pictures from Saturday

I am really trying to do more blogs and blogs with pictures! When i read blogs, i love to see their pictures! So i am adding a few pictures of Daevin and Antar getting ridden for the first time since last year! I have seen Daevin ride many times, but never have seen Antar! Both boys were good. Daevin, a bit on the sassy side, but in a good way and Antar? Oh my gosh! What a beautiful boy he is! And good boy. anyhow, here are the pics! First ones are of Antar, a 19 year old registered Arab.
and the next 3 are Daevin, an 11 year old polish Arab gelding.

Have to fess up

Hey Everyone,

Today i am writing a very difficult blog. I have written out an email to the horse contacts and still i havent sent it on yet. I thought i would write here first. A few people do know this, but not everyone. You see- I am going to have to move this summer. I just cant afford the mortgage anymore. I got divorced almost 2 years ago. Wow, almost 2 years, doesnt seem that long, but then again it does. I try to not be bitter, but i guess i still am. My ex and i bought this land together. We built this house, then the garage and then the small barn and then the big barn. We decided to have horses. We decided we would save some horses. then my ex left me. Having horses is expensive enough for 2 incomes let alone one! I have sold everything i can think, gotten roommates, had two jobs and in the end, i just cant afford my home. Well I can afford it and the horses, but if an extra bill comes up, then i cant afford to pay it. Or do payments and then another bill gets put off. Just getting tired of borrowing money, trying to pay it back etc. So i have decided to put my home up for sale and find a cheaper place to go with the animals. Will it be impossible? I dont think so! Will it be difficult? oh yes, it will! Taking 10+ horses with me? Oh yes, but it for the better good. I dont have to worry about money (hopefully). Oh, the horses always came first. i have come second. And i dont mind that. That will always be true to some degree. Animals cant take care of themselves, we can. So i am very upset to leave my home that I have lived in for 17 years, but my motto is that where ever i live will be home as long as i have my animals with me. So anyhow, i am looking now for a home that i can move to in the summer. A home with 3+ acres that has shelters and fencing or one that i can put up fences and shelters! I look at this as a new beginning. i have to. I do still get emotional about it and will for some time, but am also looking forward to moving and starting new! Maybe I can get over my bitterness towards my ex-husband. I dont like to feel this way towards anyone. I can go anywhere, but my horses cant and i am responsible for them regardless who is in my life. So i am looking forward to a new home, a new beginning, the Midwest Horse Fair, my talks there and talking to the Girl Scouts on May 1st. I may have to postpone the fundraiser, but that is ok. I want to make sure its the best fundraiser that i can plan! I do plan on continuing my rescue program. I want to start gelding programs and euthanisia programs for people who cannot afford these things. I want to get so big that i have corporate sponsors!~ I want the legislature to ban all slaughter to horses. That means no horses can even go over the border to Canada and Mexico to get slaughtered there. I want big buildings with beautiful stalls, indoor and outdoor arena's, trainers, groomers and many, many horses to live their lives out with me for the rest of their lives! I want alot of things. oh yes, can you also add a cute 40 something year old man who loves horses (and me of course) as much as I do! And I want to have dear friends who love and support me always.
So- there---- I spilled. It makes me feel better. Thank you all!

