Odd Ad

Saw this ad on Craigs List and I'm a bit concerned. Figure I'll wait until the afternoon before I send an email. Something doesn't seem right.

*free* appaloosa and quarter horse (souix falls)
Date: 2010-05-26, 7:50PM CDTReply to: sale-kuczt-1761442573@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
I don't have the time or resources to keep up with them anymore, would prefer if they left together. quarter horse is 7 years old, rope and barrel trained and stands about 17 hands tall. appaloosa is an incredible trail horse, 15 hands, deep chest, strong flanks. call for directions. I would like to meet whoever they go to and see how you interact with the horse/horses. 1 french saddle and regular saddle with quarter horse, regular saddle with appaloosa with gun mounts. several blankets and bridles, probably 2 months of feed left. anything else associated with them can go as well, just call 828-246-5838 whenever, i'm anxious to get them a new home.
Location: souix falls
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1761442573

Tommy Time

Sounds like Tommy may leave us for the summer. When I picked up Brego from the trainer last month, we were talking about kids and ponies. My trainer mentioned that he was looking for a pony for the summer for his kids/neice&nephew. I mentioned I had a pony if they would like to borrow him.

My trainer needed to check in on a few things to make sure that where he is located would allow ponies. Sure enough, they do. So sometime soon, Tommy is going to the trainers and treat children to some delight.

I'm not sure how Skippy is going to handle it. He's so herd bound to Tommy. I'm going to have to do some serious fencing to ensure Skippy doesn't get completely upset. I may just stick Maverick in with Skippy since those to get along even though they differ greatly in size.

My neighbor also mentioned borrowing the ponies but that's not until July. So it seems I'll be farming Tommy and Skippy out this summer. Now they'll actually be used instead of act as my personal lawn mowers.

I'm a little worried in handing over my horses but I trust my trainer. He did a wonderful job with Chaos and Maverick. And he really tried his best with Brego. I know Tommy will be in good hands and I'll get him back this winter. I'm more worried about Skippy. I guess we'll see how it goes and if Skippy is too upset, the trainer will either have to take Skip for the summer also, or I'll have to get Tommy back and they'll return to being lawn mowers.

I'm not sure when all of this will unfold. Mike is taking the trailer today to get new tires on it since they are bald. I don't want to travel on bald tires when my "kids" are with. If I don't drop Tommy off this weekend or next week, I'll have to haul them to Madison so that someone can watch and care for them since I'll be occupied with my wedding.

I guess I'll just play it by ear but it does sound like I'll be sans one pony for sure during the summer and possibly sans second pony for a few weeks. Always some excitement going on at Borderlands.

Lawn Time

Pictures from earlier in the month when I first let the herd out onto the lawn. There's not much lawn left but it's about time to let the herd out onto the pasture. I still need to get Brego adjusted to grass this week. Poor Brego, always getting the short end of every stick in life.

King and Rain

Zeke

King and Rain

King

I'm hoping to find time to blog about the vet appointment last week. I'm also collecting halters but I haven't heard from anyone. So I may just send off my seven halters and go from there.

REQUEST: Halters for Horses

I'm putting out a HUGE REQUEST!

I am on the ABR Forum and ran across this request today:

Alicia 'Ridler' Geske URGENT - VERY SPECIAL CAUSE!!!! Halters For Horses. Do you have halters you are not using? Horses that come into the Unadilla auction without halters are run through in groups and bought by the killbuyers. If a horse has a halter they are lead through individually. Dawn puts halters on horses that are without to give them a fighting chance at auction! Please send halters to:Rosemary Farm Sanctuary 1646 Roses Brook Road South Kortright, NY 13482

I went through my stash and came across seven halters. I would like to begin collecting and sending as often as possible halters for this rescue cause. Those seven halters could mean the difference between life and death for seven horses. It's not a guarantee but it's better than nothing. It's something I can do. The Unadilla auction is in NJ. I can't do much from SD but I can send a halter.

