EARLY AUGUST BUCKET FUND – because SHE NEEDS US! Meet Luna, the Friesian mare…

Our August Bucket Fund is starting early because Luna (18-20 year old Friesian mare) really, really needs our help. Luna has been rescued by Minnesota’s Beyond Sanctuary, run by veterinarian, Melissa Shelton. Shelton was asked to take Luna after the mare’s wheelchair bound and frail owner surrendered her after a humane investigation.

Luna is in very bad shape. Starved, neglected, horrible teeth, bad feet, untreated Cushings, deteriorated health due to neglect and DSLD. But, the good news… Dr. Shelton is doing everything in her power, around the clock, to bring this girl back from the brink.

All donations are 100% tax deductible. THANK YOU in advance!

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HER STORY…

Not much is known since she was a surrender… however, we do know that relatives of the owner felt the horse was just old and looked in this condition because of old age.

Oy.

We have since learned that Luna responded to immediate care.

She is very sweet – and very weak.

Dr. Shelton says that currently, Luna is too weak to be sedated for Xrays… too weak to have her feet shaped (to help with the DSLD) and definitely too weak to have her teeth done. Right now, she is being fed 6 times a day per the UC DAVIS refeeding program. On top of all of that, Luna has untreated Cushings.

But, after a bath and some gentle grooming, Luna showed her bright eyes! There is life iin this mare and we’d like to bring her back!

What better way than in the care of a vet in her own Sanctuary!

PLEASE LET US HELP THEM HELP HER – and right this wrong!

All donations are 100% tax deductible. THANK YOU in advance! This mare is so kind and sweet… let’s help her gain her health so she can live her life in Sanctuary!

After a bath…

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I’ve been gone for a while and the horses have run amok!

As most of you know… I’ve just gotten a new job and I’ve been intensely training. I leave here at 8:45am and get home around 8pm (exhausted and brain fried).

So… I’ve not been paying much attention to my horses… which they don’t like.

Also, I’ve been having a feeder feed at night… which the horses don’t like – I mean, they like the feeder, but they don’t like not being able to beg me for treats, scratches and whatever. Instead, they get food on time. But they want MORE.

So far, even though they are acting neglected, they are all fine.

However, they did run amok last week. Nimble-lipped Sir Dalton was able to open the chain on one of the gates and in turn, freed all of the horses to inter mingle in the big pasture – and any other pasture, for that matter.

Luckily, it all worked out.

But now, through Dalton’s handiwork, I never know who is going to be where, when. I kindof like the newness of this. I like that all of the horses are mingled and able to walk all over the 9 acres… picking which feeder they like, choosing to be in front of a fan, or selecting their favorite shelter for shade.

Unfortunately, no one has any new friends; they seem to move in the same groups. But, they are all moving paddocks and trying new things.

I had never put all the horses together in one herd because I feared for Norma’s safety… and I thought that Finn and Dalton would kill each other – but they didn’t. In fact, yesterday, I found them eating dinner together.

See… you just never know.

And, Norma Jean is just fine and has accepted Mo. They aren’t best buds… but they are friendly.

Anyway, here are pics I took yesterday.

HERE WE GO!

PUPPY gathering fly masks for me… oy (in between ruining all of his toys).

Finn eating with Dalton! Note the green feeder in the far distance… that was their doing. It should be. up by the fence so I can use it to feed… Dalton has undone his flymask over one ear.

This is Gwen. You can see the fallen rake and overturned buckets…

This is the fence gate that Dalton nimbly opened. Opening this gate allowed everyone to co-mingle.

Wrigley: “What?! I know I’m not supposed to be in here but everyone else was…!”

On the other side of the wall from Wrigley was BG. That isn’t too unusual since they like each other… but they are in a different paddock than when I left this morning.

Here we have a broken fenceboard and the culprit. That’s Mo and Missy Miss. They weren’t in that paddock when I left today.

Fans kicked, buckets tossed… (the fans were not plugged in).

Norma has NEVER been in this pasture.

The dogs ripped opened these shavings bags.

Here you can see that there was some sort of equine party going on. Whomever was kickybucking in the left paddock kicked out a board and Mo kicked out the other board. Sigh. (But the trees are looking better! The little one that broke last year is doing well!)

This is an awkward angle but I had to let Gwen out of her paddock to allow me to get in there and fix a bunch of stuff – and she immediately started eating the tree. Sigh.

I let out Norma so I could put her back into the paddock with the most shade… and like the lady she is… she ate grass and weeds. (She never sheds out completely until August.)

This is my walking path through the way overgrown Pepper tree. (Those are bunches of pepper corns.). Usually, I have time to cut it back… but in just these two weeks, it has overgrown again! Even short me cannot fit through without ducking.

An unusual view for me… as I went out to feed, 7 of the 8 horses were right there, waiting. Left to right: Finn Wrigley in back, BG with head down in front, Gwen, Norma, Mo, Missy Miss… and Dalton was to the far right by a feeder, waiting.

I should be back to normal in a few weeks. For now, I’m running as fast as I can!