SANTA CAME FOR NORMA AND MO (a little late, reindeer trouble…)!!

Well, it has been very, very, VERY rainy here. Which, for California, that’s a good thing. However, it has also been very muddy. So, I think Santa waited until the sun came out again to head over to our neck of the woods.

Even smarter – should his sleigh have gotten stuck… – he sent his gift to Norma and Mo via USPS. It arrived TODAY! Yup, Santa sent low sugar, low carb Beet-E-Bites (a fan favorite around here!). Both donkeys had been very good… so 2 huge bags of Beet-E-Bites were in order!

When I went out to notify NJ and Mo of their package, both were taking sun naps in the dried mud. NJ rose first and grabbed the Peppermint flavor. Mo, who was further away and down a hill, sauntered up and to his complete surprise, he was gifted with a huge bag of the banana heart-shaped treats! (I’ve never found a flavor they don’t like!)

Of course, I started with NJ and Mo… but everyone wanted some Beet-E-Bites .. and they agreed that everyone could have ONE of their cookies, so I distributed all around. Everyone was very, very pleased.

Just and fyi from me… I have no worries feeding these treats to all of my equines, even the insulin resistant and the Cushings horses. These are low sugar and low carb. I have safely fed these treats for a few years now. My favorite and the horses LOVE them.

Today’s PHOTO JOURNAL!

Santa’s hand written cards to Mo and NJ!

NJ was very excited about her personalized card. And she was quite sympathetic to Santa’s reindeer issues…

Mo was very proud when I read Santa’s note to him special.

Norma grabbed the Peppermint flavor! Low sugar, low carb – perfect for them all!

Mo was very happy with the banana. (I have not found a flavor that they don’t like…)

Norma got up from her sun/mud nap to investigate her gift.

MMMMM. Smells great!

OK! I’ll take 24, please.

Mo was very far away and didn’t want to climb up the muddy hill to get his treat. However, once he saw everyone else going crazy, he was here in a flash!

Here he is, ready to accept…

One of many cookies – down the hatch!

Then it was everyone else’s turn. Here is Ethel Merdonk. She was very eager.

Rocky Balboa nearly broke down the fence to get to me…

As Rocky gobbled his second cookie, the hounds arrived, begging. They are in the shadows, but they continued to try to trip me as I doled out treats.

NEW BUTTON. DIFFERENT FUND. LET’S DO THIS!

FUND TOTAL AS OF TODAY: $2005 (Thank you!)

I’m no genius. Just an average girl who has a passion to save horses in need. This is my idea going forward. If we have a constant fund going daily… we will have funds to give to those on the ground who are saving these horses in real time at the killing auctions.

Horse and Man Foundation, Inc has a new Fund button. KEEP THEM OFF THE TRUCK FUND. This fund will go on all day, all the time. It will always be here. If you want to save a horse from slaughter, you know we will do that here.

All donations are 100% tax deductible! Thank you!

Your purchase with Riding Warehouse through this link helps the Bucket Fund!

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Consistency. Slow and Steady wins the race.

Princess Buttercup Pebbles is a very timid, young, previously wild donkey.

I received her a few months ago, shortly after she was rescued from a kill pen in Texas.

Now that she has shed a bit, I have discovered that she is a BLM donkey. Hmmmm. She appears to be about 2-3 years old. So I expect she was adopted from a BLM holding facility, kept for a year, not handled, and sent to the kill pen after they received their $1000 from the BLM.

She is very sweet… and loves treats… but she is not very trusting.

This girl has not had any handling. In fact, she was rescued from the killpen with a too small for her halter on her head with a dangling 2′ lead rope attached. Clearly, they put that on once and used the catch rope to grab her if they needed her.

Yup. She didn’t learn much… and what she did learn was not good.

She used to hide behind Ethel Merdonk a lot. (Ethel is in front here)

But now she will come right up to me and ask for a treat.

So, we started over when she came here.

I’d sit in the pen with her and Ethel Merdonk. Princess Buttercup Pebbles learned to take cookies and she loved to have her face rubbed.

At this point, I can put a halter on her (sometimes) and I can rub her face and neck. That’s it.

BUT, what I did learn is that when I went on vacation (10 days) – Princess Buttercup Pebbles has regressed – a lot. This is frustrating for me, but I just have to go with it because there is no rushing the process.

Now that we were gone for 10 days, she has reverted a bit. Here you can see that she is tentative to come as close as previously. She’s rather stretch her neck to take her treat, instead of coming straight up to me.

I’m eager to get her gentled because I want to do her feet and I also would like to be able to read her brand. Presently, her hair is too thick. I need to shave her neck or get a really good photo, which is impossible because she is scared of the phone unless it is in front of her. And, I cannot stand next to her – yet. She wants me in front of her.

The first mark is clearly the “U” for USA. The next mark, which should be the two number of the year of her birth. It is either a ‘9 (which makes no sense because it should be ’09 or “19) or it is a ’38 – which also makes no sense. I have no idea…

In any event, PBP is a very smart, young girl, and I need to be consistent and steady. That will win this race.

As her hair is shedding, I see that she has a BLM brand! I cannot read it, yet. Too much hair still. From what I think I see, it is a very confusing brand because it looks like she was born in ‘9 – which doesn’t exist (it should be ’09 or ’19). So, I need to get clippers in there – or at least feel it, which I cannot do just yet.