I don't know how I managed to miss posting about this, but we had our casino fundraiser volunteering on November 27th and 28th at Cash Casino in Red Deer.  To those of you who aren't familiar with the way casinos work in Alberta, all casinos need to 'share' their profits with not-for-profits, societies and charities in Alberta.  The not-for-profit or charity registers for a casino and once the dates are selected the group has to provide a number of volunteers over 2 days to 'work' at the casino.  Casino profits are pooled over 3 months (I believe there are several different sectors in the province that are lumped together) and then shared with the groups who worked the casinos during that period.  Thank you to Janine for being our casino chairperson, and to Kathleen and her stand-in Brenda who were our casino advisers (people you hire to help you figure out what you're doing!).  Thank you to everyone who volunteered to work the casino - Janine, Mike D., Charlotte, Peter, Randi, Kendra, Dot, Tracey, Michelle, Terri, Janneane, Theresa, Jen, Mike M., Alison, Ben, Darla and Katelyn.  From the feedback it seems everyone had a great time once again! 

We are allowed to have a casino approximately once every 3 years (not sure why, but urban Calgary and Edmonton sectors are allowed to have one every 18 months, plus their pooling is about 3 times as much $$, but our request for an urban centre has been denied).  We've already been scheduled for early 2017 for our next casino, though as with this last one I'll put in for an earlier date in case they have a cancellation so hopefully we'll be able to move up the date to some time in 2016, or maybe even late 2015.  Information on the next casino will be posted on the website closer to those dates.

Sorry for the delay in updating everyone on what has been happening at the Rescue.  As mentioned previously, we lost access to our website in July due to problems with our domain host and were unable to make any changes or post anything new.  We are so thankful to finally have that straightened out!  We were seriously concerned that we may have had to start over again from scratch with our website, and perhaps even change our domain name.  It worked out great in the end that we were able to retain our domain name and save the content from the old site.

First off, a HUGE thank you to Krista for creating our new website!  She donated all her efforts to create our new site, which must have been very time-consuming and a bit of a learning curve as well for her.  If you're looking for help with website design, we highly recommend her (her email is paws4serenity@gmail.com).  I'll have to learn how to navigate the new site now myself so I might still be a little lax in updating items but I'll try to keep on top of it.

I tried to keep notes as to what was happening during the lapse but will probably miss a few things, so I apologize ahead of time if I miss thanking anyone or forget to mention something important.

On the boring, paper-shuffling side of things, in August/September we had both a federal Charities Commission audit and a provincial fundraising audit.  Both went well, thankfully.  Our Charities auditor, Cynthia, was very nice.  She grew up on a farm, so she was happy to be able to come out and see the animals!

I also knuckled down and spent a fair bit of time doing grant-writing in late summer and we were successful on several fronts.  Thanks go out to the Totem Foundation, Harry & Martha Cohen Foundation, Nickle Family Foundation, and Four Feet Companions Foundation!  Also our sincere appreciation to the continued support of the Donner Canadian Foundation.  We also received donations from Cenovus Employee Foundation, the United Way and Team Telus Cares.  Thank you to the employees who support us through these employee foundations and the United Way.  We also participated in 'Giving Tuesday', December 3rd, and would like to thank everyone who made donations at that time.  Donations made on Canada Helps through Interac were matched by Interac up to $25 per donation.  Right now, approaching Christmas, through donations we're decorating the tree on our home page and have almost filled up the tree already!

It is so heartwarming to have the support of so many people in looking after the horses (and other animals).   Thanks to: Wendy Poirier for covering Winnie's expenses (she is getting joint injections in her front foot); Janine Falck for contributing towards Prince's and Hitch's expenses (acupuncture, joint injections & chiro); Kerry Busby for contributing towards Chanel's care expenses (farrier, etc, plus antibiotics for her pneumonia); Elaine Smith for the used tack donation; donations in memory of Harvey Poffenroth; donations in memory of Jim Fry;  and Robin Johnston & David Swick for the donation is Ed's memory.

