So So Sunday

Cold this morning, almost freezing....I am anxious to get to the barn.....check on Grace.....check on Louie....Louie was fretful without Jones yesterday and he cried and paced for a long while before hanging over the fence with his new friend Grace. Grace was really unimpressed with him but tolerated the nuzzling....Grace is generally unimpressed with us and not sure she belongs back here. I try several different blankets on her and find that most of what we have is HUGE........so I have to make something fit.

Lots to do today.....it really never stops. Scoop manure from stalls and paddocks, straighten blankets, sweep barn, wash feed tubs...put Bonnie in her underwear.....check water, call hayman, go to Lowes...buy insulation (Is it really going to snow?).....decide to run a new waterline to the back of the barn because I am really tired of wrestling the hose........Ryan works on the fifth wheel ALL day....pretty soon it's dark and time to feed, turn heat tape on, turn warming light bulbs on......and close the barns up.

Time to reflect on the past year and all we have accomplished. We tend to forget I guess. .......we have put new arena fencing up, new gates on two ends of the arena, built a wash rack, built a chicken coop, put down about a million mats, fixed the pony barn, put up several stretches of non climb fencing, poured cement, put new light fixtures in the barn and outside the barn, got a new hotwater heater, put a sink in the barn, put up an automatic gate on the driveway, fixed the electrical panel, built another loafing shed, shoveled gravel, moved manure piles, took some trees down, adopted out Breeze, Promise, Vinnie and Wally. We also lost Jake, Sully and Mercy. We have gained volunteers, lost volunteers, met new veterinarians, met supporters, held fundraisers, and had some fun, as well as shared our sorrow. It was a good year. We know we need a bigger farm, a larger budget, we need to do more grantwriting and fundraising. It is expensive to care for horses.....you all know that. We are thankful to the people who donated time, money, food, tack, veterinary services (Dr. Julie Page, Dr. Mike Alberts, Dr. Maci Paden), also the Jones Farm (Cam and Carrie). Lower Puget Sound Dressage Club, The Mowries, .....and to our shoer Jim Ward. I can never express enough thanks to my constant volunteers......Ryan, Caryn, Brenda, Susy, Rebecca, Carmen, Shelli......you all work hard and I could not do it without you.

Some of our goals this year are:
Improve drainage in the lower fields
sand in the arena
adoption outreach newsletter on a quarterly basis
Veterinary clinics on a quarterly basis (seminars and hands on)
Improve grant writing
Selection of two periodicals for advertising
attend schooling shows with adoptable horses
Host a schooling show in August to benefit the rescue


Off to another week of work and more work.

Again, thanks to all of you who help us.

Pony Up fortune for tomorrow:

The path of least resistance is for the lazy.