Thanksgiving

Are we truly thankful.......


Its that time of year when we all get together with family and eat to much. That is only after most of us have argued over which family members we are going to visit or who we are inviting over for dinner. How many of us are taking the holiday for granted?

We had the opportunity to visit the woman's abuse shelter yesterday. It was great, we got mobbed with small children as soon as we walked in the door. It was nice to chat with the families and see the smiles on the faces of the children. Then to see the faces of mom as she saw her child smile for the first time in a long time.

As we sit stuffing our faces with our loved ones sitting near us with plenty of food on our own tables we need to be remember those who are not as fortunate as us. It is called Thanksgiving for a reason, we need to truly be thankful for what we do have.

If we don't have a thanksgiving dinner, and we have soup in the cupboard we need to thank God that he has provided us the soup. We need to be thankful that we have our health or that we are surrounded by loved ones. Not everyone is as lucky as we are. It might be hard to be thankful for soup when we rather have turkey but God never said he would provide all that we WANTED, he said he would provide all our NEEDS.

Remember to thank God for all he has given you and your family this year.

God Knows Best

Saturdays events were a huge success! It was a long day but well worth it. I got up early to head down to the barn to get breakfast for everyone and get loaded up so we could head to the dogie salon. After talking to several different people, I decided to use Paws to Wash in Bridgman.

We arrived at the wash and I went in to meet the owner Beth McNeil and to double check the accommodations. I was Leary of the tubs, (leary or not we had to do this today, I had no back up). I thought they were walk in to the floor of the tub from the ramp. It was walk up the ramp which was steeper then my girl was use to. Then she had to step down into the tub. She was so good and listened to my commands through the whole thing.

It was rather cute as she was in the tub she looked like a regular large black dog from a distance and we had several people surprised as they were not looking real close and just going about talking and then shocked to see a horse in the dog tub.

Getting out she was just as good and then we went into a separate room to get blow dryed. The forced air is still a little worrisome but after awhile it was all in a days work for her. I could not seem to get her coat dry. The long winter coat with the protective oils on it is hard to get completely dry but she was dry enough for the hour and a half drive to Grand Rapids. I knew that the heat in the van would help her dry more.

We arrived at our evaluations site and I ran in to, again, see what the arrangements were and where we were actually going to be. I finished up my paper work and then we out to get Nim. The evaluator was absolutely great and everyone else was excited as they don't get mini's in for therapy often.

She was the best pony every! She walked in there like she knew exactly what was going on, no messes and was right on cue for everything. We had people in from the rehab center who liked to watch and she was great and showed the evaluator she knew her job.

We passed all the test, and are now sending in to get our badge. They have a scoring chart that is NA, for handler needs to do something other then therapy work. NC, for pet not ready yet. A 1, that is you have met Delta requirements and a 2, that is you have passed Delta requirements. Out of 25 we surpassed all of delta requirements except 4 which we still got a 1 on. I am so very proud of my girl.

The evaluator was so impressed how we did that she wants to put us in personal contact with the coordinator from Mary Freebed. Also to try contacting Borgoss down here in Kalamazoo who do not have a mini horse in their program yet, and they only take Delta certified.

After all of that she then went to a church children's group and was fussed over and they all got to ask questions and pet the pony.

She has truly surpassed all of my expectations for her. She is one of a kind. God knew what he was dong when he matched us up together.

First for everything

Today was a hectic and trying day. In working in my Delta manual it occurred to me that they wanted the pet, (not just the dogs)bathed within 24 hours of the visit. I am suppose to treat saturdays evaluation exactly like a visit. I have a horse who lives in the barn where its 30 degrees out right now and she has her fair share of a winter coat.

So on the phone I go, to try to find a self serve doggie wash. I have heard we have them in our area but never actually had to use one before. I worry about washing nim in the bathtub at home as it will be real slick and getting her in and out over the edge. I finally found one in ST. JOE that is like a walk in shower with tile around, great but still slick. I finally talked to a nice lady in Bridgman who has tubs with a ramp (not really what I wanted) but she has horse experience and seems very willing to help so far as to open up early for me so I can get her bathed and blow dried and get to Grand Rapids in time for our appointment.

It also occurred to me that these were not your at home hair dryers, they were commercial grade dogie dryers. That means lots of noise and a great degree of forced air. I know the noise would not bother her as we walk by generators etc... BUT the forced air might bother her.

I remembered my dad had a professional dryer from when he showed dogs so we went over to borrow that to get her use to it. It worked out well, she was wet from the rain so we brought her into the barn and turned it on. I placed her supper in front of her so it would be a positive experience. I was right, noise no big deal but the blowing air she was not fond of. After a little coaxing and starting slowly at the feet she stood still for me to blow dry her. We did both sides and of course one side is not as comfortable as the other but that is expected out of a horse with something new.

I could not be happier with her reaction to it all and she made great strides today. Nothing like doing everything last minute, but as we go through the next couple days we will keep doing it a little every day and she will be a pro at going to the salon.

The big day

BABY STEPS.....

While its neat to take something from an idea and make it happen, it requires lots of baby steps. I would love to say that we have everything togather and the funds to become a non-profit, most of the money is going into helping the animals that need it and to our visitations.

Saturday is our evaluation day for Nim and I. We are going to get certified as a pet partner through the Delta Society. They were established at the request of many volunteers who wanted more information on how to conduct safe and useful visits.

