Our Christmas fundraiser, decorating the tree for the animals, was a great success!  Thank you to everyone who contributed, shared, cared.  We even added a bunch of presents at the end.  Next year we might start out that way right off the bat, having people be able to add decorations or presents for individual animals.  It was a lot of fun decorating the tree.  Perhaps we'll do a valentine fundraiser, buy a heart for a horse!

Had a bit of a fiasco the other night.  I was up at 3 a.m. to get Beth up and let her out of the barn. Couldn't get back to sleep so got up again at about 3:30 and heard some banging outside. Went out to check and found Tyler had somehow fallen into the round bale feeder!  So we're out there trying to get him out, I'm in my housecoat, and it's -30C. Mike had to get the skidsteer out to lift the bale feeder up so Tyler could get up. Poor guy is a little banged up. He's not happy about it but I've put him in the barn in case he goes a bit shocky from the stress. And of course while we're trying to get Tyler up, Tucker decides to leave the paddock (I forgot to close the gate in my panic to help Tyler) so once I've got Tyler in the barn I'm running around trying to find Tucker. He was outside the gate but fortunately I got in front of him and turned him back and got him caught and put away too. Yikes, never a dull moment! So thankful though that I was awake and heard the banging.

Yesterday we were putting out hay for the herds and I noticed Simba is slightly off on his left hind.  Then I saw Mac was completely lame on his right hind.  Seems there is always something going on with someone.  I separated Mac, put him in the smaller paddock with Cola, Torque and Missy, hopefully they are nice to him and he won't have to move around too much until we figure out what's up with him.  Marvin's eye is healing nicely, he'll have a scar but it's at the back lower part of his eyeball so shouldn't interfere too much, if at all, with his vision.  He's learning now to stand reasonably quiet while I put the cream in, or at least get it smeared on his eyelashes or in the vicinity of his eye.   Marvin jumped the fence again, this time the 4 foot round pen panel!  Mr. Goat the woolly mammoth mini is back and I thought I'd put him in with Marvin to keep him company.  As soon as Marvin saw him coming he panicked and jumped right over the fence.  Marvin is only 11 hands high, if that, so it was quite a feat for him to jump that fence, though he certainly didn't seem to give it a second thought.  Mr. Goat is now next to the seniors pen instead.  Mr. Goat does have a possible foster home lined up for January as a companion to a mini-donkey, they'll make a cute pair for sure.

We were contacted the other day by someone who saw a horse listed for sale on a facebook page and recognized her as one of our previous rescues, Ghost.  In checking it out, it seems that the mare, Ghost, had changed hands a number of times and in the end was being used as a broodmare!   It was so disappointing to find this out.  So much for having conditions of adoption.  We realize that the adoption contract is not worth paper it's written on if people don't abide by it and don't care enough to pass them on to future owners but one would hope that people have integrity.  I think this illustrates a lot of what is wrong with horse owners and people in general, why you find 20 or 30 year old horses at auction that don't even have a name, why there ARE so many horses being bought and sold everywhere you look.  As Michele, our neighbour said yesterday, so many people view their horses as just another piece of equipment in their yard. You'd be hard pressed to find a dog even, for example, that has had seven owners in 14 years yet that is what has happened to Ghost.  She had at least that many, as there had to have been 1) the original breeder, 2) the horse dealer we bought her from at 4 years of age, 3) the Rescue, 4) the person we adopted her out to, 5) the person the adopter sold her to, 6) the person who listed her for sale on facebook, 7) the future buyer of her.  There most likely were other owners too, as it's very probable that someone else owned her between her being born and ending up at the horse dealer; also the person currently listing her for sale by my understanding bought Ghost at auction, another no-no from the adoption contract (she said something about saving her from a meat buyer).  I am so thankful that the lady who saw the ad went and bought Ghost, so she's safe again.  The other disturbing aspect of this whole thing is that I found out afterward that the husband of the seller said he wouldn't ever sell the horse back to us, Bear Valley Rescue, because of some perceived slight or issue from years ago to do with him losing some bid on some wildies, or something?  I don't know what the heck the guy could have his nose out of joint about, but it is disconcerting to feel that someone thinks ill of the us.
Well, as it's been said, you can't please everyone.  I'm just glad the Ghost is safe again, she has always been one of my favourite horses that has been through the Rescue.

Happy Birthday Mike!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas.  We've been dining on chocolate and leftovers the last couple of days.  Takes care of the 'what to cook' dilemma that's for sure.

