pictures from Saddleridge Stables Fundraiser!

Sheryl B. did a wonderful thing for me and my horse rescue. She organize a trick or treat ride on October 25, 2009. We all had such a nice time. Horse and riders dressed up and then did a trail ride and went to a few other places for candy and of course a great trail ride! A few of us went on a haywagon ride. Then back after the trail ride to judge the costumes and then have some treats for both horse and riders.
the trail ride went a bit longer than expected so the obstacle course was not done. But boy, did we have a great time!
Here are a few pictures from this fundraiser. This wonderful group of people donated over $400.00! the money went to my farrier and also my hay bill! thanks to all who contributed and also went on the ride! Thank you to Sheryl and all of her friends who helped put this great fundraiser on!

a few more!

1st pic is Honey, she is my wild child! She is the mom to Maverick!
2nd pic is with Cherie, Sarah and Missy! October 24, 2009

a few more pics!

1st picture is with me and Duke, my chaos boy! he is still with me!

2nd picture is Ace- He was such a good boy! He passed away last summer.

Last pic- Winter 2007 Shadow and Honey. Honey is still with me and Shadow died 4 days after her son was born. Breeze is her son. Passed April 11, 2007. Rest in peace sweet Shadow!

Storms on a Friday!

Yes, more storms, more mud! Last night a ton of rain. But it was in the 60's so its not so bad, damp and cold! Harley eating more grain, not so much hay. He is bored being on his own, so he will walk from paddock to paddock to visit all of the horses. But i need to keep him on his own so that i know that he (and he alone) is eating his food! Poor guy. Groomed him last night too. He really liked that. Rebecca hasnt been really able to come out to work with Mia, but hopefully the weekend will see some sun and she will be out! I got some pictures back from Cherie from last weekend ride on Missy. It was so nice that day! Cherie has been taking lessons for years now. Sarah, first time on a horse! She loved it. I love to see that face of someone on a horse who has never been! Missy was very good that day also. This weekend includes going to a Morgan sale. No, not buying! this is a VERY high end auction of very upscale Morgans. My hay guy has some he is selling so I wanted to go to see these horses! Not that Max or Lady are not good quality Morgans, they just arent in the same league as these Morgans! Sunday- I AM going to get my garage organized so i can get my Jeep in there. have to baby my Jeep for as long as I can! Glad today is Friday even though there is mud outside and my legs and ankles are crying for some regular exercise instead of what I have had to do to feed the horses. another good day also since the horses havent gotten out of their paddock last night! yeah! Work has been busy. I think we turn back our clocks this weekend as well. I am extremely thankful for having a few days where i can actually SEE my horses in the morning while feeding them! Anyhow, i hope you all have a great weekend!

Yes, there is some sun!

Boy, what a nice weekend! And today is great too! I get home on Friday to find my upper paddock horses have busted out (I am sure Duke did it!)and were all out on the lawn. Along with Cheyenne and Raven. Raining again and mud up past my ankles, trying to fix the fence (thank you for helping me Susan!) and then putting them all back. so I get them fed and go into the house for some much needed sleep! I wake up on Saturday and oh my gosh! I see the sun!! Yes!! I have a couple of girls coming over to see the horses and maybe take a ride on Missy! it is still very muddy, but we stay to the driveway and road. My road is not traveled much- But it just so seems that on Saturday they have a course for some dirt bikes! Never happened in my 16 years here! Missy did very well - We just faced her towards the bikers (and they went slow). Cherie, Sara and Tom all going down the road with Missy! Cherie has been taking lessons and Sara- never been on a horse! Boy, she loved it and they took tons of pictures. i will get some of those and post them tomorrow probably. We all had a great time. Thanks to Tom (Cherie's dad) who brought them out to my place and put up with our horse world! Sara did very, very well too!
Sunday- Went to Saddle Ridge and had the fund raiser! 13 riders with horses all dressed up for Halloween went on a trail ride and went to several places to get candy. Randy, the owner of Saddle Ridge took us non-riders on the hay wagon to the places. Oh my gosh, was the weather great or what?? I tell you, that when it rains for a long time, I get that sort of depression when i dont see the sun. The weekend sure lifted my spirits big time! The ride on the hay wagon was so peaceful and we all just enjoyed the country side. Then after a few hours, the riders came back and we judged for best costume. We had a pair that was mid-evil, Grinch, Dorothy and more! So much fun. the day was getting late, so we didnt do the obstacle course. I guess we will plan on a tad bit earlier to get all of the activities in. We had some treats for the humans as well as carrots and alfalfa cubes for the horses. It was so much fun. All in all, the event raised over $400.00! The money went to my farrier (who was here yesterday for my naughty horses) and the rest will go towards my hay guy! Thank you to Sheryl Bennett for organizing this event! And to all of the folks who donated and went on the ride. Would love to do this again next year! Lots of hard work went into the planning, but it was so worth it to meet new people and new horses!
Monday- I stayed home from work because Dewey, my farrier was coming to do my horses. They went alittle bit longer than they should have so it was time! Just about all of them a tad bit naughty!! But it was raining and we decided to pull them into the barn so we could all stay dry. But they all got done! Thank you Dewey!
Today- Tuesday, back to work and there is sun again! Thank you God! Love the sun! We can deal with cold, but must have the sun! All in all a great 3 days!

