Monday, March 28, 2011

A Very Quiet Monday

A beautiful day, we are back to wearing short sleeve shirts. No emergencies, everyone is doing well (knock on wood).

We were able to move our old mule, The Sheriff, out of the Barn stall and into the Gummies. This way he can be around friends. He responded well to his meds, is feeling better and now will hopefully gain weight on the Gummie diet. Once he is back to his old self, he can resume his wandering ways...

Sy, our oldest recorded horse we have in the rescue at 41 years of age, is also doing much better. He was beginning to have a harder time holding his weight in the Gummies, so we moved him into the Barn for a while to jump start his appetite. His appetite has improved and his spirits are high and he is filling out a bit- so we are happy. It can be a hard job balancing the very old or special needs horses- we want them to be with a herd, which is the most natural and healthy for horses but sometimes they need to be fed alone so we can monitor just how much they are eating and drinking each day. Hopefully, in Sy's case, we will be able to move him back with his pals in the Gummies very soon- he doesn't like to live alone in a stall and we want him to be happy... I rode Jedermann, we are working on our upcoming May show in Temecula. I am feeling really good about it and am getting excited!

Meet Slash, a middle aged gelding who was dumped in the desert down the road from Shiloh. Sally and Felipe picked him up yesterday morning after a concerned neighbor let us know that there was a horse wandering in the desert. Slash, named for his slash of white on his forehead, is super sweet. He was found with shoes on all four feet so we know he is broke to ride. In fact, when they went to pick him up, Felipe hopped on him to ride him back to our waiting trailer. He was very calm and didn't bat an eye.
He is getting used to his new surroundings in the Medical Area. More info to come but I am estimating his age by his teeth at between 15-18 years. We hope eventually he will be able to find a new home of his own.


Meanwhile, back on the other side of the ranch...


Jimmy Dean pigged out...


And Inca and Aztec, still protesting the new Breakfast Club location, waited for mt to let them onto the Cherry Pie grass. I didn't and you can see from his expression on his face that Aztec did not take that too well...

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Photos from Tuesday and Weds...

I've been so busy- sorry for not posting photos sooner!

Everyone has been laying down in the sun the past two days, it's still cold at night so they soak up the sun during the day. This is Wanderer Latigo snoozing by the turn out...

Inca and Aztec...

They poured the foundations for our new ranch homes! Both Sally and I are putting homes out at the ranch and hope to be moving in the next few months...

On Tuesday morning the guys left the gate to the Big Pasture open while they fed hay, everyone slowly wandered out...

Then they just stood there wondering how they were going to get back in to eat breakfast...

Ed fed the Breakfast Club this morning. Be careful Ed- it's a dangerous job and not for the faint hearted!
Broadway, looking cute in Hospice. She is shedding out her winter coat...

Her sweet face...

Charlie, dreaming of the day he can get into the Breakfast Club. Keep on dreaming, Charlie!

The Breakfast Club is getting easier to round up every day, here some of them head over...

Mojo "helped" clean Butterfly's eye wound...

We let Sy out of his Barn stall to wander a while- he is feeling a bit better...

And wandering out with some friends perked up his appetite and spirits...

Sheriff, the Mule, is responding well to his treatment and was also given some wandering time today...

An Interesting Article

An interesting article about the horse racing industry from ESPN online.

Monday, March 21, 2011

A Cold Day...

A colder day today, still windy and lots of big clouds. It rained at the ranch last night which helped to wash off the dust from the wind storms.

There was snow in the pass this morning...

Toluca (on the left) and Shawnie (on the right), looking windblown in Okay Corral...

More Okay Corral eating breakfast...

Okay Corral: Pablo, Happiness and Juniper...

A muddy Apache and Blahinik...

Big Clouds over Big Pasture...

Jedermann in the turnout...

Clouds over the Hospice area...

Aztec, giving me a weird look. He is still not sure about the Breakfast Club placement...

But he's making the best of it.

Dark clouds over the entire ranch...

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Another Great Escape!

A Windy Saturday...

It was one of those days today- lots of wind with sand blowing everywhere. It's hard to get things done when it's like that- but we still have horses to care for...

We moved our old wandering mule, The Sheriff, into a Barn stall for a few days- his arthritis is acting up so we are treating him with pain meds until he feels better and feels up to wandering again...
Lyfting laid down out of the wind for a sun nap. It was cold!
Sally soaked Sy's abscess on his cheek. Breezer and Jedermann "helped". We had to close the Barn door against the wind.

His abscess is still not opening but we are hoping maybe tomorrow we can get it to drain. Otherwise, he is feeling good and wants to get out of the Barn and back into the Gummies with his friends...
Tamale watched from the other barn door...

Old Super Gummie, Gomez, looks moth eaten as he sheds out his thick winter coat. But he kept up a good weight over the winter...

And his summer coat is coming in nice and shiny and healthy looking...
Another Super Gummie, Poker, looking cute!

Over in Easy Street, Cognac and Frisco enjoyed their hay...

Thanks to Kody and Dave who trenched for more water lines today...

Daisy, Rugrat, Lyfting and Jimmy Dean still get to eat in the old Breakfast Club site. They have access to Barn stalls for extra protection...

Meanwhile, the big Breakfast Club is resigning themselves to their new location- it took much less coaxing and pulling to get them in there this morning...

Sabine lunged a frisky Cricket...

Dave and Kody trenched by The Saloon and The Bar also...

Little Vacation Village eating their Feed Fairy food...

Some of the Gummies, also eating their Feed Fairy food. Left to right: Melvyn, Vista and Seemore.

Gummie member, Heavenly. She is shedding out too- she is dropping huge clumps of white hair...
Goats, Ferdinand and Blossom, face off with my dog, Schwartz. Schwartz won.

Okay Corral...
More Okay Corral.