updates

Hello! I am hoping i dont hit that mysterious button and its takes out all of my typing this time! So I will be careful!
Anyhow- Having volunteers and trainers coming out on Saturday! 1pm on March 27! Rebecca and Brianna are going to get Antar and Daevin out! Yes! First we have to put up the round pen but we plan on doing that right away on Saturday. Have had a picked up interest in some of the horses (mostly Daevin). It must be spring, people start to look for that additional horse!! Also had some girls interested in Cheyenne! Not too often that i get calls/emails on the horses who are not to be ridden. But that is good! Frankie is a 4 coming 5 year old Arab who needs a home. Been advertising him on Petfinder.com and there has been little to no interest. She needs to find him a good home soon. He is definitely a beautiful boy with some great potential!
Harley- Been getting around, i see by the looks of his mane and tail! yes, the leftover burrs from last year. Not many of them around, but Harley found them. I had to take about 10 minutes to get them out! But i want him to have a great summer. Trying to figure out how i can give him 50 pounds of mine! We would both look better! HA! Would i be a billionaire if i could figure that out! But really, still waiting for the lottery- would have a better chance at that!
Starting Walmart again for a few months to have some extra money. I like to be able to pay the bills when they come in vs. trying to do payments. But i am ok with that as long as my creditors are ok with that!
Midwest coming in 3 weeks! Should be working on my presentation! Yep, have no time for that nowadays! But i will get it going. I have most of it, just have to tweak it. make it more general and not an ad for the Second Chance Horse Rescue Ranch! Been loving the weather! next week it will be close to 70! Love that! wondering what i should do with Honey (wild and blind mare). But i will figure that out as well. Sometimes the brain just doesnt work!
We may have to put the big fund raiser on hold. Have been trying to get the contract from the stable, which never seems to come and if i want to have a fund raiser, it should be done right. Might be a tad bit too soon after MHF and the talks that i am giving. So that is unclear right now, but i will let everyone know.
i hope you all are having a good time with the shedding brushes and some mud. Although the mud is FAR better this year than the last couple of years! Last night i sat out on my deck watching the horses, the sand hill cranes, deer and geese. Life is good. Love this time of year. the horses feeling frisky and sassy. Work is pretty busy but love going home and spending time with the horses. Will get all updated pics of ALL horses this weekend after we groom for about 2 hours (but should be 2 days!). I hope you all are doing well!
Take care!
Jenny

TGIF!

Ok so I am completely upset! I was almost done with today's blog, i hit something on my keyboard and wham! My blog is gone!! man! Does not make me happy at all! Ok, so let me start over!
Loving this weeks weather! No coat, been able to brush some horses out. Shedding season, mud season- all comes hand in hand for sure.
Harley, hasnt gained a single pound over the winter. If i gave anyone of my horses that food I give to him, they would explode being so overweight! Soon he will be having the lawn for his paddock area and then we get the round panels up and then horses will be trained again. Mya, Prize, Breeze and Raven are my priorities this year.
March 27 is the next volunteer day- Saturday at 1pm. Will be mucking and grooming! And whatever else needs to be done!
this weekend is my weekend to clean the house. Supposed to be bad weather, so i guess its a good excuse to stay in.
Midwest Horse is coming quickly. I am still working on my lecture regarding Rescue and will have a powerpoint presentation. Speaking in the Nutrena Hall Friday at 4pm and then Saturday at 5pm. I will be nervous, probably bable, but if i can reach one person, i will be happy. Very happy they are allowing this since really rescue groups are not really invited to the Midwest Horse Fair. There are still rescues who get denied to coming to MWHF. So I am lucky and I do appreciate that they allow me to come. this is my 5th year! So much fun and this is my highlight on all events i do over the year.
anyhow, have a great weekend everyone! Think of me while i am mopping my floors just to have the dogs come in with more mud to clean up! Yikes!

Its all about the money

Today I wanted to blog a bit about money in the horse world. You see it everywhere especially in the slaughter world. People take their horses to auctions. they either know or dont know that the buyer who got their horse is a horse broker aka a horse slaughter person. Now, the HB (horse brokers) will sometimes take that horse to a different auction to see if they can make some money on it. Sometimes they dont. Or they will then take it to Canada or Mexico right away. Sometimes they will sell the horse to a rescue or person while waiting in a kill pen for more horses to make his trip worth while. They then, for example, buy a horse for $100.00 and then either make more money at the auction or make money per pound from the slaughter places. Or they will charge a person or rescue probably 3 to 4 times the amount that it cost them. In any event, they make money. They never bid more than what they will get per pound. they wont sell at auction below per pound. they make money. I read a blog from a guy in California who frequently gets his TB's from the KB/HB. Alot of those guys are mexican's who are here in the US illegally. He says that a trailer load of horses will bring them 2-3K for their horses. If they do this 1-2 times a week, boy that is alot of money. Now there are going to be farms to house horses going to slaughter. Canada passed a law that the horses have to be drug free for 6 months. So they will stay at farms and they will transport them. Nice huh??? What a bunch of pieces of crap! why are people like this? I dont get it. Is money really worth it? I just hope they get their just-do in the afterlife. another thing, i sent out a plea for two mares from a guy who wants to have his mare's fertilized embryo transfered to another mare to carry so his mare doesnt have to. Obviously cares about that mare. you would think he would care for the other mares. he does not. Gets the free or cheap mares and then decides a week or two later if he wants them to carry this embryo. He decided these two mares were not the ones to carry, (I think he purchased 4 or 5 mares) he calls my friend Jodi and asks her to get these mares. She finds a person and now the dude will maybe let them go. IF he gets some money. Boy, do i hate extortion or what?? We are all made to pay money to POS people who dont care for their animals. Even the ones he does keep, will probably be 'sold' off later or sold to the KBs. I dont know what to do in this situation. do we keep paying these people off? do we let them send them to slaughter? I dont know. Either way they will continue. I just dont get it. these are the challenges we live with in the rescue world. Pieces of crap people that i would never want to know in real life or have as friends.

