Tuesday

Some photos of Tuesday's happenings...

Elisa learns to give Arson one of his Penacillin shots. He gets 35 CCs twice a day in the muscle. That is a big shot and after a few days they begin to hurt. He is supposed to be on these shots for 30 days, poor guy!

Daisy stopped in the next stall over to visit with Tanis for a while. We keep the second stall open for the wanderers. Daisy likes Tanis!

Our neighbor, Harold, was over to move the Levi's buildings into place... Salsa helped out.

Big Vacation Village horses taking a sun nap. It is still very cold out at Shiloh, but if you stop and stand in the sun it feels great.

Sitka, wearing her Magic Leg, eats some hay...

Lucero explored the Bungalow area... She is too cute!

Jingle Bell is looking and feeling better everyday.
Jingle Bell the day she arrived on 12/22/08, you can see the difference already...

A Rebel Without a Cause...

He's part Rebel...

He's part Sausage...

He's "JIMMY DEAN"!

Well, we got a new pig today. Lied Animal Shelter called us with a pig that was going to be put to sleep today. Of course, Sally and I were in the truck and on the way in a flash!

Jimmy Dean is a 4-5 month old Pot Bellied pig who was found wandering down the street and picked up by Animal Control.

He will remain at Lied until Friday morning. The shelter is actually having him Nuetered for us! Horray!

In other news: We picked up both Arson and Cheyenne this morning, both are doing well and happy to be back home at Shiloh.

Sunday

Well, as always happens with horses, bad things come in threes. This morning, Cheyenne was found in distress with a case of colic, and had to be trailed immediately into the vet clinic for treatment. Sally and Sharil took her in while volunteers held down the fort.

Cheyenne was very colicy, down on the ground rolling, stretching, etc. She was given Banamine for the trip. Once at the clinic she was evaluated by Dr. Dorenkamp who found an impaction. By loading her up with fluids and oil via a stomach tube, her prognosis is good. She will remain in the clinic overnight and we are planning to pick her up in the morning.

Meanwhile, Arson is hopefully going to also be ready to come home from the clinic in the morning. He is doing well, but while the vets were lancing an abscess by his ear , Arson flinched and a branch of his Jugular vein was sliced causing a great amount of bleeding. He was quickly stitched and packed, since obviously he could have actually bled to death in a few moments. But, all the vets pitched in and he made a great recovery and is ready to come home. Poor Arson, that horse has been through it all.

But, on to the fun stuff. Here is Charlie causing great havoc on Saturday. He was on a tear!

So cute, but looks can be deceiving...

He decided to pick on Tommy Haflinger...

Poor Tommy!

Tommy fights back!

But, he's no match for Charlie!

Going for the halter...

He's got it!

Hold on Tommy!

Charlie, you are a menace!

Next, it was off to bother Elvis...

And then he got into it with P. Shaggy!

Paladin, Our Newset Arrival and More...

First off, please consider becoming a January Feed Fairy. A $10.00 tax deductible donation buys one bag of Senior Feed for the old guys at Shiloh. With all the seniors in the rescue, we are feeding 12-14 bags of senior feed per day. A small donation makes a HUGE difference to us! Our wonderful December Feed Fairies bought 253 bags of feed! Please go here to find out how you can become a Shiloh Feed Fairy!

We got a new horse, Paladin, in on Friday. His owner died suddenly and her family was unable to care for him, so we took him in. Paladin, or "Pal", is extremely cute and loves attention. He is rideable and was ridden out on long group trail rides with his former owner. He is sound and spunky and in a short while we are hoping that he will be looking for his new home with a family of his own. He still has to much life in him to stay in a rescue, he needs someone of his own. Pal, a stocky Arabian gelding, is approx 24-25 years of age.

Paladin, or "Pal", looking cute and happy in his new surroundings...

He is very cute...

And loves attention and grooming.

What a face!

We moved Lucero and Amiga out of the barn and into the Bungalows with Sitka and Sunday. Lucero will have more room to run and play and she will now be able to play with Sunday. They settled right in.
Jingle Bell in her barn stall with some of the donated shavings... She is really doing well, loves to be turned out, and is gaining weight.

Salsa drank my hot chocolate this morning before I got a chance to have any!

Apache, Inspirada, Charmin, and Tommy had some fun in the turn out this morning!

Heavenly and Chatty looking cute in the Gummies...

Priceless and Mendoza eating their Equine Senior...
Stretch getting a blanket on and being fussed over by the girls...

Vanilla is settling in and is learning to enjoy being groomed by volunteers. We were able to wash some of the caked on mud off of her, but it's way too cold for a badly needed bath.

Yvonne tries to get some of the mud off...

Keller had a bit of a make over today. Her mane was pulled...

We moved Abuelo into Assisted Living so that he can gain some weight.

Calypso

Sad news as Calypso had to be euthanised on the table last night. Although they did not find a stone or a growth as they were expecting, they did find her Cecum was totally impacted. They are not sure why it was affected so badly, maybe due to her age or an underlying problem with her Cecum which caused it to stop working. They worked for a few hours to try to save her, but they just couldn't.

Calypso was a wonderful horse and she helped many people learn to ride while she was at Shiloh. She will be greatly missed...

We thank the vets at Desert Pines for donating the cost of her surgery and fighting to save her for so long. We really appreciate the wonderful care they give to all of the rescue horses, whether they are in the clinic or out at the ranch.

Calypso Update Thursday mid day

Great news, I just got off of the phone with Dr. Ballard.

Because of her age and Shiloh's budget, Calypso is not a surgical canadate. Colic surgeries range from $6,000-$10,000 and is just not something we can do. But, as surgery is looking like it is Calypso's only hope, the vets at Desert Pines have generously agreed to lay her out on the table and open her up and see what is going on. If it is something that can be fixed like a simple impaction, or possibly a stone, and by removing the problem that she can have a good prognosis, they will fix what needs to be fixed and Shiloh will only have to pay for the after care, about $1500.00 . If, once they open her, they find that she has a compromised bowel, or a growth, etc and that her prognosis for survival is not good, they will put her to sleep on the table.

By putting her on the table, Dr. Ballard and Dr. Dorenkamp can receive invaluable colic surgery experience. They will be performing the procedure under Dr. Schur's guidance. Because they will be able to get hands on and actually perform the surgery, they will be able to learn and help more horses in the future who need a colic surgery performed to save their lives.

This is the best thing we can do and we thank the vets for coming up with this idea. Calypso will help these vets save more horses in the future, and we will have done everything we can for her in order to save her. If the decision is made to put her to sleep, we will all know that we did everything we could for her and we will be able to confirm exactly what was going on with her.

I will be called once they get her on the table and start the surgery, by then we will know what the problem is and if she can be fixed. I will update everyone once I know.

Happy 2009!

Well, we celebrated last night...

Tony and Jill. Of course Sally and Jill had to wear the obligatory New Year's Hats...

Sally ringing her bell for the New Year with our friend, Arthur...

Jill's hat...

Sally wonders if one more Apple Martini will give her a headache in the morning. Only one way to find out...

Showing the New Year spirit!

We hope everyone had a great and safe night.

Tomorrow it's back to work. A new older horse will be picked up in the morning and brought to Shiloh. His name is Paladin and his owner recently passed away and he had nowhere to go. A decision will have to be made on Calypso, who is not doing any better today and we have been discussing with our vet having to put her down. We will probably have to make the decision tonight or in the morning, the vets feel it is a stone or possibly a tumor...

But, for now, we are going to try to relax and enjoy a day off...