Well it's going to be one of those years. I can barely breathe as I write this. We have already seen so much heartbreak this year. I was really hoping coming home would mean at least a short break and time to get things set up for foal season. That definitely did not happen.

Sadly, we had to euthanize not only our beautiful Black Jack, who's organs were shutting down, but the other little filly as well. Fancy Pants came to us with a severely broken neck, a horrific infection which had led to her being septic, and their was zero choice about ending her suffering. Fancy Pants had received some type of bite injury, and although there has been much speculation about what attacked her, our vet felt the severity of her broken neck and the wounds and bloodwork showed it could have been a stallion bite. I dealt with one of those in South Dakota, although not deadly and not as severe. The vet said they are extremely dangerous and oh so painful.

Just when you think you can't stand any more pain it fills your world. So not only did we have over $650 in vet bills with those two, (plus the other kids had additional vet care and expenses), we also had to pay to bury them. The good thing in all of this is that their alternate ending would most likely have been to be torn apart while still alive by the coyotes. The babies left this world safe in our arms, warm, with full bellies and peacefully. So although it makes the vet expenses extremely frustrating, we did the best we could for the least amount of money.

As I write this, I have a 1-2 year old filly in our trailer with what appears to be a broken jaw. (shown above) She is one of the ISPMB horses we placed in October. She was gentled by some amazing folks we work with in Idaho (Jimmi Sue Boyter) and placed in her new home. Unfortunately, while she was out with the other horses, something happened to her jaw. Unfortunately it is severe and she lost a great deal of weight by the time it was noticed. Being unable to care for her the folks placed her with another woman who did her best. However, we needed to pick her up as she is rapidly failing and is in really bad shape now. The folks contacted us when they could not take care of the problem rather than let her die. Unfortunately they waited longer than they should, but all we can do now is our absolute best to bring her back. She is definitely on the "critical list".

MATT is ON HIS WAY HOME RIGHT NOW - once again with ANOTHER NEWBORN ORPHAN. This is so overwhelming and the mom just walked away so obviously he/she is going to have issues most likely. But since this is what God gives us in front of us, we will do our best to help this little one. The 3 that we buried in the back yard got here way too late and we didn't have a chance to help them, although Black Jack didn't have any chance, his bloodwork was so horrible.

So once again we are reaching out and hoping folks can help however they can. Whether it is prayers, sharing the information or a donation of any kind. Normally we don't run to the vet with every baby as we simply cannot afford it. However, this year has been brutal and we are doing everything we can with what we are given.

Between the now 3,000+ miles that Matt has driven unpaid to pick up these emergency cases, the fuel for that (approx $750+ just for fuel), the bottles of Colostrum, the medications, vet visits, milk etc. etc. etc we are hurting badly. With foal season just beginning and so many babies having issues it is going to be a really tough year.

So PLEASE HELP FINANCIALLY IF YOU CAN AND WOULD LIKE TO HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE. WE ALSO NEED LOTS OF PRAYERS :)

UPDATE: New baby Stormy has pneumonia. Vet says he does have a chance PTL! Please keep him in your prayers. Love's Legacy suffered a traumatic injury to her trachea and the vet is concerned she might have a nerve injury which is causing her jaw to go sideways. As of this point she is on mash and a very special needs girl. She will be rechecked and more tests needed after giving her some time to improve.

With Stormy's meds the total with xrays etc. was a few pennies shy of $1000.

Baby Stormy's blood work is "pretty good", but of course as he just got his Colostrum today we haven't been able to check his IGG levels.

And as luck would have it, I already received a call about another baby in NV. At this time we are on stand by again.

If you want to help You can go to You Caring - to help us keep saving lives..You can go to Paypal - Palominodancer@yahoo.com or go to www.chillypepper.org
if you would like to help these horses.

You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414

You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.

NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL - WE SAVE THEM ALL!