a Few pictures

I thought i would put some pictures up!
top one is of Lady, a 19 year old Morgan Mare. She is up for adoption!
Bottom is Angie- She is a 20 year old Arab mare and was adopted by Karlyn in Middleton.

Rain, rain and more rain

Boy, do i hate the rain! Ok, most times. When I am trying to get things done around the horses, i hate rain. I slip and slide. Its comical really. I should have some tape me when i am feeding. There is a small hill for the upper paddock horses. Most times I have enough grass to get my footing, but sometimes not. Trying not to let the wheelbarrow full of hay go back down the hill, turn over and then I slide down to mutter some unmentionable words, put the hay back into the wheelbarrow and try again. the horses are actually getting mad at me for not hurrying up with their dinner! I am telling them I am coming and they are still whinnying! Good gracious! It will be just another 2 minutes! Well at least most of the horses have a decent coat on them right now to be ok with the rain. I still feel bad, but they are designed for poor weather. I keep reminding myself of that.
Raven is still pretty shy about me touching her. But food is a great motivator. I think she knows i wont hurt her, but she is still not liking me to touch too much! She has gained a bunch of weight, has a good coat on too. She is definitely a sweet pea. Cant wait to be able to lift her feet. her hooves arent all that bad, but they need a trim. She goes back into the double stall tonight since we have all of this rain!
I have a family coming to see the horses on Saturday, which will be fun. I havent seen them since Midwest. Which reminds me. I got in my application to the Midwest Horse Fair. Will hear in December if I get accepted or not. This will be our 5th year of participating. But the Midwest Horse Fair committee has told me that they may not allow rescues in anymore. The fair is for BREEDS, not rescues. Kind of a long story, but a couple of other rescues wanted to go last year and got denied. I guess the reason and a couple of other ones that did get in was 1. we got our applications in on time, 2. we rescue mostly a particular type of breed. While I do mostly accept Quarter horses, I will also take in just about any type of breed. But I call myself a QH rescuer. 3. i fought a few years in getting in when i first got accepted. I think that they had extra stalls and then allowed me in. So then they just accepting my application each year. While i think that denying the horse rescue groups out as a whole is not right, i know they have their rules. i am also willing to forego a year or two if they allow rescues in - if they have the extra stalls and to help promote our groups. I get a fair amount of donations in at this fair as well as meeting wonderful new people! We have such a great time! This next year I was going to bring Max and Lady. Will be so much easier than the yearlings last year who all hated to get on the trailer! Yikes! Bad news there. The one thing i hate with horses is trailering. Alot of them are ok, but some are not! and I never know which ones are not until its time to trailer! I used to have a trailer but had to sell it when i needed money. So practicing with them is not an option most times at my place.
Sunday- We have the Saddle Ridge Fund Raiser event at 1pm! Horse and Riders will do some trick or treating around the area to other stables and then back to SaddleRidge for some games and fun. We will have prizes and each horse and rider will get some goodies as well. I have Sheryl B to thank for the effort she put into this event! It will be so much fun! We will have a costume contest, most candy recieved, apple dunking (horses), and an obstacle course at the stable. People can come and watch the activities as well! So far we have about 12-14 riders. I cant wait to see all of the costumes! I hope it isnt raining though! You all know what i think about the rain! Stay dry!

