Downsizing and Saying Goodbye

So my dream has always been to be a horse rescue. A year ago I rescued a thoroughbred I called Prince from a lady who races horses. She usually ships them to the auction when their racing careers are over where they end up in Mexico slaughtered but this horse won them a lot of money, she thought he deserved more. She gave him to me. I have spent the last year fattening him up, giving him love. I rode him a couple times, but didn't have the time to truly spend with him being I have 4 other equines.

Well today, or a couple days ago I found him a new home. My heart still hurts but it was the right thing to do. A man who works at the Old Mill Feed Store, Bobby has a family, and two mares, only one which is rideable. He is looking for a riding horse for himself, being his 4 kids ride his other horse. I told him the horse I would still consider "green" needs lots of work and ground work. He is not "kid safe" and doesn't like dogs at his heals. He promised he would give him a good home, and 30 minutes ago Prince left in a stock trailer looking scared and neighing for his pasture buddies who cried ( neighed) goodbye as he drove down the street. I wept like I haven't cried for a long time but I know I made the right decision. He won't end up at a slaugherhouse and will have a active family to spoil him rotten. His new family, his wife and 4 children followed behind in their minivan looking excited to have a new member of their family.

I am so sad that he is gone but who am I kidding. I have now 3 horses, one pony and hardly enough time to ride a horse a day. Prince was the low man on the totem pole, and was considently kicked and bitten at, he looked like he was always being picked on, and that isn't good for him. He was down in weight due to always shuffling from one feed trough to another, he will have lots of weight on him now being the only gelding. He is going to a home that has two mares waiting for him. He will be the king of the place now, something that makes me very happy.

With the economy the way it is, I will save about $75 a month by giving him away. I could have sold him, but I got him for free, I am playing it back. Bobbie promises if he doesn't work out he will give back to me, and he has good references from people at the feed store I checked with. He said I can check on him whenever I want, he lives about 2 miles away now. That $75 will able me to pay down my credit cards faster, something that Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey would be happy with. I am just sad but I know I made the right decision.

Now I will go finish watching Nascar and spend the reminder of my afternoon with 4 horses. Downsizing is a good thing and I hope Prince lives a happy, and full life.

Rope my Goat

So the picture above is my newest addition, a goat named Cisco gotten from a friend at work. He is like a big dog. I swear I have never seen a goat look so sad. He just sits in my backyard and cries. When I come out he runs to my side. To think that a goat can be so tame and human friendly. Princess has become his friend and hangs out with him but Rootbeer stays far away from me, he knows I am trying to catch him to take his collar off, its getting too tight. I am having my farrier out to rope him. I asked him to "rope my goat" and my co-workers can't stop laughing about that. The picture above is him trying to come inside.

So I can feel my cold coming back for a repeat vist. I just had my flu shot yesterday. So today on top of getting 10 hours sleep last night I am taking lots of vitamins and trying to stop it. Two weeks ago I had it for about 10 days. What a pain. So today I am going to early vote then to the feed store, the dog food store. I am going to put the dogs back on Canidae. Its expensive, but their health is worth it they don't like the Kirkland brand that everyone raves about. Then I am going to go pick up some Hay. I have 100 bales stacked in my barn, but I want to fill it so I won't have to worry about it until 1st cut next year. Its good exercise unloading they hay, and heck maybe I will meet some new people. Last night I went to Isleta Casino for a couple hours. It was fun and I was down, won back my money with my fav dollar slots, then hightailed out of there. Today I will use that cash for my hay and grain.

Oh and later I will ride, probably Beauty and Sand, then tonight will relax with my fav night of TV for some Survivor, CSI, Office and the new show I like, Eleventh Hour. Then off to bed for another 2 days of 12 hours of work.

A Good Day

So today I started out my day getting up at 4:30 and heading downtown to Albuquerque to do the Duke City Marathon ( no I did the 5k walk, maybe some day hehe ) We had breakfast at Wecks and then I came home, watched some Nascar, took a nap and continued to be lazy. At 5pm I got dressed and saddled up Beauty. We rode in the round pin after I warmed her up for 20 minutes and she did great. We didn't gallop yet, but did a very fast trot. She is extremely lazy but I didn't want to push her as I am riding her in waves. Started with walking, trotting, and now super fast trotting. She likes to buck now with she gallops, and I need to get my confidence up until I take that route. She did so great though. We rode for a good hour, and even though she had her ears pinned back pretty much the whole time, we made great strides.

