This page is to pay tribute to the wonderful horses that have come to our home and allowed me the opportunity to give them either a brighter future or a kinder end. They have not all been with me for a long time, but they all stay with me even after they are gone. I am blessed with a wonderful husband who supports my desire to bring these horses home and who never complains about the cost of rehabilitating them. I am also blessed with a family who is always game to jump in and help me retrieve these horses. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Denver Scotch Joe The "Wild" Ponies The Thoroughbreds Rocket
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February 2009 Irish has just arrived here with us. She spent the last year and a half without any care, including not being provided with any feed during the winter. Luckily for her, the land she was on is very large and used to be primarily hay fields, so it grew enough grass to allow her to forage into the winter. She is underweight but certainly not the worst case I have seen. By her teeth I would estimate her to be close to 20 years old and I will be able to have this confirmed when she has her teeth floated in March.
I think that Irish is probably broke, she is very comfortable wearing a blanket and being touched all over. She is a little evasive to catch but that is changing quickly as she realizes that I usually arrive with more food. Her and Scotch have become fast friends, they often share a feed bucket even though they have one each. In the mornings the two of them are always together, trying to find a spot where our winter sun is coming through the trees. Scotch and Irish:
*********************************** March 2009 Irish has been in to the vet for a float and the vet estimated her age to be approximately 20. There was an interesting discovery during the floating, it would seem as though she had a sheep's tooth imbedded into her gums between some molars. There was over an inch of the tooth that was stuck into the gums, so I'm sure she will have a lot of relief now that it has been removed! Irish is gaining weight faster than any other horse I've had, over 80 pounds of weight gain in under a month, putting her up to almost 1100 pounds. I have had the opportunity for a short ride on her and she was great. She's seems to be a nicely broke mare, now I'm just waiting for the ice to melt enough to get in some more riding. May 2009 Thanks to Celiste and Karen for providing Irish with a great home!
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June 2008 On her arrival, Scotch weighs 750 lbs and she stands 15hh. She has a brand that tells me where she originated and may have spent most of her life. Her milk bag is extremely stretched out, indicating a large number of foals over the years. She is approximately 30 years old and very thin but she is completely sound.
*********************************** October 20th, 2008 Scotch is up to 1000 lbs and has quite a spring in her step! She is a wonderfully broke, respectful mare, although she is quite leery of what may happen to her when I am on the ground. My Dad used her for a short ride and she handled it extremely well.
Scotch has had a visit to the vet to have her teeth examined. She has a lot of molars still but none that are meeting very effectively, so processing hay will not really be an option. She will continue to need soaked food for the rest of her days. She has now had her first experience with a blanket during the cold weather, she seemed to be quite shocked when the blanket hung over her butt and didn't just sit on her back like a saddle. Scotch will stay with me, as I am not comfortable trying to re-home her due to her age and dietary needs. *********************************** March 2009
Scotch has spent part of the winter doing occasional riding lessons for our 4H students. She really has no experience with arena work but she has proven herself to be safe and reliable. *********************************** Rest In Peace - Fall 2009 Scotch left her place in our hearts, She was affectionately known as Gramma Scotch and she learned to trust enough to accept a hug. She was a pasture mate to Joe over 20 years ago Now they will be together again, forever.
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I first remember seeing Joe in 1985 or 1986. There was a very large group of us (about 80 people and horses) camped near a corral where the local cowboy rounded up his working horses to trade off for a fresh one. The horses wouldn't herd into the corrals due to all the tents, so the cowboy finally walked out into the field and hollered "Come on, Joe!" This little Grulla gelding threw up his head and came galloping in, leading the whole herd of horses into the corral. A year or so later, Joe was bought by a family for their daughter and he remained with them for almost 20 years. Joe came to our home late in the fall of 2008. He was having a hard time holding his weight and was lame on all four legs. His feet were extremely long and causing him a lot of discomfort. Within a day of being trimmed he started to move very sound on three of his legs, but he had one front that had developed ring bone. Our farrier tried unsuccessfully to alleviate his discomfort and part way through this effort Joe began to lose strength in his hind end. He also developed an infection in his sinus cavities and was displaying new difficulties with his teeth. It seemed as though every time we would fix one pain for him a new one would develop. Although he was with us for a very short time, he is a horse that has held a special place and memory in my heart. Rest In Peace Joe spent his last day with us today, He was laid to rest under an Aspen tree that bears his name. Now free from the pains of an old body, May he be at peace the way I first remember seeing him: At the front of a herd of horses; bold strong and eager, Running with the wind as his companion; On a thousand grassy acres. 9/24/08
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In January 2008, I received a call regarding 5 ponies that were going to be shot by their owner who no longer wished to care for them. They were almost all in good health but had little to no handling. The property that they were on had no holding corrals and extremely poor fencing. Due to the deep snow, we were unable to assemble even a portable panel corral. On the first day, we were able to catch the older mare (Misty) and a four year old filly, who we hauled home. That evening I made a few calls and managed to talk a local roper into coming out and helping us catch the remaining three. While this proved to be a challenge with one of the ponies, the other two were not so difficult and we were soon on our way home with them. One of the ponies was an uncut two year old colt (Mingo), who had been out with his dam and three sisters. Luckily the three young mares were not in foal, but he had bred Misty, who was in poor shape on top of being aged. Misty was quickly accepted into a new home where she would receive good care and in an climate more suitable should she foal during the winter. Unfortunately, the good care that Misty received during that short time was too little, too late, and she did not survive the foaling process. The three young mares were in new homes within a short period of time and Mingo made his trip to the vet to become a gelding. Mingo is still with us almost a year later. He is a great little gelding who will be offered for sale after I start him under saddle in the spring.
