Saturday morning solo

No volunteers today...Page is still on vacation and the Stiffey family is at an event.

It was strangely quiet outside and dark skies, chickens crowing and I was just getting into a routine, sipping a little coffee and cleaning paddocks...and THEN all hell broke loose. Down from the sky came Mr. Bald Eagle, straight across the top of my head and then a low swoop for a chicken. Chickens screaming and running for cover...then the filly goes wild...bucking, screaming and running laps in her paddock. Each buck is punctuated with a squeal and then off to the races again around the paddock. I was merely trying to straighten stall mats...but ended up ducking under the fence for safety. I waved my arms and yelled at Mr. Bald Eagle to get lost..."leave my chickens alone!" He perched himself on the top of the barn and looked around...I know he was looking for the chickens. All chickens had made for the barn or the brush and not a one was to be seen or heard at this point.

I then progressed to stall cleaning. Hammy insists on using his stall for a toilet. So I am scraping down the stall and what do I see? A rat. A baby rat. He came out from behind the wall. Now how can we have a rat? We have two barn cats. TWO BARN CATS. Two barn cats who routinely catch birds I might add. These cats have their own room which I lock them in at night because we have coyotes. I am figuring that perhaps I need something slightly more feral. I was told these cats WERE feral...I got them from the feral cat program...but they are feral like I am a rocket scientist. The male spends most of his time on my mom's lap inside her house...he has a snipped ear, just like a feral cat, but I am beginning to think I was tricked..or at least someone was. Butchie (the male cat) weighs 21 lbs with a head like a grapefruit. The female (Felice) will climb in anyone's car and loves to be held. I am thinking I need a big old, down on his luck, tom cat who wants to work for a living. I detest using poison and especially around the horses. If anyone is looking to place a working barn cat...let me know?

I had folks come and look at Winston today. Let's just say his longing routine was not stellar. He bucked and he rushed and he spooked. He bucked so hard that he threw the reins up and over his head. I had to stop and reset them. I explained that he was not generally this bad. They looked at me like I was lying. Dust was flying...he was sweaty...I lunged him both directions and then got on him. He was rational but a little quick. I trotted and leg yielded and he was obedient. He spooked at the neighbor dog...twice. Not sure why the neighbor dog had to appear out of the brush just at this time, but he did, then he ambled off...and then he came back again. He stopped and curiously looked at us and of course Winston gave him the huge snorty saucer eyed look...I suppose there could have been a chance the dog was going to attack us by jumping the four foot arena fence or he really could have been a wolf (according to Winston)...but he looked like an old, grizzled black Labrador to me. I then showed the people Winston's trailer loading skills and fortunately he did not make me look bad this time. I am not sure the people are coming back. I told them he was a little hot sometimes.

Well off to do some domestic chores while the house is quiet.

I will try to get some pictures of Hammy tonight. His weight looks better. He is eating Senior Equine like it is going out of style and he has gotten a little cranky about you serving it quickly...he even trots out to his tub, shakes his head and puts his ears back. Cute huh? Well, normally I might not think so, but this poor guy has been through the wringer and so I tolerate it...

Enjoy the weekend!

Good luck Briann on your event!!!!!

Tuesday PM........long day

No help at the barn this week in the morning...Page is gone on vacation!

I had hay delivered at 11am, two tons of timothy...really good looking stuff. Winston taste tested just about every bale as it came by his stall. The hay men stopped and patted him every chance they got. "What a handsome horse!" they exclaimed..."and he is so sweet"...I simply nodded my head. Yes, he is a good boy and like a giant dog in many ways...but he has his moments...he definitely has his moments. I spared them the details...knowing they were not horse people...I just nodded and laughed.

I have Winston for sale. Very reluctantly. I love all my boys and I realize that I can't be everything, everytime, everywhere. Winston needs to be ridden more...needs to be someone's baby. I took him up to a nearby barn today and lunged him. He was brave. There were sprinklers going, papers flapping in the breeze and horses calling. He bucked some...he called back to horses that called to him...but he did as I asked. He loaded great...hauled great...he really is a nice horse. I have someone coming to look at him on Saturday. I feel sad. Someone will get a nice horse if I don't change my mind by then. I forgot how much work is involved trailering, tacking up, lunging, reloading the trailer...long day...but I feel strangely relaxed now. Funny...

Hamilton ate well today, I think he looks a lot better. We discontinued his Dex today and I am keeping my fingers crossed as to whether or not his appetite will diminish again. We still don't have a fast and firm diagnosis of his issue. He felt well enough today to "steal" a bale of hay off the newly stacked hay. When I came back with Winston, he was silently munching on a full bale in his stall. I guess I should have had they hay men stack it a little further out. It really won't hurt him to eat all the hay he can stuff down...so no harm, no foul...I am glad he feels hungry.

I bought donation boxes off of eBay this morning and we are looking for businesses to place them at. We want a particular business to "sponsor" a horse by giving us a donation box space. We will link the business to our website and give them updates on a monthly basis on "their" horse. Horses available are the filly, Rio, Yukon, Sully and Hamilton. Let us know if you have a location idea or know of a business who might be interested?

Tomorrow a trip to go and pick up feed. Hamilton needs Senior Feed and so does the filly...(gee, we need a name for her!) In the afternoon , we will take Rio and go to the local arena and work him a little. Briann will help me!