My horse Bandit got an abscess on the side of his cheek and he's up here at the house so I can hot-compress it until it bursts.  All the horses are doing well.  With the milder weather we've had they've slowed down a bit in the amount of hay they have been going through.  The weather is supposed to get colder over the next couple of days though so we'll be blanketing some of the seniors today.  Still have to finish up deworming as well - we did a lot of them when we did feet last time but there are still lots more to do.  I have a couple of the horses here at the house that I'm not happy with their weight.  They will have their teeth done soon but in the meantime I'm going to deworm them with safe-guard and then eqvalan gold, make sure parasites aren't the problem.

I did some work on the website, moving a lot of the older and long-time resident mares from the adoption page to the foster or permanent resident pages.  Some of them have been here upwards of 8 or 10 years and are no longer good candidates for rehoming, either due to their age or lack of handling, or simply because it would be too stressful to uproot them at this point in their lives.  It would be so wonderful if we had unlimited funds and space to keep all the horses that come to us here permanently.  Unfortunately that's not the case so we do have to rehome when we can in order to make room for more animals needing help.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far towards decorating the tree for the animals!  We are at $9,135, almost to our goal of $10,000!
Thank you to Karen Graybern and Karen Middleton for your donations through United Way of Calgary and Area, and to Maria Dodsley, Kathy Estey, Cathryn Gough, Bonnie Edmunds, Michelle Forrieter, and Nishi Thusoo for your donations through the Cenovus Employee Foundation.

There was a little article on Bear Valley Rescue in this month's Equine Wellness Magazine - http://www.equinewellnessmagazine.com/articles/bear-valley-rescue/

We had the vet out for Beth this past week.  She'd been out of sorts and she'd gone off her feed a bit.  It turns out that, because she'd had a halter left on her that grew into her face, it affected the alignment of her jaws and teeth as she was growing.  She had a lot of really sharp points and needed her teeth floated badly - not what one would expect with a two-year-old horse but she's been through a lot in her short life.  She also has ulcers in both cheeks because of the sharp points.  The vet gave her a manual float and she'll have a proper power float in a couple of weeks once the ulcers have healed.  Beth is feeling so much better now!

Marvin's eye is improving, and of course it's not getting any easier to put the cream in his eye!  We are working on it though as it's going to take a while before his eye is completely healed.  Tyler also seems to be doing well, he hasn't had any more issues with his throat.

Thank you to Kendra for the donation of firewood - we filled up our 16' stock trailer and there's still more to pick up.  We heat all the buildings, including the feedroom, coop and barn, with wood.  Thank you to Terri Bodell for the donation of square bales, we picked up over 100 bales today.  Tomorrow we have the tree guy coming to take down a lot of poplar that are dead or dying in and around the paddocks.  We had a tree come down in a wind storm a month ago and it landed on one of our vehicles!  A couple of trees also came down on one of the fences, so we've decided we have to bite the bullet and pay to have some of the trees cut out that are most likely to cause damage if they come down, in addition to making it safer for the horses.  On the plus side, we'll have lots more firewood.

Our Christmas 'decorate the tree' fundraiser is off to a great start - $5425 raised so far - a huge thanks to everyone who has donated!  Wouldn't it be nice if we get the whole tree filled so we can start piling presents underneath it too.  Donating is so easy - you can donate online through the website (Canada Helps, ATB Cares, Paypal), through the mail by cheque, or on your cell phone through Mobile Giving (by texting HORSE to 20222). 

Thank you to: Cassandra, Colette, Linda-Lou, and Kim, who have donated feed so far through Mountain View Feed Company's 'Fill the Feedroom' event; Catalyst Changers for the $1,000 donation on behalf of their employees, customers and suppliers; Kristyn for the donation through Encana Cares; and to Four Feet Companion Foundation for the unexpected but very much appreciated $1,000 donation for the animals.

We would like to thank HorseJournals.com for their continued support, providing free advertising space for Bear Valley Rescue in their print and online publications.

Stiles left for his new home last weekend and he's fitting in wonderfully. 
Beth got up by herself on December 2nd!  She lay down in the yard in the sunshine and an hour later she was back up.  I'm disappointed I didn't see her get up as I'd like to have seen how she managed, but still, it's good news.

Tyler, the older Thoroughbred gelding who came in a couple of months ago, started having some issues.  I wasn't sure if he had a choke or cold or what, just had a bit of a cough and odd head tilt.  Our vet came out and was unable to tube him, there seemed to be some blockage up by his larynx.  Tyler is on antibiotics and bute for the time being to see if that helps.  If it doesn't help we'll have to take him in to the clinic to be scoped in order to see what is going on in his throat. 

