Gentle Spirits - Polly

ok...so those that might have read this post already.. I mistook Polly for Farrah...

On the way home from work yesterday, I saw Gentle Spirits Horse Sanctuary heading to Cedar Ridge. I decided to swing by and say hello since I hadn't seen them in awhile. They had a trailer load of horses ready for the farrier. I didn't get a chance to stay for very long or to really hang out with the horses but I did get to meet Polly. The pictures don't do this girl justice.

Oh sure, from a distance she may look like any other sorrel mare but she has a distinct coloring that a camera can't pick up. I didn't get to play with her since there were a few distractions (for me, not for Farrah) but she seemed very even keeled and unflappable even though there were horses in the arena and she was tied between herd mates waiting for their turn to get a pedicure.

I didn't mess with her like I would have liked but even with all the commotion, she seemed to take it all in stride. She is available for adoption and I think whoever sees her for the gem that she is, will be surprised at what a bond they'll have with her.

I know that people are interested in color and would prefer something other than sorrel. But speaking from experience with Ace and now Maverick, these sorrels are diamonds in the rough. All they need is a little bit of polish and they will shine brighter than any diamond.

Haven't not been around Farrah but for more than but a few minutes, I still got the impression that she would take care of her owner. I also expect that she'd also take care of her rider after the bond is established.

So if you get a chance, stop on over to Gentle Spirits and check out Polly (and her sister Farrah). Both are sorrel mares that with a little bit of polish will really shine on the trail or in the show ring.

Still Here

We are still here, just super busy.

Erin from Head Heart Hooves (http://www.headhearthooves.com/) donated a blanket to Junior. I tried it on and it fits perfect. I've been meaning to post pictures so you can see Junior in his new blanket! He looks pretty sharp.

When we had hay delivered, we ran out of room and put some in the red shed. Unfortunately, when we have a normal winter, the snow piles up and we can't get the doors open on the north side (which is how we'd get the hay out). We decided that once the 2013 hay was gone that we'd move the hay. We did that on Sunday. I'd put Junior in his stall to eat his grain and we started moving hay. Mike got six bales in and said he couldn't get any more in. The ice in front of the hay shed was making it impossible to push the bales in. The tractor is too big to fit in the hay shed (not like our hay guy's tractor which can fit in almost any place!)

Mike had me go and look to see if the bales would be ok where they were. Umm. No. I couldn't get Junior out of his stall! He was trapped in there. I'm sure he would have been fine eating his way out of the stall but I wasn't fine with it. So back out two bales go. Then I look and still Junior is trapped in his stall. So out goes another two bales and then I can get Junior out. The only problem is that whoever is in that temporary stall can reach over and devour the entire gigantic bale so now I'm frantically working on that bale.

So, lesson learned. Don't try to put bales in that side of the hay shed! It took an hour to move six bales, only to have to move four of them back in. We're actually worse off than when we started but shhh, dont' tell Mike that.

I was rather disappointed. I'd hoped on Sunday to be able to do chores in the light but with moving hay and the like, I didn't get the chance and had to do chores in the dark. I'm ready for the days to be getting shorter and unfortunately, we still have shorter days to come. Soon the sun will be setting at 4:30pm and there's no way I can get out to do chores before then.

I'm worried about Junior as well. The last few days I've been late getting out to do chores so I've cheated and not grained anyone. I know, it's not good practice but it's been warm out. But I'm throwing hay. I also decided awhile back to stop stalling Junior at night because he seemed unhappy. So the other night, I pulled him into his stall to let him eat and he wouldn't touch his grain. I decided I'd stall him and throw hay. I wanted to keep an eye on him. He devoured his hay. He dove into that hay like he'd never eaten before. So I'm wondering if the mares are pushing him off his food. I also think that his teeth are bothering him. That first bite of grain was like he took the bite and then got turned off from him. I'd soaked it but not very well, which makes me think it's all about his teeth. So I'll be making a phone call to schedule an appointment for a float. Now to figure out how to juggle a vet visit in with all the other day-to-day activities and Christmas.

So much to do and so little time. But we are here and struggling to keep up with the daily grind. I'll hopefully be able to get caught up and post something more entertaining soon.

Can You Help Mayhem?