We had a couple of other special donations (sorry, I know they're all special!!).  Thanks to: Olivia for the donation for your birthday towards sponsoring first Sheba, then Story; Cristina for the donation in lieu of presents for your 13th birthday; and thank you so much once again Laura Day and John Garner for the feed donation from the Spruce Meadows Masters.  I also want to thank Mary Ellen Lickfold for her continuous hard work on our behalf, cleaning up and selling the used tack. It's amazing how it adds up!  Thanks once again to everyone who is sponsoring or fostering for us as well, and to the Hoffmans, Morgans and Hewitts for the summer pasture!  And thank you to Terri Bodell for donating a lot of square bales!  It's been a lifesaver, especially as we still haven't found someone to come through will hauling over the square bales we bought this fall.

We haven't taken in any new equine additions as we still have so many lovely horses waiting for their forever homes.  However we did take in 4 piglets (Penny, Boris, Stella and Spot) rescued during the flood, 1 llama (Ramalama) who has already been rehomed, and 11 poultry from the Calgary Humane Society (some really lovely roosters and 2 hens) and 2 more hens, Princess and Charlotte.  Shiner, Tacoma and Thor have come back to the rescue, Shiner already being readopted and Tacoma and Thor up for adoption.   Soda, Monkey, Joanie, Torque and Snips are back from foster.  Valentino will be coming back from foster shortly as well.  Cecil, Quill, Twobits, Macie and Kahlua, Story, Timber, and the cows Charlotte, Olive and Norman have gone out on foster.  Adopted out since our last update are Zoey, Jackpot, Milo (still here, won't leave til spring), Venus, Samia, Nina, Freya, Emily, Karma, Faith, Burl, Sheba, Tigger, Nanoon, Jax, Bailey, Odyssey, Shiner, Chanel, Cheeks, and Early Hank.  So we've certainly had a lot of comings and goings!

We of course had a lot of hauling to do in the fall, bringing back the herd from Water Valley (10 horses), the Crammond herd (19 horses) and the Hoffmans' herd (26 horses).  Most of it went without a hitch, except that Annie went missing from the Crammond herd the day we were picking them up!  That was scary - I ran around that quarter section at least twice trying to find her or looking for a broken section of fence, not knowing if she was dead or got out somewhere.  It was an amazing stroke of luck that someone driving by saw us and stopped and asked if we were missing a horse as their father (uncle?) a few miles down the road had found one!  Never did figure out how she got out or what caused her to leave the other horses, but boy, were we ever glad she was okay.  Thank you to the people who corralled her and got her off the road.  A super thanks to Colette for helping haul the Crammond herd back with her truck and trailer.  It saved us a lot of time having the extra trailer!  Bringing the horses back from our neighbours', the Hoffmans, I managed to snag the trailer leg on a chain lying across the road and wrecked it good.  So glad Mike was able to fix it, though not without causing a fair bit of hassle in the meantime, between having to leave the trailer on the truck as it had no leg, to having to unhook the trailer once when we got stuck, as it is difficult to unhook a trailer with no leg! (We were picking up firewood - that's another big thank you, to Anne and Glen for the firewood!)  

We made a trek down to Standoff a few weeks ago to try and find 2 emaciated horses that were reportedly hanging around someone's house.  Along with RJ, Clarissa, and Deanna from AARCS/Pound Rescue, who had initially found out about the horses, we spent most of the day trying to locate the horses but couldn't find them anywhere.  We did find some a sickly little weanling at the impound lot that we tried to save but sadly he died before we could get back down there to bail him out.  And we struck a deer on the way home (I think/hope the deer survived!) which demolished the front of our truck.  Fortunately we were able to drive the rest of the way home but it was pretty wrecked and not going anywhere after that.  Once again, Mike to the rescue!  He was able to repair the truck for probably 1/3 of what it would have cost to send it out to be fixed, but we were without a truck for several weeks.  And somehow we ended up with 3 new kittens (Nelson, Stanley & Amelia) on the trip!

