Wow I thought for sure I'd posted an update since March, but I guess not!
What has been happening...?
Fonda and Bitsy were adopted, together, and went to a fantastic new home (thank you Rachel, Adrian & Ashleigh!). Three of the drafts, Isobel (renamed Dolly), another pregnant mare now named June, and the stallion now named Ragner, were adopted to another great home, and talk about good timing, Dolly foaled a beautiful colt that evening after they got home, and his name is Johnny (there's a country and western theme going)! The two young drafts (now named Itsy and Bitsy) were adopted together and left for their new home. We have a group of five going to a new home shortly - Spark, Jax, Jara, and Foxy, along with Sigmund the donkey - they are going to be SO happy to get out on pasture. Also Ellie and possibly Dru (depending on how friendly she presents herself!) will be going to a new permanent foster home next week. Sonata and Diamond, two horses that were out on foster, were adopted by their respective foster families! Diamond Dan went to Janine's, to join the other six older horses that she is fostering.
We brought Gemma back from foster as she'd injured her neck getting her head stuck between a gate and post (that's why I posted the reminder for all our volunteers here about making sure there's no slack on the chain when latching gates!). She was presenting with a head lilt when eating so we got her teeth done, which she really needed, but she still has the head tilt so she's going to have massage to see if that helps. I think she's happy to be back as she's in a quiet group with Pet, Russa and Twenty. Reba also got her teeth done and I moved her to a different paddock, giving Prince, Ellie and Emmy a little more space and quiet. Thelma is about ready to foal, we keep expecting to see a little one every morning but nothing yet. Elvis came down with distemper which is rather odd as he wasn't in any area that contained the horses from the previous outbreak last year (which came in with some auction rescues). Sigmund and Flame, who are in with Elvis, haven't come down with it , which I can see that with Sigmund, as he's older and has probably been exposed prior to this, but I would have thought Flame would come down with it too. Elvis is now healed up, he didn't have it very bad, and we'll wait a few more weeks to ensure Flame doesn't get it before we have the two of them gelded, after which they can join the herd. I have haltered them both now in preparation for their gelding. Sigmund was gelded at the same time that Reba and Gemma had their teeth done, in anticipation of him going to his new home, but again we're waiting for the quarantine period to pass before sending him to his new home.
Mike and I were able to get away for a few days to Banff at the beginning of April. A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped hold down the fort while we were gone! Only casualties while we were away were Dingo, who got a puncture to his thigh and had to be brought up to the house for meds, and the boiler, which had a major meltdown! Thank you to our vet for helping the volunteers with getting Dingo up to the house and providing for his care.
We've had a lot of used tack donations and Mary Ellen raised over $1000 selling it! There's still more available on the facebook page mentioned in the last post, plus there's more coming in all the time. Thank you to everyone who's donating, and buying.
We took in 2 chickens needing a home. They are very lovely red ones and very friendly. Currently they are in with the silkies and frizzles. We need to re-evaluate our chicken coop situation as we have so many roosters and they are hard on the poor hens! Either that or we need more hens.
Other new arrivals are:
Missy/Shakira, an older (over 20) Thoroughbred mare - she is friendly, sound and healthy, though she hasn't really been ridden in a while, and she can be a bit pushy especially around food. She will be available for fostering. She was badly neglected and subsequently cared for and rehabbed by some caring people. We had committed to taking her last fall as they knew at that time that they would only be able to care for her until spring.
Sundance, a 12 year old palomino gelding, originally adopted out 9 years ago. He was returned due to divorce and health concerns of his owner. Like the majority of broke horses we get, he found a new home within a couple of days of arriving here.
Cecil, Samia and Nina were returned together, due to financial reasons. Not sure what was going on with that, as Cecil was a foster to start with and his adoption was just finalized a couple of months ago, but in any case we're happy to have them back.
We had to have Esther, our oldest cow, euthanized last week as she was down and couldn't get up. She was almost twenty years old, which is very old for cow, especially one that had had a lot of calves in her life. She had a good long retirement at least.
We still have 4 of the Clydesdales here. Gabby hasn't yet left for her new home, Esperanza is going to be available for fostering only, once she foals, and Marshall the gelding and Flora the sorrel are available for adoption. Marshall is having more issues with his rear hooves, it looks like the other one has broken off really short as well and he's quite lame on it. We have to get them trimmed up one way or another. I'm pretty sure I saw a farrier with a tipping table advertising on kijiji. The hungry herd is doing really well, though I discovered just the other day that Valiant and Ivor are, in fact, stallions and not geldings! They had so much swelling around their sheaths when they arrived that you couldn't tell. Good thing I noticed, and the priority now is to get them separated, halter-broke, and gelded!
Percy has a special trim at his foster home, we're hoping to encourage his crooked leg to grow as straight as possible. He may even be sound for riding at some point. Sadly little Maydie's crooked joint has deteriorated and she will have to be euthanized at some point as surgery is neither practical nor affordable, but for now she's still feeling okay and being her usual spunky self. Her foster home is monitoring her and as long as any pain she has can be managed and she can get around we'll let her be. I dewormed the drafts, the hungry herd, the mares and foals group, and Slinky's group. The drafts were VERY wormy.
The Mane Event is Red Deer is under way. Stop by and visit the booth if you are there, we are booth #802.
We have hoodies and t-shirts available for sale, I'll get pictures and info posted as soon as possible. The hoodies are embroidered and will be $50, while the t-shirts are silk screen and $20.
A reminder about our May 31st fundraiser in Cremona - Dueling Pianos! Lots of tickets still available, and there will be a silent auction as well!
We are on the lookout for an affordable skidsteer, if anyone knows of one. Preferably under $20,000 and at least partly finance-able.
