I'm really worried about poor Tornado

He is not eating well and in fact won't even touch his grain. I tried soaking some alfalfa for him, he picked at that for awhile and this morning I noticed that he didn't even eat that. I'm afraid that he needs to have a bunch of dental work done because we can feel that he has sharp points. I only have $200.00 in the account at the vet clinic so I'm going to try to raise some more funds to cover a dental for the poor little guy.

10/01/08
Last night I hand fed Tornado some soaked beet pulp and alfalfa and he really liked it so I gave him plenty in his feed tub to eat throughout the night.

Dr. Ross Cleland comes at 4:00 p.m. today to take a look at Tornado. On a good note, when I went out this morning to do chores I noticed that Tornado had eaten most of his grass hay and all of his alfalfa and beet pulp.

Spending Some Time Enjoying the new Residences

Every day around our ranch is a whirlwind of activity it seems that there are always people coming and going, phone ringing, emails flying and obviously stuff to do. With all of this constantly going on it’s hard to find the time to just sit down and spend quality time with each of the horses that are here so I decided to try to mix things up a bit. In this photo are the people that own Socrates a horse that I had in for training. They had come to watch me ride their horse, take him home and pick apples to take home and can. Since they had all of those children I gave each one of them a brush and let them HAVE AT IT brushing and enjoying all of the little horses. Everyone got brushed, walked and loved on while they were here.

Be sure to look at our newest rescue, Woody. He is also from the Highway 47 site.

My Adoption Requirements

I keep my rescue operation small and simple; this is my key to success and not going broke while trying to save animals. Most of the time my adoption fee is $200.00 if there is vet work that needs to be done when you adopt the horse, that fee goes directly to that cost and it is done here before the horse is taken home. This could be castration, dental work etc.)

In order to adopt one of my horses I just have a few simple rules and requirements.

o You must provide me with references from your vet, your farrier, a friend and a neighbor. I will also do a site visit and interview to make sure that the horse you wanting to adopt will fit into your situation and is suitable for your horse knowledge and experience.
o You must remain in contact with me either by phone or email on occasion because I like to make sure that you and the horse are okay.
o If for any reason you cannot or do not want to care for the horse any longer, bring it back no questions asked. I’d rather take a horse back then leave you stuck with more then you can handle or have it passed off to someone who might not take good care of it.
o You must promise to provide the horse with a habitat that has adequate fencing, shelter, food and water. I will do a pre-adoption site visit to make sure that your facility passes muster.
o You must promise to provide the horse with quality vet and farrier care at all times.
o You must promise to love and care for the horse.
o You must complete and sign the adoption application/agreement.

Stormy

Stormy is a 4 month old orphan who lost his mother at 2 months of age. He was out on his own with the large herd of horses and was at the very bottom of the pecking order. Stormy was nearly catatonic with I got him and I had to carry him from out in the field to the car. He rode home in the back of a Yukon. I put him in with my mini Gigi for company and she adopted him as her own foal. Stormy is not available for adoption at this time.

10/07/08
Stormy is doing really well and getting along grat with his new adoptive mother Gigi. He has gotten a lot more friendly and wolfs down all of his food. I've been trimming as much toe as I can off his feet so he'll stand up on them better and I am seeing some improvement.

here is little Stormy enjoying a run with is adoptive mom Gigi

Mocha - ADOPTED

Mocha is a 3-4 year old appaloosa stallion, like his little friend Tornado, he is very shy and needs a lot of special time and TLC so he can begin to trust humans.

10/07/08
Here is Mocha with his buddy Tornado enjoying their breakfast

Jitterbug - ADOPTED

Jitterbug is a sweet little 3 year old sorrel mare with an eye infection. She wasn’t one of the horses that was sorted out for us to take that day but luckily I was able to talk her owner into letting us have her. She was in with a little stallion so with that and the shape of her stomach we suspect that she is pregnant. Thank you to Molly and Shelby St Hillaire for adopting this sweet little mare.

Tornado - ADOPTED

Tornado is a 2-3 year old black stallion. He is painfully thin and will require a lot of good food and loving care to get up to a healthy weight. Tornado is very shy so he will have to be handled with loving care so he can begin trusting humans.

9/25/08
Tornado hasn't been eating well and really didn't look right so I had a vet out to look at him today. She said he needs to have some serious dental work done and soon so I'm hoping that there will be some money in our account for the Mini Rescue at Carlton Vet so we can get that done soon.

10/07/08
Tornado is doing so much better! Just take a look at this photo and you can see for yourself that he is already gaining weight and just looks so much happier.

