
Valerie Carpenter has stepped up with another committment for Song - little bits for a little horse! Between Valerie and Norene, we only need another $60 a month to meet Song's feed bill! And Daria, a long time source of occasional hay donations, has stepped up to partially sponsor Debbie! Thank you ladies, for helping!
And Karin at Neigh Savers has been sending reports of Laddie in his new home. He has a friend ("Nummy"!) and the trainer loves him, and he's doing beautifully under saddle. He got a clean bill of health from a complete vet exam, got his teeth floated and seems to be doing very well. Well, I knew that - Neigh Savers is a wonderful org and well worthy of our support.
Everyone - I know some of you are getting tax returns. Can you find it in your hearts to help the horses here, to share with us? and if not us, how about sending something to Neigh Savers (www.neighsavers.org)? And please tell your friends, family and coworkers of our need....
March 30, 2011
Sorry it's been so long, but it seems I was wrong to think people are reading these posts anyway. Had trouble with my GoogleAd and visits to the site dropped to just a few each day, not the hundred or so we got before. (I thought patrons and sponsors were visiting every day, not just people surfing the web). Think I've fixed that now. Got horses fed and turned out and 7 stalls cleaned and then the farrier showed up. Got Mary, Sara, Bruhad, Jeepers, Victor and Rocky trimmed. Long overdue - because of bad weather and low funds. He'll return in about 10 days for more.
Got feed delivered from Star Milling yesterday. Sacate was looking at such a long delay before they could deliver here that I couldn't wait, and weighed the increased cost against convenience. See, I could get it delivered for about $220 more than Sacate charges for the same delivery, or I could get my neighbor's truck and trailer (usually only available on weekends) and travel for 3 hours to get enough bagged feed to wait for Sacate to be able to deliver, and deal with 50 or 80 pound bags of feed for 10 days. Adding in the cost of gas to haul that much feed myself and I felt it was almost 6 of one, half-dozen of the other, and eliminating that much extra time, and physical effort was worth it. I'm good on pellets now for about 5 weeks. Also have Josh coming today to stand the new 6 ton bin up and place it for me, and so its possible I can get enough feed delivered next time to really help with these new increased costs.... I'll have 18 ton capacity then...
So I have a few weeks to raise some money. But in addition to the $2000 for more pellets, and at least $350 for the farrier, I'll be needing hay for breakfasts and senior feed in that time frame..
March 25, 2011
The dang rain is back. And bitter cold winds. So the horses stayed in their stalls today.... But the forecast is looking encouraging and I hope to get to work with some of the horses, including getting the farrier out again soon (it was supposed to be today but...). Partial repairs were made to the new 6-ton bin, and hopefully I'll be able to get it stood up, and filled soon. Any donations would be so appreciated, please don't forget us - it's been BRUTAL recently.....
Got word that Laddie made it to his new home at NS in Northern California late last night.
March 24, 2011
Ok, Laddie is on his way to Northern California, for his new life with Neigh Savers to learn a new job, and then, hopefully soon, on to a new forever home! Many thanks are owed to Neigh Savers, a wonderful rescue specializing in Off Track Thoroughbreds. They rehabilitate, retrain and rehome these wonderful creatures. They have resources to do this, but of course could use help, so if you get sick of donating to the oldsters here, please consider www.neighsavers.org for your support! But it was still hard, to see that empty stall.... Good bye, brat!
March 23, 2011
Well, it's been slow. Horses enjoyed a couple of days of sun. I managed to get the stalls clean after Monday in, despite the mud. But dang it, we're getting a lot of rain/sleet right now. I'm a little down - Laddie leaves us tomorrow for his new life with NeighSavers. And that's good for him, but .... we're gonna miss the brat. You can see a little video of him rolling on this, his last day, at
Remember how I mention sometimes that Peanut will wander off and Dion goes ballistic running around frantically calling for her? And she ignores him - eventually he'll find her and quiet will reign again. Peanut is never mean to Dion, never kicks at him or lays back her ears. She's just not needy - he is. Today I heard calling and though, o no, not again. But the voice wasn't quite right, so I went looking, and it wasn't Dion, it was Remy, who'd somehow got separated from his 'wife', Daisy. Now, this is where it gets different - suddenly, from off towards the Southstream stalls, I hear someone calling back .... It was "Daisy! Remy, I'm here! Daisy?! Remy, I'm here!" A few exchanges like this and the two hooked up again. And I thought how different these horses are, each with their own personalities, and their own relationships. Just as complex as people...
We have a part sponsor for Song now, welcome Norene!
March 20, 2011
Today was quiet. Spent yesterday buying feed - senior feed and 25 bales of hay. This is an interesting fact. Hay is so scarce and so expensive these days, that the outfit I purchase hay from put a 25 bale per customer limit on hay purchases! They're trying to keep a few wealthier people from snapping up their good deals and I think that's wonderful, showing true community spirit. Unfortunately, of course, most people don't have 39 horses, so it's kinda hard on me. At any rate, I've got breakfast for the horses for the next 3 weeks. Unloading that and the 30 bags of feed wore me out yesterday! And today got the chores done and tarped everything in anticipation of the rain. I'm leaving the horses out as long as possible, expecting that I may have to leave them in tomorrow.
Now, the really good news! Ali McCreery has stepped up to sponsor Silver for a year! Whoohoo! I figured that cute face might get someone's heart going.... Thank you Ali! AND I heard from a new supporter, willing to do a $10/month donation, who can also help me with some other problems I've been experiencing! Welcome Norene, and thank you! Dang, some real nice news this morning! Hopefully, more people will consider that $10/month donation .... with only ten of those, I have a horse like Debbie, Song, Brave or Chief covered. Only five will cover a partially sponsored horse like Falcon or Prophet. Some horses, like Keller, need more (they are bigger horses and just plain eat more) but ... the more folks will do it, the more we can do..... Take care this equinox, and stay warm and dry!