They provide a training manual for at home study or you can take a work shop. ITs a very detailed program with instrucors and evaluators to make sure that the standard stays where it should.

While we have conducted several visits already it is nice to have an already established program backing you up. It makes it easier to get into hospitals that have a higher standard. Many places are leary of letting just any dog and handler come in, let alone sure if they want a horse in their hospital.

While I was hoping that we would have our program up and more established its moving along at a steady pace so I can not complain, God has been good.



We are currently working on making the maternity ward so it is safe and dry in this terribly sleeting rain we are having. She loves being in her stall but we must take in to consideration that she is lower to the ground so some sawdust if to fine could be an issue.

J.R. is somewhat closterfobic so we have not wanted to completely shut him up yet, he likes the lean-to he can come and go out of. Unfortunatly for him he does not have enough fat on him to handle any sort of weather like we are having so he is going to have to get a stall. Its a slow process again that would have liked to start ealier but funds also have to feed the animals.

J.R. is doing well though, I think he has gained about 25-50lbs, not a lot but agian baby steps. As long as the process is steady and forward I can not complain.

Heaven!

I have decided that J.R. is a little slice of heaven. As his personality came out he is just a doll.
We had his feet trimmed yesterday and they were pretty bad. He had double soles and his angles were all dipping into the inside. He was not the best boy for his trim but he could have been worse.

He is so funny he immediatly goes out and rolls after you have done anything with him. So I let him out after trimming and he immediatly rolls and tries out his new feet. I can not tell you how much better they look. He has a ways to go yet but the farrier said what saved him was that he had been stalled on concrete. It wore his feet down some so they were not curling over. He said it looked like they had not been done in years.

He is looking so much better, not all sunk in and waspy looking. We are giving addatives for sand colic to help if there was any mild impaction from not having water in his stall. The boy eats anything so its good he is not picky right now. He has gained some weight and his muscling looks much better.

Since he was looking so good I thought I would see if I could do a riding evaluation on him. He stood pretty still for the tacking up part (nothing I would not expect out of an arab in a new place). Its hard to find a saddle that fits as he is still lacking the top line muscle but that will come with more groceries and more work. I choose a simple egg butt snaffle for him as he is so light and responsive on the ground in his halter. One of the stories the woman told me was he had learned to toss his head because her daughter pulled to hard on his mouth. Another possible answer was the bit they put in it or the fact they never had his teeth floated.

Took him in the round pen and did some free lounging with him, which he didn't seem to mind anything. Got on him and put him through all three paces and he is nice and easy walk, trot, canter. All very smooth and he is SO light in the mouth. I did not even touch his mouth for most of it, he neck reins like a dream. He stops good and has a beautiful back on him. He will make a great mount for someone once we get him fully back to were he should be.

I still after years of seeing this have a hard time of knowing how and why people can do this to horses. How do they let such a wonderful horse get to this point? He is older but not useless and he is trained to a T, he has wonderful bloodlines and with weight and muscle he will still look like a million bucks. Its sad and I know this will never get easier, nor will I ever understand it.

Baby!

Last monday was the ultrasound for Remy, our pregnant mini. I kept getting told she was not really pregnant it was a false pregnancy or she was just fat like most minis are. I have a friend of mine, Dr. Holly Shaffer who is teaching an equine class at Andrews University, she asked us to come during the reproductive class. So we loaded in the van and headed down to the school. The kids loved it, as we were able to walk right into the lab. Its a good thing too, it was cold and rainy and the class was at 6pm so there was not much day light left. She was so good! Walked right in the building and let Dr. Shaffer shave her and then do the ultrasound. We have BABY!!! It was great for the kids to see a late term baby as it was active and they were able to feel the baby as well. All the kids took turns ultrasounding and then feeling the little tike move. Dr. Shaffer could not tell me when to expect the baby but she figured it would be a little while yet as there was still quite a bit of fluid around the baby. The baby did however take up a lot of the ultrasound screen. I was glad to see a healthy active baby. We had what looked like a couple scares with her possibly going into labor and then stopping. The best we can figure is the baby grew a lot and got very active with all the good nutrition remy was finally getting. Now we just play the waiting game. I can not continue to call it "the baby" so if anyone has name suggestions pass them this way. If you send them with a picture and your name, when we pick the name we will put it up on the website and the blog and give you credit for naming the cute little creature. We will pick names up to a few days after he or she is born. Time is running out as we dont know when she was bred, you could have till tomorrow or you could have till next may!

J. R. is doing great, he is falling into the routine of the farm and is really starting to have a great personality. He was in need of some routine maintnance and well he did not care for the sheath cleaning part of that. It will need to be something that is done with his dental when he is sleeping. He was dehydrated and his abdomen was all sucked up and just waspy looking. He did not have free access to water before in his stall so he was having really dry stools so we are adding electrolytes as well as corn oil to help dehydration and gain some weight. He seems to be looking a little better. We have the farrier coming out wednesday to look at his feet, they need to be done terribly as his frogs are rotting out. Our farrier is the best so I am sure he will get him squared away and get his feet back in shape. Pray that our guy is gaining weight and doesn't colic on us and keeps drinking.

Any donations to help with J.R. is needed. He is in need of some medical treatment for teeth and other stuff to get him back up to shape as well as the extra feed as he is thin. Its never easy asking for money but we are a rescue and these guys depend on us to help them.
I will get pictures of J.R. up soon and keep you updated on him and how well he is doing.