Winter is Here

The calendar might say that it's only November, but winter is here. I'm afraid winter is here to stay. We received our first snow fall on Saturday and had over six inches of snow. I wouldn't mind so much but we still had a few things that we needed to get wrapped up. But those things will have to wait. But with six inches of snow and me being only 5ft 3in, tromping through snow hauling two 5-gallon buckets full of water back to the mares and Junior is a little tough. The buckets were dragging in the snow. It wouldn't be bad either if I only had to haul back two buckets. With Junior, I know have to haul back six buckets to keep the 100 gallon tank full. I let it go one night and it took me umpteen buckets to get it back to full.

I've also been stalling Junior at night so that he can eat in peace. That also means that he needs to have his own bucket of water. I think I'm hauling about 50 gallons of water every night between the horses, ponies, and dogs. It's going to be a LONG winter.

I'll tell a story about Junior later. Or go over to the Senior Equine Care blog where I'm chronicling Junior's progress.

I was able to do all of my chores Saturday in the daylight which was lovely but every other day I've been out in the dark doing chores. I'm not ready for winter and winter chores. Six months of this is six months too long! Yesterday the wind picked up and it was bitterly cold. I guess the Farmers Almanac was right. Normal amount of snow but bitterly cold. It's supposed to be below zero degrees Fahrenheit tonight. The rule used to be that it the temps fell below zero that the horses would go in. But everyone can get in out of the wind and hang out under shelter so that rule might have to change. Junior will always go in just so he can eat all night. I threw in his hay, alfalfa, and grain mash last night and this morning I caught him with a mouthful of hay still! It takes him that long to eat.

The weather is supposed to warm up by the end of the week. I hope it actually happens. I did keep track of the fog we had earlier in the year. If we are technically in an El Nino, then the snow we had on Saturday was spot on! For those that might not know me, I'm a little weird when it comes to winter and storms. I follow the old wives tale of 90 days from fog is rain/snow. Starting this past week and going for another three weeks, I have fog marked down in my calendar each week. We'll see if it was just a fluke or if we truly are in an El Nino. It would make tracking predicted snow a little bit easier.

The farmers around us didn't get their corn out either. Our farmer friend has a field just to the west of us. We normally have to put up a snow fence to keep some of the snow from drifting up into our driveway but he still has corn. I doubt he'll be able to get the corn out at this rate. I really didnt' figure we'd get six inches of snow in the middle of November.

Winter is definitely here!

Auction Horse

I didn't write this nor do I know the person. But she is doing her part in trying to save slaughter bound horses that are trapped at feedlots every week.



Week after week I see slaughterbound horses. I go to feedlots and auctions and you would think that maybe I would quit feeling by now. Every week I go to the feedlot in Sunnyside. There are usually a few familiar faces from the week before, but mostly new faces, and new stories, or sometimes no stories at all. Sometimes I wonder how there are just so many horses that week after week I try to save them and say goodbye to the ones that ship to slaughter, yet there are always more.
I sat and just looked at this little foal for a while tonight and wondered what kind of life he would have and hoped that he wouldn't come back and end up in this kind of situation again. He doesn't have a home yet, nor does his mother, but I will post them and I will try. That's all I can do is try, week after week, horse after horse. I sat there on the hay and watched the little foals as they escaped from their pen and played in the alleyway while munching on hay, oblivious that this is not a safe place for horses to be, but rather death row.
Many people have the assumption that just because this particular feedlot lets us list horses to give them a second chance, that horses that are desirable will be able to be rehomed, for example, kids horses. 
Last week all but one of the kids horses recently bought at an auction shipped to slaughter without even a chance to be listed. The truck came early and the load was filled. These were horses that were rehomeable horses but they were bought for the purpose of slaughter, as all are there. When the truck is there, there is no time to look through stories on horses and find out who they are. It really is tragic that these kids horses shipped but no horse is safe when bought by a kill buyer. If you are thinking about buying them at the auction then please do and do not wait for them to end up at a feedlot because they will not be guaranteed safe. He tries his best to keep horses who could go back to be good horses for people and lets us rehome them for what they would bring slaughter price, but he has to feed them too and often times is lucky to even break even on their resale. Kill buyers are horsemen too, no matter what anyone says. I don't think one kill buyer likes shipping a horse that he considers a good horse, but there are just so many and their business is slaughter, not rescue.
I looked through about 130 horses today and only 30 will probably be listed. How do you choose? What do you say to the friendly horse that comes up to you and wants to be your friend but is lame? You give him some love and walk away knowing that he will be on the next slaughter truck. It's the crippled ranch geldings that really get to me. These were good horses who took care of their people and ended up crippled from working so hard. They were not given the chance to retire but instead just sold for their meat to use them one last time. Sometimes I just don't know how I can do it anymore as I look at the pregnant mares I can't touch also in the ship pen. I feel like I fail each and every one of those horses in the ship pens. Surely there has to be someone for them too, but the truth is, there just aren't enough homes, and horses are expensive.
As always, I thank each and everyone of you for sharing these horses and hopefully reaching one person that had no idea of their plight. If even one person chooses to rescue and not breed, or doesn't send their horse to auction and seeks responsible rehoming instead, or chooses to euthanize their old horse, we are successful. I am always amazed at how we pull together as a community to save these horses week after week. For those horses it makes all the difference in the world and you have my deepest thanks. Tomorrow I will spend my day posting new horses. Please have a look and share if you could. It does make a difference. Thank you.



