Posts Tagged ‘happy threads’
Someone call the Weekly World News!
We have YET ANOTHER horse resurrection. ;)
You may recall the story of Voodoo, the Pinto mustang stallion rescued from Three Strikes Ranch. Jason Meduna, ever the drama queen, went scampering off to the Internet…
(I have to interrupt my own blog for a side note: How is it that ALL of these asshats who don’t feed or care for their horses have Internet? Even in the wilds of Nebraska, they are ALWAYS online. Here’s an idea, cancel the Internet and buy five bales of hay. That will also help you avoid making an complete and total ass of yourself online making ridiculous statements when the truth is, you should admit you were wrong and quietly drop out of sight and wait for your trial.)
… and told everybody we had “run Voodoo to death” on his property.
Voodoo, of course, was very much alive and happily eating grain out of everybody’s hands. Admittedly, he was a complete skeleton thanks to Jason, but he did not appear to be in any danger of leaving the planet anytime soon. He was obviously perking up every day I was there with him!
He did fall down at one point because he was so weak (again, Jason’s fault) but you can fall down without dying. Ask anyone in college about the likelihood of this on a typical Saturday night. ;)
Well, a few weeks ago I heard that the rumor mill had, once again, spun out of control and pronounced Voodoo dead and Habitat For Horses/Jerry Finch merely another internet con artist who simply wanted the high-profile horse for P.R. and then proceeded put him to sleep. So, for those of you not smart enough to recognize immediately that no such thing took place (and of course for all those of you who will just think it’s super freakin’ cool to see the “after” pic!) here is a pic taken today.
Yep, still not dead. 
And carrying about 300 more pounds than the last time we saw him! Jerry says he’s just going to stay a pet and a permanent resident at Habitat for Horses – something I’m sure Voodoo is very happy about!
You may also recall the tale of Lexi, the sweet bay mare who was supposed to be 36 years old. Well, Lexi had a surprise for everybody. I will let her new mom, Rebecca, tell the tale. That’s the baby at left.
“Lexi is home. She has a place with me for the rest of her life. She is doing really well – better than I ever expected. I remember reading about her of the FOB and waiting and watching to see if anyone raised their hand for her. I love mature horses so when it came time to move the mares to Wyoming I told Jerry if she could make her way a little closer to me I would pick her up. He found a way to get her to the Tyler area and I picked up Lexi and five companions and brought them to my place and the ranch.
I had seen a picture of Lexi and knew she was skinny but I had rehabbed mature skinnies before so I was confident I could help her. What I didn’t know was there was a possibility that she was pregnant. Seriously, how could that be? I was told she was 36 years old – would that even be possible? How would her body handle that? I got her to the vet two days after she arrived and the vet confirmed she was between 7-9 months – which was a good guess because it turned out she was 8 months. I was warned that terminating the pregnancy was not an option (I was horrified at the suggestion) and told that she would probably do ok but that there was a good chance that the baby would not survive as Lexi had been deprived of basic nutrition during the early stages of her pregnancy.
As Lexi’s time grew closer I was terrified that she would go into labor while I slept and I wouldn’t know that she needed help. I was getting up 3 times a night to check on her … On Saturday morning, August 8, 2009 I checked on her about 1:15 am and the tiniest, leggiest foal came tripping out of the run-in behind Lexi. I hung around just long enough to make sure they both were ok and left them because Lexi was noticeably nervous. I went out a little while later and introduced myself to what I found to be a perfect little filly. I have spent a lot of time with her since – she’s a fun-loving, smart, knows what she likes and what she doesn’t, little girl. She’s a talker like her mom. It took me a while to find a name for her but I knew it was perfect when I found it – Audi – it’s African for Last Daughter. Lexi won’t ever have to go through this again. She is an awesome mom – I love to hear them talk to each other – and takes excellent care of Audi who just turned six months old. I am happy Lexi came into my life and ultimately excited to have Audi with me. A lot of worry went along with waiting for her arrival but it was worth it – she and her mom are both worth it.”
Mom and baby are also alive Here is another great blog entry about them!