We had bloodwork done on Russa this summer and as we suspected, she has Cushings, so she is on daily medication for that and doing well.  We had x-rays done of Cosmo, Prince, Twenty and Winnie, with corrective shoeing for Cosmo and Prince, and cortisone shots for Prince, Twenty and Winnie.  Winnie is now getting alcohol injections in her joint to fuse it and Prince and Twenty get cortisone and HA injections.  Munsie keeps developing abscesses, she has really thin soles, but we've got her up at the house on limited movement and we're seeing some improvement.  Chanel had pneumonia (twice) but that  cleared up after a regimen of antibiotics and she's gone to her new home.  We had an outbreak of strangles brought in by the new arrivals from the auction in July.  Fortunately we were able to contain it to the group of youngsters at the house.  Very sadly, little Napoleon the pony recovered from the initial strangles but then became ill again a couple of weeks later.  We took him in to Moore's but they were unable to stabilize him and we had to make the decision to have him euthanized that evening.  They did a postmortem on him and found a large abscess (bastard strangles) in his gut.   Poor little guy, he was such a character, so cute and all personality.    Poor Milo had strangles for about 6 weeks but he recovered completely so that was a relief.  We lost quite a few older horses over the last few months.  Shandra passed away in the field at her foster home, cause unknown.   Old Red became ill and was not responding to treatment and was euthanized quietly here at the rescue.  Cosmo developed neurological problems, perhaps a tumor pressing on his spine, and we had to make the decision to have him euthanized as well.  Sarcee's lymphangitis became worse and flared up constantly. inhibiting her movement and she also was euthanized here at the Rescue.  Most recently (last week), Brandy went down and had to be euthanized at Janine's.   Each of these decisions are so hard to make but come with the territory.  We miss every horse that leaves us and we try to make their passing as easy as possible.  Zora the yearling had a colic episode a few weeks ago but thankfully recovered quickly and with minimal intervention.  Dallas got a wire cut on her hind leg a couple of months ago and it is healing up well.

Lastly, we have a new intern, Janneane, helping out at the Rescue!  She's been a big help and has even learned to drive the tractor.

I'll try and get some updated pictures on the website of the youngsters.  They grow and change so much that it's hard to keep up and they don't look the same, even taking into account the winter fuzzy coats they now have.

Sorry to all our supporters for the lack of communication over the last few months! Due to issues with our website hosting (the owner of the hosting company was apparently arrested in Scotland on internet pornography charges!) we lost access to our website so I haven't been able to do any updates to the website since July. Thankfully, after a lot of hassle and crash-course learning about internet hosting and domain registration, we've got our website back.

July 17/13 - Due to circumstances beyond our control (ie, we can't say NO), we ended up at the Innisfail auction on July 4th and picked up 24 head of horses, along with another horse from a horse dealer the following day. There are some really lovely horses in this bunch - more examples of the nice horses that end up at slaughter through no fault of their own. Several of them have already been adopted. I've got them all posted and will add pictures as I find the time.

Pat our farrier was out at the beginning of June and we were able to sedate Slinky and trim her up nicely, along with Tilly who had a badly cracked heel. We've had a few major health issues to deal with, including Moritz who injured his shoulder, Gizmo who had a huge abscess over his eye, Salsa who got a really bad wire cut to one back leg, Prince who has a bad abscess, Sarcee with her lymphangitis flaring up, and Mercy who cut her leg and went on a cross-country jaunt in the middle of the night. Very sadly, we had to euthanize Lucky, who had been with us for many years, as he started to develop issues with not being able to get up. Pet and Russa both really miss him. We've done quite a few geldings, including 2 crypt surgeries. Aric had one testicle removed, it was a 3 hour surgery just to find the one (it was up by his rectum!). We may have to go back if it seems he still has one more. That's a biggest problem with unethical people who will geld a horse with only one testicle showing. You have no way of knowing if there's one left behind. One of the horses that we just purchased at auction, Nanook, was sold as a gelding but he had a fresh surgery scar, on one side only, so I think that's a pretty good indication that they only found one testicle and that's also probably why they dumped him at the auction.