Saphire - ADOPTED

Saphire is a 5 year old sorrel or chestnut mare, we are pretty sure she is pregnant. Saphire is very wild and will need to be handled with a lot of gentle patience so she can get over her fear of humans. Thank you Molly and Shelby St Hillaire for adopting Saphire

TC - ADOPTED

TC is a middle aged (12-16) grulla mare who used to be some lucky child’s 4-H horse. It’s such a shame that after all those years of loyalty to her humans she ended up in this horrible situation.
Thank you Jamie West for adopting TC!

Farra - In Foster Care

Farra is an older palomino mare (25-30) with scars on her back from untreated rain rot. She is extremely thin and still lingering rain rot that will need treatment. Farra’s main is really thick and she is looking for a little girl that would like to brush it for her. She is really sweet and loves any attention she can get. Farra needs to have her teeth done so she can eat better.

Farra is being fosterd by Tammy and Julie of Carlton Veterinary Services! Thank you Tammy and Julie!

09/29/08
Farra had her teeth done by Dr. Ross Cleland of Carlton Veterinary Hospital, he had to work on her for a very long time because some of her teeth were 2-4 inches long. He said it was the worse dental case he had ever seen and that she will probably never be able to close her mouth correctly.

Jasmine - ADOPTED

Jasmine was at the bottom of the pecking order in a large herd, has some bite scars and is very thin because she was able to get very little food. It is amazing this adorable little girl ( 5 to 6 years old) survived. Jasmine is an appaloosa mare and her markings make her look like a little fawn and she is easily frightened. Because she has had to fight for her life, she does bite but she also will take food from your hand without biting and just needs TLC and some one on one attention

Farra is being fosterd by Tammy and Julie of Carlton Veterinary Services! Thank you Tammy and Julie!

10/07/08
Jasmin was pulled from Foster Care last night and placed in her new permanent home. Her new owners called me after they got her home to let me know that she settled in very well and is getting along great with her new companion, a halflinger. I'm hoping that they will send me pictures soon.

Cuppie - In Foster Care

Cuppie is a loving and gentle little grey lady of approximately 18 to 20 years. She is very affectionate and good to other horse. Her biggest problem is that she has never had dental care and needs her teeth floated so she can eat, gain some weight and finally have a happy life

Farra is being fosterd by Tammy and Julie of Carlton Veterinary Services! Thank you Tammy and Julie!

09/29/08
Cuppie had her teeth done by Dr. Ross Cleland of Carlton Veterinary Services, he said her teeth were not in too bad of shape so he just did a little work but he did say that he suspects she might be pregnant. Let's hope she is not.

Lightening

Lightening was rescued from a junk yard. He came to us with a bad injury on his rear pastern that had been left unattended so a large growth of proud flesh set in that was so bad, it deformed his hoof.





This injury would have been a minor inconvenience if his owner had only taking care of it. Becuase of the negligence of an ignorant owner, Lightening had to have surgery to remove the growth and has to have his bandages changed every 3 to 4 days.

This is what the injury looks like 1 week after surgery:


Lightening will not be up for adoption until after he has healed up more unless someone with a lot of bandaging experience asks for him.

09/23/08
I did another bandage change last night and it went really well with drugs on board of course. This is what the foot looks like now.



9/25/08
The vet had a look at the photos of Lightings foot after the last bandage change and order me to wash it with a very weak betadine solution with each bandage change otherwise continue as I'm doing. She said so far it looked really good. Not only is his injury looking good but his weight is up quite a bit too. He is almost to a good, healthy weight.

10/01/08
I have been able to do two bandage changes on Lighting without having to sedate him. The wound continues to look better with each change.

10/07/08
Lightening finaly enjoying a turnout with his new friend Kayla!


10/29/08
Lightening's foot has made a huge amount of progress! He has gained quite a bit of weight, is easy to handle and his foot is almost healed.

The Gopher Valley Horses

These three horses came to me from a place ousite of Sheridan where they were not being fed properly and were escaping their pasture and getting into the road all of the time. The owners agreed to relinquish them to the Sheriff who then called me in to pick them up and adopt them out. They were all rather thin, I think the mustang mare is pregnant, I had the stallion castrated before he was adopted out. Fortuanately, they were all adopted out very quickly.

Woody - Deceased

Woody is really old, we are told somewhere between 35 and 40 years old. He has really bad founder in all four feet and his right front is severely deformed so he is in a lot of pain. We will have the vet out as soon as possible so we can find out if Woody can be made more comfortable or if it would be in his best interested to have him humanely euthanized. While he is here he is being treated like royalty and is giving a kings plate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

10-13-08
Your life here was short but I did everything I could to make it as comfortable and pleasant as possible. Having you in my barn was an honor. Every time I walked in, you serenaded me with your beautiful voice and it brought back fond memories of Jackie, the first donkey that I had who was also a rescue from 20 years ago. I am at peace with knowing that you are no longer in pain. Even though I only got to know you for just a short amount of time you will be remembered.