March 18, 2011
Ok, just a quick note that everything seems well, if freezing cold, up here. We expect the rain to hit tomorrow afternoon, so I'm tarping hay, doing chores, filling water barrels that I won't want to do in the rain once the hoses unfreeze, and making repairs today. Horses still loving their 'extra' 3-way hay ration. A fair amount of running out today in the cold morning air, including Sara, who actually bucked up when Laddie messed with her on the run! Any hopes this may be the last storm of winter?
March 17, 2011
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Hay, it's been quiet, the usual chores and so far no real excitement. When I got hay the other day, I got 10 bales of bermuda, and 10 of what is called 3-way or forage hay. No idea how they come up with these names - I've seen the same thing called "oat hay". It looks a little like straw from a distance, but up close you'll see the green stems and grain component. And the horses LOVE it! What I do, because like dogs you don't want to just change the feed suddenly, is put out one bale of bermuda and one of 3-way - dividing each flake of bermuda into two little parts, and adding an equal amount of 3-way to each. Otherwise, the tougher horses would eat all the 3-way and leave the more timid ones without. I laughed to watch them eat all the 3-way, and then wander around to be sure there wasn't more somewhere else before eating the bermuda. Even toothless Buddy made real serious efforts to eat this stuff, leaving big nasty cuds everywhere. He normally doesn't bother much with breakfast as I feed him an extra soaked bucket each morning first thing, before I let everyone out. But 3-way is neat.... we'll get that for 10 days anyway. Also feeding Laddie alfalfa flake every night to get his system accustomed to it again. He'll be fed mostly alfalfa flakes with Karin, instead of the pelleted feed which works so well for my oldsters and worked well to help him gain weight despite the changes and cold he's been experiencing.
March 15, 2011
Ok, got 20 bales of hay today, so that problem is solved for 10 days! However, Keller apparently started dismantling the fence between him and Oso, so have to head down there with the &%*$&^ posthole diggers and repair it.. Next, work on newsletter to beg for more $ to buy senior feed and get farrier cycle started again....
March 13, 2011
Today was nice, and fairly relaxing, for a change. It started out exciting, when the gate by my house was open (I must have not attached it properly) and Hershey led Brave out onto the road, and across the street! When I realized, and was headed out to get them, Chief and Laddie were in my drive way and my stupid dogs chased them OUT onto the road! Laddie thought it was a track, and roared north on Terwilliger, out of sight! My neighbor caught Hershey, and I drove Brave over to them - thus getting two at once. Once we had them in the paddock, I started down the road after Laddie and Chief, to find them coming back on their own - and we got them back in too. Whew!
Then, my volunteers Andrew and Ingrid came - Andrew and I cleaned the 32 stalls of the main line, and goddess Ingrid wrangled those hoses out to fill my water barrels! I had two other visitors, Ann and her husband from San Marcos, who arrived so late I'd given them up. All I had left for them to do was groom horses, which Ann tackled with a good will. Her husband was in charge of walking their dogs around and keeping them occupied and safe. Ann tried to do more, but Bruhad and Joyful would NOT let her alone, demanding that she groom them only - and a great job she did at it too! Andrew and Ingrid had left, after Andrew tackled the haircoat on Chacha, and after slicking about 20 pounds of hair off Buck, and Shine, and Sunny, and others, I was exhausted so went into the house to work on the Brennan grant. If I can just find a way to print out some pics, that's done...
PS: So far, Mary's appetite has returned and Debbie's too... but Mary is still so thin it's a real worry for me. Also, although it's not at all clear because of Chase's altering the on-line records, it looks like the $400 plus that Sacate pulled from my account to pay someone else's bill has been returned ... maybe. I have hours of work to do clarifying this ...
March 12, 2011
Wow, what a day. Got all the stalls cleaned and dashed off to the property to see if my feed bin was still there - and it WAS! Gina and Mike showed up 15 minutes later and after lots of consultation etc., we loaded the bin in about 15 minutes! The only physical labor involved was my neighbor Mike levering the bin a little while it was on the trailer so we could reposition it a little better, and tying it down. In exchange for the help, we also helped load 6 metal doors (probably 700 pounds worth!) into Mike's truck for Gina and Mike to make a goat pen out of, along with some other miscellaneous "stuff" and scrap lumber for my fireplace. Now, I need $150 to get this bin repaired and stood up, and my 3 ton bin put on the trailer to take over to HHH.
Then when Mike and I got home, I got the horses put away and when Mike came out to help, I asked him to find Chief, the only one not in yet. Turns out, somehow, somewhere, Chief had breached the back fenceline and was in the brush trying to figure out how to get to his stall! Now, it's coming dark, we're stumbling around in the brush and very uneven terrain, trying to catch Chief who clearly thinks a wolf pack is after him.... Mike forgot that Chief is afraid of ropes, and had only a rope in his hand instead of a halter - when he looped it over Chief's neck ... well, Chief just doesn't like that and he took off again! Lots of cursing and stumbing around later, we managed to open a place in the fence and basically drive him to it, thru it and he thundered off to his stall. Whew. There is not ONE scratch on him! I hope one day when we earn his trust, Chief is going to be one fabulous trail pony - he has NO fear of obstacles or terrain whatsoever...
