Average

The SD Horse Sale posted their September catalog. I tend to look through the catalog just to see if I recognize any of the catalog horses. I also want to read up on what they are saying about the loose horses. Here's their latest:


Loose Horse – On the weigh up end, the horses weighing 700 to 1000lbs and needing to go to feedlots before they will be accepted at plants, usually sell 10 to 20 cents a lb. Horses over 1000 lb selling for 25 to 35 cents lb. Takes a awful good No. 1 to bring 35 cents a lb and we see few of those.

They were disappointed about the lawsuites against the slaughter houses. We need to continue our efforts to keep horses out of the loose horse sale. They outright say horses are going to feedlots. If you read in between the lines, you'll know that these same "feedlot" horses are being fattened and shipped to slaughter.

They also talked a bit about the "average" horse not selling as well. Those horses that have done a lot of work or performed in rodeos bring more money. Which, when selling horses, is really what you need to do. I totally understand and agree that if you are going to breed, you need to get your stock out there to get them exposed to everything and get them into the hands of people who are knowledgeable about horses and want to do right by the horses (instead of the backyard breeders).

The only problem I have is that they were disappointed with the "average"  horse. Well, I'm average. There's really nothing outstanding about my character or overall appearance. If I were a horse, I'd probably be a sorrel mare. :-) But those "average" horses, with the right person, can really shine. Just look at Savanna. She was passed up by so many people at the auction. And now look at her! The right person found her and now she's blossomed into an amazing horse.

Lets turn these "average" horses (also known as diamonds in the rough) into some spectacular horses and don't let them get into the loose horse sales and slaughter pipeline.

Celebration Time

It’s time to celebrate! I know that it’s not completely Sanctuary related but it sort of is. Today, September 4^th, I made the final horse trailer payment! And what tops the cake, the loan is paid off one year EARLY! That’s right. I scrimped and saved and paid extra those first two years so that it wouldn’t take the full four years to pay off.

So now Momma’s Ride is completely and utterly the Sanctuary’s! Although, now that I’ve been using the big six horse trailer, I’m wishing it was a little smaller (when I’m only hauling one horse). But it has come in handy and I guess it’s never a bad investment to have a big horse trailer when you have as many horses as we do.

I have been considering going to training on evacuation or severe weather and dealing with animals (sorry, can’t think of the proper title right now).  There are no training classes in our area although I haven’t really looked. But whenever I hear in the news of a fire or some other major weather catastrophe, I take into consideration the horses we have at the Sanctuary and the number of spots available on the trailers. We have spots for 10 horses (6 horse trailer and a 4 horse stock trailer) but I’m sure we could cram more in an emergency.  Knock on wood that we’ll never have an emergency where we have to evacuate within minutes.  But it’s always a good idea to have a plan for that “just in case” moment.

There’s a lot of work to be done on the trailer to make it nice. I was putting all the money towards getting it paid off so now maybe we can put a few bucks back here and there to start making it look like a presentable trailer when we pull up instead of a hick-like as it is currently.

I did want to share a funny story. Ok, so it’s just funny to me. The 6 horse trailer is about 38 feet long. It has spots for six horses, mid tack, and an unfinished living area. I pull that bad boy with my truck, which happens to be a 2004 Ford V10 (yes it’s gas) short box (and it too is paid off, and paid off early). The setup looks a little silly but it gets the job done (and I like it so that’s all that matters). When we were on a trail ride a few weeks back, I had the big trailer hooked up and was out for a ride. While I was out, others pulled in and the stood in front of their truck, feet spread, and hands crossed looking at my setup (Mike saw it and told me). They never approached Mike but when Dad and I came back from a ride, they approached Dad and asked him how the truck handled (assuming that Dad was the owner). He sort of grunted and pointed at me (in typical Dad fashion). I think the guy was shocked that a girl was pulling such a big rig. It made me giggle inside. Yes Sir, this is my rig and I can pull it with the best of them (ok, not really but I do it anyway). The lesson from the experience, never underestimate the power of a woman.

