Horses in Great Need

Right now the HSUS has a seizure pending in Lincoln Co.
The horse is going to have a blood panel to be sure it can
be saved at all.

Assuming the horse can be, there is a need for a foster home
for this horse.

I have a potential volunteer, but I would like to find a few more,
just in case.

tinia@live.com

Second issue, there is a 16 yr old Standardbred gelding, who is supposed to
be well mannered, that was essentially abandoned by his owner in Logan Co.,
and the girl keeping the horse cannot afford to winter him. He is supposed to be
thin. He would be free to a good home. Transport is possible.

Here is what the girl says about him:

"This is from the girl who has him now:

"hes broke. he's had a lot of trail miles on him. I've know a lot of his previous owners, so he's been traded and sold a lot. he needs a advanced rider who has soft hands cause he seems to have a very s...ensitive mouth. his wolf teeth might bother him or his teeth need floated."
I am waiting on photos of both of these horses and more information.

Mare update: Maybe I am too rash

A fellow that we buy our hay from came a few days ago, and he felt our mare has a good chance of making it.

Why does his opinion matter?

He is on the board of directors for a large Ohio Equine rescue, and he has seen a lot.

Maybe he is mistaken, but it gives me home.

She is still able to walk and is eating well. I cannot put down a horse that is obviously trying to live very hard.

The hoof is going to come off, essentially, where she has the prolapse at the coronet band. I am going to get photos ASAP.

We are keeping it padded and wrapped with a boot on. I wrapped it with a poultice today.

No more maggots. . .thank God for that, but I hope they might have done some good since they were there in regards to eating the dead flesh. . .goodness knows, there was plenty of that. . .

A Summer Day on the Farm

First, my 9 year old son picked dandelion greens randomly when outside playing because he wanted to eat them - I thought that was awesome:  that he knew you could eat them and picked them on his own!

How many kids know what they can eat that grows in nature without human planting, something they do not grow in stores? How many kids actually like to eat those things?

Wow! This is what homesteading would be all about.

Here is the bucket of greens, as he brought them into me, and he is right, they are great when looked like spinach or turnip greens.

Now, I finally got a very nice Sigma 10-20mm F4.6 wide angle lens to do

outdoor and wedding photography.

Might I say, I am VERY happy with this lens, and it will help get the shots

I need at upcoming weddings I have booked, but it also takes

amazing landscape and other creative shots, as you will see from today:

Sitting in the stallion's pasture

The sky above me at the time

Our stallion, JC Signature, coming over to check me out.

His nose was 2'' from the lens. Great CANDID shot here.

The mares

Chicken coop

Above the house, looking at the stallion pasture

and neighbourhood

Round pen below

Front Pasture

Doelings

A chicken of every color

And then, the best shots, in my opinion, of all:

Stella and Me

Cow Hugs

Cow kisses

Okay, Stella, you're taking it too far, hon!

Hope you Enjoyed :)

Fall approaching. . .

Just a day on the farm.

Beautiful weather and a wide angle lens = Glorious.

Jeremino, the Mini Donkey :)

Our rooster, formerly thought to be a pullet and named

after a Disney princess.  . . Bell, perhaps?

Inside the coop with a Rhode Island Red

In the coop with the guy and the gals;

Notice the goats hanging outside

Our senior (retired) Nubian doe, Claire,

and the resident Boss dog, Henry enjoy a sunset

The doe herd

Some sunset shots from the evening

And so the sun sets on another day on the cuspis

Night time feeding in a storm = good times?

All of sudden, around 9 pm, a storm blows up. A serious storm - crazy wind, lightening, thunder and a downpour.

I like the rain. I like walking out in it, so I tell John stay down here with the kids, I will feed everything and such.

Just walking up the muddy hillside was a feat.

I get up and can't find a flashlight to turn on the lights.

The wind was blowing so hard, I could barely close the barn doors

The Mares

These are some photos and images I took today and
put together of our SE Filly, Arab Mare and QH mare.

Straight Egyptian Filly, Champagne Reminiscing

Below is our Arab Mare, KD Lady ANN

And here is our Quarter Horse Mare, Liz

A lighter note: Photos before the storm

There was a storm on the horizon, if you will, so I ran out and snapped photos before the rains came in here on the farm.

Enjoy :)

Our riding arena

The gals free ranging

Creamer's LF Dutchess Dream, one of our Doelings

Barnevelder pullet

The hens

The boys - very good pals

Liz, our QH mare and Lady Ann, our Arab mare

Liz - our Quarter Horse Mare

Dismal rescue update

The mare, to put it plainly, is not doing well.

We aren't sure what to do.

There comes a point where you think the road to any
type of "life" for her is going to be so long and hard with a
quality so poor. . . is it worth it?

And the bigger question. . .is any type of life even possible?
I am not sure she can recover. I am not sure at all.

Why this sudden turn to pessimism?

Well, her cornium prolapse has gotten very, very severe.
Even on 1 gm of bute (we've upped it as of tonight to 2 gm)
a day, she is still laying down a LOT. . .
The abscesses just keep draining and pouring blood from the left
front hoof, which also has the prolapse. The prolapse and abscesses, even wrapped 24/7,
draws flies so bad, we encounter a maggot problem no matter what we do. . . she seems
in more pain than before. . .

The left front leg is very swollen, too.

I notice the swelling extends up to her ribcage, but it isn't so severe that is can be seen in the photo below:

The vet asked us when he came out, "Are you SURE you want to do this?"
This meant. . .give the extreme effort to TRY to save her. .. there is no guarantee, and certainly, there is no promise she will ever be comfortable or enjoy being a horse.

I do not want to become so swept up in the rescue that I forget the rescue. . .

I wanted to save her from harm and pain. . .saving doesn't always end with a life that is happily ever after. . .it can be simply an end to pain and harm. Regardless, she will have that.

I am not sure what the expense might be the continue trying to fix the plethora of problems developing. I know we cannot carry extended expenses beyond what we are doing with her now.

We are not giving up, but I am trying to be realistic about what is actually possible.

When I look at her. .. I don't yet see a SAVED horse.

I see a horse still in pain and suffering.

I want to see her be able to run through fields and do those things which all

horses ought to be able to do. . .

but maybe that is not a possibility "HERE"

* * *

I am not giving up yet, but I hope that I will draw a line and resolve

to do the right thing and not turn this poor mare into a long drawn out rescue

without a peaceful ending.