Goodbye Lace

For those that don't follow us on Facebook, we put Lace down November 4th. It was so painful but I didn't think it fair to make her struggle through another winter simply because I wanted her near.


She had come to us in December 2015 with an enlarged knee, most likely from her previous career as a barrel racer. She'd turned broodmare in a second career and we welcomed her to enjoy her retirement in peace. She was with us for just shy of four years (which is about the length of time our seniors stay with us).


She came to us angry. Whatever had happened in her previous careers and life before coming to Borderlands had taken its toll. We gave her time and space and she came around very quickly. Within a couple of months she was a happy mare again, which is exactly what we want for our horses!


She enjoyed grazing and hanging out with her mare friends (as long as she was in charge). She wasn't "in love" with Junior but she liked being near him. When we lost Junior two years ago, the herd dynamic in the mare pen changed again.


As Lace's knee grew bigger and she put more weight on her other leg, the other leg started to deteriorate. It was a shock last year to see the dropped ligament. I was devastated. We gave her one extra year and she told us she was ready. Her legs were deteriorating quickly and we wanted to do what was right.


Sadly, when I opened the door to the trailer for her final ride, she pulled the lead rope out of my hand and sailed into the trailer. She was ready for a barrel race. It broke my heart. I should have been hauling her wherever she wanted to go but I had no idea she liked to travel. Of course, I think she preferred the new trailer that we bought and was excited to try it out. Sadly, it was her last right.


After we said goodbye, our farrier took her leg so that we can learn from Lace. It's a bit hard to take knowing but if we can help other horses, and others can learn from her, then I guess it's ok. We get updates as our farrier learns more about what had happened to Lace to cause the big knee.  And to find out that she was probably in severe pain and had lived like that for years makes me sad. The only consolation is that she knew love, was pampered as much as I can, and she left this earth with a full belly of grass and hay, a warm mash in her belly, and surrounded by loved ones.


You will be deeply missed Lace. May we meet again some day.

From two years ago before her legs started to really deteriorate



From three summers ago at the summer retreat

Lace from a few years ago, before her legs started to deteriorate

Waiting

Nothing this weekend went as planned.


We didn't haul hay like we'd planned. It's now all sitting in a different location at the summer retreat. Hopefully next weekend we can get it all hauled home. It's at least moved out of the field so it can't get snowed in. Where it's at now is in a terrible place if the snow comes this week (it won't). This is sort of why I prefer to be as self-sufficient as possible. I really hate having to rely on others because things always happen and they can't help and I'm left holding the bag scrambling to make things work. Or it doesn't get done and that adds more stresses to me.


What's going to happen with Ransom is still up in the air. I have to go to a different vet today to do an x-ray on his feet. My farrier is coming with so we can decide right on the spot what to do. We will hopefully go back to our other vet to put Lace down and if necessary, put Ransom down.


I'm not ready for today. I don't want to say goodbye to Lace but I know she can't make another cold South Dakota winter. Her legs have deteriorated more and this fast approaching cold snap will not do her any good. I'd rather that she leave with sunshine on her back, and grass in her belly. There's no sun but at least there's no snow and it's not bitterly cold. If I think about what's to come this afternoon, I can't breath and I cant' stop crying. It's the part of Sanctuary that I can't handle. I hate this part but I know I have to be the one to make the decision and no one else. If only they would go on their own.


It's simply the part of Sanctuary that I hate. I know that some day I will see them again. They will be without pain. But I will still miss them. I have a hard time with change. I have a hard time with letting go.


And I have no idea what we will do with Ransom. I am guessing that we will be saying goodbye to him as well. It's not fair to make him suffer. He's uncomfortable with the big herd because his feet hurt too much. If we do keep him, he'll be in with Jessie and that will drive Diavlo insane. But I can't keep a water tank going in the middle of winter with four horses on it. It means I'll be hauling 40 gallons or more in the middle of the night because that's when I finally get to do chores, because me doing chores at any other time is an inconvenience to others. So we will wait and see.


I hate the waiting. I hate the not knowing. I am a planner. Today I will simply hate the day.

Hauling Hay and Vet Appointments

I got a call last night that our hay can now be picked up. The September flooding in Madison flooded out the road to where our hay is sitting. Now that the crops are out of the fields and the ground is slightly harder now, we can start hauling hay home.


