Conviction

In a state where people view horses as livestock and have pro-slaughter views, at least a few people saw the need to reprimand those that abuse and neglect horses.

From our local news:

Couple Convicted of Horse Neglect Near Rapid City

RAPID CITY, SD - 

Jurors in Rapid City took just over an hour to convict a couple of neglecting dozens of horses last winter.

Donald and Terri Harwood were found guilty Friday of nine counts each of inhumane treatment of an animal.

Deputies in January seized 69 horses at the Rapid Valley home. A prosecutor says the horses at times were left without hay or water, and some were thin and weak. A defense attorney argued the Harwoods were caring for the horses, and that skyrocketing hay prices and illness among the horses played a big role in the case.

The Harwoods owned about 30 of the animals and were boarding the rest.

The maximum punishment on each count is a year in jail and $2,000 fine.

Now my question is, what are the penalties that they will actually have to pay? Lives were lost and yet I expect the repurcusions will be minimal. $2,000 fine is not adequate in my eyes nor is one year in jail (which I expect if that were issues, they'd be able to get out after a few days). If I hear more, I'll let you know. I find it hard for people to not value a life more highly. It's sad what this world has become.

Reckless

Pretty cool:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/real-war-horse-life-legend-marine-corps-four-111627633.html?vp=1

Neglect in SD

From our local news:

SD Couple Accused of Horse Neglect on Trial
RAPID CITY, SD - 

A Rapid City couple is on trial for allegedly neglecting dozens of horses last winter.

Donald and Terri Harwood were charged with numerous counts of inhumane treatment of an animal after the Pennington County Sheriff's Office in January seized 69 horses owned by the couple or left in their care. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Prosecutor Megan Poppen says the horses at times were left without hay or water, and some were thin and weak. Defense attorney Connor Duffy says the Harwoods were taking action to care for the horses, and that skyrocketing hay prices and illness among the horses played a big role in the case.

Of course I have an issue with the Defense attorney's response. Umm, hello?!? We ALL have been dealing with the skyrocketing hay prices and any horse can become ill. If you have that many, maybe you should have budgeted.  Don't use those excuses on me because those are too thin to walk on. I doubt they will get more than a slap on the wrist. I hope Karma strikes them down.

Days Getting Shorter

The days are definitely getting shorter. Oh how I crave for longer days and more sunshine. I so enjoyed the vacation and didn't notice how much daylight we were losing until I had to start doing chores in the dark, both morning and night.

I'm going to have to come up with a different routine to do chores at night. I really hate doing chores in the dark. Luckily the varmits haven't started coming out just yet but it won't be much longer. I need to put up some temporary fence so that I can run the ponies out on the lawn again. It didn't take them but a week to chow down on what little grass is in their permanent pasture (which really consists of mostly trees and a few patches of sparse grass).

I was thinking that maybe I'd haul two horses up to mom and dad's this weekend. I'd talked about hauling horses this spring but never got around to it. The big pasture, although looks like there's still grass, I don't believe has much left. I desperately need to get out and spray the weeds before they take over again. always something in that darn pasture.

The temps have been beautiful lately and we did get a good rain shower the other night. Hopefully that bit of rain will help hold the pastures a little bit longer. I've sort of been ignoring the pasture not wanting to see what I'm afraid I'll see, which is no more pasture. I think there's still plenty for the big herd to eat. When we came back, they were all looking fatter than when we left (a good thing in my book).

I did lock them out of the pasture last night. This morning everyone was hellbent for the pasture. Rain was stirring up trouble before I even got the gate open. Once I was able to push the gate open far enough, Dude bolted out with Rain and Chaos hot on his heels. The rest of the herd followed suit. The back half of the herd (Jim, Ivan, Brego, Zeke, and Bo) all raced out a little bit slower but once they hit the pasture Ivan and Brego started a bucking parade. Ivan is really lazy but in the last few months I've seen him really toss out a few good bucks (well not bucks to buck someone off but really bucks to stretch the legs, if that makes any sense).

I'm starting to see an increase in horses for sale. August is always the month that people start selling their horses. But I won't go into that topic of discussion right now. I'm hoping to find some time in the next few days to do some serious cleaning in the barns. I've gotten so far behind it's absolutely ridiculous how messy the place has gotten. I'd start a To Do list but I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to stop, there's just that much that needs to be done before winter sets in. I have a terrible feeling that not a lot will get accomplished before the first snowfall.