Please help me spread the word and collect as many halters as we can so that these poor horses have a chance at life. Horses run through SD auctions aren't given this chance even if they wear halters. Horses in SD run through a loose sale dont' have much chance. But we can help the horses on the east coast.

I am willing to repair and ship all halters at my expense. All that you have do is go through your tack and find any unwanted halters. Please help if you can.

Spring

We're almost into summer but the crab apple tree bloomed beautifully this spring. If you look close you can see some dirt to the right of the tree. That's where we buried Bob last fall. I haven't yet decided if we'll just plant grass seed or if perhaps I'll plant flowers. Whatever I do, it was nice that the tree bloomed in such bold colors. I think it was helping me to get over the passing of Bob. The ache is still there but the good memories are abundant.

The horses are anxious for spring to be over and summer to be here. They want grass. I didn't get a chance to pull horses out onto the lawn yesterday. I had someone come over to work on the house and by the time they left, I was too tired to mess with haltering and later catching every single horse. Now I have grumpy horses on my hands.

To make matters worse, I don't know that I'll be able to let them out on the lawn tonight either. I'm hauling Sam and Dude up to Madison for their vet appointment tomorrow. One bad thing about only having a four horse stock trailer. You can't haul a draft and three standard horses in it. Since I'm hauling Sam, Dude, Jim, and Rain to the vet for floats, I'm going to have to make two trips up to Madison and two trips to the vet. Oh well. I'm on the lookout for a six horse slant load trailer. So if you know of anyone selling one, let me know!

I've also decided that since I'll only have two horses in the trailer tomorrow that I'll haul Zeke so we can find out his age instead of just guessing. I'm also planning on hauling Maverick to give him some trailer time and expose him to other things. He's only been off the place to go to the trainers. Otherwise he hasnt' been hauled around like the rest of them. So it should be an inersting day tomorrow. Very busy, very packed day tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday

Pasture Time

As promised, just a few pics of the herd out on the lawn. This was before I had the majority of the big herd out. I had the herd out last night for a good three hours. It's amazing how eight mouths can really take down the grass. Now if they would just level it off, I wouldn't have to mow! :-)

Just a side note, I don't leave halters on the horses. I'm putting halters on while they are on the lawn in case something happens and they blow through the electric fence. I've learned my lesson on that one! And it's teaching them to let me come up and halter them and that haltering isn't a bad thing. It's really helped with Jim. He's coming around, slowly but surely.

Rain with King in the background and Zeke in the far back.

General view of where the horses are grazing.

Zeke

Chaos

King

While the main herd was out in the lawn, I pulled Tommy and Skippy into the bigger drylot and let them rip roar around the pen. I wish I would have had the camera. They were too cute! Maybe tonight I'll pull them out again while the main herd is out grazing.

I did do some ground work with Brego (saddled him although I'll never ride him). I also did some ground work with Maverick. I'll have to blog about that experience. Totally different mentalities to working.

This week is going to be packed starting tomorrow until the weekend. So we'll see how much I get accomplished. Lots of non horse related activities going on this week.

Blogging and Brego

I'm most likely not going to post much in the next three weeks. I'll try my best but I forsee a lot of running around and not a lot of horse time. With only three weeks until the wedding, I'll probably be more focused on wedding planning rather than horses.

I spent most of yesterday doing housework instead of horsework (again trying to avoid the sun). It was absolutely gorgeous but I didn't want to risk a burn. I'm being overly causious I know but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I did go out in the late afternoon to fiddle with the horses. I have been letting the horses out onto the lawn for an hour or so to get them used to the grass. This past week it was too wet for them to be out on the lawn. I'd rather that they don't dig up the lawn when I'll need it later in the season for the ponies.

But last night I pulled the geldings out and even pulled the mares for a short period of time. I need to get the horses used to grass by Memorial weekend. I'm hoping that in two weeks they will be adjusted to grass and I won't have to worry about feeding them the week before the wedding.

