This and That

Last night was such a gorgeous night. It was finally cool enough to start in on a few projects (and the moon was absolutely gorgeous). Sadly, Mike and I were both discussing projects that we need to accomplish. The sad part, the projects are all things we have to get done before winter. Here it is only the first part of August and we are already discussing things that absolutely have to get done before winter sets in.

Earlier this week we had a storm blow through. As we were trying to get everything under cover (thinking it might hail), a huge gust of wind blew through the trees. Never before have I seen leaves fall from the trees during the first part of August (or ever during August). It felt more like late September rather than early August. Unfortunately we didn't get much rain out of that storm either.

The weatherman predicted extreme heat for July and August. So far, they were right. I did hear a rumor that we are supposed to actually get rain for August and September. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but not holding my breath.

When I let the big herd out onto the pasture yesterday morning (we haven't had time to fence of the neighbor's pasture), I thought some of the herd had broken down a fence. There were three horses standing in the pasture. Nope, the geldings were all there. I forget that the mare pasture is in an "L" shape and they decided to stand at the end of the L enjoying a nice breeze. Last night when we went out to do chores, Mike wanted to check on the mares. Rabbit and Mayhem were standing by the water trough but Queen was no where to be seen. Mike went in search of her in case she was down. He later confessed that his stomach dropped twice while looking for her (don't worry, she was hanging out away from mean ol' Rabbit). But both times Mike saw a white lump lying on the ground, he thought it was Queen. With her age and this excessive heat, we are both very concerned for her welfare. I'm guessing at the end of this month, we will haul both Queen and Thor in to euthanize.

Bo came up lame the other day too. So now I have two lame horses and I can't figure out why other than they pulled muscle during their rampage through the countryside last Sunday. There's no heat or swelling in Bo's legs or in Ivan's legs. I can't figure out what is going on. If it doesn't improve soon, I'll have to haul them in to the vet and find out what's wrong.

I want to apologize for my rant yesterday. Work stress, health stress, lack of sleep (thank you sleep apnia) all rolled into a day I couldn't tolerate. I can handle only so much ignorance and apparently I reached mine early on yesterday morning.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the coolest day we've had in weeks. Mike and I are hoping to get up early and tear down the electric fence at the neighbor's and reset fence posts and wire. I'm hoping to have the herd back to the neighbor's by the end of the weekend. Two strands of wire and a stronger charger will hopefully fix some of the issue. Keeping Jim out of that herd will also help. Last year he tested the fence, escaped, and headed home (thank goodness Maverick was at home). I can't physically catch loose horses right now so everyone will have to be on their best behavior and stay put.

Although I've been fairly quiet on the rescue scene, avoiding auctions and not bringing anyone else in to the sanctuary, I do want to start gearing up to do some fundraising this fall and winter. Last year we took in four emaciated horses that depleted our funds and took its toll on me physically and emotionally. I've had a few very awesome ideas for fundraisers that I want to look into further once things settle down later this year. If you have any fundraiser ideas, I'd love to hear them. I'm hoping that if i can get my ducks in a row late fall/early winter, that we can start promoting the sanctuary early next year so that we might be able to come up with funds to take in a few horses and give them a decent retirement. If you have ideas, I would love to hear them. Please drop me a line at our Facebook page.