We delivered Skyler to his new home and picked up Neeka and Sky. Romeo left for his foster home. We had the U of C vet students out to do teeth again as part of their rotation. We got 11 horses done. It went well and some of them did need some serious work! Sonata has come back to the rescue from her adoptive home on Vancouver Island. We took in 6 warmbloods, including a stallion, 2 mares (1 bred), and 3 youngsters. The one 2-year-old colt has already been adopted and the one mare, Duchess, along with Sonata, have gone to Samantha Pritchard of Elation Equine for training. We look forward to partnering with Samantha in training and placing some of our horses. Buddy the mini has also been adopted, thank you Charlene and Jordan, who also adopted one rooster (now named Jacob) and 2 ducks!

We had the farrier out over 3 days and managed to get a lot of the horses done. We also took in 3 appaloosas, including a nice young gelding, and 2 mares, one of which is blind in one eye and the other has damage to her facial nerve. Hannah, one of the older mares currently being fostered by Janine, developed a bladder infection. Thank you Janine for being so patient in finally collecting a urine sample! Hannah went through a series of shots and seems to be doing fine now. Old Red got a pretty serious wire cut to his chest but it is healing nicely. Remi got a bad cut to his neck as well, not sure how he did it, but it has healed up. Our vet has a new laser therapy tool so we'll be giving it a try on Old Red's injury, and Joanie's and Monkey's old injuries. Maybe it will help them to finally heal up completely!

We are going to be sending Samia and Nina to Gregg Garvie for training in September. Gregg is a fantastic trainer and does wonders especially with difficult horses. We've turned the herd out on a new pasture and they are having a great time in all that grass! We've moved the yearlings down to the herd along with the new appys. And I've finally learned to back with up the trailer! Our condolences to Meghann, who adopted Leyla, who was pregnant but sadly lost her foal, and to Julianna on the loss of Lalita, who she adopted from us several years ago.

Senator, Fritz & Skyler have been adopted, and Sonata should be back today or tomorrow. Neeka and Sky are coming back, and they've both been started under saddle. Our thoughts are with Rick, who was fostering them, as he received a serious kick to the chest which will have him laid up for quite a spell. We took in a nice little dun mare with an eye injury, Roxy, and she's already found a foster home - thank you Tracy & Jonathan! Romeo will be returned to his foster home next weekend. Thank goodness!

A big thanks to the Charltons and Naffins, for the donation of the round bales and delivery! Also a big thanks to Monty Gwynne for the donation of the (very heavy!) square bales. 

Phoebe had her 2nd cannula removed from her eye and it's healed up pretty nicely, though she does have a scar in her eye. She's happy to be back with the herd, and she settled a lot from all the handling she had, the one good thing that came out of it! Golddust is better now, and Mellow's itch has been clearing up but now she seems to be developing an abscess in her foot as she's completely lame on one foot. Seems to reinforce my idea that most foot abscesses are brought on by stress. Shadow(#3) got a small puncture in his shoulder and it has abscessed as well. Hopefully it will drain soon. Gracy the standardbred went out for adoption on a 'trial' basis of one month. It's been 2 months now and I haven't been able to get hold of the guy to either return her or pay her adoption fee. Never again with the trial periods! Our adoption fees are low enough and with our policy of full refund if returned, there's no reason for anyone not to pay the adoption before the horse leaves. We have enough on our plates without having to chase people for money, and my biggest concern is for the horse - what kind of home is it if the person isn't even honest enough to pay?! Should I publicly post his name in the hopes that I can embarrass him into getting back to me?

Minx, Fritzy & her foal, Mitzy, Sebastian, and Preston all went to their new homes. Sylvia left on foster with Sebastian and she'll come back when he's ready to be weaned. Hank is also adopted and will be leaving in about a month. Popcorn's adoption didn't go through, I wasn't comfortable with the placement, so he's available once again. Harriet & Kikko's foster has become a permanent adoption. We took in a new horse this week, he is Prince, a 29 yr old gelding. He's a little sore on his fronts, prone to founder, but a really nice old boy. Also Sonata is being returned to the rescue, unfortunately she's on Vancouver Island so we'll have to arrange to get her all the way back here.