Wednesday!

Well i am a bit tired today. Went to dinner with a few people that I used to work with. Went to Great Dane. Good burger! We talked about stuff happening in our lives, and also other people we all know. Had good food, friends and conversation! then I had to go on my way home (later) to pick up bales of hay! I have been 'out' of hay for a couple of days now. When this happens, its usually because my hay guy has to do stuff around his farm. He has hay, alfalfa, soybeans and corn. Now tis the season for the beans! So no time to come and bring me hay. Happens once or twice a year. Pros and cons for this- Of course I have to go get it, stuff 6 bales of hay in my Jeep (its not a good vehicle!) and then come home. But I do like serving out the smaller bales vs taking sections of the big square bales off. Lots easier. And I love his grassy smaller bales. Different pasture he gets those from! When i get rich, I am ONLY ordering those! My horses love those! Nice heavier bales and all wonderful grass hay. Anyhow, so I get home at 8pm last night, feed the 'kids' and all were happy! Got in at about 9pm. Went straight to bed. Tired today, but I think that is from the rain! And hoping that i get hay today since it is raining and hard for my hay guys to get into their fields! Everyone at the ranch doing well. harley is eating more hay. Oh yes, last night getting home late, cant see as well obviously. Harley off somewhere sleeping and I am calling him so I can give him his grain! I was getting worried, cuz I didnt see him in his usual spots for laying down and lounging! I thought I was going to have to get the flashlight out! Then I hear him! Like this exasperated neigh saying 'I am up here, you dingbat!', 'Get me my food now!'. So he was found and ate all of the food I gave him! yeah! the boy just isnt hungry sometimes. Cheyenne waiting like a beggar who is looking for his hand outs and he wasnt sharing any of it! I like that! you go Harley!! Love this guy! Just want him to have a bit more hair on and then his nice winter blanket goes on! He hates when I adjust it and when I feel his ribs underneath it. I believe that Mr. Harley is a pretty private horse! he will also get a tad bit crabby with me when I brush or hug him while he is eating. he is busy! Do that later! Just puts his ears back at me and turns to look at me. I have no worry that he will bite me or anything bad. He doesnt move fast enough for one thing! HA! Love my Harley- he will make a family very happy someday.
So that is my update for Wednesday. Have a good day everyone!

Friday again!

Where in the heck did this week go? Oh yes, I know- I was sick Monday and Tuesday, back to work on Wednesday and had so much work to do, never got a chance to get on the blog. Now its Friday again. Couldnt let another day go by. Anyhow, i hope everyone has some good stuff to do this weekend. its supposed to be sunny. I am sure glad, because its pretty muddy at my place and I am tired of sliding all over! I have stuff to do around my house this weekend including cleaning my garage up so I can start to park in there once again. that isnt the horrible part. I have to also get some gravel down by the barn, shovel it in the wheelbarrow and then take it up to the garage and fill in the holes in front of the garage. Otherwise i may end up with no muffler on my car! HA! Everything going ok here at my house lately. Harley is eating more and absolutely loves carrots. I am trying my best not to OD him on carrots, but I love to see him eat! Trying to invent a way to take extra pounds off of me and give to the skinny! Would I be a Ka-trillionaire or what???!! I guess I need to have some magic or something. Also working on my movie this weekend. I am writing a movie about the horse rescue and then submitting it to Disney (or who ever will take it!) Trying to be true to reality but not so much to scare the be-jesus out of the little kids. but it will be an educational film as well to teach people that we are still slaughtering horses out, being very irresponsible about breeding and just throwing away these beautiful animals of ours! it will have to be a bit on the cartoonish-animated type of animals. I know i want some big stars to be the voices! One of them will be Dakota Fanning. i just love this little girl! But I think she isnt all that young anymore, but she will still be one of the voices. Next week i will post some excerpts about it. I think its fun even though chances are more so of not selling it to someone in the movie world. I have a cousin who does know writers, producers, directors and some actors and that might help. its all who you know! But it is fun. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Its Friday!

