From our herd to yours, we hope you have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope that you are blessed this holiday season and all the seasons in between.
#MerryChristmas
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Monday, December 16, 2019
Pause
We are pushing the Pause button on all social media (unless it's an easy share on Facebook). It's now time to sit back, enjoy family, and reflect. It's time to be silly, laugh lots, enjoy one another's company, and simply be.
I've been too stressed for too long and it's taking its toll not just on me but also my kids and the horses. I would love to promote the Sanctuary during the year-end push but what we need now is rest.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope to see you all in 2020 with a new and fresh outlook on life.
I've been too stressed for too long and it's taking its toll not just on me but also my kids and the horses. I would love to promote the Sanctuary during the year-end push but what we need now is rest.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We hope to see you all in 2020 with a new and fresh outlook on life.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Life the Last Month
Life at the Sanctuary has been pretty busy the last month. The weekend before Thanksgiving, we packed up our bags and headed to the South Dakota Capital. We had been invited to participate in Christmas at the Capital. I'd only been there once before but love Christmas and so wanted the Sanctuary to be a part of it. We finally got our ducks in a row and were invited to participate. I love our tree. Each horse that has stepped foot on the Sanctuary is now adorned as an ornament on a fresh tree in the Capital. I love how it turned out. It's such a magical experience. I hope that we can do it again some time. I know I will be requesting to participate again. It really put me into the Christmas spirit seeing all the fresh trees and decorations and holiday cheer. It's rather magical. I'd highly recommend going!
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving was #GivingTuesday and #ForSouthDakota South Dakota Gives day! It was a jam packed ay of activities to showcase not just our Sanctuary but all nonprofits (that signed up) to see all the amazing work that these nonprofits are doing for South Dakota. There are so many out there I had no idea about. I so wish I could spend more time with each one getting to know them and learn more about their cause. During #GivingTuesday we had each Sanctuary horse write Santa a letter asking for one small item. We are continuing to collect items to fill their stocking. It's great fun!
For the month of December, we are doing the 12 Days of Sponsorship to get our senior horses sponsored. By sponsoring a horse, we can open our doors to more deserving seniors. As of today, we have been asked to take in 35 horses. Some may laugh at that number as it pales in comparison to what they have taken in or what they get asked but of us, it's a huge number. For me, every no is a knife to the heart knowing that I can't help them. If we can't help them, who will. I can only hope that others step up and help those that we cannot. As it is, we did say yes to 5 horses this year, which is more than we have in the past.
So for the 12 Days of Sponsorship, we post a horse and their "Match.com" profile of sorts. It's great fun and it helps me see the horses for who they are and rather than the ailments that they may have. We don't introduce ourselves with our ailments first. We introduce ourselves with who we are, what we like and what we don't like. I need to step back and remember that. They are all horses and being a horse comes first. Treating their ailments as they grow older is just a part of Sanctuary life. It's a good lesson for me to remember.
And it doesn't end there! Tonight we are headed to Tractor Supply in Sioux Falls to team up with Almost Home Canine Rescue to put up a Giving Tree! We are so excited to have a Giving Tree again. We've gone in with other organizations in the past and had so much fun. Sadly our schedule is so busy we have to ride on coat tails for this event most of the time. Luckily Almost Home is very forgiving of my schedule and in all honestly, they hold a special place in my heart since we used to foster for them years and years ago!
So even though I'm so far behind things are looking up. And when I joke that things are so far behind... I mean so far behind that I ran out of socks and I either had a choice of wearing my 7 year old's socks (which are too small) or I wear hospital socks from some of my previous trips. Yep, that far behind!
Hopefully once our Christmas tree is up, I'll be more in the Christmas spirit again and we can have some holiday cheer! I do love Christmas and if you don't, we invite you to visit and hope to get you into the Christmas spirit with the horses!
The Tuesday after Thanksgiving was #GivingTuesday and #ForSouthDakota South Dakota Gives day! It was a jam packed ay of activities to showcase not just our Sanctuary but all nonprofits (that signed up) to see all the amazing work that these nonprofits are doing for South Dakota. There are so many out there I had no idea about. I so wish I could spend more time with each one getting to know them and learn more about their cause. During #GivingTuesday we had each Sanctuary horse write Santa a letter asking for one small item. We are continuing to collect items to fill their stocking. It's great fun!
For the month of December, we are doing the 12 Days of Sponsorship to get our senior horses sponsored. By sponsoring a horse, we can open our doors to more deserving seniors. As of today, we have been asked to take in 35 horses. Some may laugh at that number as it pales in comparison to what they have taken in or what they get asked but of us, it's a huge number. For me, every no is a knife to the heart knowing that I can't help them. If we can't help them, who will. I can only hope that others step up and help those that we cannot. As it is, we did say yes to 5 horses this year, which is more than we have in the past.