We've had quite a few horses go out on foster, including Zaz, Rose Red, Titus, Simba, Tigger, Percy, Royal and her foal Diamond, Taylor, Scoops, Moritz, Zoey, Spark, and on Friday, Cecil. Cisco, Shandra, Dan and Old Red also went to new foster homes from Janine's. Nikki, Venus, Karma, Emily, Ronin, Athena, Early Hank, Chanel, and a sorrel gelding who left before we could name him, all went to new homes. Amazingly enough, it turns out Nikki's adopter also owns Nikki's 5 year old son! Samia and Nina are leaving for their new home on Friday.

Thank you Robin McKay for coming out and doing Jin Shin Jyutsu on some of the animals. A big thanks to Mary Ellen and Dot and all their helpers for the 2 fundraising garage sales held to benefit Bear Valley in June. Almost $800 was raised! Thank you Riley for your donation - Riley sold lemonade and cookies to raise money for the horses! We received a small grant from Alberta Outdoor Sportsman Association, it is much appreciated! Thank you to Adrienne of Livestock Identification Services for helping us revamp our adoption contract/bill of sale. Thank you to the students of Niton Central School who did a fundraiser for the Rescue, holding a Mother's Day sale and restaurant!

We have new pasture closer to the Rescue, thank you very much to Roy and Amber Hoffman! We hauled all the horses back from Westbrook (blew a fuel line in the truck in the process, but Mr. Fixit Mike was able to repair it pretty quick!) and now they're just a short walk to the east. Thank you Janine and Janneane for helping with the move. We also moved the 3 rescue calves, Olive, Charlotte and Norman, to a nice paddock at our cattle lease, and today we moved the oldest cow Ester up with them. We weren't affected by the flooding in Alberta but we did take in 17 poultry that were rescued from the flood and we also took in 6 rabbits that were surrendered during one of the Spay/Neuter Task Force clinics in Sask. (I think).

There is a new June newsletter posted if you haven't read it yet. We have some pretty amazing numbers happening!

It has been a VERY busy couple of weeks. We've moved 19 horses up to a pasture lease north of Bowden, and we've moved 35 horses to pasture by Westbrook. The 4 youngsters who were supposed to go out for summer foster are now not going due to health issues at the foster home. However Nina, Samia, Emily, Tivio and Freya have gone to another foster home for the summer that's very close to us (and are still available for adoption). Thank you Colette and Melodie for fostering them. Thanks also to Jen for fostering Maydie and Mary Ellen for fostering Teresa. For adoptions, Atticus and Flicka have been adopted, and they along with Rouge have gone to their new homes. Smudge and Lucky have come back; Smudge for financial reasons and Lucky due to behavioural issues. Cheyenne finally went up to her new home, thank you Becki. Daddy, Annie, Roxy#2 and Fuzzy, along with Bolt and Cody who were here temporarily, all went up to Paul and Sue Peyto of Timberline Tours in Lake Louise. There was a deposit made on Karma but sadly circumstances changed and her adoption didn't go through, so she's now available again for adoption.

We've been waiting months to be able to retest Aric for testosterone and finally we've done it, we just have to wait for the results to come back. Depending on what those results are we'll have to make some decisions as to how to handle his 'manliness' issues. We took Ronin in for xrays and he does have some mild arthritis developing in one front foot. With supplements and shoeing he should still be sound for light riding. He is such a nice gentleman!