We plan on doing that this weekend. Our hay guy was going to get it out of the field this weekend no matter what so there's no threat of it getting snowed in. Where it's at, is a prime location for snow drifts and making it impossible to get there with a truck and trailer. So we'll be hauling home 55 bales of big round bales. I'll be happy to have them home. Not so happy to pay for the hay. We've been really low on fundraising this year. We've been doing donations through Facebook but discovered the third-party company helping is taking a huge chunk of money so we'll be boycotting their donate button from now on. Sad cuz it was handy. I expect our donations online to go down. But to find the $4,000 to pay for the hay is going to be tough.


But once the hay is home, I'll heave a sigh of relief. It's one less thing to worry about for this winter. I expect a bad winter but know if we are prepared with enough hay, that I won't have to worry about keeping our seniors fat and happy, which is our ultimate goal at Borderlands.


In other news, my farrier is willing to help haul horses to the vet on Monday so I'm waiting to see if Monday works. It's also the nicest day this week (and will probably be the last nice day until spring).


I don't want to go tho.


It means we have to say goodbye to Lace and I'm just not ready. But time is running out to say goodbye and ensure she stays happy and not in pain. Her legs are failing and with the colder weather setting in, I want to do right by her. So we'll be saying goodbye to Lace next week.


We will be doing x-rays on Ransom to see what his feet look like. I expect they are bad so we'll have to make the tough decision to say goodbye to him as well. It's a tough decision no matter what. But I have to say goodbye to Lace and take care of her body now that disposal is an issue these days, it makes sense to make sure Ransom doesn't suffer either. We'll see how it goes.


I'm going to try and get Jessie into the vet as well. I'm not sure if that will work though. She might not load in the trailer. If she loads, she might lose her mind. And if she loads and lets the others load, I have to make sure Diavlo doesn't lose his mind. I'll be taking all his family away from him. He's finally leaving Jessie's side to graze in the non-existent pasture. Ransom is out on the pasture because he doesn't feel good enough to be in the big herd to eat hay. So that means he's staying far away. If we lose Ransom, I may put Diavlo in with Jessie since it'll just be Mayhem and Jessie in the pasture. If we keep Ransom, then he'll go in with Mayhem and Jessie but that'll make Diavlo mad. But I can't keep up with four horses on a water tank. As it is, Jessie drinks a LOT of water. That or it's Mayhem but I can't keep up. I wish we would have been able to get the water lines buried but that didn't happen. I'm going to really push to get water lines buried next spring so that I don't have to deal with hauling water in the winter. We are so busy these days I need to come up with ways to shorten my chores so I'm not out doing chores late at night (like I do most nights after the kids go to bed). It's really tough to don the heavy winter clothes to do chores at 10pm in the dead of winter.


We have lots going on in the next week. There's going to be many tears on my part but that's a part of Sanctuary life. Laughter and joy when we open our doors to a deserving senior and even more tears when we have to make the decision to say goodbye.


I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything going on. My head and heart can't seem to take everything that's going on. I could really use some moral support right about  now.

25 Degrees

We have had a 25 degree change from yesterday morning to this morning. I don't know the overall temperature shift but it's pretty prominent. Yesterday was oddly hot and humid for the last day of September with temps starting at 74 degrees. I was shocked when I stepped outside to do chores. 74 degrees at 6am is crazy and usually only happens once in the summer (not in the fall). Had I known, I would have opened every window in the house! I love fresh air!


Fast forward to this morning, I struggled to get out of bed with a thunderstorm rolling in but it being so dark I had no motivation. It wasn't like a normal thunderstorm where I could see it rolling in. I woke to rain on the roof and rumbling thunder (a hard motivation to get up and get moving when snuggled under a warm blanket). When I did run out to let the big herd out to pasture, it was 49 degrees. Hello October! The rain, the clouds, the dark mornings and early nights are normal for this time of year so yesterday was a bit of a shock. My only regret is that I didn't take the day off the paying job to get a few outside projects worked on while the weather was warm.


I forgot what it was like to do chores in the dark (both morning and night). Now that the pastures are close to being done, I need to start supplementing with grain for the hard keepers. Some aren't exactly hard keepers but they aren't the ones that get fat on air. So now we are graining Lace, Jim, and Jesse. I want to start graining Dude but he hasnt' figured out what I'm asking of him just yet so he doesn't stand at the door waiting his turn to get in.