Pity Party

So this is mostly a pity party post...sorry. Go ahead and ignore it or join me in my pity party. :-)

The other day I read a comment on a Facebook group of someone asking how to manage working a full time job, enjoying having a horse, and keeping a clean house. I skimmed through a few of the comments and moved on, chuckling to myself.  But in reality, I was really hoping that someone would say something profound and enlightening instead of snarky. I too have been asking the same question.

I have been struggling with how to get everything accomplished on any certain day and even more so when trying to tackle anything on a grander scale. I’ve come to the conclusion there will be nothing accomplished on the grand scale for the next few years.

I guess I chuckled because this person was complaining about trying to find the balance when she only had one horse. Here I sit with 15 horses and running the Sanctuary, working full time, trying to keep the house clean, AND having a one year old to care and tend to (and forget even seeing the husband figure).

Now perhaps I wouldn’t resent my time away from my son as much if my full time job WAS the Sanctuary but that will never be. Unfortunately, until I can figure out the proper paperwork, find the money to submit the proper paperwork, and jump through all the flaming hoops needed, we will continue to be a private sanctuary. I long for the day where we can search and apply for grants as a non-profit. But again, it’s almost a full time job to search and write grants. Maybe someday.

I hate seeing all that I’ve worked so hard for begin to crumble around my feet. Ok, so it’s not really crumbling but there’s no time to fix things that are broken. It has now been two years of not fixing things that break. I’ve learned a bit from living on an old farmstead. It takes two years of fixing all that breaks so that you can spend one year working on a new project. It’s been two years of ignoring all that has broken so now it’s going to take four years to fix all that has broken so that we could possibly look at working on something new.  I’d love to have an open house and invite everyone to the Sanctuary but it’s too embarrassing at this point to have anyone over. We’ve been overrun by weeds and scrub trees.  The place doesn’t look professional. In fact, we are the white trash of the neighborhood at this point.   I’m about ready to set out pink flamingos down the driveway.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I was looking through our local classifieds and noticed that someone was selling their horse. She had a baby a year ago and had come to the realization that she wouldn’t have time to ride and didn’t want her horse to go to waste. I guess I’m selfish. I’m not willing to get rid of any of the Sanctuary horses. Of course, it’s the good ones that people want to ride (the ones I can throw anyone on). No one is jumping at the bit to have a pasture pet for the next 20 years.  After reading the ad about the horse being for sale, I started wondering about my situation.   I’ve made a promise to the horses in the Sanctuary. But I’m feeling guilty about not doing more with the horses but there’s simply no time.

So really, I guess I didn’t have anything positive to say. I just needed to vent a little about the current situation. Don’t get me wrong. I am happy to have the Sanctuary and more happy to have my happy and healthy little boy. It’s simply a life altering experience that I wasn’t yet ready to come to terms with. So if you happen to stop out, please ignore the weeds everywhere and the shabby buildings that need, at minimum, a paint job. We will continue to plug along as the years fly by. It pains me to not bring in more deserving old horses but I am stretched thin. I would absolutely LOVE to have a “working” day to work on a number of projects but I don’t really hear any takers (I don’t blame you). So if my blog posts seem to be sporadic, it’s because I’m at a loss on what to write without being down in the dumps.

On the bright side, we are working on a fundraiser that will take place next month. I’m sure you’ll be sick of listening about it by the time it finally gets here. I’m going to leave you in suspense as to what the fundraiser is.

Happy Labor Day

Have a safe and happy Labor Day!

Need New Hay Supplier

We need to find a new hay supplier for next year. I know it's a year away but we need to get everything lined up now. So if you know if a good hay supplier that has good hay at a decent price, please email me at borderlandshorsesanctuary@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

Homes Needed

So I'm still riding this pity party train it seems. I was just looking through the ads and found two more horses to give away. I guess it's better to try and find them homes now before winter hits. But it's frustrating. In the last couple of days, I've now seen four horses to give away. And two of those four are only FIVE MILES away from the Sanctuary and one of them fits our criteria for coming in to the Sanctuary. It's just so frustrating to have my hands tied, especially when they are SO close! And of the four I recently saw online, they all come very close to meeting our requirements. Anyone up for sponsoring a horse?