March 10, 2011
Well, the idiot who was supposed to bring the feed bin has flaked out. This is a problem, as the property is now abandoned and that feed bin could be taken by anyone before I can get there with a trailer and enough help to load it up. Gina has visitors and parties to attend, but can give me some help with her SO Mike on Saturday morning. My neighbor and his truck/trailer are available then too. Fingers crossed it's still there....
March 9, 2011
I spent most of today opening a new bank account for TGC and myself. Chase Bank's practices have gotten out of control; not acknowledging they even deposits for days on end; paying out monies without authorization and refusing to stop despite being unable to say WHO they're paying the funds to; altering the on-line banking records etc. I wonder, does anyone know who investigates this kind of misbehavior of banks? Anyway, got that done, along with cleaning stalls that didn't get done in all the excitement yesterday. My feed bin is supposed to be delivered tomorrow....
March 8, 2011
Yesterday I found an ad for two 6 ton feed bins. I contacted the person selling, asking if they would donate them to HHH and I, and they AGREED. Today they wrote to tell me they'd given one to a neighbor (who promptly sold it!); I spoke with Gina at HHH and we agreed that if she would help me get that other bin, I would give HHH one of my 3 ton bins as they use much less in the way of pellets. A 3 ton bin will hold a 3 month supply for them. We went today and unexpectedly came away with my little old truck filled with "stuff" - old lumber, miscellaneous household supplies, horse wire, a little dog house for my mutts. We went back in Gina's truck for more of the same. Gina is making plans with her volunteers to go back tomorrow for even more, including two industrial sewing machines (she has lady volunteers who can use those to repair horse blankets and sew costumes for her June fundraiser).
March 7, 2011
So today dawned cold, rainy and afflicted with hurricane winds. The horses ran around a little, and then found places to stand that avoided the wind. Not too much rain tho, that's nice. I got much needed housework done, and am headed out to try to clean some more stalls and make some repairs....
I heard that the button on the home page here to donate does not work. SO! I think I made at least a temporary repair. I'm not sure how to make it link directly to Paypal, but I made it link to my donation page, which has a good working button on it. Sorry for that, no one told me it didn't work!
March 6, 2011
So today was quiet. Lots of horses laying down in the field - they say a sign of coming weather. Volunteers who were planning to make a start on the extra stall for me today were unable to make it for the most tragic of reasons - Andrew had to put his sweet little dog, Chester, to sleep after 11 years together. :-( And Ingrid's knee - the one she just had replaced - got hurt in the recent snow so she's couchbound. Today I did the usual feeding chores; finished the last of my work and sent it off with a bill; battened down the hatches for the wind/rain which is hitting just now. I was finally able to clean half of the stalls, and filled water barrels (with some help from my neighbor for that) and did some work filling in holes and repairing all the damage from rains/snows/mud/etc. Fixed about 8 rails/posts and my shoulders are killing me! I'm hoping it's a nice light rain.
March 5, 2011
So TGC is still broke - I was able to borrow $150 to buy 15 bales of bermuda hay which will provide breakfast until next weekend. Hopefully, I'll be able to get either my own bank, Chase, who of course doesn't give a crap about me, or Sacate, the feed provider who took $500 out of my account without authorization, to resolve the problem. Wasn't able to buy groceries as Chase is still pretending they don't have my little paycheck, deposited Friday morning at 8:30 AM. Will be researching credit unions, who I hear are customer oriented, have free checking accounts, and won't be bought by mega-banks, to switch our account.
Sad to report that today, little Mary refused a carrot. She's been up and down since the death of her best friend Inch, and it's been a struggle to keep weight on her. Her teeth are fine. I've tried many types of feed and usually she'll eat something new with enthusiasm ONCE, and then, not be interested. With her bum knees and collapsing pasterns in the hind end, I know she's not comfortable, but bute doesn't help, and since she won't eat it in her feed, which she's not eating well anyway, I have to syringe it down her throat and that REALLY distresses her. I believe that if it weren't for her loyal devotion to Debbie, Mary would have passed on by now. She hasn't been right since Inch died, spending a lot of time lying down, eating poorly, and generally showing her years. Please have a good thought for her - I can't imagine Debbie without her. I still see a ghost of Inchie beside these two ....
March 3, 2011
Well, it's been a tough few days. Today in particular was just awful. On the first, Sacate delivered the pellets they'd been unable to bring as scheduled on Saturday. That was nice. But today, unbelievably, they pulled not just the final $228 that I owed them (the delivery charges, the rest was paid last Friday), but an extra $500!!! I freaked when I saw it, and called, but was pretty much just told they made a mistake charging it, and had 'refunded' it, but somehow, no one will acknowledge having it. Not them, not their bank (BofA), not Chase, not me. The money I was going to buy hay with is gone and I have enough hay to get thru to Monday. I have about $75 left in the account.
As if this wasn't bad enough, I came back to find out that in my rush to run out and get senior feed, I left the water running in the arena water trough. So my pump was running for 8 solid hours. AND someone had broken over two poles of the arena, and corresponding crossrails, Song and Pepe were lost behind the stalls in the brush, and Oso and his shadow Buddy were ramming their way BACK into the turnout area, hoping I wouldn't notice that they were out too! So now I can't use the arena until I reset two posts and hammer up the cross rails. Gonna be a lovely start to tomorrow....
I'm terrified that someone will need the vet. I mean, it's a weekend, their favorite time to go ill or get hurt, plus I'm broke. And to put a final polish on the whole thing, my little paycheck, deposited by my neighbor into the bank for me this morning, is STILL not showing up on the Chase on-line account - will I even have those few bucks to buy groceries with tomorrow? Can anyone recommend a good bank, that won't be bought by some MegaBank in the next few years, where I can open an account and be treated like a valued customer?