Thank goodness its Friday!! Yippee! Anyhow, twiddling my thumbs here at work today. Waiting for stuff from one of my docs to get ready for our big conference/seminar tomorrow morning. I am back here from 7am to about 10am, go home quick to let out the puppies, then off at noon to speak to the Boots and Saddle club in Beaver Dam! Should be so much fun! Then on Sunday, the family still coming to see Mia. Did you all hear that we are getting some snow showers on Sunday? yikes! NOT ready for that yet! Not ready for the S word yet! Nope! Dont want to hear it! Anyhow, the weekend is the weekend and I am so grateful for it. Been so busy at work these last few weeks, which is good! Should get a tad bit of time to clean my house too. Weird things sometimes also do happen. My new Roommate who moved in Sept 1st, is VERY nice! We were talking last night about how old we each are and then I ask her when her birthday is. She says May- I say May what? May 15! OMG! That is MY birthday too! Weird huh? But anyhow, she is a great lady and we are enjoying each other's company. My brother also lives with me part time. He works at a place called Rawhide up north and works for 7 days and then off for 3 or 4 days. Its a home for boys that have sort of messed up. Some are there voluntarily and some are there court-ordered. Anyhow, stressful job and my brother has decided to quit, so he will be home more as well. He has the finished basement, so most times, I dont know that he is there! So - good group here at home. I plan on taking some nicer pictures of the horses this weekend, so you will see some next week! Everyone- Please have a safe, warm and great weekend!

glass is half full

Hey everyone-
I am truly sorry for the blog yesterday. We all get our days dont we? Sometimes it just gets to us. But i am better today and will see the glass as half full not half empty. I have some great things coming up and am very happy about those things. Just been working alot at work, trying to get Raven to let me pet her so i can get the dang halter back on her. Hard when its raining though! She does let me pet her neck and up to her forelock on her head. But she is in the round pen with no shelter. i know she will be ok, but would like to get her back into the lower paddock with buddies and shelter. She is just so guarded. I hope she wasnt abused. But I just dont know. I am also worried about Harley. I have put some weight on him, but not enough and lately he has been bored with eating his grain and i think he has actually lost some weight! So back to the drawing board to giving him different stuff to eat. he is the pickiest, skinny boy i have EVER encountered!! Cheyenne is with him, so she reaps with the rewards of his leftovers and she is a dang big pig now! I also get down in the dumps with bad weather. I dont mind the cold, but want it to be sunny! Well we do live in the midwest.
But- i do have a couple of nice things going on soon like i wrote before. this Saturday, i will be going to the horse and pony club in Beaver Dam to talk about my rescue and Sunday i have a nice family coming to see Mia! It would be great if they wanted to adopt her! She is an absolute sweet pea! Rebecca hasnt been able to come out to train her because of all of the rain. too slick and I dont want either Rebecca or any horse to get hurt. So that has been put off. But it will get better, it always does. I also have to work Saturday morning- so it will be a busy weekend for me. I have vacation time left to use so maybe i should use it huh?? HA!
So anyhow, i apologise and please dont worry about me! i will tell you when it really gets rough! thanks for the well wishers. You mean alot to me!

