Throwback Thursday

This #Throwback Thursday is to two years ago during our first annual Light the Night fundraiser. This is  my absolute favorite fundraiser we do all year. Simply donate $5 in honor of a loved one (two-legged or four-legged), and we'll light a luminary in honor of your loved one.

Luminaries this year will be lit on Saturday, April 21st at the Legion Hall in Renner, SD. We'll light the luminaries at dusk. If you'd like to light a luminary, simply donate through paypal at www.paypal.me/Borderlands and tell us who you want us to honor.

Looking forward to another great Light the Night fundraiser. This is such an honor for us to put on such a wonderful fundraiser.

Wishlist Wednesday - Toys

This Wishlish Wednesday, we wish for toys or other form of entertainment for the horses. We have a jolly ball that they sometimes mess with. We also have half of a plastic apple that holds the flavored licky thingies (sorry, can't think of the official name of them).

Maverick and a few of the others are starting to get bored. Until they can be out on pasture, which won't happen until sometime in May, they need something to keep them entertained. Any type of toy would be greatly appreciated.

Tip Tuesday - Pasture/Grazing Management

We may be going into yet another Winter Weather Advisory but it's always good to be proactive and think about your pastures. The growing season will be here before we know it (maybe). What better way to plan your pasture grazing and pasture management than during a blizzard.


Always best to be prepared and might as well do it now while there's still snow on the ground. You won't want to come up with a plan after it's too late.


#TipTuesday

Light the Night Coming Up

I'm afraid our Light the Night fundraiser is going to be a bust. I've been under the weather and preoccupied with other things so I haven't really done any advertising. It is going to be a skimpy year for fundraisers this year I'm afraid.


But Light the Night is this Saturday, April 21st from 4-10pm. I do very much love this fundraiser. It's my favorite seeing all those people and pets being honored. It's rather humbling.


We'll be at the SD Legion Hall in Renner, SD this year. I'm looking forward to this fundraiser even if I haven't done due diligence and advertised like I should have. I'm hoping people will stop out and light a luminary on Saturday.


The last few weeks have been a little rough. I had plans on getting stuff done last night and instead had to hide in the dark to keep the migraine monster at bay. I had to wait until after dark to do chores just to make it possible to even function. Oh if only there was more than one of me running this Sanctuary. Sorry, I'll hop off that pity train right now.


but I AM excited for our fundraiser even if I'm not prepared.

Boredom Antics

Sunday after I let the big herd out of the barn, Maverick wanted to play. His playmate is Lightening. No one else really wanted to play after a blizzard. Maverick is one of those that dont' go in the barn (for multiple reasons including he'd tear up the barn with boredom).


So instead he wanted to play with Lightening. Lightening had been in the barn but he was ready to play too! I'm glad Maverick now has someone willing to play with him; otherwise, he'd be tearing up more blankets than I cannot afford.


I'll leave you with a few pictures of Maverick and Lightening's antics Sunday morning.

April Blizzard

Well, we survived the blizzard, not without a couple of scares but we survived. Everyone is fine and healthy but we are going to have to look at a few of our buildings a little closer.


It started raining Friday. Luckily I'd put blankets on everyone I could so they wouldn't be miserable. I'd rather have soggy blankets than wet and cold horses. I had thought the blizzard was going to hit around 7pm but it never did. I went ahead and put horses in knowing that the blizzard was coming and wanted to make sure everyone was protected.


The mares and Junior's pen get the worst of the east wind and it was coming directly out of the east. It was so strong that it raised the roof of the hay barn slightly. Just enough to scare the bajezees out of me. I wasn't sure if the building would last through the storm or not but it did. I ended up leaving the mares and Junior in their stalls from Friday night until Sunday morning because the winds and snow were so fierce.


I'd let the big herd out of the barn Saturday morning so they could stretch their legs. They were not impressed. Within a half an hour they were coated in snow and looking at me to put them back in. Luckily they have two runin sheds they can get into so I wasn't worried. But I did put them back in Saturday night.


I'm glad the storm is over but now they are talking about another storm Tuesday night into Wednesday. So much for spring. Mike was actually supposed to leave Friday to head to the Black Hills but his plans were cancelled when they talked about how bad this storm was going to be. I'm glad because we might not have gotten that much snow, but there were drifts up to my hips in front of the barn.


I know there's more to tell but I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things.


The following pics were taken Sunday after the storm had passed. I think everyone was ready for some nicer weather.

Brego and Zeke

Dude and Brego

Jim and Maverick

Friday the 13th Storm

I wonder if this storm will go down as the Friday the 13th storm?


I woke this morning to thunder, lightening, and wind. I checked my phone and our local weather station said that there were over 500 lightening strikes. Yep, I do believe they were right. I debated on running out to do chores but figured I'd best not. But I did make the mistake of letting Farley out. He hates storms and disappeared before I could even think. I went to look for him but that's when the skies opened up and it started hailing.


I knew it was going to be a wicked storm when I looked out first thing before turning on any lights and seeing Zeke prancing around tossing his head. All the horses can feel this storm rolling in. Luckily Farley remerged after the storm. But during this round, we received lots of pea sized hail. In fact, the ground now looks like snow even though it's hail.


I do believe we are in for one heck of a storm. West river they already closed interstate. Funny thing is, I'm working from home today so no stress. But I was planning on working from home at the paying job to see Mike, Dad, and my nephew off to go hunting in the Black Hills (they were planning on leaving today). That all changed when they switched our forecast to a blizzard warning for tonight (for us and today for west river).


They are comparing this storm with the one from 2013, Storm Atlas that killed thousands of livestock. I can't imagine the devastation. Now is NOT the time to have these kinds of storms. With the calves coming, I'm sure that it's going to be tough on farmers. Luckily our horses are tucked into their blankets and they will be stalled later. I wish we had bigger stalls and better barns for them to go into but beggars can't be choosers.


I'm guessing that Lace, Mayhem, and Junior will be stuck in their stalls starting tonight and wont' get out until either Saturday night or Sunday morning. The wind is predicted to be out of the east, which means their pen gets the brunt of all wind. We have trees but its' not enough to keep the wind out. Junior has lost weight recently so I'm more protective of him. I think it's my fault that he's lost the weight as well. I havent' been as diligent about his nightly feeding since I moved him. The nights sneak up on me and usually by the end of the day I'm shot and don't feel well. He takes hours to eat.


Last night we did put in an extra bale in the big herd to be pre-emptive. If we are to get a foot of snow, when it melts, its' going to make a muddy mess and make it almost impossible to get hay in or tear up the yard too much. So instead we sacrificed the remaining part of the bale and put a new one in. Of course the horses attached that like they were starving (they. are. not.). I also got everyone into blankets that has a blanket. This season has been hard on blankets. Everything is starting to show its wear and tear. But I'd rather have dry horses and ruined blankets. We also topped out the water in the mares' pen so I wouldn't have to lug hoses around in the snow and mud. By the time we were done with all those chores it was after 10pm. Of course we didnt' get out until after the kids had gone to bed. Life of running a sanctuary isn't exactly all glamor and glitz. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.


I had wanted to get stalls prepped and ready to go for tonight but that didn't happen. By 10pm I was done in and could barely stand. My back has been bothering me and after throwing the hay net onto the bale and all the blankets I wasn't able to throw straw and hay around to get everything ready. I may sneak out at noon to get some of that done, at least the mares' and Junior's stalls.


These kinds of storms definitely have me rattled. Of course I get rattled over any kind of storm but storms in general make me nervous.