I have not yet introduced Brego to grass yet. I know that I should but he's yet another mouth on the lawn and I want to make sure that I can actually catch him. Jim is coming along in leaps and bounds. When I first got him, I could barely approach him. The previous owner said he was standoffish and the only way to catch him was to run him into the barn. Last night, Jim came up to me! Not only that, but the entire time I've been putting halters on the horses and letting them out onto the lawn, Jim has been making progress in letting me approach him, put a halter on, and lead him around. I'm really starting to like him. I think I'm finally starting to make a break through with him. Of course, I havent' asked him to do anything in six months so who knows what will happen when I start riding him.

I did decide to work Brego a little bit last night. I have two thoughts on Brego. I'll need to talk with the vet about the one thought. I'm headed to the vet this Friday for floats on Sam, Jim, Dude, and Rain. It should be an intersting trip since I'll have to make two trips to fit everyone in. I'm thinking of hauling Zeke to see if the vet can age him. I'd also like to haul Maverick just to give him some exposure. He hasn't been off the place, except to the trainers and that was a year ago.

I decided to do some roundpen work with Brego. He's nothing like Maverick. I can send Brego around and he won't buck, fart, and fly around the pen. He'll just trot. I can get after him a little and he'll lope but he'll slip back into a trot as soon as he can. He won't expend any additional energy. However, when I'm done putting pressure on Maverick, he hooks up with me and will follow me all around. Not the case with Brego.

I did get Brego to turn to the inside by the end of our training session. He was also stopping and facing me. So in the long run, if I work with him every day, I will maybe get him to the way Maverick is right now. But I'm not sure I'll spend too much time with Brego. I need to focus my attention on Maverick and Chaos.

Actually until the wedding, I need to focus my attention on Chaos and Zeke since those two will be in the wedding. I'm not sure how much riding time I'll get these next three weeks. Maybe once or twice and that will be it. I know the time is going to fly by. Unfortunately my mind is so scatter brained right now I'm not sure that I'll be able to blog very well. I'm positive that if/when I do blog it will be a bit scattered.

I did take a few pics of the horses out on the lawn and need to pull them off the camera. If I can get myself organized a little better, I'll try to add some new pics.

Farrier Day

Last night was another farrier night. I planned on trimming up Babe, Queen, and King. I knew King would go ok since he's been handled by my farrier before. I was unsure how Queen would handle. The last time Queen was trimmed she was a doll, but the time before she was a stinker.

We decided to start with Babe since the farrier had never worked with her. I know I've had Babe for along time and I've been naughty about her feet. But her feet have been so good up until now that I've always skipped her. We tried for a good half hour to get her to stand. Of course being blind, the farrier couldn't do some of the normal tricks to getting a horse to stand still. After fighting her for awhile, we decided that the only way for her to get her feet trimmed would be to put her in a chute. So I guess I'll schedule yet another appointment and have Babe and Sam trimmed in the chute. Hopefully having Babe in a confined location will make life easier for everyone involved.

We then went on to Queen, who was happily eating grass. She wasn't thrilled with getting her feet done. She started a bad habit of nipping me. Luckily it was so cold out that I had my heavy coat on. She took me by surprise with her nipping. But she's at least 32 years old so I let her naughty habit slide. By the time the farrier started working on her back legs, her front legs were shaking. She really doesn't have much muscle left. I'm wondering if I should have been a better horse mom and given her more exercise. I now haver her on a joint supplement to ease her arthritis but maybe more walking would do her good. We finally managed to get her done (with multiple nips to me).