I cried for a long time after reading the Enumclaw auction report. So many good, gentle horses went to the kill buyers. Horses who were trail trained, family horses, ex show horses, one was a halter champion...what an awful end to their lives. Faithful, loyal family horses who are no longer wanted and so they end up on the slaughter bus. Horses who are scared and shaking as they enter the sales ring...they know what is coming. 75 dollars buys the meat on their bones and seals their fate. I will never understand it. I cannot attend the auction...ever...not until I win the lotto and buy a ranch with 200 acres and still have money to spare. I wish...I can only wish.

Pony Up's goal is to be able to help feed hungry horses this winter. We want an Equine Food Bank. We want to help folks keep beloved horses. Our goal is to have 25 ton of hay put away to help those who have hungry horses/ponies/mules/llamas.

Help us to help others. Donate and mark your donation for "food bank."

Name that filly! (Better pictures!)

Five dollars buys a chance to NAME THE FILLY!

Go to website, make a paypal donation (tax deductible by the way!) and put in the comment section...filly name=XXXXXX.

You may buy as many chances as you want...the more you buy the higher your name chances. You may also support one of the names that have already been put in the bucket (listed below)
Name will be drawn from the bucket in two weeks!

Here are some pictures I took after her bath today. Okay, my pictures aren't the greatest...I will take more tomorrow with clearer head shots...she is very pretty, tall and so well behaved!

So far names that have been put in the bucket are:

Belles
Breeze
Kira
Fanny
Chocolate
Glory
Willow
Plum

Saturday.......cool overcast morning!

I got a lot done this week at the barn. I fenced in the new paddock with it's very own loafing shed...all done with tall posts so the behemoths that we keep will not be tempted to jump, lean, nudge or bulldoze through the fences. It means that everyone now has a shelter/stall and a good sized paddock.

While I was moving the fencing around Beaver escaped. He takes full opportunity of knowing the fence is off and then makes a run either under or straight through the fence. Then of course he runs laps around the paddock while I run after him. This time he went over the old rotten logs in the neighboring paddock and got himself stung by wasps! He just cannot leave anything alone. I finally caught him and he seems none the worse with the wasp stings. I put him back and turned the fence on...so then he decided to fight through the fence with Sully...the old "I bite you and you scream, then you kick at me and I scream" game.

Our new filly is in heat and so there is the occasional scream between her and Winston. Winston has really no idea why the screaming is going on...he is just trying to get any food that is on her side of the fence and she comes up and screams at him. He eventually gets mad and charges the fence, then runs off. He is very jealous of the attention she gets...and so far, everyone wants to see her, pet her and oooh and ah over her. We don't have a name yet folks?! Don't make me name her...you will have to live with it.

I need to tell you about a young boy I have had the pleasure of meeting a few times. He has made a big impression on me and really, it probably takes a lot to impress me.

This is the Stiffey's little boy...we call him Bubba. He helped out at the barn the other evening and he is so polite. If you ask him to do something, his immediate response is "yes, I can do that" and then he goes right to it. He helped my mom with wheeling her trash can, helped us mend a fence line and ran for tools when we needed them. I am going to try to keep "yes, I can do that" in my own answer bag. There are so many disrespectful kids out there, I love to meet one who has been raised with manners and a positive attitude. Bubba.........YOU are a great kid! Thanks for all your help.

I took Hamilton the the vet last week. It was the morning of the 103 degree day and I hated to trailer him, but his jaw was very sore and he was not eating. I was distressed, worried and so I put him in the trailer and went to Maple Valley. We got xrays (I will find the money somewhere if I have to take another job) and we "tapped" the giant lump with a needle for a biopsy. Xrays don't show anything conclusive unfortunately. The vet gave him some new medicine (dex and antibiotics).The vet is perplexed and has never seen anything like what Hammy has.

I left Hammy at the Jones farm that day/night as it was way too hot to put him in the trailer for the trip home and I did not want to stress him. I gave him a bath at the Jones farm. The Jones farm treated him like royalty over night...fed him every couple of hours, gave him his meds, hosed him...in a great big stall next to some very fine Thoroughbreds. I picked him up early the next morning and brought him home. Hammy is a very kind horse, very willing and very stoic with the kind of pain he has had. I have mixed feelings about what to do for him at this point. He cannot stay on steroids forever. I hope the biopsy will show us something.

We have a mission at PonyUp and that is to rehab and rehome sport horses. Obviously sometimes we bend the rules because our hearts rule our heads. This was the situation with Hammy. Hammy will never be more than a light riding horse (maybe) or maybe just a pasture ornament if his jaw issues can be fixed...he also has bad stifles, poor leg conformation...we would not have picked him for rehoming as a sport horse. but I was the one who went and looked and well...once I looked, I could not leave him. Horses make eye contact with me and it's almost always over. I do not regret bringing him home. This rescue business is a labor of love...heartbreaking at times, expensive and time consuming. I look sometimes at Hammy's stall and it is a mess from the gruel he has to eat. He gets it all over himself and all over the walls, the floor and did I mention he likes to pee in his stall (even without bedding?)...I would like to kick him outside and have him eat out there, pee out there...but gosh, he is happy in the stall and seems generally happy until his jaw pain becomes severe. I am trying to manage the best I can and do the right thing for him...my brain is fighting my heart on this one. My brain knows that chronic pain is no life for a horse...horses spend almost all of their time foraging when they are awake...how can a horse with a bad, painful jaw exist like that? My brain says they can't. My heart says...pain medication, gruel...DMSO...

Sometimes we have to let go. Hard decisions. We will wait for the biopsy.

off to the barn to see our volunteers and our horses that we love!

Stay cool today.