It's been a real battle lately finding enough hay for the horses as we wait for the grass to start growing. We are also looking for pasture in our area for the summer, if anyone knows of any available. We do have one pasture available up by Bowden, where we will be moving 20 of the horses. We are also trying to negotiate a good rate on some other pasture close to Westbrook but haven't heard back on that yet. We don't have the budget to pay boarding rates to put the horses on pasture, so we're hoping we can get a better lease-type rate. We have several horses going out on foster for the summer as well, we just have to find the time to get them all moved. We've started gelding some of the colts - Voodoo, Moritz, Sirius, Atticus, Zane and Jax have been gelded. Yesterday we had cryptorchid surgery done on Flint, who was adopted out last year as a colt (one of his testicles didn't drop). Monkey and Joanie, who went to a foster up by Edmonton, had xrays and debriding done on their leg injuries. The vet determined they have dystrophic calcification. He will be consulting with another vet to determine the next step in treatment. I was kind of hoping the debriding would be the solution, as the vet bill is already at $1200! Reba, Cisco, Hitch and Twenty had their teeth floated.

Ruby and Ronin are back from foster, thank you Linda for looking after them for 5 years and 4 years respectively. Ruby, a bay roan mare who came to us pregnant from the Stavely auction in 2006, will be again available for fostering. Ronin, a big bay TB gelding who originally came to us with an injury that required him to be off for at least a year, we were told became lame in his other front foot this past December, so we'll have to have that looked at, and if he is sound he will be available for adoption. Busty and Girl have been adopted, along with Rouge, Fresno, Sirius, and Karma. Only Busty and Girl have left yet though. Moritz, Stina, Zoey and Flicka will be going out for summer foster next week, but they will still be available for adoption. It will be a good opportunity to wean Flicka. Cisco and Hitch have gone to Janine's for fostering, where they've joined 6 other of our seniors. Thank you Janneane and Krista, for fostering Raffy, Reba, Twenty, and Mercy. Janneane and Krista also took 5 hens and a rooster, which I'm told are being spoiled with smoothies and fresh veggies for breakfast!

We took in some more horses and other animals, this time as a result of the closing of another rescue/sanctuary by Calgary, The Forgotten Farm. We took in 3 pig(lets), 3 calves/heifers, 2 chickens and 11 horses. Thank you, Tara, for donating a large number of items from the Farm, including gates, troughs, etc., to Bear Valley Rescue. Of the horses we took in, 2 were already committed to another home so they will be leaving shortly. One of the horses, Royal, a dun paint mare, was very pregnant and foaled yesterday as 12:30 am. She had a beautiful dun filly, who looks just like mom. Macie, another mare from the Farm, has heaves and has been under treatment for a few days. She was checked today by our vet and is much improved.

Over the last two weeks we've lost two more of our non-equine residents - Ella, one of our old cows (she was 18) and yesterday, Kiwi, the sheep. We have to remember even though we're sad when we lose an animal, it's the fact that we've made their lives better while they were with us that counts.

Thank you to all our volunteers who've been helping out lately. We do appreciate everyone's help.  We would also like to thank everyone who has contributed to helping save a lot of our recent rescues from the feedlot and auctions.

I forgot to mention a big thank you to Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation, for the $2000 grant we received in April. The Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation is committed to making life more bearable for children, families and pets, in need of a helping paw. With the sale of each full-sized Bearemy's Kennel Pals(reg.TM) - a collection of Build-A-Bear Workshop(reg.TM) plush dogs - one dollar is donated to domestic pet programs including local animal shelters, stray pet rescue and rehabilitation organizations, and pet education programs around the country. These funds are available to qualified non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada. Visit www.buildabear.com for more information.

We had a great time at the Mane Event this past weekend, and I'm told everyone manning the booth at the Pet Expo also enjoyed themselves. Thank you to everyone who donated their time at both events! We had a raffle at the Mane Event and the winners were Marnie Matthews and Wendy Freedman. Also thank you to everyone who stopped by the booths to say hello and thank you to everyone who made a donation or purchased raffle tickets or bought cookies (hugs to Mary Ellen and Debbie for making the cookies!) or notecards.