It's finally time Mayhem get her umbilical hernia surgery fixed. Can you help her?

http://www.youcaring.com/pet-expenses/help-a-rescue-filly-with-surgery/273291

She was born the wrong color, born with an umbilical hernia, and born with a heart murmur. We can't fix the heart murmur. However, we don't care what color she is. She's beautiful in our eyes. Now it's time to fix the hernia but we need your help.

We took Mayhem in to the Sanctuary in 2010 and gave her time to grow and be weaned. However, in 2011 we took in seven horses. Of those seven, five of them were either thin or emaciated (Bo, Dic, Savanna, Sahara, Sir Prize/Jett, Prince, and Flower). We depleted our funds bringing the emaciated horses back up to their correct weights so we couldn't get Mayhem's hernia fixed.

Then in 2012 and 2013 Mike, Garrett, and I all had major medical issues (and not to be over dramatic, these medical issues were near death incidents). So with all those medical issues, our funds were depleted and again Mayhem's surgery had to be placed on the back burner.

Now it's time Mayhem gets her surgery. We are asking for your help in collecting funds. With her heart murmur, I am figuring that we will have a few post-surgery vet visits to make sure that she is recovering and that there are no ill effects from the surgery (or from having to wait so long).

Can you help Mayhem?

The first two pictures are of Mayhem this fall. You can see in the first picture that the umbilical hernia.

 Mayhem is standing behind her momma, Rabbit. Mayhem was supposed to be a blue roan. She turned out identical to her mother.

The following pictures are of Mayhem and Rabbit the day after we brought them home to the Sanctuary. You can barely see the umbilical hernia on Mayhem. But you can definitely tell the straight and neglect that Rabbit went through. Rabbit has some medical issues of her own so we wanted to bring her into the Sanctuary and give her a retirement that she deserved. But she's a different story.

Bliss

I guess I wouldn't say I was in total bliss last night. I wasn't riding a horse or messing with the senior horses. But I would consider it my second best bliss. We had no wind while doing chores, so no hay in my hair, in my eyes, or down my clothes. The horses were all respectful of their spaces and my space. The horses were also very patient and didn't try my last nerves like they'd done the night before. The quiet while doing chores was wonderful. No wind howling through the bare trees.  No stomping hooves to demand grain. Nothing but quiet and with an almost full moon, chores were easy.

The best part about last night, I didn't have to haul water! I'm guessing that's why I was in such a state of bliss. My parents were down watching my son (grandma and grandpa day!) and Mike volunteered to haul water. I was so grateful. I hadn't kept up the night before with the water. And with warmer weather, Mayhem drinks a LOT more water. So I knew I was faced with hauling at minimum eight buckets back. It turned out to be ten buckets filled between four and five gallons full. With Mike hauling, he probably filled them closer to five gallons full, whereas I do just over four gallons. Darn tendinitis gets in the way of so much these days.

Chores still took an hour to finish but I didn't have to lift an arm once to haul water. I'd say that was the best night for chores in a very long time. I won't take it for granted either. I know I won't have a "water boy" again for awhile so I'll take advantage of the opportunities when they come by.

And I found out this morning, best news ever! We had someone donate to Junior's last bale of hay! He is completely paid for on his hay! Now the hard part, finding hay this time of year. I've been searching for hay but nothing local. I'm going to wait a little bit longer but I expect I'll be working with our hay guy to see if he has any available. He's out of the hospital now so it should be easier to negotiate getting hay. Last night I also wrote the dreaded check for the 2013 hay. You're probably wondering why it would take so long to pay for hay that is already gone. Our hay guy prefers that we wait until the next year so that we don't mess up his records. It's a bit of a pain for us but I'll if it keeps our hay guy happy, I'll do it. With all the medical bills and such that we had last year, finding the funds to pay for hay was very tough this year, even with all the fundraising we did. So it took until now to pay for last year's hay. And now I'll be struggling to pay for this year's hay. Luckily our hay guys is really great about waiting for the money but I'd feel better if it was paid for by January 1. Goal for 2016? I am expecting that the 2014 hay will cost about the same as 2013's hay and that was $3,600 (we get a good guy discount).  I may start looking at doing some online fundraising in the very near future to help offset the hay. So keep an eye out for it soon!

Now back to my bliss of remembering chores with no wind and not having to haul water (we had wind this morning and I had to haul water). Short lived bliss but oh so worth it.