Sunny and bright

It's Wednesday and a beautiful day. But my spirits are low today. I am working hard at keeping my home and horses. It is hard. Some days harder. Some days, you get a bit depressed in thinking that I can come out of my debt and be ok. Don't get me wrong, I am ok, but would like to be better, who doesnt? The economy is hard on everyone. I get calls and emails from families who lost their jobs, getting a divorce, getting cuts in pay. What do they need to do? Is find a home for their horses. And I cant take them all in. I shouldn't have taken in Raven. If the guy were to ask me today to take her, I would have said no. But most days are good and if I have even an extra inch, I will take them. I need to find a way to rescue more horses! I am asking that if you read this blog and can either take in an extra horse or foster for me, please let me know. The rewards are great! I would love to take in more horses. The winter is looking very bad for people in being able to afford their horses and other pets. If they cant afford to feed themselves, how can they afford to feed their horses?? Horses can be -and are- expensive! I know this,every horse owner knows this. Right before winter, everyone looks at their barn to see how much hay they have and how much they need for the winter. Sometimes they are fine, sometimes not. I would propose to starting a fund for people who need help in getting some hay or a blanket or whatever else they may need! But that takes money. If you would like to donate to this fund, I will have a separate account and everything will be for people who need some help, but don't really need to find placement for their horses. I hope I can get donations for this. If everyone I knew would donate just 5 bucks, we could get alot of people helped! Good gracious! We need to help others in need. One thing that gets to me is that when people see overweight people who ask for help on their animals. People say, ' well obviously THEY arent starving!' Give some of that food to your animals. Ok, I am overweight. You know the reason why? I can only afford eating cheap pizzas, bread for sandwiches, cheap mac and cheese. It takes money to eat well!! I spend all of my extra money on my hay and grain, not for myself. I am 50 pounds overweight. I am not lazy and dont spend much on food for myself. I happen to be a person who will gain weight just looking at carbs! My horses, dogs and cats all eat better than me and I am ok with that! That is my choice. I am not a lazy person! So please, poor people are generally more overweight. So dont use the words, that you cant give to overweight people because they eat just fine. They dont! I dont! But like I said, I am ok with that. I would rather give my money to the animals who cant fend for themselves! Boy, getting myself all worked up now! Sorry about that. I just have to do what I have to do and then have a hissy-fit every once in awhile to get over my stress. Then I am better. Then I say, Oh, Jenny, just get off of your pity party and live your life each day... I know most people are like me. Sorry if I offended anyone, but as this says, its a blog and I write my thoughts and feelings. This business is not the weak at heart for sure. And sometimes I am weak and have to feel sorry for myself. And today is that day! I am just asking for people to see about helping a neighbor and/or friend out if they need it. Open your eyes, they are out there!

Its a better Monday!

Hello All!
Well its Monday, but at least its not rainy and cold! Love the sun. Back at work, and of course extremely busy. We had our first meeting for our big fund raiser for next June. Right now, it looks like it will either be June 19 or June 26. Cant wait! We have tons of ideas. Now all i have to do is swoosh the owners of Falmouth to have it there. Their facilities are extremely beautiful with lots of areas to park and have many, many things to do! I will requesting a ton of volunteers to help out with about every aspect of our day. We also will only have it from Noon to 6pm. I am hoping that this will be an annual event! We all seem very hyped for this event to happen and hopefully it will be a big one if we get enough advertising out there.
Ok, so back to the horses. Everyone is ok but not liking the cold and rainy stuff. They all seem to have a bottom-less pit right now. Except for Harley. I think I need to get him some alfalfa cubes and soak them. He just is such a picky eater! And any other one of my horses would down a 50 pound bag of grain and/or senior if they could. He is eating about 7 pounds each feeding. He is starting to get his coat, but I know he is a bit cold at times with this crappy weather. But I dont want to blanket him just yet until his coat comes in. He loves to lay down on the lawn and just be lazy. Poor boy, I just want to give him about 50 of my pounds and then I would feel better! Raven, the new MFT is doing well. She is allowing me to touch her a bit more. Michele and I took her out of her stall and put her back into the round pen to clean the stall up. She is a pig! We put a tank in there so that she cant waste alot of hay. It has steel on top so that she cant whip it out. Wasting hay is a pet peeve of mine. They cant be too hungry if they waste hay! But she is getting a nice coat on her, gaining weight and seems happy. Cheyenne likes to hang with her. The other horses are doing well. I love to watch Daevin and Breeze play in the morning. They run and run and play all of the time. I cant split them up! They are too cute! Cheyenne will end up going in with the upper paddock group and Harley and Raven will go to the lower group. Cant have 2 of them in the middle anymore since my septic tank froze last year with them walking over it. Anyhow, I had a good weekend, slept like a rock last night and feel good today!
I hope your weekend was good!