Then it was on to King. He was naughty for just a little bit but not too bad. I'm thinking of leaving shoes off of him but buying some type of boot. What's your preference? I was thinking Boa or Old Mac but I don't really know much about the different types of boots. Without shoes on I can't ride him and he's too good of a horse to just sit in a pasture. I mentioned that to the farrier and he started asking what types of things King could handle. King doesn't like trail riding and gets upset if new horses are behind him (he's been known to kick). He gets very nervous with horses coming up behind him that he doesn't know. He's also painfully slow and his trot is very jarring. I think he'd be great in an areana doing english. I think his trot would be easy to post to. So the farrier asked if King would make a good lesson horse if it was in a controlled environment. I figure King would excel at that. He really is a one person type of horse. But it never crossed my mind to sell King. I'm not sure that I could. I might not be the best owner but I can assure him a forever home where there will always be food, shelter, and love.

That was about all the excitement for last night. I think we were lucky to have the farrier come out last night. The weatherman is calling for more rain the next two days. I guess this means I'll be doing more housework instead of horsework.

Vacation Remembered

I haven't quite figured it out if it's cabin fever, spring fever, or a touch of gypsy but I'm itching to get out and about. I'm guessing it's mostly this dreary weather. I thought last year's vacation out to the Black Hills was going to revive me but it didn't do the trick.

I was just going through all the pictures from the trip and I couldn't resist. I think all I need is a quick trip down to Newton Hills and ride around there for the day. Anyone game for a ride?

The following are pics from my vacation last August.

View standing on what was once a homestead overlooking a valley. I can see why the pioneers abandoned their homesteads. This location is very isolated.

This is the same valley but up into the tree line. We were searching around for a dugout that we found the last time out. This picture makes me want to go trail riding out on the Hills (or even Newton Hills would suffice).

The creek by the cabin. With all this dreary weather we've been having I had to throw in a picture of something sunny.

I didn't realize it until I'd added the picture....there's a Trouble Dog in the picture! This is the same creek as above, just at a different angle. It's so peaceful and quiet at the cabin. I could definately go for a quick vacation before all the hoopla of the summer begins.

Spring Storms

Last night we had a terrible storm blow through. Ok, so it wasn't terrible but it was cold and wet. I was drenched within five minutes of stepping out the door. Mike and I had made plans to go into town to buy groceries for us and the horses.

But when I got home, I knew I couldn't just leave the mares out in their muddy pen knowing they were chilled. Both Babe and Queen were happy to get into a dry stall and start chowing down on their food.

I also threw Jim, Sam, and Zeke into the barn so they could dry off too. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to even grain the horses. Sam unfortunately is starting to show my neglect. I can't seem to keep any weight on him.

After getting home from shopping I had to head out to do chores. Of course it was 9pm and everyone was grumpy. Luckily the skies weren't dumping rain at that point. I hauled out warm water to grain the normal crew. I think they were happy to have something warm in their bellies. It might be a pain to constantly haul warm water from the bathroom in the house all the way out to the barn but in the end, I know the horses are happy to have their warm mash.

This morning when I went out to do chores, Sam, Zeke, and Jim were ready to get out of the barn. When I went to take Queen and Babe out of their stalls, I didn't see Babe. It doesn't help that one of the lights burned out that shines into those stalls but I had planned ahead and brought a flashlight. I figured it was just that my eyes hadn't adjusted. Nope, Babe was curled up in her stall snoozing. I don't think she wanted to go back out into the pen. Poor thing, some days I wish I didn't have a full time job outside of the rescue. I wish I could simply open the retirement farm and work full time at the rescue/retirement farm. Maybe some day. Until then, I guess I'll take care of them the best I can.

Tonight is another farrier night. King, Queen, and Babe are on the schedule. Next Friday I'm hauling a bunch up to get their teeth floated. Everyone is all of a sudden dropping weight and I can't figure out why. I also need to order shots and wormer (possible reason why some are losing weight). So the next few weeks are going to be expensive ones. Oh well. Guess I'll keep working at the full time job to pay for the rescue.

Wengert Trail Ride

I took the digital camera on last Sunday's trail ride (Wenegert Trail Ride) and all the pics came out dark. I need to figure out how to fix that. And figure out how to post pics so they don't show up backwards in order.