Thanksgiving and Needing Help

I hadn't intended on taking a blogger break over Thanksgiving but that's what it ended up being. I didn't even get a chance to do anything Sanctuary related other than minimal chores. We did enjoy a lot of quality family time over Thanksgiving and had to do some extended family activities on Friday. Saturday was gorgeous. We had to run in to town quick to pick up some grain but we were home before the day got away from us. I'd called our farrier earlier to see if he could make it out during the first warm spell we'd gotten since having Junior arrive. Saturday was the nicest day so our farrier came out and pulled Junior's shoes and did a quick evaluation of his feet. I'll post more about Junior on our Senior Equine Care blog (http://seniorequinecare.blogspot.com/).  We did a few other outside activities and enjoyed the nice weather. Then Sunday hit with vengeance and we stayed hidden inside away from the cold. We did make a quick trip back to town to take our son to acute care (he has pink eye). Ah the joys of winter. Monday I stayed home with our son and did some decorating. So absolutely NO Sanctuary work done, no paperwork, no researching, no emails, no nothing. Just feeding horses, hauling water, and doing a quick once over of everyone. I'll spend the rest of this week getting back into the swing of the old routine.

Luckily the weather is supposed to be fairly decent the rest of this week, making life easier. I'm finishing up the last of the 2013 hay so we can move some of the 2014 hay into the hay shed before the doors get frozen on the red shed. We ran out of room so we put the remaining hay in the red shed until there was room. I want to get it moved as soon as possible. Now that the days are SO short, I will start using the hay in the hay barn because there's a light!  When the tornado took out our yard light, we had another one put in. The electric company put it up in a different spot, close to the spot it was originally at. I had no idea and it didn't matter. But now it matters. The yard light is down too low so the light doesn't shine over the hay barn and help shine light on me when I'm throwing hay from the hay shed. If I'd only known! I've been doing chores in the dark (well relatively speaking because the yard light IS working) for a month and I'm already sick of it.

With Junior now in the herd (well, in with the mares), I am dishing out more hay. We raised funds for four of the five bales that we needed (the owner is donating two bales when we get around to needing them). We are still in need of funds for that last bale. But we are also in need of round bales! I haven't been able to find anyone selling hay so  I'm now on the lookout for hay as well.

We did get asked to take a mare. I'd seen her earlier in the year and knew that I would like to offer her a permanent retirement home but now that we have Junior, and not enough hay, we can't take her in unless people want to donate more funds. We'd have to gather funds for six bales. If we can't raise all the funds for Junior, how could I possible raise enough funds for yet another horse. I'm going to see if the owners would be willing to keep her for the winter and then I can open our doors to her in the spring. But we'll see. I'm a little frustrated because this  mare, although she doesn't fit all of our requirements, deserves a retirement. Her body gave out before her age so now she's lame in the front and only in her early teens. She deserves a place to call home where she's not worked and can enjoy being a pasture pet. But I need everyones help!

Upcoming Loose Horse Sale

I happened to be on the South Dakota Horse Sale website (it used to be the Corsica Horse Sale). They are looking to have a Loose Horse Sale the second Saturday in December. This will definitely be a time for owners to dump their horses before the real winter sets in (not that winter hasn't set in already).

Unfortunately, we won't be able to bring anyone home unless people would be willing to donate towards the winter hay. We are still short on funds for Junior's final bale of hay so I doubt we can bring another horse in at this time.

Here's the blurb about current prices:

The top ten Loose horses averaged $833 selling from $600 to $1500 top. On the weigh up end, market was higher. Heavy horses, 1000 lb and over sold .40 to .45 cents lb, 500 to 1000 lb sold.30 to .40 cents lb and yearling horses, 500 to 800 lb sold .23 to 30 cents lb. We hope to hold a Loose sale the 2nd Saturday in December, if weather forecast permits.

Of course they won't mention the No Value and the low prices that some horses brought in. I worry for the horses heading to the loose sale in December. People will be culling because of the harsh winter we've already had and expect to have more. I wish we had more funds to at least pull ONE horse.

Anyone want to sponsor a Sanctuary horse or be willing to sponsor an auction horse? Figure $65 per bale and we would need five bales. We'd also most likely need to purchase grain but for now, hay is the most important part. Maybe for Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, you'd rather sponsor a horse. $100 a month sponsors a horse at the Sanctuary. Or maybe this year, you'd like to help save a life.

This Is Horse Slaughter In Canada

A really good read:

https://heatherclemenceau.wordpress.com/2014/11/22/this-is-horse-slaughter-in-canada/