I set up corral panels to let Lace in to grain her. She gets annoyed because the ponies try to bother her. Jim has the entire barn to enjoy his mash. We'll be moving the ponies shortly but I want them to get the most of their lawn time as possible. The less I have to throw hay to them, the better! Then there's Jesse. Because I'm still getting used to her, I can't take as many liberties as I would with others. I can't feed her in the pen with Ransom and Diavlo because they push her out. So that means I have to halter her and lead her out, making sure the other two don't try to escape (darn boys). I can't grain her in the stall in the hay shed because she will freak out (or so I'm guessing). The geldings are very insecure without Jesse there with them. They aren't happy that she's on the other side of the fence in full view of them. But Jesse is quickly figuring out the grain thing. I halter her, lead her out, and I stand patiently while she devours her grain mash.


She's much too thin for my liking. I really dont' know if she'll make it this winter but I have to try before making the decision to put her down. This could very well be a simple lack of extra nutrition and bad teeth. She didn't lift her head the entire time she was eating. Usually the others always life their head and spill their grain (some do it on purpose to make eating last longer). But not Jesse. She didn't lift her head until she had the feeder almost licked clean. That tells me she's hungry and of course she loves her food. We are starting her off slow with the grain. I suspect she's not had grain before, just treats. Because I don't know the condition of her teeth, we are soaking everything. She's on one scoop of Purina Senior at the moment but after she adjusts, I want to increase that amount and possibly mix in a few other grains to help generate more weight gain. We'll see. Every horse is different for gaining weight. Jesse was more than happy to go back to her pen after she was done eating but I think she would have been content to eat her grain longer. But doing chores in the dark with kids that need to go to bed limited the amount of time she could stand around and lick the entire dish clean.


Jesse needs a sponsor. She needs teeth done, farrier work, and massive amounts of grain, besides a new blanket. I'm not sure she's ever had a blanket but it's definitely needed if she's going to survive this winter. She lost weight after coming to the Sanctuary. She's in a pen and that's not to her liking. She needs to be on pasture but I'm not yet ready to split her herd up and put her in with Lace and Mayhem. I'd rather not stress out Lace yet. So we are keeping a close eye on Jesse and will have to figure something out if she continues to lose weight because of stress.


Tomorrow we are supposed to try loading the last mare to get her home. If not, I'll be walking her this weekend to get her home. So stressful. Hopefully with the other mare home, Jesse will calm down.

Foster Care

Last week in all the commotion of every day living with small kids and their summer activities, I got a message from my cousin. Last year she'd asked if we had room for her two horses. At the time, I was pregnant and couldn't take on any more. She kept them and figured out how to relocate to a different acreage and get fencing up (beautiful place, wish I could live there).


So when she messaged me last week, I was surprised. Her beautiful mare was coming to the end of her time on this earth. I shared my knowledge on what to expect for the very last minutes on earth and how to somewhat prepare. You can never really prepare for such a loss.


Now her second horse is alone.


We are going to rectify that situation. We will be hauling My Girl to live as a long-term foster. It'll be our first try at it and I do believe My Girl will be absolutely spoiled to no end. More so than she is here. I'm a little nervous about it just because she's not in my care but I know she'll be in very capable hands and will do even better than she is doing here. Can you say super spoiled?!?


My Girl is very attached to Mayhem. But she's going to a home where another red mare will be waiting for a friend and companion to fill the void. My Girl will be the solid figure that this other mare needs.


I had tossed around the idea of taking Mayhem but she's got a few health issues. Although my cousin's mare is accident prone, I didn't think she needed TWO accident prone mares! Both being red mares is a handful so we opted for My Girl.


I also didn't think that My Girl would handle being left behind if we took Mayhem. Lace is still here but she too isn't long for this earth and then who would My Girl hang out with? I figured it would cause My Girl more anxiety to be left behind than to go to long-term foster. And it would cause Lace some serious issues as well. She's very sore on her legs and being run over by My Girl looking for Mayhem would not be good. My Girl has only been here for 3.5 months. Enough to feel settled, which is what I want and I am worried about unsettling her but between the two, moving My Girl is a better option. When we lose Lace, it'll be back to Mayhem being alone. We'll have to fill that spot but I expect that won't take more than a whisper on the wind and we'll have more than we can handle for those wanting to come in to the Sanctuary.