I took Zeke on the trail ride and learned a lot about him. He's definately not cut out for slow trail rides. He's definately a gaming horse and cut out for full gallop running. By the end of the ride, I gave up and sent him into a smooth lope through a corn field. He's not as fast as Ace was but he's faster and smoother than Rain.

Since I haven't posted enough pics lately, I'll leave you with some from last week's cold and windy trail ride.

Happy Trails!

Sioux Falls Regional Horse Sale

I am mentally exhausted. Today was the first Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Horse Sale. The sale started at 1pm so that meant I wanted to have some time out back without having to worry about getting run over.

So I left the house this morning at 11am, to arrive my noon. By 12:30pm I was already exhausted. There were SO MANY people and horses. Everyone was coming out of the woodwork, I was pretty much overwhelmed. So many horses and so much noise. The catalog and non-cataloged horses were packed with people. I immediately went to the loose horses to see what was there and the volume was much quieter. There were some beauties in the loose horses. Too bad people wouldn't spend a little bit of time, elbow grease, and money to enter them into the catalog sale instead.

I walked through and found my seat about 10 minutes before the sale started at 1pm. I skipped the 4H tack sale/swap to make sure I would have cash in case something came long. (dont worry I didn't buy anything...this time).

It was non-stop horses from 1pm until 6:30pm. For the first four hours the stands were packed. There wasn't room anywhere. It was standing room only. I couldn't believe the prices of some of those horses. I guess it's spring and people want horses to ride all summer.

By the time they were half way through the non-cataloged horses the crowd had thinned considerably. By the time they finally got to the loose horses at 5pm, there was room to stretch out. It was disappointing to know that people weren't intersted in the loose horses.

I bid on one old guy that I fell in love with. Hip # 707 will haunt me. The sale in October had a horse with Hip # 707 and I tried to buy her afterwards and couldn't. So this time I bid. But I only had $100 cash in my pocket and he went for more than that.

I took notes on almost all of them except for the few short minutes I was gabbing with a neighbor who showed up 3/4 of the way through the sale. I will try to get those numbers listed on here soon just to keep a running total of all the sale prices on auctions that I attend (and remember to bring pen and paper to take notes).

I must remind myself that I need to wait to bring any horses home until this fall/winter. The prices will be half what they were today. I figured the prices would be higher today because people want to ride. Come fall/winter people will remember what winter was like last year and will dump them. I've noticed on Kelo and Craigslist that the prices are a lot more. So I'm guessing that the prices will be less this fall and hopefully I'll have a better plan on how I can manage more horses.

But I'm mentally exhuasted so I think I'm going to go put my feet up and fall asleep watching the race.

Zeke at last week's trail ride. He too was run through an auction. I am sure glad I have him. He's a diamond in the rough.

Sale Day

I have pictures from last week's trail ride. Blogger confused me but now I have it figured out! I'll post some pics from the trail ride later today or tomorrow (hopefully).

Right now I'm getting ready to head down to the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Horse Sale. I hate auctions. But I cant' not go. I looked at the catalog sale and picked out two that I would take home. :-) The website said there is 90 horses consigned. I only saw about 50 in the catalog sale so I'm guessing the other 50 are non-cataloged.

It also means that there is going to be that many or more loose horses. I know that I need to sit on my hands and wait. But there's always at least one that I would take home from this sale. But I'm faced with Queen's colic bill and will have an even heftier vet bill once I take Sam, Jim, Rain, and Dude in to get their teeth floated (never mind their normal spring shots I still need to take care of).

I also know that I need to wait it out until this fall. I'm guessing the price of horses will be higher simply because it's spring and people are looking for horses to ride all summer. They'll want to dump them this fall so I guess I'll need to figure out how to sit on my hands. It will help that Mike has chosen to stay home instead. I'm not as inclined to try and bring a horse home when I don't have verbal approval from him. Ok, so not really but I like to discuss it with him beforehand. But not always (which is the case when I brought the two home from this sale, although both of those were euthinized ).