Further to the notecards, I'll try and get them posted on the website for sale. These are notecards in sets of 5 different pictures of Bear Valley horses (photography by Sheena of Blinking Cow Photography). They are blank inside and perfect for thank you notes or short letters for any occasion. We have 3 different sets of cards and they are $10 per set, plus $1 for mailing.

Since the last update we have taken in some more horses from the feedlot. I'm only speculating but I think the feedlot guy we deal with may own or have an interest in the Lacombe slaughter plant. We took in 19 weanlings in one big load on the 15th, and then 4 more horses from the same guy on the 17th. The four from the 17th were 2 scrawny, tick-infested weanlings, and 2 emaciated Thoroughbred mares. We were contacted by the feedlot owner because he figured we could rehab the TB mares and that they'd make good horses once they were in better shape. We were able to track down the mares' information through their lip tattoos. It turns out they both came from the Langley, BC area, and were owned/sold to a gentleman who because ill soon after he received them back in November. He passed away in mid-April and the horses were shipped out here for slaughter, though they obviously had been neglected for months as they are literally just skin and bones. The one mare is Nikki's Secert (no typo), an 11 year old mare who had raced and since had 3 foals. The other mare is Ready in Rouge, a 5 year old mare who raced as recently as last summer. We have already been in contact with a previous owner of Nikki's and have received her papers. Nikki's previous owner was heartbroken to learn of her condition and almost-terrible fate. She believes she may be able to track down Rouge's papers for us as well. The 19 weanlings include some very nice youngsters - a grulla, 3 buckskin/dun colts, some bigger boned babies and a cute pony-type filly. I'll get these guys posted on the website as soon as I can. We also took in an old crippled gelding through Clarissa of AARCS. His name is Twenty. He came from east of Calgary where they'd come across him in a field. Seems he was turned out last fall to die, but didn't. Good save, Clarissa! If nothing else he'll have a nice relaxing summer here at the rescue and if need be we'll euthanize him quietly in the fall.

Joker, Duchess, and Raffles were adopted/fostered and left for their new homes. Summer, Mellow and Nicki left for their new homes as well, along with Monkey and Joanie to foster with a lady who has lots of experience dealing with troublesome leg injuries. Hopefully with her expertise we will be able to finally heal their legs up. They are already booked in for x-rays at her vet next week and if there are underlying issues with the bone we will get them cleaned up so they can begin healing properly. Kahlua, Farrah and Gemma went out on summer foster to where the minis are. I think they're happy to be out of the mud and on some grass, slow as it may be to grow with all this cold we are still having.

Jara's weight hasn't been great so she's now up at the house getting special feed. We also separated out the thinnest of the new horses for special feed and so they don't have to compete with the stronger horses. Rose Red, Tigger, Simba and Percy are below the barn in their own paddock. Percy (the crooked palomino) had a bit of a colic-type episode so we had him on meds for that, and he also has a bit on congestion in one lung so he's on meds for that as well. Rose Red is just very underweight and Tigger and Simba are the 2 that came in with the Thoroughbreds. They are so very thin and covered in huge ticks. I've never had to deal with ticks on horses before and I have to say they are pretty disgusting! We moved Shiloh (Mike's horse), Shay and Graycey back down to the herd (Graycey had mastitis and was up at the house for doctoring). Cecil was also up at the house for a few days as he seemed to be developing an abscess but it cleared up (if that's what it was) and he decided to take himself back down to the herd this morning! 

We ran out of large round bales, (I think we went through about 800 so far this winter/spring!) but thankfully we've found some more and as a result Mike has been pretty busy hauling hay home.

I'm sure everyone is waiting for spring! It's snowing today, with a heavy snowfall warning of 10 - 25 cm (4-10 inches)! I don't think the horses mind, but with the ground warming all we're going to have is mud and more mud once it melts. 