February 28, 2011
This morning, everything frozen, even the poop to the ground! But the day was sunny and warming. Almost all snow gone now, and things starting to dry. Thankfully, Laddie's abscess burst out, right at the bulb where I thought it was, Juan was here to trim Pepe and Silver so he wrapped it for me - dang he makes it look easy, and such a neat result! Also, heard from Sacate - I was right, it was the rookie who couldn't make it. Frank is gonna recc tomorrow and probably bring my pellets Wednesday Morning, thank goodness! Means I won't have to blow another 3 hours driving into town and back for pellets to get thru.... Buddy decided to charge into Oso's house behind the big boy, and since I was holding and trying to fasten the chain across Oso's door, his charge ripped it out of my hands, and ripped a chunk of flesh off my middle finger. Dang, now BOTH of my middle fingers are out of commission.... Took some more videos and have posted them to Facebook - I can't figure out how to get them on my group page, but it seems I may be able to post them to the Golden Carrot CAUSE page, so if you're on there and can't find them on my personal page, check out the TCG Cause ...
February 27, 2011
Slogged out with the hay cart this morning - still about 1" snow on the ground, but fairly firm going. Seasonal stream and drainage streams moving, but under ice. Unblanketed everyone first, then let them go and hope to be posting some video of it on FB later day. Some friskiness, but mostly everyone had to immediately roll .... omg blankets! with hair that's starting to shed, musta been itchy - a true testament to how cold it was yesterday that everyone was pretty happy to have them put on. Sun shining brightly, but air cool and everything wet and dripping ...
February 26, 2011
Well, we had a ton of rain last night, and snow started - by day's end we had maybe 3/4 to 1" accumulation. Sacate's new driver couldn't handle it, so I didn't get my pellet delivery - a real problem since, as usual, they'd pulled payment for it from my account on Friday night. Not sure how much I've got left to make it thru to next Saturday, so have written asking them to consider delivering earlier. Dang it. With everything wet and the temps in the 30s, I blanketed everyone who I felt really needed it. Criteria were - how old, how fat, how dry is your stall? So, I blanketed everyone except Song, Ronan, Jeepers, Chief, and Hershey. Except for Song and Ronan, they all had dry snug stalls and were fat with good hair. Song and Ronan had lots of mud, but also lots of attitude, and I didn't want them slipping and sliding around their stalls trying to avoid me. So ... Buddy, Happy Grump and Anaba also gave me a lot of attitude but between their age and her crappy stall I insisted. (May have been the first time Buddy was blanketed -he was terrified at first, and then he seemed to think we were going out when I finshed, maybe thought I'd just put the world's biggest bareback pad on him!) Everyone else seemed very grateful for their blankets, except Mary who tried to bite me! It reminded me of my Inch, who used to bite her stall while I blanketed her... Was able to make a second drainage ditch out of Anaba's house that seems to be helping - Took me 3 hours, 15 minutes to prepare and distribute two buckets, and then blanket. And then, into the house to try to make a fire and dry out
February 25, 2011
Well, got everyone out and they were able to stay out for the whole long day - we're all tucked in now waiting for the rain/snow that's gonna make us all miserable for the next few days. I dug more drainage ditches on Anaba, Song and Pepe's stalls and they drained well. Water barrels filled, and everyone got Source in their dinner to encourage them to drink a bunch, among it's other benefits. Poor Laddie has an abscess, dang it! I thinkit might be coming out the inside bulb of his right forefoot, but slathered Ichthammol all over the hoof, put in a soft old cotton sock for cushion, and duct-taped the hell out of it. He stood like a doll for it, despite me interrupting his dinner! What a nice horse... Gathered some firewood; tarped everything, and am hoping the storm won't cave in any of my old roofs....
February 23, 2011
Ok, today has started well. Got the horses out and fed without incident. Buddy was OUT of his house (explains the squealing and thumping that woke me at 4AM, I'm sure Keller was not happy that someone was out and not him!). He seems to be ok, his appetite is excellent and he's active and aware. It's hard to judge whether his neck hurts, he holds his head oddly always as I believe he may be blind in one eye. But I don't feel too much when I palpate his neck, and he doesn't respond as though it hurts. I think maybe the fall happened so fast he didn't tighten up against it. It's still quite cold and very muddy, but it didn't freeze last night for a change. However, it's overcast. If the sun comes out, I expect to see a lot of horses laying down ... Spent 20 minutes fixing the fence in the arena - a drop in the bucket. Our fences are all leaning terribly - they're 10 years old and taking a beating between the horses and the weather. I despair of ever finding help redoing these fencelines .... Made a plea on Facebook last night for $10 from each of over 400 members of TGC's group. Got 5 responses. Sigh.
February 22, 2011
Ok, this is a two-fer. Yesterday was quiet - the horses enjoyed being out enormously. I was able to figure out my camera and make a few little videos - one is posted on Facebook already - and will try to post them somewhere and get you all a link. Little short ones, but a change from still photos. Remy's head is no longer swollen, and the wound is healing fine. I've increased rations for him, Rocky, Navigator, Buck and Beau, my big boys, as this cold never seems to let up. I'll also be blanketing them and others such as Victor and Chacha and Happy (much to his disgust) in this coming cold week. Frozen water pipes in the morning gives you the idea... Beau had torn his stall to bits, and there were minor repairs to be made as well as more drainage ditches to be dug for Anaba and Sara, but I didn't clean stalls, and probably won't be able to today either, due to heavy slippery mud...
