Wednesday morning Un-stallion report

The un-stallion got ridden outside and around the farm this morning ...see pictures...he looks great and is feeling good! He has come a long way and we are still proud of him for all he has gone through. Look how handsome!

He is ready to start considering adoption. Now who will consider him? He needs an experienced horse person of his own. He is ready to learn about trails, maybe English disciplines or heck...he might just like western pleasure. Please email us if you are interested in adoption of this gorgeous boy! He is healthy and happy...hooves are in good shape, de-wormed, teeth done...what more could you ask for? He will be coming back to Pony Up north at the end of June and ready for his own adventure.

I cannot believe it is already the 17th of the month. June has absolutely flown by. The projects are coming along and piling up as well. We need to construct a loafing shed for the Un-stallion, so that when it rains he can have shelter.

We are making proposals and cost estimates for enlarging the arena. We need about 81 yards of sand and we need some of the ecological blocks to make a partial retaining wall. It seemed like a little project but suddenly got more complicated...what's moving a little dirt around? Obviously more than we knew.

At any rate we need to get going on it before it is winter again. It really won't be long at this rate.

We also have a patch of fencing to put up for the new pony paddock, some more brush clearing and some re-seeding. We need a Noble or a Behlen shelter for Pony Up South.....so we can squeeze in one more!

Anyone who wants to come and volunteer for any projects, simply let me know...bring your hammer...we have nails and we have boards. The Stiffey family is probably tired after all the hours that they put in.

Say a little jingle for Yukon, he is suffering from really sore feet and we are not sure yet if it is a founder or just sore flat feet.

Oh and by the way...hello and welcome to the fold to our newest volunteer, Dawn...she is currently helping out at Pony Up South (Kapowsin)...WELCOME!

more later.

Junah comes home to Pony Up North

Saturday...we cleaned stalls, filled waters, mounted a couple of gates, blew the barn aisle out and moved horses around to accommodate the brush cutter and Junah's homecoming.

The brushcutter was brought in by Jason (he is our hero) and he spent all day cutting into the dense brush of the woods, so that we can make an extra paddock for the evil Beaver pony. We are so thankful for the hard work and effort! The brushcutter will now allow us to enlarge the arena and make a new paddock for Beaver.

Meanwhile I went and got Junah from Chelsea's, so that we can have him buried at the farm. He deserves that. I also took Yukon to Chelsea so that she can put him on a diet and exercise program, as apparently I am unable to get any weight OFF of him! He traveled without a fuss and when he got to Chelsea's, he simply unloaded and went onto the pasture and started eating...such a low drama boy he is. Then we loaded the very handsome Junah into the trailer, he loaded fairly well after a little coaxing...he has come to love Chelsea and wants to please her, so he is fairly willing to do what she asks him. We shut the divider on him and then hit the road. He was a pill for about 10 miles...kicking and moving, swaying the trailer like crazy and I had a few thoughts of turning around. I don't mind my trailer being kicked but I did worry about him falling or scrambling. Fortunately he settled down and we got home, unloaded him and let him explore the paddock and arena turnout.

I have not spent a lot of time with Junah, even though I was the one who "nodded" and brought him into the fold. After I got him home today, his physical disabilities became very obvious. He cannot lay down. He was sweaty and he really wanted to roll, but he simply cannot lay down. ...he tried and he tried. He squealed his displeasure, he pawed, he got on his knees...but he could not lay down. My heart sunk and tears welled up. I have not had to spend time with him,I spent time with him the day he was picked up, but he went directly to Chelsea's... I have not really fallen in love with him like Chelsea...but I did today. I was hoping for a miracle of sorts. I thought I would drag my feet on the euthanasia. I talk a big show...but my heart is perhaps more fragile than most, even if I am not willing to show it. He is so handsome, such a love...but so physically incapacitated. Hard choices, hard decisions...but I remember responsibility and commitment...I remember rational love. This is a time for rational love...and so I will make the arrangements and we will all be there for him, for his last moments, to send him with love and soft words...to a place where we hope he can be free of the physical trappings of this world...we will see him again...on the other side.