March 2009 Congats. to Trisha and Riley on their purchase of this great little pony!
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March 16th, 2007 Denver came to me as an un-gelded three year old, these pictures were taken the day he arrived. He had such a bad infestation of lice that I had to body clip him in order for the delousing powder to get through his coat. He was covered in both open and partially healed sores, from rain scald on his back and from manure and mats on his belly.
*********************************** April 4th, 2007 A little under three weeks of good food and his weight is remarkably improved. Unfortunately, I discovered an abscess under his bottom jaw and while he was at the vet office being gelded, it was discovered that he in fact had a fractured bottom jaw. He had been on antibiotics before he arrived here and that had temporarily relieved the abscess, masking the injury until the antibiotics cleared his system and the infection returned.
*********************************** May 31st, 2007. His jaw surgery has just been completed, although there were complications that the vet had not anticipated. His body had deposited a large encasing of bone around the jaw fracture and it needed to be cut away in order to remove a bone fragment that was causing the abscessing. While cutting away the boney encasement there is a high risk that bone shavings will remain inside the injury. This will result in continued abscessing at the sight throughout his lifetime, even after the large bone fragment (visible in the x-rays) was removed.
*********************************** June 28th, 2007 3 and 1/2 months after his arrival, Denver looks great! He is a quiet, easy going gelding, and although he has a permanent drainage from his jaw injury, it does not cause him any discomfort.
*********************************** March 13th, 2008 Denver has been nicely started under saddle. He has proven to be extremely easy to work with and will make an excellent all round gelding.
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In 2006 I was called to remove 4 TB broodmares and 6 yearlings from their home. Their general health was acceptable but the yearlings were unhandled and the broodmares had had nothing done with them for several years. We managed to get the mares caught, and eventually the yearlings too, with a holding pen that was only a single strand of hotwire on two sides. A rescue in the Lower Mainland offered to take two of the broodmares and all of the young stock. Unfortunately, the rescue ran into some difficulties several months later and all of their horse were seized. I know several of the youngsters had been re-homed before this happened, but I was unable to find out what became of the two broodmares. Pictured below is "A Trick For You" with my son Jesse.
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Early spring of 2004 my husband and I went to a local auction, not looking to buy but just to go and watch. As we wandered around we came upon this poor emaciated Appy gelding. I turned to my husband and commented that he looked pretty old, perhaps he would be quiet enough for my son to ride once his health had returned. My husband smiled at me, he knew before I spoke that I was trying to find a way to justify taking this poor old guy home. While we stood there, an old friend of ours walked over and said to my husband that he was trying to find someone who would buy Rocket, a horse that he used to own. My husband knew Rocket well, he had used him as a pack horse a number of times and as recently as two years earlier. All of a sudden a look of horror came over my husband's face and he turned to look at this old Appy, realizing that this was Rocket and he was in such poor shape that he hadn't even recognized him. Our friend had given Rocket to a family in 2003, to use for their children, and thought all was well until Rocket showed up at the auction. So we waited for Rocket to come through the sales ring and when he came in nobody gave a single bid, except me. Our friend sent us Rocket's papers, he was registered and had just turned 28. His weight gain was slow but steady and four months later I took him for his first short ride. He was quite spunky but sound and level headed. We decided that he would be too much horse for my young son, so we set about finding him a home. As luck would have it, a very good friend's mother was looking for a companion horse, and Rocket found his last home with her. |