Today started with a bang. The main herd came out easy but when I was closing the gates behind the south stream herd, Oso decided to run from turnout to arena, with a little buck up at me as he passed. I was watching - always amazed to see this big cumbersome looking guy 'at speed' and as always, Buddy was running just beside and behind Oso. Then poor Buddy tripped, went down, slid and did a somersault - I swear I was expecting to hear his neck snap! He popped right back up, but seemed a little whacked! He gave a sort of 'wheeze/snort' and at first avoided me. I found he'd skinned the hair off a patch of his shoulder, and has a scrape over his eye, nothing real serious looking. But he's gonna get a massage later, and I may have to call Laurie out again... poor dude!
February 20, 2011
And today SNOW! probably one foot deep, thick on trees and shrubs.Wretched pulling feed carts thru the mud/snow - the tires on my old carts kept locking up so I was pulling dead weight. My neighbor helped with is 4WD jeep to move some pelleted feed over to the south stream side. Poor Anaba and Sara were flooded again - Anaba doesn't care, but Sara of all horses was shivering so I blanketed her. Dug ditches for them morning and evening to help the water drain (they keep stepping right on the ditches and blocking them!) Everyone was pretty calm. I don't mind keeping horses in now and then, as I think it provides some needed real rest for the older horses. Snow largely melted away during the day so I'm planning to let everyone out tomorrow. Hope to be able to get some film of it, and will be trying simultaneously to keep my fingers crossed that no one slips in the mud.... Should be very exciting! Bad news is Remy has some swelling around his cut - it's not hot, and the wound itself seems to be healing nicely. I think he really clonked his head on something (he was out of his stall when he did it tho, so I'm not sure what it could have been) and the swelling is just from the blow. His appetite is excellent tho .....
February 19, 2011
Today dawned soaking wet. Horrendous downpours pounded us all night. The seasonal stream is in full spate, well over my ankles as I waded thru it. I left the horses in their stalls, with breakfast. My neighbor was headed into Hemet to the market so I hitched a ride with him and picked up some building materials and new fence posts. It was clear in Hemet, but had equally clearly rained here again while we were gone. I fed the horses, and used some of the building materials to put up partial windbreaks for Sarge and Silver (they had 3-sided leantos, and now have a front panel for when that dang pesky wind changes direction!). Also spent some time this morning and again this afternoon digging trenches to drain Song and Sarge's stalls, and Anaba's and Sara's.... And .... SNOW!! Yes, it's white and pretty ... cold ... out there. I guess we'll see how tomorrow looks, but frankly, I think the horses are gonna stay in one more day... (Remy's head is fine, no swelling, wound healing; ditto for Laddie and Dion's wounds).
February 18, 2011
Well, the storm has arrived. Everyone is in their stalls, probably finished with dinner by now. Last night was exciting as I left Buck's gate open by mistake and he wandered around making Dion crazy. Broke a pole on Anaba's stall, which I had to reset. Remy somehow got a cut over his left eye, and of course thought I was trying to kill him when I cleaned and medicated it. He is truly an accident prone horse! Laddie's cut and Dion's leg tear are both healing perfectly clean. As I listen to the rain fall, I'm planning how to feed everyone in their stalls tomorrow - even if the rain lets up a little, the paddock will be slippery nasty mud so I'll just have them stay in a day. Even tho my stalls are rickety and ugly, I'm so grateful they're still standing after 10 years, as I would not want these old horses standing in this cold drenching rain! I hope everyone can stay dry and safe and comfortable....
February 16, 2011
Let the horses out with some trepidation today, as the forecast called for a lot of rain. But luckily the rain didn't start until 2PM. Got everyone squared away with dinner before it began to really come down. Somehow, Laddie has a huge cut on his left neck - had to bandage that. Like so many OTTBs, he was lovely to handle for this. Pepe Grillo went bananas (maybe feeling that full moon behind the clouds?) and tore around the arena and turnout areas, bodyslamming Peanut and squealing like a nut before I could get him in his house. Where he promptly calmed down and had dinner. I was surprised also to see Remy playing swords and bite-my-face with Prophet and Laddie .... a boy's day out from escorting Daisy around? And sweet Hershey is worrying me. He's eating, and pooping ok, but walks slowly and seems depressed. He may be like me - I get down with the low pressure - but I'm watching him ...
February 15, 2011
Spent today making sure everything is covered as we're expecting a week of rain and/or snow. Moved feed to the south stream stalls so I don't have to do it in the mud/rain. Left everyone out as long as possible, so finished in the dark. Working on tax information for TGC; and gathering paperwork for a couple of small grants, keep your fingers crossed because we really really need it.
February 14, 2011
I know how a lot of people spent this day, but I did the usual - cleaned 39 stalls; some minor repairs on the stalls/fences; fed everyone, and then went to Hemet for a big load of senior feed. Back home to unload 30 50# bags, with 1/2 hour to rest before it was time to make buckets and put everyone away. So romantic....
February 13, 2011
Today Andrew and Ingrid came to help me again. Ingrid, as always, willing to takeon the boring but essential task of filling water barrels for me. And Andrew, with minimal input from me, was able to re-do Keller's and Pepe/Song's Stall to gain two extra pipe corral panels which will be needed to build another stall! We were all too busy to get pictures, but trust me, these two really help me a lot, and I think we have some fun in the process.
February 12, 2011
Today the farrier came and we trimmed Surely, and tried to work with Rocky. He was so difficult, still flashing back to some former day when his abscessed left forefoot was painful to him, that we put a shoe on the bad foot, but simply couldn't handle him to shoe the other! Normally, I'd never quit, but his bad foot has a huge crack in it that Juan told me, as soon as it saw it, would require us waiting 3 months before the next shoe could be put on - giving him time to grow some foot he could nail to. (I'll try to get a pic of it and post it on his page). So, we thought we'd try leaving his "good" foot bare, so it would wear some. I guess we'll see, if he's sore footed or off balance too much, I'll get Juan to come and we'll wrestle a shoe on it.