I surely figure that on some days, on some level, I am crazy. Crazy to ask for this heartache...crazy to take on such a task.

I will make the arrangements for this coming week. I will steel my emotions to the outside world and I will say that it must be done, no more wishy washy thoughts...we have had a work up...and then I will stand with him,I will thank the vet, I will thank the grave digger... then I will go and grieve by myself. I will cry for a long while and wish I could change what was and then know that I couldn't. Junah, we hardly got to know you before we said goodbye.

hug your horse today.

Rational love

We will have a neuro evaluation done on Junah this week and then we will make a group decision as to what the rational, responsible thing to do should be. We all have time, love and a lot of emotion involved with him. He is a nice horse and willing to try anything if you ask him.

We all wondered why such a horse could be left at the Enumclaw auction yard, not even run through the auction and just left for the slaughter bus. Left in a ratty halter, feet that would make you cringe, unkempt mane and tail, dull coat........just waiting for the bus. No chance.....until Hana called us. Hana is an angel to horses at the sale yard....no doubt about it. She has the biggest heart and the kindest soul.
I want to take a moment and point out that many horses are taken to the Enumclaw auction and left or run through at ridiculous prices.....and they are perfectly healthy, sound, no issues, no problems.........they are just unwanted, unaffordable, or unloved. It is a cruel fate for a large percentage. If you have an old horse and you take them to the auction, you are almost 99 percent sure to be buying them a ticket to the slaughter house. An old horse who has served you well deserves better. The trip that leads to the slaughter house is a road trip to horror.

We are establishing a euthanasia fund to help with humane euthanasia of old, sick or crippled horses for those who cannot afford it. We feel it is the right thing to do.
Euthanasia is the last kind thing you can do for an animal you have loved and it should be affordable and accessible.

We will keep you updated on Junah and what we find out.

Hug your horse today, bury your head and your heart in his or her mane ..........feel the love!

devastating news

Part of me wishes I had left well enough alone and never made Junah a bigger paddock.

After I took the pictures of him grazing the other day he really played hard in his paddock for the first time. Really hard. He was galloping and starting and stopping really hard. At first I was scared, then I started to laugh and enjoy watching him flex his muscles. What an incredible athlete!

Then I saw him take a bad step behind. No big deal he turned and raced back the other direction.

Then he did it again.

It was almost like he did not place his foot flat, almost knuckled over to the front hoof wall. Then the other side did it. If he was not so muscular and athletic with his front end he would have gone down behind. Then his hind end strides got short. Really, really short. There was nothing that looked painful, he still continued to play and snort and all of the veins in his gorgeous body distended with his efforts, he looked amazing. But gone was the beautiful floating trot and collected canter. In its place was a disjointed scary caricature of his former graceful way of moving.

I haltered him and brought him to the barn.

My mind was reeling.

When we first got him Rosemary had played detective quite successfully and tracked down people that knew the breeder and remembered the horse.

They said he had been kicked back from the track for "hind end weakness". We all assumed that he was just a gawky baby that was still growing.

He was a touch lame at Hana's but nothing more than a bit short behind on one side. He had horrific feet, the ground was frozen, and he had been on concrete at the auction yard for days.

At my place he had never been lame. Quite the contrary. He was a beautiful lofty mover and I was so excited to get his feet fixed and get him going under saddle. But he was in a 60ft round pen and had never been able to do anything other than a very collected canter and occasional playful bucks for a few strides.

Now this. I called Dr. Bob DeWard.

I called Rosemary and sent e-mails to the other PUR members.

Then I started putting it all together. The track history, the panicky reaction to us working on his feet was partially due to lack of handling but he had gotten so very kind with everything else and continued to be fearful of giving up his feet. Particularly his hinds.

I felt sick to my stomach.

