This is Tomahawk Crow. He is thought to be about 20 years old, and to me he is beautiful because he wears the marks of a stallion so clearly. His son, the younger stallion, was going after him and beating him up pretty badly. He was found down, extremely dehydrated, weak and starving. The folks that called us gave it their all and cared for him for two weeks. However, his injuries are needing more than could be done there, and honestly I am not familiar with that type of injury. PTL Clay has dealt with "stifles" and that is what has been diagnosed. We will be having him rechecked by our local vet, but he showed great improvement after settling in this afternoon. Whether it will be lasting or not, we do not know. He was quarantined for two weeks and he is eating and drinking well and being treated for pain. In the horrible event that IF it was more than what was initially diagnosed, at least we know that EPM, (which we also were worried about) is NOT contagious from horse to horse. They call the horse the "dead end" of the virus because it no longer passes to other animals. We are praying it is treatable and that the initial diagnosis was correct. He popped one side back in while Clay literally looked on, and was feeling quite a bit better, although still sore on the other side. At this point, we don't know much more than that. We appreciate everyone's love and prayers for this survivor. He truly deserves a chance. There is a really neat light in his eyes, and he is alert and very interested in everything going on. He also really loves his munchies.

Hi Y'all,

It has been a crazy spring this year.  Not including the three that we placed the beginning of this year, we have had 7 critical orphans so far, and also have had great success in helping place some older horses.  Texas is doing well and thriving in his new home back in NV.  Running Bucket is thriving with her adopted nurse mama and growing fast and more beautiful than ever.  As most of you know, God gave us a very short, but beautiful time with Janie, whom we had to let go due to the severity of her injuries and health issues.   My heart still aches for her, and I treasure every beautiful moment we had together.  She was one of those beautiful creatures that emulate love and trust and all that is good.  While my heart was still in a million pieces, God sent the most amazing angel to help ease the pain.

God sent us a beautiful little foal named Baby Boo McClellan.  She is almost identical in appearance to Janie, although her face is a little bit longer and her eyes not quite so large.  However, the expression in those doe eyes was the same.  After spending most of the day in the blazing sun, frustrated beyond belief while watching the rest of the gang forge ahead, I had a moment of self pity, wondering why my leg is so painful and of such limited use.  While everyone else climbed from the bottom to the top and back to the bottom of these amazing mountains, I limped along as best I could, watching the action from a distance.  Hmmmmmm, so much for being able to drive right to them.   I am so never believing that line again. :)     Matt was amazing and did his best to hang back with me and not make me feel quite so useless.

Matt and I then took the shortcut and were picked up by Mikel Ann Hetrick, the lady who is responsible for Baby Boo actually being alive to be saved.  She had been following the bands and watching over this beautiful, severely beaten up foal, making sure that we could find her.  Baby Boo had been with 3 different bands, desperately trying to find solace and food within.  The mares continued to use her for a punching bag until finally, she would move on to a different band.  She was using every bit of adrenalin left in that tiny little body to stay alive, and she barely made it back with us.   She is now doing very well, although she is still stiff and just beginning to play a bit more every day.  Sweet Pea, who was named Luna, is Baby Boo's best friend and they will be going to their new home together.   Yes, I am already crying......

Annie and Lil Bit have been hanging out and they are the best of friends.  So far, the plan is for both of them to be adopted together and they will be moving to Southern California as far as we know....  Again, crying........

Honey Bandit continues to amaze.  He is absolutely gorgeous, the oh so bossy leader of the band, and just a pleasure for all the folks that come to visit to see.  He is sleek and one of the happiest horses around.  He loves "watching over" all the rest of the crew and seems to really enjoy the "manners" that he feels he must remind everyone they need.