Munsie had her foal, he was born on Jun 25th. He picked up some sort of bug and has been doing poorly the last few days. We had the vet out and she tubed him, plus he's on antibiotics and neorease and he got a shot of fluxinin and equi-stim, and he seems to be doing better. We put a second cannula in Phoebe's eye, and her stitches have started to come out and it looks like the puncture still hasn't cleared up completely, but the cannula is going to have to come out anyway this week. Mellow had some sort of allergic reaction to something or picked up something that's made her incredibly itchy. She's rubbed her face raw and between her legs. We've been treating it, plus I dewormed her again, and she seems to be getting better. Golddust was rough- housing with another of the yearling geldings and took a nasty fall and hurt his shoulder. He was very sore for about a week but is getting better now. Remi cut his neck, it's not too bad though. The day after Kiwi and Gemma went up to their foster home, Gemma lay down in a bit of a dip and couldn't get up. Fortunately Carol's daughter was able to rush out to Carol's and give Gemma some help so that she would get up. I hope Gemma is smart enough to not lie down in the same spot again!

We had a nice visit and gave a tour to Padnoma, a group for people with learning disabilities. A big 'Thank You!' to Serena Crisanti, who collected donations for the horses in place of her 11th birthday presents. We did a short presentation at the last meeting of the Calgary Regional Trail Riders group. They have been big supporters of the rescue over the last two years, donating part of their casino fundraising proceeds to us, which we really appreciate! Thank you to Linda & Gary Charlton, who have donated a large number of round bales of hay to us. Also thank you to Monty Gwynne for donating the nice (very heavy!) square bales. Our email has been acting up again, so if you don't get a response to your email, if it's urgent you should call, or message us on facebook. Last week the email was down for several days. Hopefully it won't be down as long this time, but I have no idea what the problem is.

We had Riley gelded this week, that went well but the poor guy is pretty sore. We removed Phoebe's cannula from her eye, but unfortunately it hasn't healed as much as we'd hoped so we may have to insert another one. Fritzy foaled on Jun 10th - right after I typed the last update I went out and checked her and there she was with her foal - a nice dun colt.

A big thankyou to the dedicated rabbit volunteers who came out and laid sod in the rabbit pen in the pouring rain. I hope none of you get sick as a result, you were all soaked through!  

I've posted all the new horses on the website, including the 4 started 3 year olds. I'm not sure how started they are, some of them can be quite nervous but at least they are halterbroke. I was kind of hoping they'd all be footbroke too but it doesn't look like it. Also posted is a nice looking 2 yr old QH colt, Riley. Norma, an older mare had been here only 1 day before she'd already been selected as a foster by someone looking for a couple of horses.

Sarcee went to a foster home. We had seem some improvement in her leg and then we tried a couple of injections of another drug, one used for dairy cows with udder swelling, and it really seems to have helped even more. Thank you Carolyn for taking on Sarcee. Fleury is adopted and Norma will be going to the same home as a foster. Burton, Traveller, Cooper and Popcorn all look like they're going to be adopted, but I'm not counting on it until deposits are paid or they've actually left for their new homes as all too often we've had was seems like definite adoptions and then they fall through at the last minute. There's been a fair bit of interest in the horses lately, mostly the youngsters. Josephine and General finally left the their new home, though I'm not sure if Josephine will work out - we may see her back again by fall. Zeke has been adopted!