The next morning I talked to Dr. Bob extensively. We discussed the different things it could be. EPSM, EPM and Wobblers.

With the history of weakness 3 years ago it is unlikely he has EPM. It would have advanced and he would have muscle wasting. He does not. He also would never have been able to collect himself enough to perform the beautiful collected canter he could do in my round pen.

EPSM is also unlikely as his diet is extremely high in starches and he has never showed signs of tying up or muscle tremors.

Wobblers fits. It is a narrowing of the channel that the spinal cord sits in. When a horse aggravates this area when exercising the resulting inflammation causes the spinal cord to be compromised and it most often manifests itself in hind end weakness. The diagnostics are expensive, laying them out under general anesthesia and doing a serious of radiographs with dye to track where the spinal cord is pinched. The resulting diagnosis is not very helpful as there is no known treatment that can make them sound. There is a surgery that can help a bit with some horses, but it does not render them rideable.

Yesterday Junah was reserved when I turned him out. Gone was the scary weakness in his hind end but he was not his usual fluid self. He had short strides and did not do anything more than wander and graze.

This morning he was a bit better and more "normal" in his gaits.

This too fits with Wobblers. As the inflammation fades so do the symptoms.

We are trying to decide what is best for the horse now. It will not be safe to put a human on his back. It will not be safe to have his feet done without laying him out flat to trim him every 2 months. This alone could aggravate his condition.

This is very difficult for me. I watched him follow my husband like a puppy this morning. Andy would stop and pet him and Junah would follow. As a joke my husband walked in a circle. Junah followed with his nose on his shoulder. Watching made a huge lump in my throat and my heart ache.

I have euthanized many animals over the years. You do not have a bleeding heart for geriatric animals and not face this reality on a fairly regular basis. But Junah does not have debilitating arthritis or geriatric disease. He is a young beautiful horse with a scary neurological condition. But he looks perfectly healthy.

It is very hard to consider his fate.

Junah grazing in new paddock

Junah enjoying the grass

New fencing redux

Rosemary and Page were not the only ones re-fencing for PUR horses this week. I must confess my own re-fencing was far less impressive and I had the help of my husband's strong back so I am sure I feel less exhausted than my coworkers!

Pony Up South(I think I see a new farm sign coming) has been housing Junah since we picked him up from his safe home earlier this year. He was saved from the kill pen by Rosemary, but the snow and ice prevented her from picking him up right away. His original caretaker was a wonderful person named Hana who was a brave soul and WALKED him in the snow and ice on the road to her farm and kept him for the first few weeks. She is a brave woman!

Some of the main challenges with Junah are obviously #1 his feet, #2 his lack of handling and #3 his lack of trust in humans. -We have made huge strides with all of these.

His feet are hopefully just one shoeing cycle away from a regular 1/2 set of shoes without the advanced system that he is currently in! This is due to the dedicated work of out farrier Sandy Craig and our vet Dr. Bob DeWard. Look for pics of both and links on our website soon. I have to say both are ridiculously camera shy and getting pics of them may have to wait until the new Hubble telescope is in place in space and we can get them stealthily!

His lack of handling is getting better all the time. He is a gentle soul and wants so desperately to be a pocket pony but just has no frame of reference for the most mundane tasks. Blanketing, fly masks, picking up his feet, all were major hurdles for him. I really want to whap whoever left him in a field to his own devices for years right in the head!

He has a lot of trust in my husband and I now, but truly takes trust one person at a time. The funny thing is he actually is probably best for my long suffering very non-horsey husband who never ever asks him to do anything other than wear a halter and go to turn out or dinner in his stall daily. Watching this gentle giant wait patiently and lower his head while my husband fumbles with the halter is pretty heart warming. I, on the other hand, am the one who asks him to do scary things and this occasionally sets him back in his trust of me.

