Horses Needing Homes

There is a phenomenal woman I have the joy of knowing who is just a great human.  She was instrumental in rescuing 18 of 39 horses that were being starved. She rescued 9 in November and she collaborated with Montana Horse Sanctuary & HSUS in January to rescue 9 more.  Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to get the remaining 21 horses.  We have found homes for 15 of the 18 horses but we still have 3 left.  I have 1 @ my place.  Her name is Rosa.  She is a 3 yr old sorrel mare.  She will probably mature out @ about 14 or 14.1 hands.  She is a really nice girl but needs an experienced horseperson.  Effie has 2 horses @ her place still looking for homes as well.  Ronan is a 2 yr old blue roan filly.  She will be an exceptional horse for an experienced horse person.  The other guy is a  2 year old gelding.  Bones is a very sweet guy who is quite easy to handle.  Ronan & Bones can be seen on Effies blog @ effieshorserescue.blogspot.com.  If you know of anyone who would be a great, last, best home for any of these 3, please contact me or put a response below.

WATER REMINDER & TIPS

Just a quick reminder to everyone to check their horses water source daily.  Remember, an adult horse can drink upwards of 20 - 30 gallons of water per 24 hours...especially when being fed hay and of course if the weather is warm.  Also, a trick for keeping large water tanks clean is to put goldfish in the tank.  They eat the algae and will keep the tank clean.  If you use this trick however, be sure to remove any dead ones immediately as they will "sour" the water & the horse(s) will stop drinking.  Other than that, this trick works great.  Also good to know, if you have a small automatic waterer or a small trough, I found that the birds will go fishing & you will quickly lose all your fish...but the birds will be happy.

April 20: Robert Wrigley’s “Kissing a Horse”

April 20: Robert Wrigley’s “Kissing a Horse”

I am not big on poems, but this is really a touching, nice horse poem. Enjoy!

2nd Day

OK, so I didn't get my first day posted when I wrote it.  Now we are on to day 2 (several days later). 

I had an interesting case today I would like to share.  2 horses with severe COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), also known as heaves....similar to asthma in people.  The owners were told sometime ago to wet their hay.  This is one component that is helpful.  But these horses needed more than just that.  These horses were treated medically & some new management tools were implemented.  I thought I would share with you a few management things we can all do.

We are lucky in the dry, northern climates to not see this disease as frequently as in the humid, damp, climates where molds abound.  But we do see this in the north.  Some management things that should be done for all...doing the best that we can.  1) Don't feed dusty or moldy hay...if it doesn't smell scrumptious to you &/or you turn your head away because of the dust - please don't feed it to your horses, 2) if your horse is kept in a stall, frequently kneel down on the floor, does the ammonia smell knock your socks off??  Please get it under control for your horses sake.  I can't tell you how many times I have gone into a stall to do something with a foal, I lean down to work with the foal & my nostrils start burning from the ammonia - think of how often that foal &/or horse lays down with their nostrils close to the ground ---also ---think of where their nose is when they eat (off the ground), 3)  please do what you can to manage the dust your horse lives in, remeber, if their footing is dusty - they are often shuffling along - kicking up dust - with their nose to the ground looking for a green stem.  Just a few things to ponder.  I hope tomorrow you get to enjoy some precious time with a horse!!