JANUARY BUCKET FUND!: BUDDY.

I saw this story and it broke my heart.

Can we help those who are helping Buddy? He is 28, incredibly well mannered and kind, who was dumped at an auction because he could no longer keep good weight.

Shame on those owners. If you cannot feed your elder horse, please get help before he is in this condition, thrown away at an auction where younger horses will brutalize him.

Let’s help No Nonsense Natural Horsemanship Rescue help Buddy.

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BUDDY’S STORY

This is what was written below this photo on the NNNH FB page:

Horse Owners Everywhere. Do us rescues a favor. When your senior gelding becomes a hard keeper… when they finally get that hitch in their step…dont dump your 28 year old horse at an auction…for that measly couple hundred dollars you can get. Call the vet and give them a peaceful ending to their life. Where they remember how loved they were. Where they don’t have to be shoved on a trailer from hell and moved from lot to lot till that horrible place in Mexico do what they did for you all those years…take care of them because they deserve nothing less
Fortunately for Buddy we were able to intercept him but not before he lost weight and was beaten up by multiple horses because he just can’t get around as good as he used to. But I saved your horse today
Owner/Founder
NNNH Rescue
Tiffaney Kalata

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If they cut the power… do you have enough WATER?

I live in California… and right now, it is very wonky. All kinds of information is floating around and one of those being a letter from PGE claiming they need to shut power for a variety of reasons.

I don’t mind not having power. What I do mind is not being able to run the well to fill up the horse troughs when they need fresh water.

(I’m one of those people that keeps their troughs low so that they are easy to clean.)

Anyway, we received another letter like this today. CA is a big state, so we never know who or where the power will be shut. Yes, it has happened a lot in Grass Valley this year, but it hasn’t happened here on the Central Coast – yet. But, I feel it may be coming this week or next.

So, I decided to have extra water for 8 horses.

*A reader suggested investing in a solar unit to power the well pump – an excellent idea. We are looking into it.

HOW TO GET 3 DAYS OF WATER FOR 8 HORSES.

I figured that I would clean all of their troughs, fill them, and then fill a few garbage cans and then a few of the huge fruit bins that I use as feeders.

So that’s what I did.

Of course, we ran into a few issues. Number One, I have drilled holes in all of the fruit bins to let out rainwater. So I had to plug those. I just used clean, cloth rags.

Second, I cleaned out a few Rubbermaids that I use for treat bins. I thought about placement and decided that I wanted to fill them near the fences so that I could easily refill their troughs via the Rubbermaids.

BIG MISTAKE. I had the Rubbermaids, filled and heavy, set next to the fence by the trough. Well, Dalton spent all night figuring how to remove the lids and spill the water without toppling the bins. I HAVE NO IDEA how he did this… but he got dirt all over the lids, popped one lid and took out 3/4 of the water without spilling much. Did he drink it?! Maybe he got his head through the fence and was able to drink. Not sure. Anyway, I moved it a bit up the hill.

IT TAKES TIME TO FILL FRUIT BINS…

Since it takes a lot of time to fill the fruit bins (with our well), it was a perfect time to groom BG. The poor girl has her hives back therefore I’ve separated her from Finn and Wrigley so I can treat her and pay attention. Also, it gives her a break from Wrigley, who is a very annoying little brother.

After I was done grooming her, one fruit bin was filled. Perfect. I can do this daily and get all the bins filled for the projected powerdown date next week.

PICS FROM THE DAY!

I’m trying to have a full trough for each horse. As you can see, BG is in her own pen (because her hives are back and I have to treat her…). I gave BG three toughs because she is really, really clean with water. I can fill up 3 troughs and they will remain clean until they are empty. In this way, I can have lots of water in her pen, and allow Finn and Wrig in if needed. (Wrigley is on the left and Finn is at the gate.)

This is Gwen and Norma’s water. They are clean as well. They have two troughs like this, so they will be totally fine.

Dalton, Missy Miss and Mo’s pasture is the issue. I didn’t know it would be an issue… but I had these two Rubbermaid trash bins filled with clean water… and Dalton managed to make a mess of them overnight. I had put them next to the fence when I filled them – so it would be easier to fill their trough from the bins – and he got both lids off even though they were bungied, and drank 3/4 of the water in one. However, he didn’t topple either bin. I have no idea how he got his head through the rails and into the bin, but he did. The red arrow shows where the green bin was overnight. There is very little water on the ground. He must have swished and swallowed.

The lid shows his work. Yes, this lid was on the ground and Mo was making music with it. Sigh.

Poor BG has her hives again. I have to continually help relieve the itch. No one has been able to figure out the cause, yet. But I have several tricks to relieve the itch.

Grooming and de-itching her, helps. She always feels better after treatment. It takes just about the time it takes to fill up a fruit bin with water.

We don’t like to stress our well, so I filled this up slowly. I have 4 more to go. These hold a lot of water… so we will be OK once this is done. (I put a rag in the hole that I drilled to let out water. It held.)