I went out last night to take pictures of the horses as the sun was setting. The days are definitely getting much shorter. I am going to struggle to get everything done before the first snowflake. Unfortunately the pasture is becoming nonexistant. The hay guy put three round bales into the drylot and without locking the herd up each night, they still managed to polish off an entire round bale without leaving any waste (and that's without using a net or a ring).

While I was out taking pictures, I realized that something didn't feel right. At first I couldn't place it but then I realized I was missing horses. Oh don't worry. No one escaped. But it is a little weird how your brain will register a change. Of course I knew Ivan and Brego were up in Madison but being out with the herd last night made me stop and think for just a minute on what the difference was. The dynamics were still the same as I make sure to always pair horses up when hauling to a different pasture. Everyone has a best friend (Ivan/Brego, Zeke/Bo, Jim/Maverick, Dude/King, Rain/Chaos, Tommy/Skippy...the mares don't count. Mayhem pairs up with either Babe or Rabbit. It simply depends on who she's in with).

I had to fill water tanks last night and will have to fill them again tonight. This weather is just so hard on the horses. Unfortunately, this extreme heat is really taking its toll on Babe. I'm afraid we are going to have to say goodbye sooner than I had expected. I had hoped it would be a few more months but I have to stop fooling myself. I had hoped that this year would be the first where we wouldn't have to say goodbye to a four legged family member. I'm tired of saying goodbye but I guess that's part of being a Sanctuary. My heart is still tender from losing Queen last September and my Grandmother in March. So the thougth of losing Babe is a little tougher than normal. I guess there's something about these mares that cause me even more heartache than normal. I can't really explain it.

The last forecast I saw was filled with 90 degree temps. I guess we are getting our last bit of summer. I read that in one of the almanacs that we are supposed to get a colder than normal winter. They used the word "bitter". Greeeeeaaat. I hope they are wrong. I'd love to have an open winter. But if we do have a colder than normal winter, we are going to see a lot more horses being sold or given away. I'd like to step up for at least one older horse. I know you're going to get sick of me asking, but maybe I'll wear everyone down. But does anyone want to sponsor a horse? :-)

High Temps

I’m in a bit of a funk so hopefully I want be too snarky. I spent the majority of this weekend at the 51^st Annual Prairie Village Threshing Jamboree. In years past I’ve volunteered/demonstrated and more recently helped park cars. This year, however, I opted to be more of a spectator. So there was another weekend of not getting anything accomplished at the Sanctuary.

We are expected to have upper 90s for temps all this week. I doubt I’ll be doing much other than making sure the horses have enough water and are comfortable standing in the shade. We’ve had such a cool August that it’s a bit hard for this ol’ body to adjust to 90 degree weather. Although, at the end of the day I’m so exhausted that I don’t think it matters what temps we reach in the evenings.

I’m keeping a very close eye on Rain. These temps are dangerous for him so I want to make sure that he has enough shade and stays cool during this hot spell.

I hope that this heat only lasts a week. We haven’t gotten a lot of rain lately and our pastures are starting to burn up. I’m afraid I’m going to have to move Rabbit and Mayhem to the back pasture. Not a bad deal really but I was hoping to hold out at least until the first of September to make sure that the pasture will hold. I need to walk the temporary fence to make sure that it’s still up. I had planned on pulling the temp fence down but never got around to it before the snow flew last winter. I’ve been saving this pasture for fall when hunting season begins. I won’t let the horses out on the hill pasture during hunting season because there are too many people who think that they own the road and can shoot anything that moves. Don’t get me wrong, I come from an avid hunting family but I still don’t believe in road hunting. Do your homework and your research and find the right locations. If you road hunt near me, expect me to stand there and watch you like a hawk and make you feel uncomfortable when you even THINK about climbing over my fence.

Sorry, off topic and ranting. With the higher temps, I’m hoping I can work on the 2014 calendar so that we’ll have something to sell to help fray the costs of the Sanctuary. I do have an idea for a fundraiser up my sleeve but you’ll just have to wait until I get more of the kinks worked out.