I'm rambling and stalling. So I guess I better go get ready for the sale. In the mean time, enjoy pics of Zeke from last Sunday's trail ride.


Zeke after the ride. He's not exhausted at all but the wind wore me out.

Zeke after the ride. I had to lope through a mud corn field just to calm him down. He definately prefers to lope over any other speed. he doesn't make a good trail horse but would make an awesome gamer.

Zeke didn't even flinch when he saw the wagon. Some horses dont' like the wagon but Zeke could care less. He's definately a diamond in the rough that I lucked out with.

Dilema w/ Brego

Brego's 45 days were nearing the end so I called the trainer to see how he was doing. At 30 days Brego was going but not well. He could walk and trot but he still had a lot of issues.

At the very end of the 45 days, the trainer called and told me that he had taken Brego out into the pasture to ride at a walk. They crossed a creek (but had to do a training session since he had issues) and had some issues with crossing a cow path. But everything seemed like it was going well. When they got back into the arena, Brego listened even better.

The trainer called me yesterday since Tuesday was Brego's last day of the 45 days. He flat out told me Brego is unsafe to ride. They had a total wreck Tuesday, luckily neither were hurt but the trainer doesn't feel that Brego will ever be rideable. If he, as the trainer, is uncomfortable riding Brego, he knows there's no way I'll be comfortable (or safe) riding Brego.

Brego went psycho and crashed through 6ft corral panels and at one point tried to jump through more ft corral panels. I didn't completely understand everything the trainer was telling me since it's a new facility that he moved to so I'm not familiar with the locations he was talking about. He did say that at one point, he (the trainer) jumped off Brego's back onto corral panels because he thought Brego was going to complete explode. My only concern was that the trainer stay safe.

The trainer proceeded to tell me that if I wanted, he would not charge me for the last 15 days and that he would take the horse to a sale for free. I don't think that's right. If the trainer is not willing to ride him, and won't let me ride him (which I don't want to after hearing his story), how could I ever subject some one else to Brego's psychotic episodes. I can't, in good standing, send Brego to an auction where at some point he'll hurt someone. Brego would then go to another sale and another sale and another sale until the kill buyer bought him.

The trainer told me there's only two horses he was never able to train. Brego is that second horse.

There's no way for me to recoup the cost of training on Brego. I gave him the chance and he screwed it up. The trainer said Brego would be a good pasture pet. But can I really afford yet another pasture pet? I already have three (Queen, Babe, and Dude). If I keep Brego as a pasture pet only, I'll have him as a pasture pet for the next 20 plus years. Is it really feasible to keep a "useless" horse for the next 20 years, knowing that he's taking up space for an older horse that needs to be pulled from auction and given the last few years of retirement?

Is it fair that I would keep Brego thinking that no one else would want a pasture pet? What happens though if he starts to get naughty because all he is, is a pasture pet so I don't work with him as much? Would someone simply WANT a 5yr old pasture pet?

The only other option that I'm faced with is euthinasia. It's the last resort. I can't sell him or give him away to someone because he will at some point, be traded around from one person to the next and he'll end up hurting someone. And when that final blowout occurs, he'll be shipped off to slaughter. I can't afford to keep him as a pasture pet for the next 20 years because he'll take up space to pull oldsters that deserve to retire after a long life of hard work. So euthinasia might be my only option.

But then I'm euthinizing a good horse (although mentally unstable). He has good ground manners (for now). But if I euthinize, I'm going to throw away $550+ in training (even though the trainer told me to never get on Brego). If I euthinize, it's more money spent on an unsafe, useless horse. I can either take him to the vet and have him put down there and have the rendering truck get him. I can have the vet come out and euthinize and I can have the rendering truck come get him at the house. Or I can euthinize him at home and bury him in the hole out back. I'll have to empty the hole full of water and rush to bury him before the hole fills back full of water. No matter the option, it's still more $$ I hadn't figured on.