What has been happening...?
Fonda and Bitsy were adopted, together, and went to a fantastic new home (thank you Rachel, Adrian & Ashleigh!). Three of the drafts, Isobel (renamed Dolly), another pregnant mare now named June, and the stallion now named Ragner, were adopted to another great home, and talk about good timing, Dolly foaled a beautiful colt that evening after they got home, and his name is Johnny (there's a country and western theme going)! The two young drafts (now named Itsy and Bitsy) were adopted together and left for their new home. We have a group of five going to a new home shortly - Spark, Jax, Jara, and Foxy, along with Sigmund the donkey - they are going to be SO happy to get out on pasture. Also Ellie and possibly Dru (depending on how friendly she presents herself!) will be going to a new permanent foster home next week. Sonata and Diamond, two horses that were out on foster, were adopted by their respective foster families! Diamond Dan went to Janine's, to join the other six older horses that she is fostering.
We brought Gemma back from foster as she'd injured her neck getting her head stuck between a gate and post (that's why I posted the reminder for all our volunteers here about making sure there's no slack on the chain when latching gates!). She was presenting with a head lilt when eating so we got her teeth done, which she really needed, but she still has the head tilt so she's going to have massage to see if that helps. I think she's happy to be back as she's in a quiet group with Pet, Russa and Twenty. Reba also got her teeth done and I moved her to a different paddock, giving Prince, Ellie and Emmy a little more space and quiet. Thelma is about ready to foal, we keep expecting to see a little one every morning but nothing yet. Elvis came down with distemper which is rather odd as he wasn't in any area that contained the horses from the previous outbreak last year (which came in with some auction rescues). Sigmund and Flame, who are in with Elvis, haven't come down with it , which I can see that with Sigmund, as he's older and has probably been exposed prior to this, but I would have thought Flame would come down with it too. Elvis is now healed up, he didn't have it very bad, and we'll wait a few more weeks to ensure Flame doesn't get it before we have the two of them gelded, after which they can join the herd. I have haltered them both now in preparation for their gelding. Sigmund was gelded at the same time that Reba and Gemma had their teeth done, in anticipation of him going to his new home, but again we're waiting for the quarantine period to pass before sending him to his new home.
Mike and I were able to get away for a few days to Banff at the beginning of April. A huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped hold down the fort while we were gone! Only casualties while we were away were Dingo, who got a puncture to his thigh and had to be brought up to the house for meds, and the boiler, which had a major meltdown! Thank you to our vet for helping the volunteers with getting Dingo up to the house and providing for his care.
We've had a lot of used tack donations and Mary Ellen raised over $1000 selling it! There's still more available on the facebook page mentioned in the last post, plus there's more coming in all the time. Thank you to everyone who's donating, and buying.
We took in 2 chickens needing a home. They are very lovely red ones and very friendly. Currently they are in with the silkies and frizzles. We need to re-evaluate our chicken coop situation as we have so many roosters and they are hard on the poor hens! Either that or we need more hens.
Other new arrivals are:
Missy/Shakira, an older (over 20) Thoroughbred mare - she is friendly, sound and healthy, though she hasn't really been ridden in a while, and she can be a bit pushy especially around food. She will be available for fostering. She was badly neglected and subsequently cared for and rehabbed by some caring people. We had committed to taking her last fall as they knew at that time that they would only be able to care for her until spring.
Sundance, a 12 year old palomino gelding, originally adopted out 9 years ago. He was returned due to divorce and health concerns of his owner. Like the majority of broke horses we get, he found a new home within a couple of days of arriving here.
Cecil, Samia and Nina were returned together, due to financial reasons. Not sure what was going on with that, as Cecil was a foster to start with and his adoption was just finalized a couple of months ago, but in any case we're happy to have them back.
We had to have Esther, our oldest cow, euthanized last week as she was down and couldn't get up. She was almost twenty years old, which is very old for cow, especially one that had had a lot of calves in her life. She had a good long retirement at least.
We still have 4 of the Clydesdales here. Gabby hasn't yet left for her new home, Esperanza is going to be available for fostering only, once she foals, and Marshall the gelding and Flora the sorrel are available for adoption. Marshall is having more issues with his rear hooves, it looks like the other one has broken off really short as well and he's quite lame on it. We have to get them trimmed up one way or another. I'm pretty sure I saw a farrier with a tipping table advertising on kijiji. The hungry herd is doing really well, though I discovered just the other day that Valiant and Ivor are, in fact, stallions and not geldings! They had so much swelling around their sheaths when they arrived that you couldn't tell. Good thing I noticed, and the priority now is to get them separated, halter-broke, and gelded!
Percy has a special trim at his foster home, we're hoping to encourage his crooked leg to grow as straight as possible. He may even be sound for riding at some point. Sadly little Maydie's crooked joint has deteriorated and she will have to be euthanized at some point as surgery is neither practical nor affordable, but for now she's still feeling okay and being her usual spunky self. Her foster home is monitoring her and as long as any pain she has can be managed and she can get around we'll let her be. I dewormed the drafts, the hungry herd, the mares and foals group, and Slinky's group. The drafts were VERY wormy.
The Mane Event is Red Deer is under way. Stop by and visit the booth if you are there, we are booth #802.
We have hoodies and t-shirts available for sale, I'll get pictures and info posted as soon as possible. The hoodies are embroidered and will be $50, while the t-shirts are silk screen and $20.
A reminder about our May 31st fundraiser in Cremona - Dueling Pianos! Lots of tickets still available, and there will be a silent auction as well!
We are on the lookout for an affordable skidsteer, if anyone knows of one. Preferably under $20,000 and at least partly finance-able.
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