Dion's leg is healing with miraculous speed (yes, it's mostly him but I DID clean, medicate and bandage it with mineral salts right away. I've removed the bandage now and except that his leg is blue and green from the medicine and salts, he shows no real sign of the injury... But my poor car ..... I spent some time removing hair by handfuls from some of the horses, what are they thinking?! It's February!! And a storm is coming!! sigh...
February 11, 2011
Yesterday Dion had to cause problems again. As I drove thru the herd to put the horses away and feed them, Peanut ran ahead of my little car, with Dion running alongside to the right. When Peanut veered off to the left, I slowed and stopped, as I knew Dion would have to cut in front of me to follow her. O M G. Never mind the car there, buddy, Dion actually ran right into the right front tire/bumper of the cart, looking me in the eye the whole time! Cracked the hard plastic bumper, and left white hair on the car - but more importantly tore the crap out of his leg, starting halfway between his body and his knee!! He thundered off - I had my neighbor hold him in his stall while I quick cleaned, and using a papertowel and vetwrap, bandaged his wound. LOTS of blood - the goof. He walked out normally today, the bandage had not bled thru, so I left him, and will clean, remedication and rebandage tonight. The guy is a NUTJOB! I guess Mother Nature IS kind, because having made him emotionally maniacal, she made him physically not at all sensitive - so when his mania causes physical injury, it doesn't seem to bother him much. Nice how that works out....
February 9, 2011
Today the wind is blowing hard again. Got the stalls cleaned, and came in to rinse out my eyes! Gotta go out as Chief broke one of his fence posts down... uggh I HATE post hole digging!
February 7, 2011
Well, I've been scrambling since the last update. On Feb 3, 4 5 and 6, as well as Feb 2 for training, I was feeding Heavenly Horse Haven's mob, or supervising some young ladies who did it, in addition to feeding and cleaning for my horses. It was an extra 3-4 hours per day, as Gina's feed system is quite different from mine!
In addition, it was pretty clear from the start that TGC wasn't going to get much from the Equine Affaire booth. Apparently even our donation box wasn't optimal, and with just fliers to pass out our exposure was minimal. DeeAnn Bradley drove 3 hours to give just a couple of hours on Thursday, as it was unbelievably slow there on the first day; Laurie got there and had to pay her own way in to work the booth due to miscommunications with Gina and her volunteer (who were supposed to get a ticket out to Laurie); and as you may know, I didn't have anyone willing to work the booth on Saturday and Sunday. Our take, dropped off by Gina today, was $55. I'm pretty sure she did a lot better, as well as getting interest from many possible sponsors and adopters for her horses. So far, TGC has received 3 emails of people looking to put their horses here .... Please check out Horses That Need Homes to see one in particular that really needs our help - even if I had a stall, I couldn't take him as he's going blind (my 'pasture' is NOT flat and level, and includes brushy areas where a blind horse could really get in trouble). But it sounds like with proper feeding and attention to his eyes, he might not be completely blind for a few years, and is rideable for someone who either knows their business, or possibly a nice leadline pony for the kids ....Spread the word for Toby please ....
February 6, 2011
Today I was so happy to see my friends Andrew, Kannyn and Ingrid again! And so amazed at how much they helped me! Ingrid as usual handles filling all my water barrels - those of you who know me KNOW how much I hate hoses! Andrew and Kannyn stacked 50 BALES of bermuda grass hay for me, and took about 15 minutes to do it! Ah, two young handsome men sweating for me. I love it ! And then they scraped up all the loose hay and took it into the goats; and THEN they cleaned some stalls for me! Finally, they removed several poles and damaged fencing - opening up the corridor that connects the main paddock to the south stream stall line and arena. All in all, it was amazing what some help can accomplish. Plus, these folks are fun to talk to! Ahhhh, bliss....
February 3, 2011
Ok, yesterday evening was the first time I fed Heavenly Horse Haven's mob of animals alone, and I think I did it right! Richard, their helper, drives the truck loaded with the hay and all buckets, and he fed the chickens and birds before I arrived, and was feeding the dogs as I left. But horses, pigs, llamas, alpacas, goats and some other miscellaneous creatures were my chore, and despite hurricane force winds blowing my hat off, and buckets off the truck, I got it done! Whoohoo!! Same tonight, and tomorrow; and Sat and Sunday I have to do morning feeds as well, although I understand I may have more helpers at least Fri evening. And I'm doing all this while feeding and cleaning for my herd of 39, my goats, chickens and dogs, too! Whew, yes, I'm tired. Finger still quite painful/sensitive but only swollen at the first joint..... Shawnee has been having problems with her left fore - a little swelling just above the fetlock, but I'm actually thinking she may be the latest abscess. So yesterday, wrapped her foot and gave her two bute for pain..... I do hope to have some pics of our booth at Equine Affaire soon - at least, Gina promised she would get and send some ....."-) Lisa helped set up what Gina had remembered to bring last night, and she said we have a real neat location, one neighbor being a Morgan Horse Breed association and so I'm gonna ask Gina to talk to them about Buddy and Falcon.....