Now, remember my little favorite, Piglet? Piglet’s thread is still going strong on the Nebraska200 Message Board and you can see she has lived up to her name. You can see before and after pics of her at this link…truly amazing. Her adopter has done a fabulous job with her. Their vet thought she was pregnant when rescued but at this point I don’t really think she’s got anything in there but hay. At any rate, she is fat and happy and having a ball playing with the other horses and enjoying her new life. This is a huge success story, as she was so weak at Three Strikes that she fell several times, and had to be physically lifted into a small trailer by herself in order to be removed from the property. She was as near death as I have seen a horse be and still come back, and it has been really special to read that thread and watch her progress.
Another happy ending from Three Strikes, for Ziggy. Here is his mom’s blog.
Here are updates from Freedom Hill Horse Rescue, which took two mares – they’re now in training, hooray!
Finally, here’s a happy recent update on Chloe, the palomino paint mare who was injured and had to be immediately transported to CSU to save her life (big thanks to Margaret DeSarno, who hauled her up there despite having to climb over someone’s whopper ego to do it, and to her adopter Sue who paid the whopper bill!). Chloe was, of course, pregnant so not only was she three legged lame, she was about to pop out a baby. Amazingly, both survived and here is some video of her. Check out the before and after videos. See, folks, this is why sometimes it’s worth it to go straight to the top of the line vet care. Makes a difference!
I know I talk a lot about the bad rescues but let’s not lose sight of the fact that there are many quality rescues that can and do help horses in need and many great adopters who put time, money and love into horses whether or not those horses are ever going to be ridden. I have another big expose story coming (not a rescue, just another repeat offender BYB) but I wanted to give you all a happy thread to enjoy this Monday. Kudos to those who made this happy thread possible, and if you have an update on another Three Strikes horse, please post it to the comments. As always, if you have a picture, post the DIRECT link…NO CODE…and I will make it show up when I approve comments. Code simply creates more work for me. It will only let me, not you guys, use the img src tag…I don’t know why.
P.S. Hercules is jealous. He only came back from the dead once. Check Facebook under “Hercules the Horse” to see updates with new pictures of Herc enjoying his Valentine’s cookies!
How you know that you have chosen the right discipline for your horse!
Now this is a horse who LOVES what he does!
You know, this is something I think about a lot. I really don’t want to start a big discipline war here, but I genuinely feel that there are disciplines horses LOVE and disciplines horses TOLERATE. It’s like the difference between the job that you do to make good money and the job you love so much that you’d do it on a volunteer basis. I’m not saying it’s cruel to make a horse do one of the “tolerate” disciplines, it’s not, but I can’t imagine that a horse ever enjoys something like western pleasure or dressage the same way they enjoy, say, foxhunting or cutting or team penning. And I say that as someone who has a western pleasure horse! But I admit I think of it as “something he has to do to earn a living” (aka the right to breed) and we just have to get it “over with” and then we’re gonna spend the next twenty years doing fun stuff, aka fun shows with games, team sorting, jumping little wimpy jumps, bombing around bareback, etc.
It is entirely possible that some of this is me projecting my own feelings about the comparative fun levels of these activities, LOL! So I ask YOU the question…what do YOU think horses truly enjoy doing? What does your horse love to do as opposed to things your horse tolerates because they are well trained and you are asking for it nicely?
Equine Affaire
I don’t normally go to things like this, because the horse expos I’ve attended in the past have been so lame…often literally! It never seems like the creme de la creme of a discipline show up. Instead, it is Suzy BYB, trying desperately to sell breedings by showing off her fabulous horse, who wouldn’t even win at an open show much less in breed or A circuit competition. You see it all – reiners who can’t rein, jumpers who take down a 2 foot vertical, and gaited horses who can’t hold gait. For that reason, I had pretty much figured there was no point attending these things, except to shop, and normally I’m trying not to do too much of that!
But this year, a friend invited me to join her at Equine Affaire in Pomona, and I have to say that it was much better than I expected. First of all, they had Stacy Westfall, known to most of you as the girl who does the bridleless reining. Stacy was funny, accurate and informative and she’s the kind of person you can and will learn something from even if you’re experienced. She’s not just speaking to the wide-eyed “OMG-you-can-ride-without-the-bridle” crowd. I watched her presentation on bridleless training and it was great. She explained how she did it, emphasized the number of riding hours it took to get a horse from unbroke to broke for bridleless reining (800), and very sensibly pointed out that you should not take your bridle off until you know you have real control (that means you can control the hip and shoulder, not just stop and start) with your legs alone. She said that she rides with the bridle most of the time and certainly rides with one on the trail. The bridleless thing is for exhibitions – it’s a cool thing to be able to do and that’s all, but it’ s all based upon actually having control with your seat and your legs, which you should have whether or not you ever take off the bridle. Amen. Oh, and while she believes you can have a special bond with your horse, she does not believe you get that kind of performance without riding those 800 hours. THANK YOU.