Because of our crazy schedule, we can't take My Girl down until Saturday. I'm hoping we can get her to her foster home right away Saturday and get home. It'll be four hours round trip (not really that bad). But I also have lots to work on at home. We need to work on getting a roof on the old garage. We had to repair it two years ago when the chimney fell in but now the other portion is starting to leak. We need to get back to focusing on our outbuildings before they crumble to the ground.


I'm sure I'll be in a frenzy the closer the weekend comes simply because we will be moving horses around. I don't worry too much about Mayhem but I do worry about My Girl. I dont' like change but I think this move will be ok for My Girl and for the other mare involved. I always seem to put myself in their shoes and worry. If I only I could tell them and let them know its' all for the best.

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday to Lace and Junior last summer. They were not impressed with watermelon

Be My Valentine - Lace

Meet Lace

Whitelacenpromises is her name but we call her Lace. Oh what I would give to have met Lace in her earlier years. The story goes that in one of her previous years, she was a barrel racer and with her focus and attitude, I can totally see how she was a barrel racer. Even now, years after her career, I can see the many miles she traveled and the hours that were spent on her to make her the mare she is today.

She's a definite people horse. She almost prefers people to horses. When the farrier comes out, she practically falls asleep. I think she loves all the attention and isn't afraid to admit it either. She's a mare that I'm willing to halter, and open the gate to let her wander the yard. She's just that type of mare I trust.

Even though she's a very bombproof riding mare, we don't ride her. She came to us in December 2015 as a broodmare. But that's not the reason why we refuse to ride her. She came in to the Sanctuary with an enlarged knee. Her knee only bothers her after a farrier visit (simply for having to put additional weight on that leg and bending that knee when she normally never does) and when the weather is terribly cold. During these last few cold snaps, I've noticed that her knee has really started to bother her but she doesnt' let that get in her way.

She absolutely LOVES her food. The secret to her heart is with food. She'll love you know matter what if you give her any attention but if you give her a quick snack or grain, she'll be yours for the rest of your life.

Lace would love to have a sponsor. Monthly sponsorship for Lace is $50 and that covers her trims and grain. She also needs to be on Buteless during the winter months to make sure her knee doesn't bother her. Buteless is $50 but lasts for more than a month. In return for your monthly sponsorship, you'll receive a monthly update about Lace and pictures of her hanging out and enjoying retirement.

Sponsorship donations can be paid via PayPal at www.paypal.me/Borderlands or mailed to

Borderlands Horse Sanctuary
PO Box 164
26160 457th Ave
Humboldt, SD 57035

#MyValentine

Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday to last spring with Junior and Lace at their spring pasture in Madison

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday

This Wishlist Wednesday, we wish for senior feed. We aren't picky about the brand, we integrate the senior feed if/when we switch brands. The senior horses (and hard keepers) need senior feed to keep them fat, happy, and sassy during the long, cold days and nights of winter. We want to give them just a little bit extra when they need it to make sure they maintain the correct weight.

Even one bag makes a difference in making sure our senior horses and hard keepers maintain the right weight to keep them happy.

Junior and Lace

King, Chaos, Dude, Rain, and Zeke

Zeke

Trivia Answer 5

Trivia Question 5:
How many mares live at the Sanctuary and who are they?

There are TWO mares at the Sanctuary and they are Mayhem and Lace.

Bo Update and other Misc Stuff

I sound like a broken record these days. There's just so much to do and so little time to get it all done. I seem to be struggling as of late and not sure how to get everything accomplished. The paying job has me hopping and by the end of the day my brain is done in. I guess we'll see if I can pull through with a fully functioning brain after this. Two and a half months of high pressure coming my way. But enough of that.


The last few days have been so chaotic that I havent' been able to do a really good assessment of Bo. So last night, I did a quick assessment and I am happy.


His leg is healing nicely. I need to do some cleanup and trim the hair around the cut but it's healing so that you wouldn't even know there was a huge gash in his leg. The swelling in that leg has also gone down. There's still swelling in his back legs from his heart failure but that's a different thing. The swelling in the front leg is much improved and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all. His back end is bothering him, which does give me some concern but he's been having issues with his hips for the last couple of months.