We moved many of the horses out to summer pasture. Fifteen went to a pasture about 20 minutes east of us (thank you Nancy!) and nineteen went to pasture about 1/2 hour south of us (thank you Sarah!). Four of the horses have gone to the cow pasture (but not the cows as there isn't enough grass yet) and five have gone to Janine's. Today we are taking three to pasture for the summer at the mini's foster home and we'll be picking up the remaining Munson estate dispersal horses, which unfortunately will include a stallion or two. We're going to have to create a separate area for stallions (ex-stallions, as they do all get gelded). Three of the last four days we spent with Pat, our farrier - thank you Susanne for helping every day! We only trimmed about 35-40 horses this round but that was enough! Also had our vet out to do some teeth and deal with some health issues. Phoebe punctured her eye and we had to sedate her and insert a cannula in order to medicate her eye. What an ordeal! Phoebe was so stressed because she can't see out one eye and she did not cooperate at all. We ended up having to knock her right down in order to do it and even then she became quite frantic when she came out of the sedation. We also dealt with Brandy, who had an abscess on her face caused by a missing tooth, and we have gelded some of the young colts and will be doing the rest next week. Mellow had her hernia banded and Mercy was sedated in order to trim up her crooked foot really well. Slinky was sedated and trimmed again, her first actual 'farrier standing next to her and picking up her feet' type of trim! Her feet finally look really normal. A big thanks to Sherral for holding down the fort on Saturdays, especially for coming early and doing the morning feed. Also thank you to Linda and Sue for helping out, and again to Susanne, you've been a life-saver the last few weeks!

Thank you to the volunteers who came out and helped build a new rabbit enclosure. The bunnies are happy to have more room of their own away from the goats and sheep.

We gave away one of our male geese (went to a new home with a nice girl goose!) and thankfully the remaining goose has settled down a lot, he's no longer attacking us every time we enter the poultry enclosure (the 2 of them together were like a gang!) and he's not nearly as noisy any more either. 

Somber left for his new home in April. Gracy#2 left for her new home today, and Trouble and her new foal Thor left for their temporary summer foster home today as well. Kat and Leyla will be leaving for their new home tomorrow. Kiki and Millie have come back to the rescue, along with new horses Echo#2, Buddy, and Shadow#2 and Traveller and Saffron left for their new home in April and have already come back again. Shamrock left to join Silk at a wonderful foster home in Sylvan Lake. I'll get the new/returned horses posted as soon as I can, hopefully in the next few days. I'd also like to get new pictures posted of especially the youngsters, as they've all grown and changed so much. We've also taken in another owner surrender, Major, a very nice, tall palomino Saddlebred gelding. He's joined the geriatric crowd at the rescue. And Granada, who I mentioned came in in the last update, was here less than 24 hours before a previous owner found out he was here and came and took him home! We also took in another 10 rescue hens.

Sylvia had her foal, a nice bay colt we've named Sebastian. Trouble had her foal as well, a flashy little dun with one blue eye and we've named him Thor. Very sadly, Twobits had her foal, a beautiful filly we named Topaz and we lost her 2 days later. She had a very large umbilical hernia and I believe it strangulated her intestine. She was running around and playing just fine and 2 hours later we found her and she was already succumbing to hypothermia as she'd been down for a while. We tried for over 2 hours to bring her body termperature up but she just stopped breathing at one point and that was it. We are so heartbroken and feel that we've let down Twobits as well. Fritzy is still expecting, I assume she'll have her foal in the next couple of weeks. Our heartfelt sympathies to Carolyn on the loss of Roseka, whom she'd fostered for us for many years. Also to Hazel, on the loss of Hawk, he was such a kind old gentleman.

Thank you to Nancy Blain for donating some pasture for this summer. Once we get the fences checked we will move the smaller herd over there. It's only about 20 minutes east of us and there's LOTS of grass! Farrah will be getting special shoes tomorrow, in the hopes that it will help straighten out her crooked foot. That's assuming we can get her shod of course. Thank you Brenden & Katherine! Red has an abscess so he's up at the house. It's started to drain and today Carmen and Sherral soaked his foot for a while. Gemma is doing great, she's on a low-dose steroid and has no trouble lying down or getting up. We did some interesting alternative therapies on Sarcee yesterday. She's had a recurring infection in her hind leg that has caused it to stock up severely. We had tried all the usual things - sweat wraps, long term antibiotics, cold rinsing, etc. Nothing has worked, so now we're trying the 'leech' treatment (very gross!) and we'll also be trying some herbal stuff. Next week, Tuesday, will be gelding day! We have at least 10 colts to geld, so we'd better get started on it. I've also started deworming and vaccinations on the horses at the house. Next weekend we are planning on doing the herd. Can't wait!