So for the 12 Days of Sponsorship, we post a horse and their "Match.com" profile of sorts. It's great fun and it helps me see the horses for who they are and rather than the ailments that they may have. We don't introduce ourselves with our ailments first. We introduce ourselves with who we are, what we like and what we don't like. I need to step back and remember that. They are all horses and being a horse comes first. Treating their ailments as they grow older is just a part of Sanctuary life. It's a good lesson for me to remember.
And it doesn't end there! Tonight we are headed to Tractor Supply in Sioux Falls to team up with Almost Home Canine Rescue to put up a Giving Tree! We are so excited to have a Giving Tree again. We've gone in with other organizations in the past and had so much fun. Sadly our schedule is so busy we have to ride on coat tails for this event most of the time. Luckily Almost Home is very forgiving of my schedule and in all honestly, they hold a special place in my heart since we used to foster for them years and years ago!
So even though I'm so far behind things are looking up. And when I joke that things are so far behind... I mean so far behind that I ran out of socks and I either had a choice of wearing my 7 year old's socks (which are too small) or I wear hospital socks from some of my previous trips. Yep, that far behind!
Hopefully once our Christmas tree is up, I'll be more in the Christmas spirit again and we can have some holiday cheer! I do love Christmas and if you don't, we invite you to visit and hope to get you into the Christmas spirit with the horses!
Behind
I've wanted to post a few times lately. We are busy and have a few things going on but I haven't had the energy to write anything. So now I'm behind on sharing all that we've been working on. Now that Facebook is the norm for sharing information, I am not as good about sharing all the news in the blog as well.
I'd been very stressed the last few months leading up to November, what with trying to figure out how to bring in the four horses from Canistota. I didn't realize how stressed until after we found a different place for Pepper to go and let Ransom go. I also didn't realize how upset and stressed I was about letting Lace go as well. Losing these seniors is much harder on me than I realize some times. I was worried that I was immune to their loss but I'm not. I know I compartmentalize some of it but when I look back, I realize how much stress there is and how distant I sometimes get afterwards.
Sadly, when someone finds out that we have lost a horse, people immediately think we have a spot open. But people don't realize is that I need time. The herd needs time. We all need time to recover from the loss and get used to a new routine. We have these horses here for a few years and fall into a routine pretty quick so when one finally passes on, it's hard to adjust. It's only been a month and everyone seems to have adjusted, although I think Mayhem is depressed to some degree. Only when Lace and Junior were in Madison was she alone and now that she's in with Jessie and Diavlo, she's not really included in their "group". Dialvo doesn't allow it but I can't have Diavlo in the big herd either because he'll stress himself out and lose too much weight and that will also cause Jessie to stress out and she's already at a dangerous weight. She can't afford to lose any more. So it's a day by day situation and we'll see how things progress.
It's already December 11th and I don't even have our family Christmas tree up yet! Usually I have all the decorations up long before now but there's been so much going on I'm struggling to keep up.
The stomach bug also ran through our entire house over the last few days. That's taken us down for the count. Sadly even with the stomach bug, it still means the horses and dogs have to be fed. So in between bouts of sickness, I slowly walked out to the ponies and fed/watered them. These are the days I wish we had more auto waters available. And these are also the days I wonder my sanity for running a horse sanctuary for old horses in South Dakota. Why not somewhere warmer?!
I have more to share on all that's been going on but will post again very soon.
I'd been very stressed the last few months leading up to November, what with trying to figure out how to bring in the four horses from Canistota. I didn't realize how stressed until after we found a different place for Pepper to go and let Ransom go. I also didn't realize how upset and stressed I was about letting Lace go as well. Losing these seniors is much harder on me than I realize some times. I was worried that I was immune to their loss but I'm not. I know I compartmentalize some of it but when I look back, I realize how much stress there is and how distant I sometimes get afterwards.
Sadly, when someone finds out that we have lost a horse, people immediately think we have a spot open. But people don't realize is that I need time. The herd needs time. We all need time to recover from the loss and get used to a new routine. We have these horses here for a few years and fall into a routine pretty quick so when one finally passes on, it's hard to adjust. It's only been a month and everyone seems to have adjusted, although I think Mayhem is depressed to some degree. Only when Lace and Junior were in Madison was she alone and now that she's in with Jessie and Diavlo, she's not really included in their "group". Dialvo doesn't allow it but I can't have Diavlo in the big herd either because he'll stress himself out and lose too much weight and that will also cause Jessie to stress out and she's already at a dangerous weight. She can't afford to lose any more. So it's a day by day situation and we'll see how things progress.
It's already December 11th and I don't even have our family Christmas tree up yet! Usually I have all the decorations up long before now but there's been so much going on I'm struggling to keep up.
The stomach bug also ran through our entire house over the last few days. That's taken us down for the count. Sadly even with the stomach bug, it still means the horses and dogs have to be fed. So in between bouts of sickness, I slowly walked out to the ponies and fed/watered them. These are the days I wish we had more auto waters available. And these are also the days I wonder my sanity for running a horse sanctuary for old horses in South Dakota. Why not somewhere warmer?!
I have more to share on all that's been going on but will post again very soon.
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