The air pocket that started in his shoulder and that started moving up his neck and wrapped all the way around his chest is starting to go away. The air is out of his neck and there's only a small pocket in his shoulder. It's all in his chest. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but his body is taking care of him. It's odd to tap on his shoulder to get him to move and feel that air pocket so I'm really happy it's going away. Even in heart failure, his body is still working hard to keep him protected.


He's back in the big herd but I'm not sure if that's helping or not. It's keeping the swelling down because he's constantly moving but I'm not sure about the depression. Being away from horses caused him depression but being in the big herd causes him stresses as well.


We did switch his grain around and he's been improving on that so no ulcers have reared its ugly head. It's Ramona feed and consists of oats, cracked corn, and I think soy meal. He's not gaining weight but he's also not losing weight either. I started adding in some senior feed. Originally it was to get him to eat his uniprim but after he finished with that, I continued on using it to see if that would help with the weight issue.


I think his heart was pounding so bad when we went to the vet that I was sure he was going to die within days. But now that he's home and relaxed with a standard routine, he's a lot calmer. We could have him for a few more months at this rate.. and that makes me happy. I won't prolong his life just to keep me happy but I want to make sure I've done everything. He hasn't told me he's ready to go.


There for awhile, he was off his feed and that scared me but I think now that he's back into his normal routine with the herd, he's much happier and he's been polishing off all of his grain.


We are headed into a cold snap so I'll be blanketing a few of the hard keepers. I struggle with what to do with Jim. He's our 30 year old Tennessee Walker and he's in better shape than Bo, the 16 year old. I wouldn't say that Jim has had an easy life but a lot less stress than Bo's for sure. Both the farrier and the vet have been impressed by how he's aging.  Oh if only all of our seniors would age as gracefully as Jim.


Junior is doing ok. He's enjoying his nightly grain mix. I'm still trying to figure out if the balance of grains I gave him last year will work this year. He seems to be doing ok but I'm keeping a watchful eye on him.


Lace is picking up some weight as well now that I'm graining her. She seemed a tad thinner than I liked...not thin or anything but I like them going into winter fat. She's adamant about her grain these days and will demand she get fed. She's second in command so she'll wait for Junior to go into his stall before I feed her but she wont let Mayhem grab a bite. Smart girl.


The last few days have been crazy busy with non Sanctuary activities. I am hoping for a short period of quiet but with Christmas right around the corner, I don't see that happening. I forgot what it was like to be so excited for Christmas until this year. Five year olds make you excited for Christmas and are so enthusiastic for all the activities. So while we plug along at the paying job and the every day chores, we're throwing in a lot of Christmas activities. So if we aren't around, it's only because I'm buried up to my eyebrows with work and I want to give my attention to my kids during the holidays...not that I don't give them my attention but there's extra activities at this time of year.


I'm sure to write more later but if you don't see me until the end of the week, it's that we are buried and I'm getting prepared for an upcoming storm on Thursday. Winter will definitely be here. Ironic that on the official start of winter, we'll get a snowstorm.

Thankful - Day 3

Facebook reminded me that last year on this day while doing the Thankful challenge, that I was happy for no wind while feeding hay.

I'll have to echo last year's sentiments. I am thankful for no wind. We've had lots of wind lately and it's nice to have a few calm nights and mornings!

It makes everyone happier.

Junior enjoying supper

Lace enjoying her snack

Look Whos Driving

I needed to pick up Junior and Lace yesterday and figured I might as well take the dogs to the vet for their yearly shots. I'm all about killing two birds with one stone (sorry, hate that expression but that's totally what I'm filling...getting stuff off my to do list). Time is so limited these days that I have to really sit down and figure out how to squeeze in all that has to get done.

Junior and Lace needed to come home but will hopefully be going back in a couple of weeks. Junior already looks better being on the pasture in Madison so I'm hoping we can get him back up there for a little bit longer. I am already stressed and worried about Bo. I'd rather have only one horse to really worry about rather than two (ok, so I worry anyway but it's different).

Penny was due for her shots so I figured I'd run to the vet and then pick up the horses.

Can you tell they were not impressed with me after their vet appointment.