We are excited to share the date of Saturday, August 16, 2014 from 11:30 a.m. to ?????? with anyone who wants to come and help celebrate not only the miracle of Honey Bandit, but of the wonderful folks who are part of this family rescue, and the lives of all the babies you have helped us save, equine as well as others.  As usual, we will have good eats and drinks and y'all can bring your families to the cool mountain air and enjoy a day of celebrating.  We talked to Honey Bandit and he didn't mind waiting for his birthday party, so we will also be celebrating one tough little mustang growing up.

We are 7 miles past Shingletown on Hwy 44 East.  There is a big white sign on the right side of the road in a tree that says "SIDEBOTTOM".  Turn right and we will be the 2nd house on the left.  You can't miss us and we really hope that y'all come in and say hi and see the improvements we have been making.  Brings the kids, grand kids, parents and friends to enjoy the beautiful mountain air and enjoy DaBubbles (our miniature) and Belafonte our (miniature goat).   Come see what YOU have helped to make happen.  Oh, and by the way, Donkey thinks y'all should bring him some carrots as he is doing so well protecting all the critters.  Although the mountain lion has been seen hanging out for a bit out back on the cameras, there has been no hanky panky, so we are loving Donkey.  Anyone with any questions can reach us at 530 474 5197.  If y'all want to help with these babies and their munchies, hay etc, you can go to [email protected] to Paypal or you can go to our website at www.chillypepper.weebly.com or come and visit us here at 34694 Sidebottom Rd, Shingletown, CA  96088

We are looking forward to another fun and fabulous Open House!

Emily the web admin here, I'm just back from a couple of days at the beach and playing a little catch up here while doctoring one of my critter's boo boos...  Here's the latest from Palomino, Matt & the Critter Gang!

Critter Kids at Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang. Annie and Lil Bit have their first round pen lesson in tandem. (Click the pics enlarge)

All my critter kids are acting like they are on speed. The little one was wound so tight this morning I thought she was gonna flip over. Dogs were going nuts all night so who knows who was visiting the edge of the property. Matt saw a huge elk (butt - lol) leaving the highway. He is about 6'2" and he said her butt came up about to his shoulders. Apparently another one was hanging out by our driveway on Hwy 44. Hmmm wouldn't want to meet that with any vehicle. Hoping it was one of those and not one of our clawed friends though..... Much more comfy to think of "big deer" as opposed to "big kitties"

Hmmmm - Today is the day for "milk face" I guess You can see how much fun Lil Bit and Lil Orphan Annie have when sharing the milk bucket

Matt will be transporting one, (and hopefully 2) horses that were saved from ending up at slaughter. He needs to get them up to their forever home in Oregon. We are guessing it will be about $ 200 - $ 300 to get them there, and the folks have wonderful acreage and will provide a forever home for the mustang and the other paint that we were trying to save. Anyone want to be part of this awesome success and chip in some pennies for fuel? Our truck and trailer tires are wearing fast, but as long as we can get them there and keep them from slaughter it is worth it. Anyone who wants to help can go to our website at www.chillypepper.weebly.com or go to Paypal [email protected] or use snail mail Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, 34694 Sidebottom Rd., Shingletown, CA 96088 Thank you and God bless y'all for all you do!

Texas coming home and Texas going home Miss that little monkey. He is such an amazing horse and has such great personality and the cutest little bootie.  His band is in captivity. He could not go back to the wild. He slept in our house for about 6 weeks (haha) In the nursery but we slept with him. He is definitely not wild anymore. Folks want to see the family unit reunited. Not sure how it will go, just saying prayers whatever happens it goes smoothly. But they will make sure he is safe....