Its Friday!

Hi Everyone!
Well, its cold, windy and rainy. I want the leaves to stay on the trees until the colors come! I actually wore a coat last night doing chores and feeding. Rebecca and i put Raven in the double stall last night because of the rain we were going to get last night. Glad we did that! She is in a big round panel pen, but there is no shelter. So now she is dry and warm! Harley and Cheyenne are usually just out on the lawn and i put them in the lower paddock with the shelter of the big barn last night as well. So the other 4 horses were a bit put off by that! They have been in there before, but not much during the summer. I put out extra hay for all of them to munch and not be too worried about the hierarchy and they must have done that all night, because most of it was gone! Raven will be in the double stall for a few days until she comes up to me to put her lead rope on. She still has her halter on, but that is needed until she gets calmer and less feral. She is coming along tho!
I only feed grain and senior in the morning to Kobb, Harley, Cheyenne and Raven and was bringing in the grain to Raven to her stall when Daevin comes up and bites me full on my arm!! ouch! I have a nice swelling and bruise there now! he thought he was going to get that grain! I brought out Harley and Cheyenne outside to feed them their grain as well. Harley kills me- Any other horse I have would down a 50 pound grain bag, but he just daintedly eats its at his leisure and walks away and then goes back to it and then leaves some. Yes, he gets about 12 pounds of the stuff each feeding, but he needs to gain some more weight! Most of my horses can just look at grain and gain about 50 pounds, just like their human mom! Anyhow, chaos this morning. We all love our routine and it just wasnt happening this morning!
Last night Rebecca and i went over to Pursley Valley Stable where Michele has Lady boarded. Rebecca is a wonderful friend who found me and is now training some of my horses. She worked already with Mr. Butters, Missy, Mia and now with Raven. She will also be working with Lady. Lady is 'greenbroke' - She has been ridden many, many times in the arena, but only really at a walk and trot. Alittle bit of cantering, but not much. She has not been outside with a rider on her. So Rebecca will work with her and get her going so we can get her adopted out. Lady is a registered 19 year old Morgan mare. She is a love. She has great ground manners, but just needs the work on her for riding now. She has come around really well. Anyhow, I am not letting Rebecca go as she is a great person, friend and trainer! She has a way with horses.
Anyhow- the weekend- Not much except for getting my garage cleaned out again so that I can park in there again and then on Sunday- my first meeting with some friends on the fundraiser for next year! I hope you all have a great weekend! I may even get time to blog tomorrow.

Here she is!

So here is the last little girl that I got last Sunday- She is a bit skinny, has the wormy belly, has some bad scrapes and is very scared. i also have to watch that I dont get kicked. She is fast! But last night she allowed me to hold on to her halter, walk her a few steps, scratch under her chin and a FEW pats and scratches on her upper neck. She is coming along and she is eating everything that she can! I looked at some of the MFT pics and she does look like one. She seems to have alot of potential. I just dont know what age they stop growing at. If someone knows, please leave me a comment. I will look up some more later. Been super busy at work lately. Setting up conferences, doing a ton of excel spread sheets (those i dont like) and setting up a bunch of stuff for the doctors I work for. I really like working for them, but it always feast or famine with them. I have nothing to do or all 4 of them want me to do something for them. But i like those times too.
It is supposed to be rainy and cold the next few days, so I will put this filly in the double stall where the other horses can terrorize her some. But at least she will be warm and dry. The round pen has no shelter. I love this time of year when their winter coats are just beginning to develop. Its the velvet time, I say! And they love to play more when the cooler weather comes. I just hope we have a bit more nicer days before the winter.
Rebecca suggested the name of Raven. I like it for the filly. Might keep that if no one comes up with another name. So look at her and give me suggestions!
Talk to you tomorrow!