With Beauty I have always just ridden her. She is extremely barn sour, and has a nasty attitude, but I haven't really worked with her like I am now. I think its building my confidence and its making her understand I am the boss.. After I rode Beauty I saddled up Cowboy and rode him for 20 minutes. I have him on a supplement for his arthritis and its done wonders.. I used to have him on generic Adequan IM shots every month when I first brought him home from the auction 2 years ago. He was so sore from roping he could hardly stand. My vet said his back leg muscles were shot due to roping. Well he hasn't had a shot for over 6 months, and yes its been warm but I have him on Majesty Flex Wafers I get on Horse.com. One little wafer a day, which he loves, and he is a new horse. I think with my riding, and his wafers hopefully I can keep him off the shots as they are $45 a month.. The supplements cost me less then $20 a month and he thinks its a treat, not a mean shot in the neck..

So today was a good day. My confidence for riding is soring and on Thursday I will ride again, Beauty and Sand. Prince I am giving him some time as he got kicked, or kicked something and his back leg was extremely swollen. It is down to normal, but I am also working getting some more weight on his as he is not a easy keeper.. I have started to add more oil to his diet and this winter will add rice bran and beet pulp.. Sand and Prince being so new off the track need extra calories that the other 3 don't need..

Well I am off to watch TV and call it a night. I have a busy week this week, will be pulling a 55 hour week due to extra trainings I have to facilitate. Need my beauty sleep!

One Woman Army called back home

So I have been worried and upset all week thinking of the big horse auction this weekend. Will I be strong enough to go and witness so many horses that will end up in a slaughterhouse in a week or so? This morning I got up and Sand was laying down. He is never laying down at morning feeding.. I went out feeling worried, and he got up and then layed down again. I went into panic mode. He is colicing.. I put the food out and he went down again, starting to roll. I immediately went for my phone and ran out and got the halter and begin to walk him. Within 10 min he passed droppings, but still wanted to lie down. I called my vet, she was out of town. I called my back up vet, they couldn't do house calls and my neighbors trailer is full of hay ( god I wish I had a trailer ). I called my neighbor, he said he could unload his trailer but to try his vet. I called Arrowhead Vet in Los Lunas, got a hold of a vet and he said he would be right over. In the meantime I have given Sand 1 dose of Bantamine and continue to walk him. This has gone on for 1 hour and I am a wreck.

The vet pulled up and had a large trailer behind him. He was in route to Bernalillo with some yearlings but came anyways. Sand at this point had stopped sweating and calmed down. He even wanted to eat. The vet ( I forgot his name ) said his temp was high and his gut sounds were there ( which is a good sign ) but they where fast. He gave him another shot of Bantamine, a tranquilizer and took a rubber hose down his nose and filled his gut with mineral oil. He said to watch him, and if in 3 hours he wasn't improved to call him and he will return on his way back. I walked Sand back to his stall. He was so drugged he almost tipped over. Within 1 hour he was looking better, and within 3 he was wanting to eat. I gave him a little bit of grass hay. I had to leave for work, and my neighbor said he would call if anything looks bad. When I got home tonight at 930 he was starving running back and forth wanting food. I put him in his stall, gave him grass hay, a small flake of alfalfa and 2 hours later let him out to be with his herd.

So this experience was a wake up call for me. If I go to the auction I will want another horse and today's experience will probably cost me $300+ as it is ( the vet will call me Monday with the charge) I treat my horses well but the reason Sand coliced is that I was lazy and fed too much alfalfa I am sure. I took my friends really friend goat Cisco and gave extra hay compared to what I feed. I have a laminitis prone pony and now a horse that has a temperamental stomach as this is the 2nd time he has coliced ( first time was minor and no vet was called ). I am in the progress of getting out of debt, and by the time I am 45 I would love to be out of debt ( expect my house ). So going to the auction would be a bad thing and bring grief to my life. I need to be happy and live life right now, not grieve it. I am not strong enough to document something that is so wrong. I hope that God will have mercy on all the animals that are killed and slaughtered in such a horrible way, especially the way horses are killed in Mexico.