Farley loves to travel. Penny, not so much. But hopefully we can fix that. Penny is very much overweight and Farley is about right, sitting at 82 pounds. Unfortunately, he's too big for me to lift in and out of the truck but he needs help getting in and out. This is why we dont' travel with him...and he farts. All. The. Time.

This was my view after I got Lace and Junior loaded. Penny tried to talk me into letting her drive home. Not yet girly. you need to be able to see over the steering wheel. :-)

But all is good again and hopefully we can convince Penny that traveling isnt' such a bad thing.

Returning from Summer Retreat

Junior and Lace are home from their "Summer Retreat" much to Mayhem's delight. She's been stuck hanging on the fence line waiting for them to return or hanging out with the ponies. I think she was practically giddy when they returned. Lace, not so much but she was happy to trot around the pasture and check everything out. Junior went right to eating.

The heat took its toll on Junior so he isnt' has plump as I had hoped. But the heat is also taking its toll on Bo as well. So the two hardest keepers are having a rough go of it with this summer heat in the upper 90s with humidity to boot.

I forget how well trained Lace is. I tied her to the trailer to load Junior first. I had forgotten and loaded Lace first only to realize I needed to do the ol' switch-a-roo. Wouldn't you know, I had tied Lace too short and while I was closing the center divider, Lace decided to self load. Of course it didn't go well because she was still tied and *I* was in the way. We collided but I think she took the brunt of the hit.  I guess she was ready to go home. Unfortunately, the flies at the summer retreat are terrible. I have no idea why because the neighbor's feedlot doesn't exist any more but the flies still seem to swarm the minute there are animals.

I am sure that Lace will put Mayhem in her place. When I went out this morning to do chores, all three were standing by the red shed enjoying the morning breeze. When I'd left to pick up Lace and Junior there was a slight breeze but by the time I got home (a full hour later), we had wind. I hate driving in wind, so I was glad I'd made the trip as quickly as possible.

I am hoping that the pasture for these three will hold out. I need to get the other pasture sprayed  before they get into it. The weeds took over a portion of it so hopefully I'll find the time to do some spraying.  Mayhem has been in there a week or two and she's only trampled down along the fence line.

So now everyone is home and happy. I love that Junior and Lace can go to their "summer retreat" to fatten up and get a break but I am always happy to have them come home. The place doesn't feel right without the entire herd relaxing at home. Because the Sanctuary is "Home".

Throwback Thursday

Our Throwback Thursday is to earlier this week! I didn't post any patriotic pictures for the 4th of July so here's the best I can do!

Summer Retreat

Made a quick trip over noon to haul Junior and Lace up to their "summer retreat". Their pasture was done and I've been trying to get them to Madison for over a week now. I'm happy they are up there but will miss seeing them every day. I'm guessing they will stay up there for a little over a month as long as the pasture holds and there's rain to keep the pasture going.


I'm trying to see how I can make the pastures go farther this year to try and hold off on having to use hay. Hay is going to be expensive this year I'm afraid.


But for now, Junior and Lace are happy as larks eating their fool heads off.


Pictures tell better words. I'll post a video later too.

Lace and Junior

Lace and Junior

Stretching Legs

After the big herd moved out to pasture, I spent a few minutes and let Mayhem and the ponies out on some of the lawn that Junior, Lace, and Bo have been eating. The pasture Junior, Lace, and Bo have been on for the past almost two months is done so I was looking to use up the lawn pasture before moving corral panels.


I was also able to find some rouge weeds and get them sprayed when I sprayed the other pasture. I decided to see what the ponies and Mayhem would do on grass. There wasn't really anything left so thought it would be a good time to get them adjusted to grass as well. They were only on the pasture for two days before they burned down a couple of spots.


We had to move the blue trailer around so I lost some fencing. I'll blog about the trailers in another post.


But for now I wanted to show some more pictures of the horses. I had to move the ponies and Mayhem back to their pen but I'm going to play musical pens this week because I'll be gone Friday and Saturday night for the Estelline Rodeo. So those three will go back into the smaller pen that still has a round bale that the big herd hasn't demolished. That bale should last them until I can get back Sunday morning.