February 1, 2011
So last night and this morning, and the next two feedings as well, I've been working with Gina at HHH to learn her feeding procedures. I feed my mob first, and then over to HHH to feed. And boy, is her deal different! Several special needs horses, but ... pigs, llamas, oppossums, cow, etc etc etc! While Gina and her volunteers are working the Equine Affaire Booth, I'll be here either feeding, or supervising the feeding, for HHH as well as TGC. My only two volunteers, DeeAnn and Laurie, have both verified they'll be manning the booth Thurs and Fri respectively. No other Golden Carrot patrons have been willing to help....even tho they get free admission to the Affaire for it. sigh :( Luckily, Gina has lots of active volunteers to keep our booth busy.... So starting Wednesday night, till Sunday night, I'm gonna be busy as a 1 armed paperhanger in a windstorm, and oddly, the're predicting a windstorm for Wed and Thurs....
January 30, 2011
Today, Andrew and Ingrid, friends and supporters, came to visit after almost 8-9 months! I've missed them, but they're looking good and they and their friend Cannon helped me clean stalls, filled water barrels, and Andrew got on Oso's back for a photo shoot! It was great to see them, and their help was so appreciated ... I hope when weather permits, they will visit again. Unfortunately, it was bitter cold, and was snowing by the time they got home to Idyllwild, and it's raining and windy and cold as hell today. Ok, after 2 weeks of normal sunny warm dry So Cal Weather, winter seems to be back...
Bless her heart, my sweet volunteer Julia has offered to make a slideshow for the Equine Affaire of our non-sponsored or partially sponsored horses, in the hopes that may attract sponsors for them! What a Doll!
So far, Julia's Mom Lisa is going to help Gina at HHH set up the booth on Wednesday night; DeeAnn Bradley (our photographer and friend) is going to try to man the booth 4 hours during Thursday; and Laurie Henkel (our equine chiropractor and friend) is going to man the booth on Friday. They will be spelled by Gina and her volunteers, who will have the whole burden of the booth for Saturday and Sunday. I will be caring for both TGC and HHH horses here at home. If anyone wants to help man the booth on Sat or Sunday, let me know - we'd love the help and I'd be so happy to have someone there from TGC... Please go to www.equineaffaire.com to find out where and when the show is - please go, there is SO much to see, and visit our booth in Building 10, the Breed Pavilion.
January 29, 2011
Delivery of 10 tons of pelleted feed from Sacate! Whoohoo! Now, to find 50 bales of bermuda grass hay. This will clean out the account, but provide feed for the next many weeks. Hopefully, we can raise enough during those weeks, and at Equine Affaire, to pay for the next delivery.....
January 28 , 2011
Farrier out again, got Brave, Hershey, Ronan, Topper, Prophet and Joyful trimmed. (My finger still kiling me. Sorry to be delayed, and brief, on updates! Found out today that we may not have a video for Equine Affaire ...
January 23, 2011
Farrier out in the Am, windy as hell. With my bad finger, I cleaned stalls while my neighbor was kind enough to hold the horses for him. Beau and Keller got new shoes; Buck, Debbie and Falcon got trims, and Juan checked Rocky's abscess and Surely's bad foot as well. Rocky shows no sign that an abscess has broken out but is walking bettter so we left it unwrapped and will check again next week when he gets new shoes. Surely had a small abscess Juan was able to open up. It just took me 20 minutes to type this so, that'll be it for today! Wish I knew what was wrong with this finger.... and PS Buddy is doing GREAT!
January 22, 2011
Today am suffering from a badly injured finger. Barrie and Anji came by to get pics and videos of my and HHHs sponsor-less and adoptable horses for our booth at EA, just 10 days away! Laurie Henkel came out to adjust Buddy, which went well, more on these matters when I can type and get my newsletter out.
January 21, 2011
OK, I wasn't happy with Buddy's efforts to eat. You may recall it was our decision to build Buddy up a bit before what looked like a LOT of dental work to be done, but he's having too much trouble eating. The one long canine impacting his palate prevents him from closing his mouth long enough to hold food and swallow it! So, I got on the horn with Fred and he came out today to try to straighten out these terrible teeth. With myself and my neighbor holding Buddy's head steady on the stand, it seemed like Fred was grinding away forever - but he got a lot done. My horses know Fred as "Dr Feelgood" so Buddy was ok with it all, and still under the influence of the sedation and 2 grams of IV bute, he ate a normal dinner bucket PLUS 2 scoops of soaked beet pulp. Time will tell if this is enough ... please check out Buddy's page under Meet the Horses to hear more about the problems Buddy's dealing with...
January 19, 2011
Farrier here today, got Remy, Daisy, Shawnee, and Navigator done.
January 18, 2011
You can check out Buddy's page now, under the Meet the Horses link, to see the pictures provided by his former owners, and the ones I took today. Fred Zadick DVM came out to give him the once over, and was aghast at the state of his teeth - two teeth so long that one lower tooth in particular was actually hitting the palate above! Hasn't been that way long enough to cause ulceration, but it will HAVE to go! He wants me to feed the poor guy up with mush for a couple of weeks at least, and then will come out and bring both of those long teeth, and many spikes, under control. He states Buddy has very very little grinding tooth left - he IS quite elderly. But he IS the escape artist I was warned about - I'd taken him from the arena, where his new herd mates were hanging, and put him into the round pen (right next to them) to eat a bucket of pellets, as it was clear he wasn't doing well with the bermuda grass hay. I left him chowing down, I thought. But apparently I no sooner left the area than he destroyed the roundpen gate, ran all the way around the arena, and found a weak point to push thru, so that when I returned 1/2 hour later with the doc, he was standing innocently in the arena with his buds, and almost all the soaked pellets were still sitting in the roundpen uneaten! Ok...already.
January 17, 2011
BUDDY ARRIVES! Today, TGC became home to Buddy, a 30 something Morgan pony. Buddy comes with some support from his former owners, who have fallen on hard financial times. He's underweight, and suffers from some sequelae from a head injury, but is perky and cute as can be. Pictures, and his page, will be posted soon! Please stay tuned....