Horses that have been gone out as adopted or fostered over the last 6 weeks include Bird, Harley, Disco, Sugar, Joker, Kodiak, Donovan, Fontaine, Raffles, Neeka, Sky#2, Saphira, Kane, Cass, Tucker, Harriet, and Kikko (one of Mike's horses). Those that have been adopted or fostered but haven't left yet are Allie#3, Somber, Jericho, General, Josephine, Trouble, and Silk. Today Saffron and either Carter or Traveller will most likely be leaving for their new home. Zeke has gone out for training!

We lost Juno suddenly to colic. His potential foster home fell through and not long afterwards he became sick. He died in the trailer on the way to the vet clinic. We miss him, as do the weanlings that he was babysitting.

We had the farrier out again and did over 70 horses. It amazes me that we can do that many of them! Some of the weanlings have had their first trim as well. We ran out of round bales and have bought 150 more, hopefully to last until everyone is on pasture, assuming we can find enough pasture for them all. Thank you Elaine for the donation of 15 round bales!

Gemma had a muscle biopsy, which was inconclusive, and was on steriods for a week, which seems to have really improved her condition. She is now on a regimen of IV immune booster and will go on a low-dose oral steroid next week. She's also getting her monthly acupuncture treatments. Claire had an abscess in one foot but it drained and she's fine now. Crystal got a small wire cut on one front leg but it's healed up already. Farrah has been sore, I'm not sure if she's got an abscess coming on or what. We have taken in about 80 of the 'Canmore rabbits', they're living in the pen with the goats and sheep. Mike says we need a vacation!

On a brighter note, Dynasty has been adopted, Juno is going to a foster home up north if we can arrange transport, and Fontaine and Donovan are leaving next weekend for their new foster home. Duke has also been adopted and should be leaving for his new home in the next couple of weeks. Susanne has been out twice weekly to work with the youngsters and in just a few short days she's got Saphron, Golddust, Donovan, Dusky and Cooper halterbroke, leading and picking up feet. Mercy and Burton are almost there and a couple others are progressing well. We dewormed all the weanling and yearlings again - thanks Kelly & CO.! - (lots of wormy poop afterwards so it's a good thing we did them!) and it would seem that Bird, Remi and Somber have had halter work done with them, though they are a bit out of practice. A big thankyou to Cranky Crow Studios for the fundraiser they held on our behalf. Check out their website, their cards are really cute! We had a really nice visit from the Calgary Recreation Equestrian Group. If you are from the Calgary area, check them out, they have lots of great horse-related activities going on. They've also volunteered to man a booth for us at the Pet Expo in Calgary this spring. Speaking of booths, this will be our first year to have a booth at the Mane Event in Red Deer. Stop by for a visit at our booth if you're at either event! We got in about 50 rescue chickens back around the beginning of January. They are doing really well, they've regrown their feathers from their first molt (which is I think typically when they are culled) and they're settling in and learning to roost and scratch and do other fun chicken stuff. I'm pretty sure of the 4 standardbred mares (Gracy, Leyla, Neeka and Sky), only Leyla is pregnant. The rest may have been pregnant at some point (Gracy for sure was as she was preg-checked by our vet) but considering if they are bred they should be due within a month, only Leyla looks like she is THAT pregnant. So that's good news as we certainly weren't looking forward to 4 mares foaling in the dead of winter. In addition to Leyla, we are expecting foals this spring from Trouble, Twobits, Fritzy and possibly Sylvia.