It's Friday, and we are waiting for the Brand Inspector to come and "do what he does", so we can take our little ones home :)

We had even more adventure, when we went out on Monday to track another failing orphan.  She was with a stallion "Boogie" who was taking fabulous care of her, with the exception of the fact that she could not nurse.  She was failing rapidly, and limping on her front leg.  Anne had been watching her and she was visibly failing.  She appears to be roughly 2 months, give or take, and she was dehydrated and skin and bones.  As she tried to follow Boogie up the hill, she collapsed in a shallow area.  Prior to her falling, Matt had been able to get between her and Boogie on the quad, and he was able to get to her quickly.  While the quad rolled gently down the hill to rest against Matt's backside, while perching precariously on the hill, he had one hand gently on the baby and the other holding the quad.  This was another great "team effort" and was successful due to the four of us working in sync and understanding where we needed to be to guide Boogie in the right direction. 

As I hobbled as quickly as I could towards the baby, I wailed to Anne, wait for me.  It was awful, as I needed to get to the downed foal asap, but my knee does not do anything asap.  As we approached the baby there was a sudden blur in front of me.  It looked like a stick about 6-8 inches high and it was shaking so rapidly I couldn't fix on it.  It was accompanied by a rattling noise and a very angry hissing sound.  We had nearly stepped on a very large rattlesnake.  He was coiled with his head up and he was MAD!!  PTL he was also kind and simply warned us instead of striking.  He was the largest I have personally seen, and was about as big around as a small apple and who knows how long.  It was his rattles rattling that I had seen.  Never a dull moment in the world of orphan foals :)

We got to the baby, after what seemed an eternity and I slipped a halter on her.  Her coat was dry and brittle and her eyes were so dull.  I gasped when I saw her gums.  I have never seen such white gums on a living animal.  She had used every bit of her reserves and adrenalin to reach this point, and judging by her gums would not have lasted more than a couple of hours if that.  We immediately gave her dribbles of electrolytes, talking softly to her all the while.  She looked at us with eyes that had completely given up.  She had given it her all and had no more.  We started ever so slowly to inch our way back down to where we could put her in the trailer.  About every 10-15 feet or so Anne and I would give her electrolytes.  Her condition was deteriorating right in front of our eyes.  She simply had no more.  I asked Willie (Willis) to ride over and get the Karo syrup from Matt.  We simply did not have time to get her down first.  Honey is preferable to the Karo, but that is what I had available at that instance.  We had already made up a huge batch of electrolytes and that is what we were dribbling in her mouth.  I had to play with her tongue and mouth to get her to swallow.  It was simply too much effort on her own.  Now you have to make sure you DO NOT give a bunch of honey/sugar all at once.  Even a teaspoon all at once could cause death.  Willie arrived with the syrup, and we proceeded to administer a drop on her gums.  It is amazing how much one drop will change things.  It is almost when like a diabetic who crashes due to low sugar.  It can be life saving.  We kept going, seemingly inch by inch.  About 10 minutes later I gave her another drop of the syrup.  At that point she started drinking and swallowing the electrolytes without any prompting and like a the sun rising, her eyes started to brighten.  By the time we finally reached the trailer, she was actively slurping down the electrolytes we were syringing into her mouth. 

While Matt walked back up the hill and retrieved the quad, Anne (Hall) and I sat in the trailer with "Annie Junior", or "AJ" for short, and continued to rehydrate her.  Within that short time, her eyes went from dull and utterly defeated to a bit brighter and a tiny bit curious.  She was ecstatic when Anne rubbed her little chest, and seemed to understand that although everything was strange and still a bit scary, she was safe with the two of us.  And most important of all, her gums were starting to "pink up".  The white gums were terrifying because you have to wonder at that point if she is going septic.  Dehydration can cause the liver and kidneys to shut down, but PTL - THANKS TO ANNE, we got her in the nick of time.

So Matt started driving down the bumpy road to get back to the highway.  Anne and I stood in the trailer supporting "AJ" while we eased over the bumpy terrain.   I held her face in my hands and the little angel was so exhausted she started to fall asleep.  Anne took the brink of the hard work, making sure she didn't fall.  When we reached the road, I climbed in the truck and Anne loaded up her four wheeler and we headed out to Shirley's.  Another miracle from above, and one more baby given a chance at life.

