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.

Struggles...

I have to say blogging is something I struggle with. I talk to people better then I write and even then I would love someone else to be the front man on a lot of the socializing I have to do for the ministry. I will do my best to keep the blog up better.



Starting up a non-profit is a struggle in itself, who knew it would be so hard but God said go and I have learned a lot in the last few years to trust God no matter what. I am not non-profit yet nor do we have many donations coming in or grants set up, but it was brought to my attention, by a dear friend of mine, of a free horse she saw online. There is no such thing as a free horse, so chuckling I had her send an email to the lady. I did not hear from her for a week or so I thought, phew got by that one! Of course not, she called and I had to go look. Just in case I had a client that could use a good steady horse (that was what I was told he was...dead broke!) I got there and the barn was terrible, standing on nothing but concrete, in a make-shift stall that I would consider hazardous. There was clutter all over and the "stalls" had not been cleaned in a long while. At the very end was a noble looking anglo arab that could have used about another 150lbs at least. Terribly long uneven feet. Long story short I decided with no hay in my barn and no real way of income right now, to well, give him a better chance. I didn't ride him or mess with him much as he was to skinny to get on nor did the owner offer much help in anything or know to much. She just couldn't keep it and it had to go.....like yesterday. A big part of my ministry is helping those who can not help themselves. How boring for kids to sit (a lot of times alone) in hospitals or older folks who cant get out anymore, why are we not doing more for them. I am finding out how few people truly feel the way I do, if it doesn't directly benefit them or involve them why should they go through the struggle to make something happen, to make someones lives better. We struggle with this in our communities with the human side of things, let alone our animals. They are just animals or just livestock so if they become an inconvenience then get rid of them or dump them and then wala they are no longer our problem anymore. Needless to say JR our newest addition is quite charming and beautiful and there is faith that God will provide what is needed in our program. God sees even the smallest of sparrows so why do we, as Christians cast our animals off. Isn't it time we do something to help.