If you are interested in learning more, please go to http://auctionhorseswa.proboards.com/. You will want to do your own research on this group as there is controversy about feedlots and such but I thought I needed to share. At the Sanctuary, we try to provide homes for horses to retire but we can only do so much and we need your help. The horses need your help. For Christmas, maybe you can help sponsor a horse? $100 a month or even just $5 goes a long way in helping a senior horse.

A Horse Should Be Treated Like a Gentleman

I the following saying "A horse should be treated like a gentleman" on a twitter feed this morning. I thought it very fitting in thinking of Junior. Last night I brought his grain and went to halter him. It didn't take as long to get the halter on and I decided that I would put him in a stall instead. He was in the stall and had taken one bite of his grain mash and then gave me the biggest, most gigantic, most slobbery horse kiss right in the ear! I've not ever gotten a big kiss like that before. None of our "gentlemen" give kisses like that! I was blown away. Junior had been here for about 48 hours and he was already catching on to the routine and loving on me (instead of the other way around!)

I opted to keep him stalled last night. He seemed SO relaxed standing in his stall. I was nervous that he would get upset by being alone but he didn't seem to care. I threw a second serving of hay to him. I wanted to see how much he would actually eat. He devoured his grain mas and two slivers of alfalfa and this morning when I went to get him out of his stall, he'd eaten half to three quarters of his hay.

I'm thinking that he'll be stalled every night so that even if he can't eat in peace during the morning, he can at least eat in peace at night and not have to rush or get pushed off his hay. there was a totally different look in his eyes last night when I brought his grain.

This morning, after I put him in the pen with the mares, he kept coming to the fence. I would like to think he wanted to tell me sweet nothings, but really I think he was trying to tell me to bring more grain! But he followed me everywhere and it wasn't until I went around the corner (and peeked around to see him) that he settled down to eat.

So I think Junior and I have our routine. It'll put extra stress on me but it'll alleviate any stress on Junior, which is all that matters. That horse...that horse amazes me. I can't say enough good things about Junior. Love him. Treat him like a gentleman and you'll have a gentleman for a horse!

Junior Update

I didn't really get to spend any time with Junior last night. I had only 30 minutes to get what normally takes 1.5 to 2 hours worth of chores to get done. So I had to hustle. I'll try to get some better pictures of Junior this weekend when there's actual light. I do morning and evening chores in the dark so no opportunities for decent pictures.

I can say that even after just 36 hours, Junior is a total doll. He's still a touch-me-not but he come right up to the fence and waits for me. It's like he's following my every move. I am a little worried that Mayhem is pushing him around more than I expected. Rabbit could care less about him. I'm debating on stalling him at night so that he can get out of this awful wind and have an entire evening under cover with a huge pile of hay, alfalfa, and his evening mash without having to fight off a darn filly. If that doesn't work, I may put Mayhem in with the ponies. I think without having to worry about getting pushed around and getting to stand in front of his food without being bullied, he might stand a chance of gaining some weight. But I don't know. It's all a guessing game at this point.

He definitely is hard to catch. It took me a solid five minutes of trying to before I could coax him to let me get a halter on. But I told him that from now on, he wont' be worked and that the halter actually means food! He likes his grain. I think it might have been too dark for him to finish up his grain. Or he hit the bottom where the calf manna was stuck to the edges and he's not a "lick the bowl clean" kind of horse. Tonight when I have more time, I'll not rush him and see if he'll eat the entire bowl of grain. I may put him in a stall and not have to worry about hovering so much.

There's definitely a learning curve on both our parts but Junior is trying SO hard. It almost breaks my heart. He desperately wants to trust and be pampered but he's working through some issues on whether I can be trusted or not. It'll simply take time, and I have that to offer to him.

Junior is truly a blessing. He's a heart horse for sure!

Winter is Here

Last weekend we worked frantically to get things wrapped up around the Sanctuary. Temperatures started dropping during the weekend but the super cold temperatures held off. We were supposed to get a serious storm Monday.

But when I woke up and went out to do chores, there was no snow, just super cold temperatures (and the inevitable wind chill). :-( We bypassed the entire storm and the only snow that's on the ground is the little bit that caught in the grass along the edges. I'm glad that we aren't dealing with a half a foot of snow at the moment.