January 12, 2011
So today, we had Juan Mercado, our farrier out at the crack of dawn, and got Bru, Star, Sunny, Victor, and Shine trimmed, got the front feet on Anaba who was acting up again about her back end (I'll work on that with her in the next week and Juan will do her back feet next visit), and Juan then helped me to rewrap Rocky's foot, which has not yet ruptured. Trust Rocky to take longer than Oso and others to get an abscess out! Now, just about the time I'm usually done, I have to START cleaning stalls.... sigh....
January 8, 2011
HOW EXCITING! After the Finish Line, an organization which raises funds to help Off Track Thoroughbreds, has granted TGC some funds to help with the support and rehabilitation of Our Fair Lad- "Laddie"! Thank you, ATFL, for your help! Please take a moment to visit their FB page and thank them for their help! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/After-the-Finish-Line/113665201978354
January 5, 2011 -- It's always Something!
So, poor Oso has been suffering from an abscess for 7 days. I can FINALLY get my farrier out (and we had a talk about that, believe me!) and lo and behold, Oso is walking almost sound - that abscess finally broke out at the coronet band! Sheesh. Thinking that's not so bad, we proceed with some trims, Pepe, Song and Sarge were done, and we went to the main paddock to do Jeeps and Queenie - only to find ROCKY hobbling on an abscess in his wretched-deformed-paininthefoot left fore! Well, and of course, I'm out of duct tape! So, clean hoof, apply thick coat of ichammol and two whole vetwraps... he walked off a lot better, but won't be right till that dang thing pops. Rocky's deformed foot was probably caused by a bad abscess in his past, and his fear and anticipation of pain in that foot has made shoeing a real battle. He was just getting better the last two shoeings, and now this.... This soft wet going has really caused lots of problems this year - Remy, Daisy, Oso and now Rocky with abscesses in the last 30 days.....
January 4, 2011 -- Preparations for Equine Affaire on Feb 3-6 begins...
Alright, I haven't heard from ANYONE about volunteering some time to man our booth at the Equine Affair, February 3, 4, 5 and 6, at Pomona's Fairplex. Can you give a few hours to speak for the horses? I'm particularly interested in anyone who can work Thursday the 3rd, or Friday the 4th. Gina at HHH and I will work with everyone so that anyone who can give a few hours to our booth, will be able to spend some hours checking out all that Equine Affaire has to offer. We have ordered banners, will have fliers to hand out, and sponsorship and adoption forms for people to fill out, as well as a slide show to offer and pictures of sponsor-able and adoptable horses ..... Contact me at cocarrot@earthlink.net if you think you can help. Otherwise, HHH will have more volunteers than TGC! "-)
January 3rd, 2011 -- New Wesbite is 100% Up and Running!
I am happy to announce that with a LOT of hard work, and the invaluable technical help of Barrie the website is organized and looking great! We got all of our horses' pages up, including those who have passed on. We have new stories, access to all of our previous newsletters, as well as a way to donate for the horses online! Please take a look around and let me know what you think!
December 29, 2010 -- Princess Picadilly Passes
I am sad to anounce that Picadilly passed away today. Her age (we're pretty sure she was over 40 years old), and recent problems with a stifle injury which made getting up off the ground very difficult for her (probably hurt by slipping in the mud which has made life miserable here at TGC for the last 3 weeks) just all added up to her time to go. Rest in peace little Pic! Click on the picture of her above to read about Princess Picadilly.
December 28, 2010 -- Rain Again!
Today, the rain is hammering us again! Princess Picadilly was down in the mud, but with help from our neighbor and his tractor we got her up and eating her breakfast. Send good thoughts that she can stay on her feet till the rain, and predicted snow, can pass.... So, stuck inside, I'm working on my last newsletter of the year, which will have some treats....
PS: Oso has an abscess....oh joy! Hopefully its just a bruise as opposed to an abscess, but drafts are prone to getting abscesses in the winter wetness, so we'll see!
12/28/2010 -- New website 90% finished!
As a special gift from the Golden Carrot to you, we have been working on a new and improved website for your viewing pleasure! And we are proud to announce that it is almost completely finished! We finally have all of our horses pages, including our horse memorials for friends departed, all here on this website! So you can finally see all of our horses and read their stories in the 'Meet the Horses' section. We also have a new donation page, where you can donate online using Paypal, so sending donations can be easy and paperless! We also added ALL of our old newsletters in the 'Newsletter Archives' page too! So our website finally has all of our information all in one place! Thanks to Barrie for helping out with this very large project!
PS: On this note, if any of you notice any errors on the website, whether it be a typo or a broken link, etc, please email me at cocarrot@earthlink.net and let me know so that we can fix it! Thanks!
12/24/2010 -- Merry Christmas Everyone! New Website is Ready to Go!
Well the website got changed almost overnight thanks to the help of Barrie! We have some new beautiful pictures of the horses up at the top and a great new color scheme and menu! Thank goodness! We will start the work on transferring all the info/pictures for the horse pages soon, so that all of our stuff is on website. So please be patient and check back often! Thank you and Happy Holidays!
12/23/2010 -- Golden Carrot Website is Getting a Facelift!
With the help of our new volunteer Barrie (Chief's old owner), our website is getting all fixed up and pretty! She's doing some customizing here and there as well as organizing our main menu, and getting all of our horse pages onto one website! Lots of work, but hopefully it'll be worth the effort! Keep checking back often to see all the new changes, and to check in on all of our horse pages! Oh...and don't forget to donate! Winter is getting very wet over here and we could use some donations to make sure our horses stay warm and well fed!