SAVING GOD'S CRITTERS - FOUR FEET AT A TIME

It's been non stop crazy for Matt and I lately. While Matt was delivering horses and picking up the latest group in South Dakota, I was driving 3 hours each way to Fallon to re-sort and help load out the Virginia Range Horses that I sorted in South Dakota. They have been gelded, hoofers done and had their blood work done so they were ready for their final ride to freedom on a huge sanctuary in NV.

I was contacted by my friend Anna about a two day old baby mustang who needed 24/7 care. Diesel is an orphan off the range who was getting repeatedly kicked to the ground by several stallions as well as the mare in the vicinity. Proper authorization to pick up the baby was received and Anne Hall and Anna Orchard came to the rescue. I met Anna out in Fernley and picked up our little guy. As I would be up all night with him, I stayed at our friend Betty Retzer's place in Stagecoach with Diesel. She was an angel and let me bring him into her place (in diapeys of course as it was an emergency) for the night. He was extremely colicky and we spent the night with enemas, the bottle and lots of walking and moving around. It was a long night and I had to be back in Fallon early the next morning to help load more horses.

Luckily "aunty Cat" (Cathy Kindsfather) came out and stayed up all night with us and helped me take care of him. By morning (of course - no sleep for us lol) he was feeling a bit better and we had achieved the much sought after poop :) :)

At the same time, Matt was in South Dakota and he also was caring for a critically ill foal. Unfortunately this little one did not make it. So many people came together for her, but one of the hardest things to learn is that sometimes our job is only to provide love, all medical support available, comfort and a safe and peaceful place for that baby to be until the angels come for it. We simply do not get to save them all, and it absolutely kills you.

Elaine and Barbara picked the little one up and took care of her, including having a local vet tend to her, and then Matt went and picked her up. Karen Sussman was kind enough to let us use her trailer again for critical care and she gave the baby the additional medicine that was needed. So many folks came together to help this baby and that is how it always should be.

Matt spent hours giving critical care, and the baby ate hungrily (little bits at a time between resting) and then finally was able to stretch out and take a real nap. She had been having horrific pains in her tum earlier and it was such a relief for Matt to have her sleeping comfortably.

Unfortunately she crashed again later that afternoon (as they so often do) and Matt rushed her to the Emergency Vet. She received plasma and fluids and was semi-stable when Matt headed back to the trailer for his all night vigil. By the next morning she was crashing again, and I received the broken hearted phone call from Matt that she was gone. The pain in his voice tore at my heart as when you fight so hard and spend every minute trying to help them it hurts so much when you lose them.

There are so many things that can go wrong when you are doing critical foal care. Time is so critical for each and every step and you think they are finally starting to stabilize and then they simply crash in seconds. There is little you can do at that point, but try and remember that sometimes, you can't save them.

You give everything you can to make sure their last hours/days on earth are spent with full tummies, peaceful surroundings where they have no fear and surrounded by love while they are there. Although it breaks your heart into a million tiny shards, it is such a gift to that baby to not be cold, alone and afraid.

The next day he loaded up Braveheart, Midnight Onyx and Frosty and headed home. As though things weren't hard enough, he lost not only a tire but the entire wheel on the trailer on the way home. So that was another emergency expense. Chilly Pepper has been hit hard lately, but so many lives are being saved and that is what is important. We need lots of help financially, but y'all have saved so many lives. Allowing us to be in South Dakota and part of the mission to find homes for the horses has helped saved over 800 horses. That was because of you and your love and support. So any time I think about what we did, I think about YOU ALL and how YOU MADE IT POSSIBLE! Everytime I look at the blind kids out there, my heart melts as I thank God for sending me such amazing love and support which allows us to give these horses a life.

You guys rock! THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this possible. We love visitors so call and come out and see the lives you have saved. As you can see by Braveheart's pix from yesterday, he will need some serious groceries and TLC. But he is in the right place and of course we are already in love with him. :)

If you want to help You can go to You Caring - to help us keep saving lives..You can go to Paypal - Palominodancer@yahoo.com or go to our Donate & Support page
if you would like to help these horses.

You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414

You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.

NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL - WE SAVE THEM ALL!
SAVING GOD'S CRITTERS - FOUR FEET AT A TIME