I will say I am very surprised at what is no big deal for him.......deworming- could not care less, he was given tetanus and West Nile vaccs last week and never flicked an ear, big scary trucks driving right next to him and trailers coming to load compost are completely not an issue. In fact he marches to the fence line to say hi and see what is up. He is an interesting creature for sure!

Back to fencing.......

He has been in my sand round pen to facilitate his hoof healing for months now. The sand and special "clog" shoes allow him to not have a lot of pressure on his hoof walls and keeps them from splitting again until they grow out. His healthy hoof wall growth is well past the 1/2 way point. The downside to this is he is a young 17hh TB who needs to unwind those legs for his mental health. A 60 foot round pen is not enough room, nor is there any grass other than my husband and I hand grazing him. I do not have any of what I would call TB safe fencing on my place. Field fence and New Zealand wire has been very safe for my herd, but I think Junah needs a more visible barrier for the first time he unwinds.

Yes, I am a chicken at heart. Rosemary says I just need to turn him loose and close my eyes, he is not dumb and he will stop behind the same fences that safely hold my 16hh horses. I just cannot do it.

I did have a brainstorm this weekend though! I have been replacing the old rotten post and rail fence around the barn with horse mesh and hotwire....very safe but it would allow him access to the barn, tractor implements etc.......not good. Saturday I was looking out there feeling sorry for him and it dawned on me. With my husbands help we tore apart the round pen and attached the panels to the horse mesh posts making an area the size of a small arena, and best yet there is GRASS for him to graze on.

I did what Rosemary said and turned him loose and closed my eyes. No sound of thundering hooves.......hmmmm I peeked through my fingers and there he was happily, quietly munching on grass. What a good boy! Then he took my breath away. He arched his neck and broke into the most lovely floating trot and then into a smooth collected canter.......

This is a special horse!

news!

We were contacted by the IRS and our 501c3 status is approved. We should recieve the letter this coming week!

This weekend we are re-fencing the paddocks. We purchased wooden posts today and have a tractor coming tomorrow to auger the fence post holes. We have thirty to start with and more coming in the future. No more metal fence posts.........too dangerous, especially with big horses who like to stand on their hind legs and play.

It was a gorgeous day today ........Page and I cleaned paddocks this morning and swept the barn out. I cut Ollies mane and combed out his very long tail. He looks more like the old show horse that he is rather than a wild mustang off the range. No matter...he is the most handsome horse I have ever had.

We have big plans to paint the exterior of the barn and the inside too.....we have a very small barn for right now...but it works......we use every inch of it. We have a microwave and a table and a drug dispensary area. We think we can do without the table and maybe put a bench in where we can easily put our boots on and maybe use it to rest between chores!

Mud dried a little today and next week we will begin the de-mud process with the paddocks. Gravel, road fabric and timbers.......voila.......no mud.

We must also re-roof Beaver's shed. It really looks like non professionals did it and well, truthfully.......non professionals did. ...Page and I. I mean.......It IS functional, it doesn't leak but it does look odd. Did I mention that Page hammers nails like a girl? LOL.

Church (the Holsteiner) let himself out of his stall the other night......there was really nothing for him to get into, but he turned everything over and nosed his way through the trash, left us several piles of poop. He met Page when she came to feed in the morning but obediently went into his stall when she asked.

So much to do on the weekends, we must write a list and prioritize it and reprioritize it as the week progresses. Things change that is for sure.

In the next week, we will bring Junah to the north farm and take Rio to the south farm. Junah needs to use the arena to stretch his Thoroughbred legs........keep your fingers crossed that he keeps his shoes on!

We had a good week of volunteers who want to help.......we have an offer of training for Junah and another offer of grooming and ground work for Rio.

We really love Rio. Such a great horse in so many ways.......he has blossomed at our facility....he is friendly, calls to us and loves to be groomed now.

We have an offer from a local vet to treat our fosters at a great price for dental floats and health checks. More on that later ........we love to give credit where credit is due!

Have a great week.......do something meaningful for yourself or someone else!