Hmm, I didn't realize it's been so long since I've written an update. Max left for his new home, as did Joshua the donkey. The same day that Joshua left we got in another donkey, Buckwheat, from the Alberta SPCA. Buckwheat had very overgrown hooves but we were able to get him trimmed right back and his feet look great now. He was pretty happy to be able to run again! Buckwheat has also been adopted, as have Mellow and Nicki, Captain, and Paloma, and one of the new colts.

Speaking of new, we took in 6 weanlings, they came from a local horse feedlot. Three of them were part of an elderly farmer's hoarding situation, is the best way I can describe it. The other three ended up at the feedlot through a breeder who was clearing out his 'leftovers' I guess. Both are pretty typical situations of why youngsters end up going for meat. We also just got in 6 more from another breeder/ hoarding/divorce type situation. These last 6 are in pretty rough shape, very underweight, but they're already looking and feeling better. We also were contacted by the owners of Allie and Pup, who were both adopted out last year, about returning them; Pup, because of training issues and Allie because of a change in circumstances. Thankfully, Pup is going to stay with the lady who was boarding him, thank you Penny for that (Penny adopted Hank last year). Unfortunately with Allie, even though I told her owners that we would be happy to take her back, I haven't heard anything more on her, which kind of has me worried. I'm hoping they found her another home and just haven't bothered to let me know.

Welcome to our new volunteer Heather, and thank you to Emily for coming out and volunteering during 'reading week'. Thank you to Hannah for donations in lieu of your 10th birthday! Thank you to Monty, Hope, Belinda, Kathy, and Donna for the feed/tack/supplies donations. Thank you Anne for coming out and working with Eddie and his feet! Thank you to Judy and Linda and all our other volunteers. We've got some new sponsors on board, thank you all for your contributions, we do appreciate it!

We had Mike's horse, Shiloh, xrayed as he's prone to founder and has some rotation of his coffin bones. He now has nice shoes on all 4 feet and is much more comfortable! We also had Farrah's crooked foot xrayed and Cecil's foot with the abscess. We were able to get Farrah trimmed back nicely, though she's still crooked and has an abscess coming out but once that's healed we're hoping she'll do better. Cecil didn't have any internal issues with his foot (I was concerned because of the previous abscess where he lost half his hoof!) and he's back down with the herd. We also brought Red up to the house as he had an abscess develop too, this one in the opposite front foot from last year. It seems certain horses are more susceptible to abscesses and not always in the same foot! Thank you to Didsbury Vet, Energy Equine, and Carson Richardson (farrier). Kahlua came down with heaves, so she's up at the house now and being fed flakes on the ground rather than having her head stuck in a round bale. Shandra came down with a touch of pneumonia in one lung, not sure why but she did have a very bad-smelling discharge from one nostril. After several weeks of antibiotics she seems to be over it.

We are looking for more round bales, so if anyone knows of any for sale in the central Alberta area, Red Deer or Calgary, please let us know.

A quick note, we're at The Mane Event in Red Deer April 26-28 this year. Unfortunately the Pet Expo in Calgary is the same weekend (April 27-28) so we've got to decide if we can do both venues. If you can volunteer either in helping create the booths or in manning the booths, please contact either Mike at bearvalleyab@aol.com or Carmen at bear.valley.volunteer@gmail.com. Time is of the essence as we have already paid for the Mane Event booth but have not committed to a Pet Expo booth yet. This year the Pet Expo is at Spruce Meadows, which would be a really great venue for us!

Also please note our annual general meeting will be held Feb 9th here at the rescue; RSVP if you will be attending so we know how many people to expect.

I've had two things on my list for months now, and hopefully soon I'll actually get to them - adding a wish list to the website; and creating a 'foster horse follow-up form'. Oh, and also, we're looking at starting a fundraiser for an 'Anderson Glide', which would be a great thing to have for down horses that need to be moved. The price looks to be around $1800.