I had to giggle at her mare though. Roxy has done this demo a time or two and was listening to what Stacy said, doing things like stopping when she said the word “stop.” She is very, very well trained and appeared relaxed but somewhat bored. :)
Because I wanted to watch Stacy, I did not see most of Richard Winters’ presentation but I really liked what he was saying as I was leaving. He was pointing out that most people expect to get a nice lope on a horse without doing a lot of loping. Ha. So true. How many people do you know who canter twice around the arena and stop? They do not get broke and consistent that way, and it doesn’t matter what your discipline is. They need to actually do the gait for extended periods of time to get fit. You can’t get consistency without fitness. It is not physically possible for the horse. So I’d be interested to see more from Mr. Winters, because he was definitely on target with that, and it’s the sort of thing people need to hear — not “buy my magic stick and develop a special bond with your horse,” because that for a FACT is not going to get your horse to stop loping like a runaway freight train!
In looking for a place to sit and eat terribly unhealthy horse-expo food, we ended up watching a hobbling demonstration. I’m not a trail rider, as I’ve observed many times, but it looked like a lot of work to me when you can buy four panels for about $250 on sale and make a stall wherever it is you might be. *shrug* The mare being used for the demo looked really sick of it.
The people I was with wanted to stay for the Extreme Cowboy Race, so even though I knew that the jumping was going to make me cringe (true in some cases), I hung around to watch it and it did look like fun. It started out with galloping around a bit at Mach 10. Then you had to slow down, pick up a “sword,” and spear a ring. Next you had to pick up a jump pole that was leaning on the wall and walk in a circle all the way around it while holding one end of it, then reverse and do likewise. That looked extremely difficult. The next maneuver was kind of an S-curve with 3 low jumps. All the women did well over the jumps and almost all the men sucked at it (Only one of them looked like he actually knew how to jump). I was trying to figure out how come all the girls could get off the horse’s back and not get left behind even in the western saddle, but the guys were hanging on the horn and getting left behind every time? Wondering if it’s anatomically impossible for a guy to jump properly in a western saddle without pain. ;) Anyway, after that it was stop and do some reining spins both directions, then pick up a full pail of water and walk through one of those things with hanging strips like a car wash and put the pail down on the other side. I think there was more galloping after that and then they had to stop with just their back feet in a pile of packing peanuts. A LOT of horses snorked at that, but they all did it once they realized it wasn’t anything scary. (I may be mixing up the order here, I’m trying to remember) Then you had to drag a “log” through an s-curve between hay bales. Next, jump off, take off your saddle, crawl through a hole cut in hay bales (without your horse but the horse had to ground tie and wait for you – get back on bareback, jump a hay bale and then run like hell around the arena again. Again, it was obvious the girls had a lot easier time of the bareback, though the last guy who went seemed just as comfy up there and wasn’t hanging on.
The one I enjoyed watching the most was Wylene Wilson, who apparently is well known for reforming naughty ponies. She had a black mare there that she got because it kept flipping over. The mare went great for her, although she hit a slick spot during the bareback run, hit the panels and Wylene came off. She stung herself pretty good and was out of breath and had a hell of a time getting back on, but she managed it. I believe she came in fourth. I’d really have wanted to give her first just for getting back on, since you could tell she’d hurt herself even though she denied it.
I was also really impressed with Corinne Lindquist. Her horse isn’t as finished as some of these, but I’d say she was one of the best riders out of the bunch. Her equitation even looked pretty doing this stuff.
They made a big deal out of the third place horse being a grade horse, and that kind of made me laugh because if that horse isn’t 100% Paint horse, I’d be shocked. He is a big old, probably halter bred, Paint horse gelding and I think if he’d had his lead changes, she might have won it. But she said she just had him adjusted and it was obvious he had something mild going on…he was sound but he just couldn’t get a clean change last night. I know she’s won it before and she’ll probably win it again when he’s 100%.