Two days later - "AJ" is eating very well and loves her munchies.  She is staying hydrated and drinking well.  Her eyes are brighter and although she moves minimally due to the stiffness and pain, she is doing wonderfully compared to when we found her. 

When Matt and Willie were out "gently bringing them to the staging area", Matt said he observed Boogie kicking AJ as if to say - get away, you are attracting predators.  He kicked her hard enough to go down on her back end, and then kicked her again when she got back up.  It is interesting as he is the stallion that has been protecting her and watching out for her.  I guess as she got weaker and weaker, he started to know instinctively that he had to get rid of her or she would attract predators.  I also observed aggressive behavior two days prior when he pinned his ears back and was pushing her away with his head.

She is now settled in nicely and working on her way to recovery.  Thank you everyone involved.  Another successful rescue effort.  Now the "other" real work begins :)



--
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!

Matt, Palomino & The Gang


Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang
Equine Rescue & More -
Rescue/Rehab Project LRTC

www.chillypepper.weebly.com
www.whmentors.org

From Chyrle Osborne: Today Bucket is 1 month old. She and Mia are enjoying being in the Big fields. Bucket is just enjoying being a baby. Playing, Eating, Sleeping, She is putting on weight, I just Thought Palomino Honeybandit Armstrong you would like to see how she is doing. She is so sweet

Do you ever get that anxious feeling like something is going to happen?  Well, I had it on Saturday, and sure enough, I spotted a notice for another orphaned foal.  After several phone calls to NV and to our awesome "crew" who is taking care of the home front, along with lots of scrambling, we loaded up Lil Bit and Lil Orphan Annie and headed out into the night.  We arrived at Shirley's in Dayton around 1 a .m. and the next morning headed out to pick up a foal.  Now first and foremost, you simply cannot go out and pick up a foal without the proper authorization and steps being followed.  However, since all that was in place, we went out to pick up the motherless orphan.  After about 4 hours in some rough terrain and pretty warm weather, we were able to approach the little one and bring her to safety.   We had an amazing crew, and Willis was astride his awesome mustang Corazon.  What an amazing horse.  The final blessing was a local photographer, who was in exactly the right place at the right time.  Together, working quietly as a team, we were able to approach and rescue the failing foal.

Mikel Hettrick, who was responsible for her having a chance to survive in this often times cruel world, (PTL!!) gently held the baby while I put on her very first halter.  She was scared, exhausted and was clearly not going to survive in the wild.  As I led her gently down the hill,  we had almost made it to the vehicles when I had to stop and give her some electrolytes.  She was in rough shape and could barely stand in the back of the jeep on the way to the trailer.

While we were out picking up "Baby Boo McClellan", Shirley was trying desperately to rehydrate and pull back another little foal from the brink of death.  Luna, who was picked up and brought in by Thomas & Dianne.  We always want to send out our most heartfelt thanks to the folks that begin these journeys by saving the babies in the first place.  Without these folks taking the time and effort to watch over and help these little ones, there would be no story. 

For now, we are waiting in NV for the appropriate paperwork and getting the critter kids feeling a bit more ready to travel and we will head back home.  Doc was here today to do the blood work.  We will once again have the "Fabulous Four", only with a couple of different foals.  :)   :(

This foal season has been a bit insane, and it is not over yet.  Once again we are asking for everyone's love, prayers and support for these tiny little babies.  Rehabbing orphans like this is not an easy or inexpensive process, yet it brings so much love an joy to everyone involved.  We need funds for fuel, milk money, meds and all the other things we use to help these little ones fight the good fight.

For folks who want to help a baby, but are unable to do the hands on, which unless you can devote 24 hours a day every single day for months at a time, there are other options.  We understand that so many folks would love to to it, but don't have the time t commit or the ability to stay up for days on end or cannot devote months out of their life strictly to the critical foals.  However, there is another fun and exciting way.   Another way that you can help is to consider fostering a grown horse.  There are many mustangs that are in need of fostering.  While Shirley & Bruce's  "Lucky Horse Rehab" is for orphan, critical and neo-natal foal care, along with the subsequent training these bottle babies need to be adoptable, they are also caring for horses that could be in foster homes.

