Snowy Update

Today is the last day of March and several days into Spring, however we are have sleet this morning despite the 42 degree temperature...what crazy weather!
On a positive note Snowy continues to thrive and gain weight. You can now see the difference and tell she is filling out some hollow spots around her hip and tail bones. Her coat, while it is shedding out for warmer weather, is looking better also. The farrier was here and she got her hoofs trimmed and the cracks in the front hoofs are growing out nicely. We are estimating that she has gained approximately 145 pounds.
Snowy has become very settled in and has become a little more self assured around the rest of the horses. She will go into the pasture with the others but doesn't find it quite necessary to be in close proximity to the others. Kathy has been working with her on her ground manners and she is doing well.
Better go now as we are expecting a visit from some of our Grandchildren and I have to get the tractor ready for riding.

Styx - Lady

I'll be There

Snowy Update

Snowy has been with us for 4 weeks now and is doing very well. She is now going out with our guys into the pasture and spending several hours grazing and doing what comes natural for her. She seems to be very happy and contented. She has gained 85 pounds since she has been here but it is still hard to see a big difference on her. The next 85 should be more noticeable and I'll take a new picture of her then and post it so you all can see. Our other guys are all well and have accepted Snowy for the most part. Freckles being the "Other Mare"is causing the most problems however even she is starting to accept the fact that Snowy isn't going anywhere and has joined the herd.

Our rescue foster horse has arrived

Snowy, our rescue foster horse arrived on January 26th. a Saturday afternoon. I really wasn't expecting good but I was really surprised. I still can't get it in my head how people can do this to an animal. She stands 14.3 hands and only weighs 750 pounds. very little more that skin and bones....literally and remember she has been in the Rehab/Rescue Barn before she came here.
To start off our new venture, on the way to us Snowy reared in the trailer and put quite a cut on her forehead. The Vet arrived to stitch it up so here we were with an unfamiliar, neglected and abused horse dizzy with a gash in her head. What a first day!
It has been a very busy and stressful week but we have made great strides in having Snowy accept us and start to trust us. She is better and more calm every day. She has been in the big pasture with our other horses but while it was ok for the most part it ended in disaster. I guess it was a little early to expect her to socialize. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Since our pasture disaster we have slowed things down and put Snowy out only with Cowboy in the back ring. That went well and they even ate from the same pile of hay. The next day we tried the same thing and I'm happy to say with the same good results. Yesterday we put her out with Tom and while the results were not as good they were not viscious to one another so we tried it again today with better results. Being encouraged by this we also put Cowboy back in with them as well. All three stayed most of the afternoon together without any major mishaps. Cowboy was even acting protective of Snowy. Freckles and Monte (the jackass) will be where the next challenges will lie. I'll bet in another couple of days to a week we'll have them all together successfully.

Snowy's head is healing nicely and she is eating well. I'll post a picture of her soon so you can see for yourself. I think she will become a very nice little horse again.

New Pictures

Hi everyone...
I added the picture of Freckles and Monte for all to see. As you can tell Monte is always full of himself and ready for fun. He keeps the others busy with his antics and it is always fun to see what is coming next. Here he is playing with the paddock ball and wants the others to join in the fun. He also loves to play "tug of war" with sticks and usually wins.
Userl lost track of us and therefore we have not yet received our Foster Equine. However, we think we now have that fixed and are back on track with them.
We had a busy Holiday season and enjoyed seeing friends and family near and far. Kathy hosted the Christmas party for the Library and it was a very nice evening. Never did I ever imagine in my wildest dreams that I'd see my house house full of Librarians. Our trip to Pennsylvania to visit my parents and sister's family was too short as always but very enjoyable.
As always I will close by reminding all to support USERL or your local equine rescue organization.

Lost in a time warp

Sorry for the delay in posting! It's just the time of the year...with Christmas fast approaching, shopping and such. There is some good news however, we have been approved by USERL as a foster barn for their rescued horses and are expecting our foster horse soon. We hope maybe just after the first of the year. The rescued Mustangs(13 of them) made our local papers here and has hopefully created lots of publicity for the cause. It is unbelievable the more we are involved what we have learned. You just can't believe the condition of some of the animals these fine volunteers rescue and take responsibility for. Please visit the links at the bottom of our blog and get involved. Everyone can help! We'll post a picture of our foster as soon as it arrive. Of course all fosters are ready for adoption, so if you are interested in adopting our foster or any of the horses available, please let us know or contact userl.org

Laughing Horse

Horse Laugh
Originally uploaded by EncinoMan

I found this photo on Flickr.com and think it looks like our Tom.

He is laughing about a story he heard the other day about one of my trail riding experiences... I was trail riding and everything was going well when all of a sudden the horse spooked and I was out of control. I tried to hang on with all my might but was thrown off. When I thought things couldn't possibly get worse my foot got caught in my stirrup and I was being dragged along head bouncing on the ground. Just as I was giving up hope and losing consciousness, the WALMART Manager came out and unplugged the thing. Thank Goodness for Heros!

Abused Abandoned and Neglected Horses

This unfortunate subject should never exist in my opinion. Like all animals horses rely on us for daily basic needs. Horses are majestic animals that helped tame our country and make it what it is today. To neglect your responsibility to care and provide for them is criminal. There are too many girls and boys that dream of having there own horse not to be able to find a suitable home for a horse that is no longer wanted or able to be cared for by its owner. I want to encourage everyone to become involved in some way with one of the many rescue operations in your area. I have listed two links below for you to view. Kathy and I have adopted from Free Spirit Equine Rescue Shelter in the past and we are currently signing up to be Fosters with USERL. There are many ways anyone can help. Check out these sites or others near you and volunteer for this worthy cause.

Getting Started

To get started here I've added pictures of our horses. Cowboy is Hank's Tennessee Walker. He was here at Preference Farm when Kathy and I bought the farm in 1995. Tom Be Crusin is a Quarter Horse that Kathy currently rides and Ingaberry was a pure blooded Arabian. We had to put her down last year but she remains with us on the knoll in the pasture she loved. We also have a nice POA boarder named Freckles. I'll post her picture soon. Monte is our Sicilian Jackass (that means that now Kathy has two Jackasses...thank you very much) and resident driveway alarm. I'll post his picture soon also or you can see him on Kathy's blog at kritterskorner.blogspot.com. In addition to the above we have or have had the usual assortment of animals...cats (plural), dogs, strays,rescues etc. If Kathy could have her way we would have a zoo here.
Also for a little entertainment while you read the posts I've added some music from one of my favorite groups and now I'm showing my age but sorry the music today can't hold a candle to The Rolling Stone and other groups of the 60's and 70's (Now I sound like my dear Mother ...Happy 85 th Birthday November 3rd).