If you're bored or need to work off a little bit of energy, stop on out. We have plenty for you to do. We have a mirad of tasks to accomplish, anything from fairly light duty work (cleaning blankets/brushes/etc. and painting) all the way down to serious brain and brawn power (fixing the big barn door before it falls off the hinges).

Maybe we'll get just enough sunlight to start on my To Do list. Maybe I'll go start on that list right now.

Back From Vacation!

Sorry for the lapse in posts. We went on our annual family vacation to the Black Hills. Unfortunately, we went during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Week so we had to get creative in where we went. Also, having an almost one year old made the trip that much more adventerous. I'll post pictures later. I still haven't gotten through all of the pictures.

So, that's where we've been instead of plugging along at home. I even went so far as to turn off my phone and leave it off the entire week we were gone, except once just to check in to make sure that everything was fine back at the Sanctuary (which it was). It's nice to get away for awhile. With all the turmoil we have experienced over the past year with health scares, hospital stays, death, and general stresses of running a sanctuary, it was nice to get away.

I will admit that going on vacation with a baby is a lot more difficult than going on vacation when it's just you to worry about. I can say that I didn't come back from the Black Hills as relaxed or as refreshed as I had hoped but it was still worth every minute of being out there.

Now that we are back, I can focus my energies on the Sanctuary. I hope to begin working on some fundraiser ideas. But if you have any, I'd love to hear them. We might not be able to get to them all right away, but I love hearing about them and adding them to the list of activities we'll do some day.  If you have ideas, you can leave them in the comments, email us at borderlandshorsesanctuary@yahoo.com, or leave a comment on our Facebook page.  I think I need to hear/see some ideas to really get my fundraiser ideas flowing in my little head.

The horses seemed to enjoy my time away. Only the hard keepers came up to greet me when I called for them last night. Stinkers that they are, they only wanted their nightly grain (I know where I stand with them).  :-) 

Bo is still too thin for my liking but I think 24x7 access to pasture and grain help some. I need to schedule an appointment with the vet to have him examined before winter. Unforutnately, work has me so buried that I'm finding it difficult to take time off during the day to haul him to the vet. Weekends are just as jammed packed. So maybe in a couple of weeks with a bit more pasture time and more grain, Bo will fill out a little more before I haul him anywhere.

I will try to get a video of the horses one of these nights when I call for them to come in. Last night was fun to watch all 10 heads pop up from the pasture and watch what I was doing. Luckily the hard keepers knew the routine and came up but the rest decided to be buggers and stay out. I don't blame them.

Luckily we got rain Saturday night (we beat the storm home). So now we have at least some moisture in the pasture. I was starting to worry but with as much rain as we got the other night, we should be ok. I need to get out and start doing some serious weed spraying both in the drylot and the pasture. The pasture has thistles and the drylot has those blasted hard cockleburs that hurt when you pull them out of the manes and tails. I want to get rid of them before they go to seed. So, it looks like my relaxing time has come and gone and we will be hard at it getting ready for winter to set in. I hate even thinking about winter but there's so much to be done before it sets in. So if you're bored one day, stop on out and I'll put you to work. We have a wide assortment of tasks that need to be done!

Happy Birthday Baby Bear!

Today is a special day at Borderlands. Today is the day our little Bear was born. It's also the day that changed how we manage the Sanctuary. We are currently on a smaller scale than previously. Although our mission is still the same, the scale to which we work is much smaller.

This past year has been absolutely crazy for me personally. We have experienced so much turmoil over the past 12 months it's hard to fathom. And yet, every minute with my little Bear is precious. We have had many tears and scares over the multiple hospital visits for me, Mike, and our little Bear over the past 12 months. We have also had many belly laughs, giggles, and smiles that hold so many special moments. I am truly blessed by the support we have received from everyone over the past year.

I am excited to watch our little Bear grow and experience new activities, sights, and sounds. I don't think life will slow down so I'll enjoy every minute I can.

Happy Birthday Baby Bear!



Garrett's 11 month pictures

Slaughter Statistics Article

An interesting article:
http://rtfitchauthor.com/2013/08/11/a-statistical-analysis-of-slaughterhouse-sue/