After this weekend, I'll be moving corral panels around and getting the next pasture ready. I'll finish up using the lawn pasture and then we'll go from there. I'm trying to save my pastures in case we are going into a drought. After living through a drought recently, I'm not sure I can handle another one so quickly on our heals (it was a few years ago but I'm still not recovered from it financially).


But for now, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the ponies and Mayhem. Mayhem was unimpressed with Bo being on the other side of the fence and Lace seemed overly crabby about having Mayhem anywhere close to Junior. Aah, the joys of mares!

Tommy stretching his legs.

Skippy is unimpressed with this heat and humidity

Skippy stretching his legs

Mayhem, Tommy, and Skippy on the "lawn" pasture. This "pasture" is done too so we'll be moving them to a different part of the lawn next week. Until then, they'll be back on a drylot, eating hay.

Getting Fat

I hauled Lace and Junior to Madison Monday night. I think the couple of pictures speak for themselves.

Get fat Junior and enjoy! We'll see you in just under two weeks.

Wishlist Wednesday

Wishlist Wednesday: Our wishlist Wednesday item is for electric fencing, either high utility (or whatever it's called) or rope. At this point, I'd be fine with tape but I think the rope would be best of all so they horses can actually see it.

We need to divide the big pasture and it'll most likely be temporary but I would love to have electric fencing to ensure the horses stay in the correct part of the pasture.

I'm not sure what electric fencing is running right now at TSC. I've been sort of ignoring it but know that we'll be hitting our full stride for fencing in another couple of weeks. We are playing catch up on other things. But fencing is always a task that needs to be worked on.

Junior with Lace in the background

Pics of Lace

I'm taking advantage of my phone working (it's already starting to flake out again) and getting pics of the Sanctuary horses. Now that it's warmed up, my phone wont' freeze and I can post pics to Facebook and then post to our blog! Yay for finally  moving into the 21st century!

Way back in December 2015 we took in Lace. I have been terrible about posting pictures of her. So I'm making up for it by showing pictures today! I went out yesterday during early feeding and took pics specifically of Lace to show her off.

I hope you enjoy!

I hadn't been graining her but with Junior and Rabbit getting grain, she was giving me a pitiful look. So I caved and give her a scoop of sweet feed. She loves her grain. In fact, she's boss mare when it comes to grain (after Junior goes into his stall). She won't let Mayhem eat any grain. I was worried that Mayhem would take all of Lace's grain. Nope, Mayhem doesn't even come close to Lace when it's feeding time.

From what I gathered, Lace was once a barrel racer. I think that information is true. She loads into a trailer like a dream and refuses to turn around in a trailer. She insists on backing out.

She also loves to have her feet trimmed. Well, maybe love isn't the right word but she does LOVE attention and the farrier visit only gave her more time to be around people and handled. she loves to be around people. So I think she definitely was pampered in her early years as a barrel racer.

I'm not sure when she turned from a barrel racer to a broodmare. When we got her, she'd been at a breeders north of the Sanctuary for only about two months. I think she'd been with her previous, previous owner for a few years prior to that but I don't know for sure. I would love to know what babies are out there that came from Lace. I haven't done any digging but would love to know where they are and if we have the space and the funds and when they fit our criteria, open our doors to let them retire here as well. Although I doubt that any of her babies are old. Lace is only about 23 years old but I need to verify with her papers.

You can see in the above and below pictures that her right knee is enlarged. The farrier looked at it and said that part of it is hard and calcified and the other half is full of fluid. It doesn't typically bother her except when she's trimmed so we'll look at buting her before we do another trim. When we did trim her and the farrier stretched her leg out from, Lace did some stretches as well. So I do think she is used to the old barrel racer stretches. I need to remember to start stretching her legs out to see if that would help keep her limber.

There's just so much wisdom in Lace. She's seen so much and knows so much it's amazing. I think at some point she's going to be my heart horse. She seems to know when I need a little bit of encouragement. She isn't yet to Queen's heart horse standards but I haven't really given Lace the opportunity as I'm not around as much as I would like. But I don't think it will be much longer before she's my go-to heart horse for when I need a hug and a good cry into a mane.

I am so glad that we opened our doors to her and that we took the leap of faith to say yes to an older mare. There's something about these older mares that really grabs at my heart. I used to be an all gelding type of girl but these mares are really getting into my heart. So much wisdom. So much heart.