Getting ready for a big day!

It is the wee hours of Saturday morning, and it has been a long Friday!  We are getting prepared for the Cowboy Picnic fundraiser at the ranch, and busy bees have been working all over the place.  Thank you to Chris, Jeannie, Sharon, Laura, Amy, Debbie, Allen, and Max and Jake for pitching in to help.  No matter what is happening, the regular ranch chores must be done, as the horses are always first here at Dreamchaser.

I did not get Eclipse loaded in the trailer today, tho I loaded her twice yesterday.  She is one smart little filly and we will surely miss her when she leaves next week for her new home in New Mexico.  We had to make another run for a switch to hopefully get the downstairs bathroom lights working, and by the time we did the last minute run and got back to the ranch it was dark.  I could hear Eclipse saying "You think I am going to get into the trailer in the DARK????'  So I decided it was best to set up another positive experience tomorrow in the daylight.  These horses never fail to amaze me with their trust, after having been through so much.  

Hunter, however, got all saddled up, stood patiently at the horse hitching post, and then worked a bit in the round pen.  He will now begin again, without all the pressure he had when jumping 3' fences at 3 years old.  He has had time here to relax, grow hoof, gain weight, and enjoy the company of  other horses in a turnout.  He really was physically and psychologically crashed from the jumping pseudo career and it makes one wonder if people realize what they do to young horses.  Our wish and goal is that every horse have the opportunity to live a healthy, long life, with love, respect, and proper care - mentally and physically.  Is that too much to ask of a horse owner?

Do you wonder why people have animals that they treat only as commodities?  Do you wonder how someone abandons or gives up an animal who has been nothing but loving and loyal to them?  Do you wonder how, when a horse is injured and hurting, an owner can turn them away and look for someone else to bear the expense and tend to the caretaking?  I often have these thoughts, as my animals stay with me until they must leave this earth, and they leave it with loving arms around them, and with dignity.  Is that not what we owe them when we take on the responsibility of 'ownership'?

We lost three horses in the last year, all three from the El Mirage seizure case.  We fought hard to bring each one to good health, floating their teeth, working on their hooves, freeing their spirits by letting them at last be together as a herd instead of being locked in filthy 10' x 10' stalls.  Titan, after 10 months of care and the healing of tremendous abscesses in his hooves, etc., was still dead lame and xrays showed his coffin bone and navicular bone had somehow fused.

The picture above shows Onyx and Mara, both of whom were lost as well.  Onyx had squamous cell carcinoma from never being sheltered from the sun, and it was inoperable due to its location.  We kept her with us until the tumors started growing and bleeding, and then Doc Tryon came out and laid her down.  Mara developed a vicious, fast acting virus in her hindgut and, tho Jimmy Merrill was here within half and hour, it was too late to save her.  Her heart rate was 100, and her temp was 106.9.  I have cried a million tears over these losses and sometimes wonder why I do this, but then I look into the trusting eyes of the ones who are here, and I have my answer.  To those we have lost, we know we gave them the best of our hearts and souls while they were with us.

And with that note, I will say good night, or good morning!