The winner was another woman, Robin Bond, and she absolutely deserved it. She and the aptly-named Jose’s Perfection had the most controlled ride of anyone. Her ride through the s-curve of jumps was beautiful – she hit the 2nd one right in the middle, whereas everybody else was almost losing a knee on the standard.
Very fun thing to watch! I can’t say I love seeing horses have to jump in a western saddle, but other than that, I thought it was a cool event and the horses seemed to be having a blast, particularly when they got to gallop! They apparently have a novice level that is not this difficult, and who knows, if I ever manage to acquire that fun horse for me that I keep talking about – you know, a nice broke teenaged Appendix mare who can do a little gaming, a little chasing cows, a little miscellaneous silly stuff – I may even give it a try.
Other than that, of course I did shop…the Dale Chavez booth sucked me in and now the VLC has a brand new headstall and bosal for the shows. The nice thing about those guys is that they are experts. They can tell you what’s going to be in style this year (apparently the horsehair reins are out and the black thin ones are in), what looks good on what kind of face, etc. They managed to assemble exactly the headstall I wanted, by adding extra silver pieces, for much less than I’d almost paid for it already-assembled online. I also hit the Kensington booth – if you go, they have some amazing deals in there, including those bug-eye fly masks for just $12 and super nice padded hunt seat pads that are normally $44 for $19.99.
Have you gone to Equine Affaire, either here or at its other locations? What did you think? Who were your favorite presenters? Who didn’t you like? I kind of have to like these guys just because I heard they threw Pat Parelli out for that picnic-table-jumping crap and that to me is a big win. They seem like they chose people who really would give good information without teaching beginners just enough to be dangerous and putting crazy ideas in their heads. Your thoughts?
Paranoid Pet and Horse Owners, Unite!
I’m working on another bigger story but I had to put this up because I just know I will hear a lot of similar stories from my readers!
Last night, while wandering around the house on a phone call, I walked into my bedroom and a pillow was knocked onto the floor and soaked in a reddish liquid. OMG. I examined it and removed the pillowcase and started looking around — surely someone was puking blood and needed to go to the emergency vet immediately.
I scoured the house and checked every single cat and the dog for any sign that weren’t in tip-top condition. I felt their chins, I smelled their breath. They all seemed fine…but what if they weren’t? OMG. What would make a cat puke blood? I was about to go to google and try to find out when I walked back into the bedroom to find the shy kitty that lives in the closet…and discovered what had thrown up on my pillow.
A can of cherry Diet Dr. Pepper that some naughty cat had overturned on the dresser.
HMPH!
These animals will give you heart failure, won’t they? I remember another time when I was positive a kitten had gotten out and was lost — only to find her inside the kitchen cabinet. Note to new cat owners: they can and do open cabinet doors!
So, I know I am not the only one. Share your stories of a time when you were sure some animal had gotten very sick or very hurt or gotten out and were freaking out, only to discover everything was fine after all!
Today I just feel the need to declare this…PONY DAY!
That’s right. It’s the middle of the work week, you’re all probably as busy as I am, and who doesn’t need a little cute overload? So…POST YOUR PONIES!
Direct links ONLY please…that means no IMG tags or HTML tags…put in the address of the pic and I’ll make it show up. If it doesn’t end with .jpg or .gif, it’s not going to work. Flickr doesn’t work. Facebook doesn’t work. Use Photobucket if you don’t have anything else.
If ponies are for sale or up for adoption, feel free to state that and give a contact e-mail. I’m cool with that.
Ponies only! The cuter, the better!
<<— WANT. This pony is so cute, she almost makes me want to have children so I would have an excuse to buy her. She is on Dreamhorse. Look at those EARS!
OK, let’s see your ponies and hear your pony stories — whatcha got? This is the time of year where even the most eeevil pony is adorable, with cute little ear tips sticking out of the shag like horns. 
And if you’re looking for a new little project this year, check out this yearling filly at Shiloh Acres, below!
Enough doom and gloom…how about a Happy ending?
There has been a lot of drama in the PNW horse rescue community over the existence of the Auctionhorses message board, which was developed to help coordinate the rescue of horses from the Enumclaw auction. Basically, the point that’s been made is that (a) sometimes when people save at the last minute, they don’t do so with a long term plan for how to care for the animal and (b) damn, that board is full of some of the worst known bottom-feeding horse neglecting ignoramuses that aren’t welcome anywhere else, and people are funding their idiocy.