Anyway that is the way I feel now. I think Sand was getting better when my vet came but my friend just lost her horse to Sand Colic, and she waited till it was too late. Better safe, then sorry. Above is a picture this morning of when I brought Sand in to his stall. Hope came over and was with him for 30 min while the other horses ate. She stayed by his side. Luna was worried too. Anyway that was my stressful Friday, off to bed now..

Cold Weather is here!

So even though this has been a tough week, the full moon was yesterday and I think it cleared my mind of all my troubles. I am so happy it was so cold last night. Even though I might be complaining in a few months or weeks about how cold I am I love the cold weather. The grey sandhill cranes are back for the winter and I have to say even though they are loud I really love them. They are majestic and fly over my house all day long and its surreal. I will take some pictures soon. Today my plans are to organize my closet, put away my summer clothes, pick up my weekly vegi pizza and lemonade from Dions, go grocery shopping, to the feedstore and prepare a lovely vegetarian meal as today is vegetarian Wednesday. I might even play WOW tonight as I do miss it.. I recorded Oprah yesterday and saw her show on the way we treat farm animals. It was truly a eye opener and even though I am not a vegetarian ( only on Wednesdays and some other random days ) I will continue to buy organic, cage free eggs and not have meat with other alternatives are available.

Anyway that is my day!

One Woman Army called back into active duty

So I have been thinking, with the big fall horse auction next weekend ( Oct 18-19 ) I need to go up and document the auction for all the people trying to do great things for horses. I won't be undercover or anything, but I will be taking notes and snapping pictures. If I can get some good pictures out there to the people who care and need me to document this, I will be doing things for my herd as Hope listed above was saved from certain death via transported to a Mexician horse slaughterhouse from the Southwest Livestock Auction in December of 2006. She still has health issues, but is doing great and with such a great personality I need to keep playing it back. I won't be buying anything at the auction as I have too many horses as it is, but I will be going to document. Maybe I will meet some like minded folk like myself. Anyways its not till next weekend. I have the Duke City 5k walk in the AM on the 19th in ALBQ, then will be heading to the sale. God give me strength :)

Lifes up and Downs

So what does it take to find nice dependable "won't rip you off" help in Los Lunas? So about a year ago I ran over my leach field line with my truck. It cracked and cost me $400 to get fixed ( labor and repair ) so the stupid area started leaking again and they came out today and found that there was another section that was cracked that was causing the leak. It was leaking for a whole year! The price tag? Another freaking $400! Also add the pumping they had to do, a total of $557 for something they should have fixed the first time. Of course it wasn't under warranty from the first time. So when the receptionist called to give me the total I almost lost it. I was so upset.. I have the money, or I guess my credit card limits can support it fine, but I was so mad! The owner of Franks Septic who did the work last time, and the stupid alarm, was a total asshole last week when I called to schedule the appointment. He got all defensive and tried to blame my leach field for backing up. I am like dude just come out and fix it! He was a asshole, I should have not used him but his worker bees are nice and they were familiar with the problem.

So what did I learn from another costly repair living in the country where most of the service people suck? Get up front estimates.. Get warranties.. and I guess don't drive over your leach field pipes with your truck and POS horse trailer..

With that said /rant off! The picture is of the Miraculous Stairway in Santa Fe at the Loretta Chapel. I went there with my lovely mom and sis last Sunday. You can read up the mysteries of the stairway here: http://www.evanderputten.org/special/newmexico/loretto.htm

Off to bed- Will write back soon, going to get active again in the horse rescue scene.. Will post back more later !

Albuquerque Balloon Festival Oct 2008

My mom and sister are here for the balloon festival this weekend. We woke up early today, took the RailRunner to the festival- Here is one picture, check out my Flickr site for all 90 snapshots- It was a perfect time!