My diary about the rescue horses and the great friends I have-

01/24/2008

Well, i have to say, that I am thoroughly SICK of the winter and we have much, much more to expect!  Either we get a ton of snow or have below zero degree weather.  And of course i have to things like fill up water tanks or fix something when its either of those days.  This weekend promises 30's and maybe up to 40!  Pretty sad when we Wisconsinites love that weather!!  HA!

Last night, i had put my space heater in front of the outside faucet to unthaw it.  I have two of them, but the one closest to my barns has busted and i cant use that so i had to get another hose.  I do have another one, but at that time it was under about 20 inches of snow.  this is the first year that my faucets have froze!  I also have to use a water heater for the tank that just goes in and goes to the bottom of my 200 gallon tank.  When the water gets lower, my prankster Duke likes to pull it out and then of course its on in the snow, so i check it quite regularly.  Duke thinks he is helping me out anytime i have to fill the tanks.  picks up the hose and tries to squirt all of the horses and myself with the water.  Everything I try to make him not such a naughty boy and he just doesnt get it.  Just wants to play.  My horses play with him occasionally, but he is obnoxious even with them, they mostly say, 'Oh my god, here comes Duke!'  He has to help with everything including feeding, cleaning and filling up the water and fixing whatever in their paddock area.  He is the 2nd in command, cuz no one wants to challenge him except jack who is the boss.  He is a very stubborn boy and will have to have some sort of job this year.  We have started to train him, but he is like a 5 year old that says to me, 'Mom, I am bored!'.  Probably why the former owners gave him up!  he is relentless!!  he drives all of the people who help me nuts!  Michele sometimes has to have someone guard the wheel barrow when we clean so that he doesnt tip it over and we have to pick it up again.  You can just see the wheels rolling on that guy!!  he loves to play and get everyone going.  But like I say, i would have boring and sleeping horses if not for Duke!  Got to love the guy!  He has ringbone, so we are thinking he might be able to pull a cart.  If he didnt have ringbone, he would be awesome for about any discipline !!

Anyhow, last weekend i went over to where Bella, the wild mustang mare is.  My friend/trainer Makon Buzzell is training her for the Midwest Horse Fair.  60 trainers around the area get to train the wild mustangs and then they will be auctioned off at the Fair on April 20.  First over the course of the weekend of the Fair they will be put through a few competitions.  The trainers are competing for over 12K in money!  She sure is  a pretty girl, although not very big.  She is about 14.2 hands, but a very muscular body.  Check her out on www.buzzelltraining.com When she trots around the in door arena, she sounds like a draft horse!  But boy does she have a pretty trot!  She is 4 years old now and is at the point where she needs to get trained.  She isnt with other horses yet, but she can see and hear them. 

Dont forget the tack sale at the Jefferson County Fair grounds this Sunday, January 27!  I have lots of tack to sell, along with Lands End Dog Jackets, Hot Wheels, Nascar stuff, Bakery items and odds and ends.  Come and say hello if you are in the area!  the website for the map is

http://www.jeffersoncountyfairpark.com/about/map

 

This is a big tack sale, so if i dont have what you want someone will.  ALL proceeds go to the care of the horses.

 

I want to tell people that I work full time, take care of my dogs, Zeus (black lab), Hunter (germanshorthair), 5 cats, 4 chickens and my 10 horses.  Hard to keep up sometimes, but i have help that come over on Saturdays and other times if needed.  They are my rocks, my friends.  Would never be able to do this without them.  NEVER. 

 

I also work with the other horse rescues in the areas.  If one of us is full, we contact other rescues when people call to surrender their horses.  I rarely go to horse sales anymore due to the fact I get so many surrenders.  Most of these surrendered horses have some sort of disability and doubtful that they will ever get adopted.  but that is ok, they can stay with me during their retirement life.  Just because a horse is disabled in some sort of way doesnt mean that they need to be put down.  I am all  in favor of giving these horses their just due (along with their former owners) and letting them live out their lives eating, sleeping getting love, good food and good sun!  My ultimate goal is to take on these kinds of horses only and not adopt them out.  I would then have the wonderful people who donate to my rescue sponsor them! 

 

I love to have people come out and visit and see the ranch.  Just let me know when you want to come out (weekends are best) and I will work it out if i can. 

I am also on Petfinder.com  so look up the horses that I have for adoption.  I prefer that they go to homes with land and not to stables.  But that is not a requirement.  Remember also, if there is some issue that you cannot keep the adopted horse, they MUST be returned back to me.  i never want to see a horse at auction.  Horses can have SO many families over their long lives. 

 

I also check out a blog called http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/  This woman is a hoot!  I agree with alot of what she says.  its not for the weak minded person!  This woman says what alot of people cant.

 

We need to stop the breeding!!  Please!!  Everyone has their own sense of what a great horse looks/acts like, while it may not be true.  Put helmets on your kids if they are going to ride or even be around a horse.  Even a 'bomb proof' horse can spook sometimes and that is a time you cant take back as we tend to read in the papers about such tragedies.  Adopt horses from rescues.  Most of them really care and will tell you everything about their horses.  We dont want them to come back if possible. 

Anyhow, I will close for now and hope to write a few times a week.

Hope you come back and please email me with any questions.

For some reason, if you call me at home and i dont get back to you in a couple of days, please call me back.  From time to time, my voicemail sounds like a muffled dull roar from messages and i cant understand it!

Take care everyone!

Jenny

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, I want to thank my regular ladies who come out to help me!

Michele

Lisa

Emily

Margaret

Stephanie

Cherie

Beth

without them, i would never be able to continue this rescue.  Thank you so much!

New volunteers include- Win, Sophia, Dawn and Will!!

 

01/11/08

today is Friday and my volunteers (rather call them good friends) will be coming out to help me on the ranch.  We mostly do stalls, clean the barn, do whatever chores or fixing around the ranch and sometimes we get the time to groom!  I have a new family coming out to help tomorrow!  I love to get help and even if it doesnt work out for the newer volunteers to come out as much as they would like, i just appreciate any time they can give me!

So much more work to do in the summer then the winter also, so we do everyother weekend now until probably March or April. 

I have a tack sale that I am selling all sorts of stuff at in Jefferson, WI on January 27 (Sunday).  Please come out to visit and/or to buy some stuff from me!  i will have horsey stuff, baked goods, dog jackets from Lands End and toys to sell.  This is to fund of some of the costs for my beauties!

About a month ago now, I took on one more horse (oh yes, I did!).  His name is Kobb and he had to rehomed from another foster home from ASAP (American Standardbred Rescue) www.4thehorses.com  He is a 30 year old white, with a few dark spots Arab gelding.  he is a very sweet old boy.  Doesnt have many teeth left, but that is ok, he does just fine with eating.  Loves his senior grain.  He stays with my 2 pony mares and was on the bottom of the pole until he figured out that they are just bluffers and he moved into the alpha status.  At least alpha for those 3!  HA!  He will stay at my home during his retirement years.  He has been no problem at all.  But wants to be close to the girls.  Not sure how they will act towards him when they finally do give birth!   I swear that shadow will be giving birth to already haltered 3 year old!