Yeah, Spring is coming!

I am very excited to have March here!! I love the warmer weather. Actually what I love about it is that we dont have snow and ice underfoot. I am always worried when i work with a horse in the winter, that I could fall down on the snow and then a horse might accidently kick or step on me. I am really the only one who cares for my horses so I dont want to get hurt. Another reason that i dont ride much anymore. Just Missy and jack for now and they are speedy enough for me. We like to walk and trot. Thank you! also, getting older and knowing that I could break something! Yikes! I am in my 40's and getting up there in age. but we are in better shape and mind nowadays!! At least that is what i keep telling myself.
Well updates from the Second chance Horse Rescue Ranch- The last month I had tack sales at both Arena and Arlington. Made about $173.00 from tack sales and cookies at Arena and $150.00 with donations/cookies and tack sale. I also was able to talk to the 4-H kids at Arlingtons tack sale. Boy, speaking sometimes is easy for me and sometimes not. This one slipped me up because there is a like a big arena area and there are kids from one side to another AND i had to speak into a microphone. Yikes! dont like the microphone! So we spoke to them and I love speaking to the kids. they sometimes want to volunteer or see if i have a specific horse for adoption and the best part- If I can get kids to not breed their horses when they get older and get a horse that needs a home, its great! Just hoping that all breeding stops for a few years so that the horses who deserve a better price on re-sale can get that price!! A couple of years ago, I could get 800-1000.00 for a nicely broke horse and now we cant sometimes even get a few hundred dollars for them! not many people buying, or if they are, they are newer folks (who may not know what they are getting into!) and are looking for those 'bomb proof' horses. oh yeah, I get those in all of the time! NOT! but i do find out about some of them from time to time. Anyhow, I had a great time with the kids. I always do. I also got to see Tammy and her young son, Colton!! What a cutie pie he is! Tammy, glad you have him and not me! Horses are easier!! hA! But congrats! You are a great mom. Hope you sold your saddle too! anyhow, had a great time.
I also have some news for when we go to the Midwest Horse Fair! I was invited (ok - so were others) to TALK at the Midwest Horse Fair!! Talking about rescue of course. As long as I dont focus on just my rescue I can talk about it. I am getting a powerpoint presentation regarding my views on rescue, slaughter and also views on starting a horse rescue. So I am extremely excited about that. the more people who realize that more than 100K horses are still getting slaughtered each year the more people will consider gelding, euthanasia and not breeding for awhile until we get this overpopulation with in safe limits. Also again, we will be bringing Antar, Daevin and Lady. I am so impressed with the training Lady is getting. She has a bunch of rides on her and Michele and Rebecca getting rides on her 3 times a week. Yes, she is still technically green broke, but is a very easy horse to direct and train. She will be a great asset to any family! So lets cross our fingers that these 3 will get homes. Both Antar and Daevin are broke not green broke, but since they are both Arabs, they need confident riders as they like to go!
But both boys are very loving and get along great with other horses. they are not alpha's either so you do have to watch that they dont get beat up!! HA! Daevin's buddy is the devil boy Breeze and Antar loves his 3 year old Raven, the MFT filly. he likes to watch over her. Or he is an old man with a young filly as his fantasy!!
So, I should be updating more this week. Have a great Tuesday and see you all soon!