Well, I learned a few things this month regarding the Bucket Fund…
THE FIRST THING I LEARNED.
First, going outside of the species box was not a great idea. Not too many of you felt compelled to give to the Beagle Freedom Project. Now I know.
Sadly, I had hoped to have an Elephant Bucket Fund this year but I think that will be a bad idea as well, given the success of the Beagle Fund.
But, highlighting the character of the Beagle Freedom Project folks, they were thrilled with our donation and said that even if they just met a few new people through the Bucket Fund, it was worth it.
Nice folks.
So, thank you to all those who stepped outside the box with me and gave good will or funds to the Beagles!
Receipt for the Beagle Freedom Project Bucket Fund donation.
THE SECOND THING I LEARNED.
The second thing I learned is that sometimes you gotta just keep trying…
I say this because I really believe in helping the older horses. For me, it is really sad that the older horses are generally passed over for adoption and usually head for slaughter – after all of their good service. So, I’ve had THE GOLDEN CARROT as a Bucket Funder a few times over the last two years. The first two occasions were not very successful. I think most donators thought that these older horses were ‘safe’ so they didn’t need help. I understand.
Except, it takes funds to care for the sick and older ones. So, I wanted to keep trying. And, ironically, the loss of two older Golden Carrot horses congruent with TGC being a Bucket Fund recipient for December seemed to be a tipping point.
Somehow, the sadness of the passing of the Bucket Fund Ambassador as well as his best friend – with the tributes written by their caregiver – seemed to touch you. Suddenly, these horses became real with real lives, hearts and souls.
So, thank you very, very much for supporting the older horses. I am very appreciative and The Golden Carrot is ECSTATIC! In fact, your funds are helping them bring in two new older horses who will fill the empty stalls of those they lost this month! In this economy, that is rare.
Wonderful outcome! Perfect.
Receipt for THE GOLDEN CARROT December Bucket Fund
THE HORSES OF HORSE PROPERTIES
This may be an odd thing to ponder… the horses of horse properties on the market. But today Hubby and I are once again in Paso Robles looking for a home and I cannot help but think of them.
Actually, many of the homes we have seen are empty since most homes on the market right now are, sadly, foreclosures. But, several of them are inhabited. Not just by humans, but by the horses living there.
This touches me. I’m not sure why, but I feel bittersweet when I see them. I wonder if they know they are moving and I wonder if they will be in a better place when they do move.
I try not to be sad because I know that my horses have moved a few times and it has generally been good for them. They’ve been mostly happy in all places. So, moving isn’t necessarily a bad thing…
However, I always feel the desire to know that they will be OK even though it is none of my beezwax. The horses don’t mind if I am nosy so I ALWAYS ask them about their digs. Sometimes they come over, sometimes they don’t.
If I’m interested in the home, I nose around quite a bit and note all the tell tale signs. Are they chewing the fence? Leaning? Who lives next door? Is there enough water? How are the waterlines run? Do they use their shelters? Can they see danger? What kind of soil? Is the barn/shed convenient? Hay storage? Mold? Ponyproof gates? Trees? Can I add paddocks? What is the slope like? Can I maneuver the trailer? What is the merge into traffic? … so many considerations.
Thus far, we have not been able to afford the places we’ve liked. We were outbid on another. Crossing fingers that something will happen for us.
Anyway, here are photos of some of the horses from the horse properties. I have told them all that I wish the best for them in their futures.
"Hey, who are you?"
"I'm not coming near you but I want to see what you are doing."
"We stay inside, really, don't worry about the wire..."
"We're minis and we have this huge space to graze down - too busy to meet you!"
HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!
If you need Equine Chia, click here and benefit the Bucket Fund!
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Again, please let me thank you all for your help for the Golden Carrot horses. With the loss of Oso, then Buddy, and then Allie at year’s end, December 2011 could have been the very worst month of my 18 years in rescue, but your kindness and support meant everything to us. You have given me the heart to continue in these difficult times. Thank you.
Meantime, one older horse we were going to take in from the County of Riverside was instead euthanized. I have no idea what was wrong with him and no one at the shelter can tell me. We were ready to take him, the transporter was there, but they couldn’t get him loaded and seemed to think he was in too much distress to handle the trailer ride. I found this out later from the transporter. RIP poor guy.
I took in one relative youngster, 11 years old but with a cervical problem than can cause him to stumble. He fits our mission of disabled horses unless our equine Chiro can fix it. And I also offered to take an older horse from a local woman who was trying to home 80 horses. They never responded to me in any way, but I’ve heard she’s down to 30 horses now with lots of help so I guess that’s not going to happen either. So, on to the next horse on the list…..There are ALWAYS old horses looking for homes. I will find another, and help him, thanks to you. Thank you all.