Little Marvin, the pony, seriously injured his eye yesterday.  It was all pus-y and closed up.  Our vet came out (she seems to be here a lot!) to look at it.  He has a puncture above his eye and a laceration to the lower back part of his eyeball.  Hopefully it will heal up okay but he will have to be on meds for a while.  We'll see how long he's amenable to having cream put in his eye.  Good thing he's little! 

And in spite of being little, Marvin can jump!  He just jumped out of his paddock and took off back down to the main herd.  I think it was all Beth's fault, she was galloping (!) up and down the alleyway, and she bit him too.  Colleen, one of our volunteers, and I cornered Marvin in the bale yard and I led him back up to the house.  Now he's in the round pen, I'm pretty sure he can't jump THAT high.

We've been toiling through a very cold weather spell, seems like everything takes so much more time and energy with the snow and -20 to -30 temps!  We're spending most of our time making sure everyone has lots to eat and is keeping as warm and dry as possible.  The horses certainly don't seem to mind the cold as much as we do, they have been very playful and spirited!

We are starting December with one of our major fundraising events of the year - decorating the tree for the animals!  We can't do what we without the support of everyone out there and are so thankful for that support.  We've set a goal of $10,000 for this Christmas, we hope we can meet or even excede that!  You can donate through Paypal, Canada Helps, ATB Cares, or, new this year, through Mobile Giving Foundation for $5, $10, $20, or $25 by texting HORSE to 20222, starting on December 2nd, to a maximum of $30/month!  Plus there's always the old standby - cheque by mail!  With the 'text to donate' there are no fees to you, the donor, or to Bear Valley.  You can even get a direct tax receipt for your donation by visiting http://receipt.mobilegiving.ca.  Also, on December 2nd, Giving Tuesday, donations made through Canada Helps using Interac with be matched up to $25 by Interac!

Getting back to the horses and other animals, finally we have everyone home for the winter.  That's such a load off our minds, having everyone back here and in one place.  We got most of the new corrals at the main herd set up, and it's worked great as we had Pat our farrier here this past week trimming (a new record, close to 80 horses done and that was even with having to cancel one day due to the weather!) and we used the new set-up to separate the horses we were working on.  I think there were 8 or 9 youngsters that had their first trims and they were great.

Emmy the Paso mare that came to us in January turned out to be pregnant.  She's already 19 and has suspensory ligament problems and had a foal last year so it was quite a shock to realize she was expecting again, and in winter at that.  Her little foal, Duncan, was born on November 20th but sadly passed away on November 22nd.  He was unable to stand by himself, and though we did everything we could it was to no avail.

A couple of other sad notes: Katmandu, a gentle old gelding, was euthanized at his foster home.  He was in his thirties and his last few years were spent being a first horse to a little girl who loved him a lot.  And we were saddened to learn of the tragic sudden passing of Gypsy Too, a beautiful draft mare that came to Bear Valley as a filly a number of years ago and was adopted out to a wonderful couple, Tammy and Dave.
We took in a 25 year old gelding last month, Gypsy (#5!).  He's older but sure doesn't act it!  Colton and Stiles have been adopted, we're really happy for both of them as they will being going to great homes.  Colton and Stiles also both had their teeth floated - poor Colton turned out to have such sharp points he had ulcers in both cheeks.  He's feeling a lot better now!  Pet, our oldest resident at 38 years, gave us quite a scare last week when she had a choking episode.  So thankful to our vet, Dr. Erickson, for rushing over right away!  She managed to dislodge the blockage and though Pet was sore for couple of days she is fine now.

We have 2 birthday girls to thank for donations from their birthdays - Tristen Rangen and Soleil Miner.  Thank you both for your thoughtfulness!  The horses appreciate it!

Our local feed supplier, Mountain View  Feed Company, has created a wonderful opportunity for donors to make a feed donation to the Rescue.  They also just donated 10 bags of organic oats to the Rescue.  Thank you Matt and Sandra!

Our thanks also to buysellbyphoto.com Red Deer for the free ad placements, and to Laura and Stephanie for doing up the ads!

A reminder that we have Debra Garside wild horse calendars for sale - a portion of the proceeds is being donated to Bear Valley.  They make great Christmas gifts!  Also Pomegranate gifting calendars are a wonderful way to donate to lots of wonderful causes at any time of year.