2014 Ideas Needed

I know I shouldn't be complaining about the cold temps. We ARE in the middle of winter but this year seems to be dragging on. I guess if it wasn't for the weather I'd be complaining about something else, probably about the horse industry and the talks of opening a slaughterhouse in the US.

I know I should be doing more with the Sanctuary. There's so much that needs to be done and get done but at the end of the day, I seem to fall asleep after just sitting down. Even last night, after putting my feet up to watch a tv program I hadn't seen in months (not sure why I even watched it since I don't know what's going on), I found myself waking up at 4am with only an hour more of sleep. I fell asleep before the weather report came on. I'm starting to feel old. Ok, change that. I FEEL old. 

Tuesday night after doing chores, I went ahead and got stalls ready for Wednesday night's blasted cold. I'm learning that I need to get the stalls ready BEFORE the next day, otherwise I have horses trying to "help" me. This weather is getting crazy. Last night was teens below zero. Today we are into single digits above zero. Tomorrow we are supposed to be in the upper thirties with a chance of precip. You know what type of precip we'll get? Rain.

And rain turns into freezing rain, which turns into sleet, which turns into ice. Sorry, obvious breakdown of weather. But by Sunday night we are supposed to go back to below zero temps so we'll have more ice to deal with. Hopefully that means no more blowing snow. But the weatherman said that with the crust of snow we have, the new snow can't stick (because it's so light) so that's why we have blowing snow. I think from now until we go into spring, we'll be dealing with blizzard conditions more often.

I'll be excited when we don't have to deal with below zero temps any more. I shouldn't complain because we don't have much in the way of snow. I need to start focusing my attention on the horses and what we can do to promote the Sanctuary and horses in general. This IS the Year of the Horse!

So what's something you want to see the Sanctuary do this year in honor of the Year of the Horse? I'm looking for ideas on how we can promote the Sanctuary. The more publicity, possibly the more funds that come in so we could take in another horse.

Speaking of taking in another horse, we can't right now. But that doesn't stop me from thinking about it. Back in November we had to turn horses away and we still do. But I cant' stop thinking about Gentle Spirits Horse Rescue and Sanctuary's Jackie. We don't have space for her and she's save at GSH. But I can't stop thinking about her. We can't take her in because we don't have the funds and we've turned away a couple of horses. But if we were to take her (because I think she'd be a good heart horse), she'd free up some space at GSH for a horse that could potentially go to an auction. It's a bit of a catch 22. If we take her, we definitely don't have any space for any that need it. But she's also taking up a space at a rescue that takes in horses and finds them homes. So I'm torn. And I'm sure she wouldn't fit in very well with Rabbit. She would with Mayhem but Rabbit is boss mare no matter where she goes. If life were only easier.

 I guess I have a little bit of cabin fever causing me to be down in the dumps today. I should be happy, we actually have SUN! I'll simply be happy with the fact that we have happy horses who are safe.  I've been avoiding reading discussion boards and looking on Facebook at some of the horses. I'm not sure why I can't stomach the thought right now of horses being neglected. Probably because its' been such a terrible winter. I'm still not recovered from taking in four emaciated horses in 2011 (2012 doesn't count because I was pregnant for most of it!) :-) I would like to start going to auctions just to get an idea of prices and potentially bring someone home, even if it's simply to rehome them into a better place. We'll see how it goes.

But for now, I guess I'm curious to know what everyone wants to see from the Sanctuary this year. I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas. I am always looking at ways to try and improve the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is only me but I want to try to keep improving wherever I can. I look forward to hearing your ideas!