But if I keep him and put him back into the herd, he'll be eating up my resources. But Sam would be happy again. I don't want to break Sam's heart but I'm not sure what to do.

It seems I've lost on most of the rescues lately. Apparently there are only so many "diamonds in the rough" and the rest are just rocks. I've lost on Longhorn the donkey, Jim the Walker, and now Brego. He had a good life while he was here and I was able to bring him back from starvation but he apparently can't accept life as a riding horse.

I don't want to play God but I'm not sure what other options I have. So, if anyone actually reads this blog, what would you do in this situatation? I think I know what I have to do but it would be nice to hear how others would handle the same situation. The more information and options I have, the better it will be for me to make an educated decision.

Kramers Sale

I'm still in a terrible funk but wanted to make a quick report. We made a quick run to Kramers to see what was there. I had hoped that the old, half blind mare was there but she wasn't. I guess I'm not surprised but we all know that she's not in a good place now.

We got to Kramers about 5pm and they were just about ready to do horses. I made a quick walk through and was surprised to see only one horse. There were about a half dozen minis standing in one pen but only one horse. She was a beauty. I'm not sure what breed, possibly arab cross. She was also fairly young. Not spooky like some arabs. You could tell she was pretty well shut down. But oh was she pretty.

The minis were all huddled together. They were all pretty shaggy although I can't say anything to that degree since Skippy has a hard time shedding out too, even with constant grooming.

We didn't stay to see the prices. I wanted to see what types of horses were there and if necessary pull the old mare if she was there. But since there was only one horse and a half dozen minis I wanted to get back home to watch the Kentucky Derby. I'm sad that I didn't stay to see how much that beauty of a filly went for but I knew it would only upset me.

I can only come up with one of two reasons why there was only a handful of horses/minis. Next Saturday is the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Horse Sale. I'm guessing most people will take their horses to that auction since it's a bigger sale with more people. Unfortunatley there are more killer buyers at that sale too. I'm still learning the ropes as to who all is a kill buyer. The other reasoning would be that Kramers is actually cracking down on the thin, blind, and can't travel on all four feet types of horses. Except I talked with the vet who said she'll be there at this upcoming sale and is the one to turn them away.

I'm still at a loss as to how to protect those horses that will be turned away. They are going to die out in a pasture. Simply said, this new ruling is going to kill these horses. They now have NO chance of anyone saving them. It's not like I want the kill buyers to buy them for slaughter but now I won't even have a chance to try and pull any of these types of horses. They'll be hidden away in some pasture or barn.

The only thing I could possibly do is start running an ad in Kelo saying I'll take your thin, blind, and injured horses. Then I'd get all the wack job people coming out of the woodwork. And it wouldn't make these "owners" pay for their sins. So it's a catch 22. No matter the outcome, the horse is going to suffer.

I'm still in a funk so I doubt that I'll post more this coming week. We have a trail ride tomorrow and I'm planning on taking Zeke. It should be fun and I think I need a break from all the stress and just have an opportunity to ride. I've never ridden Zeke on a trail ride so it should be fun. He and I get along pretty well. I do really like him. He is a diamond in the rough.

I am planning on attending the Sioux Falls Regional Livestock Horse Sale this Saturday, May 8th if anyone wants to go with me. I'll be taking notes of prices, buyers, etc. I'm sure that after this sale I'll be even more "in a funk" than I currently am. I have to remind myself that even though I probably won't bring a horse home during this sale, I need to get my ducks in a row so that I can be prepared for bringing a couple horses home this fall when they really need to be saved. The prices will be less and there will be more kill buyers and less private buyers at the fall sales. That's my only saving grace for not doing more.

So the offer stands, if you're intersted in going, please let me know and we can go together.