I think (a) is true of most rescuing and it’s arrogant to assume that when person A acts on emotion, they’re going to make better judgment calls than person B. I’ve seen plenty of experienced rescuers who ordinarily have good judgment go off the deep end when faced with animals that ARE going to die if they don’t intervene. Almost everybody in rescue over-does it financially from time to time. It’s very hard not to. The pressure is always on you to save just one more, and the donors are at fault too – they donate very willingly when a horse is going on the slaughter truck tomorrow – then you can’t pry a dime out of them 3 months later, nor do they want to foster the horse or help in any way. Try to get someone to show up and clean stalls – you’re lucky if five percent of your rescue’s supporters ever pick up a manure fork. It’s not glamorous, and you don’t get attention for it. Everybody wants the rush of the Big Save and all of the attention that goes with it. When you start saying no, not taking any more, as I have done and several good friends have done, then you are a jerk. This is true in every kind of rescue. I have all but put a sign on my car saying Not Taking Any Cats Right Now and yet a day does not go by when I do not receive an e-mail begging me to take just one more. Anyway, I don’t know any way to fix that problem. Charitable donations are fueled largely by emotion and emotion often clashes wildly with common sense and good judgment!
As to (b), oh, it’s a totally valid criticism. But the folks there will have to live and learn and get burned just like everybody else did by those people. There’s no way around it. Let’s just say that if a half-dozen people are telling you that someone is bad news, you might want to take note of that before you buy them a rescue horse they can’t otherwise afford.
That said, and given that I’ve been criticized for publicizing the Enumclaw kill pen horses, as if somehow merely talking about it made me responsible for everything in there that might get pulled by a not-so-great home (give me a break, I talk about horses in need every week), I want to talk about an extremely happy ending from the October auction. Here is my original blog from that day.
Eeyore was lot #408, a skinny and sad looking Thoroughbred gelding originally identified as a mare. He had a big ankle and a sad look. There was a handwritten note on his stall suggesting he would make a good hunter/jumper. Maybe with a leg transplant! Eeyore sold for a whopping $85. I sure hope the asshat who dumped him enjoyed the $20 profit they pocketed after their gasoline and the auction listing fee. They walked away, and Eeyore was left where most old Thoroughbreds with a big ankle are left – in the auction pen awaiting the truck that would have taken him to Florence Packing, where he would have been quarantined for a few weeks before going to Canada and ending his life in a slaughterhouse.
This is the kind of horse that frequently does not get rescued because people believe that horses this old are unadoptable, especially ones that have an obvious injury. I have seen many people argue that we should only use our resources to rescue young, healthy horses, but this story is a good example of why I disagree with that.
I liked Eeyore and I raved about Eeyore to a friend of mine here in Los Angeles. She decided to bail him out for Second Chance Ranch, and even sent him a brand new plaid waterproof blanket to help him stay warm and gain his weight back. Katie at SCR had Eeyore for just two months. By Christmas he was not only fat and happy – and renamed Mr. Happy in testament to his outstanding disposition – but he was home safe with his new owner.
This is the ex-lot-408 with his new Mom, who loves him very much – precisely because he is old, sweet, sane and predictable! As you can see, he is living very well and has regained every bit of lost weight. He turned out to be completely sound despite the old, fused ankle, and since all she does is light riding, it is a perfect placement for him. He lives at a lovely boarding barn that has many other Thoroughbreds and is just the light of his new owner’s life.
So, here’s my take on things like the auctionhorses board…proceed with caution, always, and use a little common sense and check people out before you blindly send money. Sending money to a reputable rescue with an overall good track record is always going to be a safer use of your money than sending it to a private individual with iffy facilities and a questionable reputation. Whether you’re in Washington, Georgia or Arizona, just use a little common sense about where you send your money. Look for someone who has a proven track record of success in rehabilitation, and who can show that they make good placement choices. The happy endings DO happen, and it’s totally worth trying to make them happen!
Just ask Mr. Happy!
Do you have a recent happy ending of your own for a rescue horse – particularly one that many people would have called unadoptable? Feel free to post about them – leave me the direct link with no tags and I’ll make it into an image – we still haven’t figured out how to make your images show up.