I'm starting to think that it's too cold to snow. We are barely into the double digits right now and the wind chill is below zero. Five below zero (Fahrenheit) to be exact. For January, that would be unpleasant but not out of the norm. For November, it's AWFUL! And unusual! We are dealing with January temperatures in November. That thought makes me VERY nervous. If we are dealing with wind chills below zero NOW, what will January and February bring us? Last year we dealt with -40 wind chills. Luckily everyone could get out of the wind. This year we lost the roof of the little run-in shed so it'll be more tricky. I'm hoping to work on the roof when the wind dies down and the temps warm up (at least so there's no wind chill in the below zero range).

I took an inventory of blankets earlier this year but now I'm thinking that I need to re-inventory. I still need to repair a half a dozen blankets. I may try my hand with a sewing machine to see if I can get some of the repairs done more quickly and the blankets available.

I did blanket Rabbit Monday night. She was shivering like crazy and I was worried that she'd get chilled. I didn't want to blanket her because she doesn't have a decent winter blanket yet. I put a temporary blanket on (not hers because hers is ripped). Hopefully we'll get out of these awful wind chills below zero soon. Otherwise we are going to have a very LONG winter!

I also introduce Junior to Rabbit and Mayhem last night. The wind was out of the west and Junior couldn't get out of the wind. So he got a quick introduction to the  mares. I'll write more about that later. Now it's time to warm up!

More About Junior

So, you want to know more about Junior?

I was contacted awhile back about taking in an older horse who needs permanent retirement (Junior). His owner wanted to do right by him and was searching for someone who could provide a quiet retirement.

Here's what I know about him:

• He was originally sold to his owner as a seven year old gelding. But when she took him to her vet, they discovered that he was probably in his twenties.
• The owner had him for four years and did almost anything on him. So that would make him closer to 25 right now (so that'll be his age).
• The owner was told he was a race horse but as far as I know, there's no tattoo and no papers. Which means he was not raced but could have been a track pony.
• His owner used him as a lesson horse for young children to learn how to ride but he developed an issue with his back end and now needed retirement from all work. He was taken to a chiropractor and the chiropractor couldn't find anything wrong with him.
• His owner used him in ranch rodeos, playdays, and trail riding.
• For some reason I want to say that he was used at a youth camp but I can't verify that information.

So that's the information that I got from his owner.  Here's what I know about him just in being around him for less than 24 hours:

• I'm thinking that he's going to be a hard keeper. The weight that he has on him now is what he's looked like for his owner for the past four years.
• He's very passive and will get pushed around. If a horse looks at him wrong, he'll move away. So I have to make sure that there are multiple piles of hay for him to eat so that if a horse looks at him wrong, he'll have another pile of hay to eat.
• He is a touch-me-not. He doesn't feel comfortable being touched (even his owner said that and wondered if he'd been abused in a previous home).
• But he does come right up to the gate to watch what I am doing. So he's trying really hard to be friendly and wants to please.
• He loves his grain.
• He doesn't like apples but liked licking my gloves that had apple juice (from the apples).
• He may potentially be hard to catch but we'll win him over with daily grain (and lack of doing anything but being a pasture puff).
• He has two brands on him. One looks like a spade on his right shoulder and another looks like a partial sun on his right cheek (the one on his cheek doesn't show right now with his winter hair). Those brands make me think that he was a ranch horse.

And here's what we need:

• I took him in on good faith that we would be able to raise the final $65 to purchase his winter supply of hay. We are one bale short (the $65). We raised $260 to purchase four bales. Thank you Keith Letson, Heather McLay, and Barb Simon for donating to purchase four bales of hay! Junior will be happy!
• I would really like Junior to have his very own blanket. We have a few spare blankets that don't yet need repairs but I don't know if they will fit him. I need to measure to see what size he is. But it would be nice to wrap him up in a warm blanket this winter to ward off this awful below zero wind chills. I don't care what brand or color. As long as it's a medium weight blanket, that's all that matters.
• If anyone has access to brands, I would love to track down who owns his brand. I doubt I'll be able to get the brand on his cheek until spring but the brand on his shoulder is included in the pictures in the previous post. Any bit of information would be greatly appreciated.
• Grain to feed Junior. I want to start him on the same grain ration that I have Bo on, which is Nutrena Senior, Sweet Feed, and Calf Manna. I'll be introducing beet pulp shortly but wanted to get him adjusted to his new grain ration before beet pulp since beet pulp is an acquired taste. Nutrena Senior is $20 per page, Sweet Feed is $10-12 per bag, and Calf Manna is $30 per bag. Beet pulp is about $13-14 per bag.
• Donations to help offset the cost of grain. Any amount is greatly appreciated. $5 or $50, it'll all be very much appreciated by me and Junior!

I will keep everyone updated on Junior's progress. All I have to do is look into those liquid brown eyes and my heart melts. He is the reason why we are here. He is the reason why I feel so strongly about providing a retirement home to senior horses. There is something about Junior that I can't describe. My heart melts when I see him.

Meet Junior

I would like to introduce to you Junior. I will share more about him later. Right now, I'm beat.