Believe me, I speak from experience when I say that doing critical orphan foal care is literally 24/7 full time work.  When other horses also have to be cared for, it takes away time that in a perfect world, (or even a sane world) should be for either a few minute nap or more baby time.  So by fostering a mustang, you could also be helping the babies get the best care possible, and for all of us who do this to hopefully be able to stay healthy so we can continue to provide this type of care for years to come.  If we get sick, we can't take care of the babies.

I think that unless you do the hands on care, it would be impossible to understand how much work goes into this.  Often times when you get a baby you don't even climb into bed for the first 3-7 days or nights.  Even after you spend the first week or two up literally 24 hours a day to make sure you do everything to help pull these little ones back to life, the work is still there.  (Most of our babies are in very poor condition when we get them.  We are not talking about raising a healthy baby, - that is a whole different and much easier situation :)  .)     When you finally reach the point that you don't have to jump up and check them every time they breathe or cough or move, maybe at that point - maybe 4 or 5 weeks after you get them, and with some babies not until months later - or like with Honey Bandit, about a year later, then maybe then you can rest for a couple of hours at a time.

Then the "real" (haha) work begins; to train this little one to not only be safe for folks to handle, but to be the best that they can be so their future will be the best it can be.

Many vets say the same thing about what they have experienced.  Bottle babies are ONE of TWO THINGS - either the worst and most dangerous horses, or the very best, most calm and safe horses ever.   There are two choices - spend the time with them and teach them respect and manners, or don't, and create a monster.  Because with out proper TIME SPENT TRAINING THEM EVERY SINGLE DAY, they can grow up to be disrespectful and dangerous, even accidentally causing deadly injuries.  What is cute when they are 100 lbs turns out to be not so cute when they are 1000 pounds.  As the babies grow, they continue to test all the time.  In the wild, their mamas or the stallions or their aunties will set them straight.  They know their boundaries.  (We have often heard folks say they would take a wild 2 year old over a baby anytime and that is because it is much easier to deal with a horse that knows its boundaries and has respect).

So think about helping the babies by helping foster a mustang.  Arrangements can be made for an account at the feed store and you simply pick up the hay.  You have the joy of knowing that you are helping to save part of our Nation's Heritage - the Wild Mustangs.  You can help a critically ill, orphaned and/or injured baby by giving the folks that specialize in that work the time to do what they do best, and to not spend their time feeding and cleaning up after the horses who need "babysitting" when they really need that time for the babies.

It's funny how even though not one of us can do everything, together, all of us can "git 'er done", each one of us doing our own little part for America's Wild Horses, (and the domestics also).  God bless and thank you for all you do, no matter what part of the process it is.  You need the world to save a foal, and you guys Rock at it!  Thank you for helping us with these babies and to find some much needed foster homes.

--
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!

Matt, Palomino & The Gang


Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang
Equine Rescue & More -
Rescue/Rehab Project LRTC

www.chillypepper.weebly.com
www.whmentors.org

Date of Rescue: June 1, 2014
Saved by: Mikel Ann Hettrick

OUR LATEST RESCUED ORPHAN. SHE IS BABY BOO McCLELLAN. God sent me an angel to remind me of my beautiful Janie

Meeting Lil Bit and Lil Orphan Annie. WHO DOES SHE LOOK LIKE ? JANIE!!!!!!!!!

Heading out to pick up Baby Boo McClellan

Lil Bit, Orphan Annie & Baby Boo Mcclellan getting to know each other. We had to separate them after awhile, but they are hanging out next to each other and this way Lil Bit cannot jump onto Baby Boo's back