 I have to say that this is probably the hardest update I have ever had to write. For over a year we have been working with a rescue in Naples Idaho. Everything was great for about a year, until it was not, and then it was beyond horrible and the devastation was heartbreaking. There is no worse feeling than knowing you have spent so much time and money and worked so hard to make sure a horse is safe and then you find out something like this. So we picked up all of ours who are not being held for evidence in the court case. Matt and I had been to the rescue in question numerous times and the horses were all fat and happy. There was lush pasture and we wanted to live there. The horses were all doing well and we received updates via photos and videos. We also shared our visits and how awesome things were. We visited the horses remaining in Idaho as "evidence". Although it was beyond heartbreaking, they are under great veterinary care and the lady providing them with the care while the case gets under way is like a ferocious mama bear and I so relate to that. So now the healing starts... (immediately for the horses, and hopefully some day for our hearts.) As I write this, we have 8 horses in our trailer (7 that we are bringing back to the rescue), 1 whose frantic Mom is on her way to get her, and Mel is babysitting the 9 "slaughter babies" we were in the middle of picking up. So while we are waiting for the final paperwork to bring our horses home, Little Man Gypsum was enjoying all the attention. He is doing well and our vet is very hopeful is leg will heal well. He had been our newest "critical care orphan". As I went out to check the wild horses I noticed a miracle. The horses had been abnormally agitated last night, and the answer lay on the floor. There in the midst of 24 wild horse hooves lay a teeny tiny little foal. HOPE was perfectly formed and I couldn't believe she was alive. Her mama had "done her job", and had nothing left to give. She showed no interest in her beautiful baby, although by some miracle she had kept her from getting squashed on the trailer floor. She watched as Matt picked up Hope and brought her to me. (there was an amazing amount of stress and work to make that happen lol). Her mama is emaciated and has no bag. It is absolutely amazing that she had a healthy baby. SO Far, Hope seems very healthy and has had her Colostrum and is receiving critical care. She is feisty and bouncy and hanging out with Gypsum. What happened to this rescue really made me stop and think. It is terrifying how everything could be so "good", and then someone just stops caring or even feeding the critters. I don't understand how you can hurt any animal. It is beyond heartbreaking. It really makes you want to hang up the towel and walk away. Then comes HOPE. God gave us a huge blessing in the midst of despair and chaos. So we have something even more to fight for. But the reality is that we are bringing 7 more horses to the rescue that need special feed and care and some of the slaughter babies. We are needing funds to do Coggins and Health Certs so we can bring the 9 babies, and now we have 2 additional orphan foals, ages a week plus and 8 or 9 hours old who are really enjoying their milk. At this point we are beyond grateful that it appears that the "weanlings" we were standing by to pick up, are going to be held (to my understanding) through the winter so they can be adopted. Thanking God for that one. Some of the 9 babies will be placed on the way home, thanks to folks having prepped to help the weanlings. Thank you for ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT - Especially during hard times like these. As always, we will do everything we can to make sure the horses have good homes. Although it doesn't change anything for the horses, there were lots of folks who believed in that rescue, and we are all shocked and horrified. When I found out about the situation, Ted Bundy flashed in my mind. We lived in fear for many a year as he poached women at our lake. He is a perfect example. Someone everyone trusted; well liked and oh so personable. Who knew a monster hid inside. But there is never a rest. This teeny tiny little one needs the critical care we specialize in, so back to work we go. She is the start of the healing and of looking forward to better times. As of now we are waiting on paperwork so we can get back to Yakima and get the babies ready. Thank you for making this happen. Oh yeah - and a great big thank you to Willis Lamm for helping us plan our approach to safely getting this baby out of a trailer filled with so many anxious hooves. So many times in what we do the Large Animal Rescue training comes in to play. The chances of getting a baby out of a trailer filled with stressed out wild horses without her getting stepped on are not really high. But with God's grace and the training we have had (and the luxury of having Willis to help us come up with a viable plan), it all worked out in the parking lot. (Not always my favorite place to move wild horses about.) "CAM" feeding Gypsum his bottle.  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 Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, WIN Project - Rescue & Rehab _We are now part of the WIN Organization WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
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 Well they just keep coming. I received an urgent call last night about 5 foals ready to ship up in Washington State. I spoke with the gentlemen this morning and he will be calling in the next few days to arrange a time for us to pick them up. (Providing we can raise the funds necessary to keep saving these lives.) We are also on standby from our other folks in WA as well. The larger number of babies, which at this point is 30 - 60 weanlings, will need to be picked up in CA, by September 17 or around that time. As usual in our world, there are no "for sures" with the exception of the fact that there will be a very large number of babies to save. We won't know how many or how much help there will be. These babies lives will be at stake so we are hoping that y'all are on board to save them. At this time, we are really strapped from the last batch of 49 Yakama kids and the orphans from NV. The gelding of the stallions was not quite covered and the total bill was around $3300+. This included Nya's vet visit and her blood draw. Unfortunately the wilder ones generate so much adrenaline that they require larger amounts of medication, and that medication is extremely expensive. On the plus side of success however, you have once again "done the impossible". ALL the stallions (now geldings) will be heading to Idaho and many of them already have their forever homes lined up. This is only possible due to the love and support y'all have showed for these amazing animals. What will happen with the larger number of foals: We will be able to commit to as many as we can afford to transport, get blood work done, and be able to care for. These babies will need special munchies, and some of them may still need milk supplements. That is really expensive. However, many of them are older and will simply need some good grain and hay. But winter is coming and we cannot commit to horses we cannot properly care for. It is not a space issue, but a financial one. We simply cannot fund this rescue from our rescue without lots of help. The option for these babies if they are not adopted is not a very happy one. From what I understand they would be released back into the wild but without their moms or a band to protect them. Coming right before winter I believe that would be a death sentence. There is also a possibility that ALL the babies would come to Chilly Pepper in NV on their way to other rescues. However, that has to be fully funded as we cannot feed them "air" if funding did not come through. Unfortunately, there are more horses than homes right now, but if everyone who had the ability stepped up and was willing to take on one or two, it would be a minimal task. "The Plan'. IF, WE CAN RAISE ENOUGH FUNDS TO RESPONSIBLY SAVE THESE BABIES, the following will happen. (As Far As We Know LOL) Matt and I would pick up the babies and take them to our old place in CA. We still have the nursery and the outside foal room as well as lots of shelter available for these babies. Then we would have to get a blood test for "Coggins" prior to bringing them to NV. It would take approximately 4 trips from the pick up point to Shingletown and about 2 hours each one way trip when loaded. Then all the babies would need to be vetted and have their blood drawn. Once the blood test results were in, we would begin transporting the babies to our facility in NV. However, again we simply cannot take any of these foals on without having a realistic and responsible budget to work with. Worst case scenario, we would be looking at approximately 5,000 + miles to pick up the kids in WA and to pick up the babies. If we are close to the max number, we would take 4 round trips to Shingletown and then once we had blood work, health certificates etc. we would head back to NV. We are down to an older "back up truck" and we can haul 15 babies per load, give or take depending on size and health. So it is once again AN EMERGENCY SITUATION for these babies. We are praying many of them are adopted prior to the pick up date, but have been asked to be standing by to help as many of the ones that we can. So we are looking at up to 60 lives at stake. I am hoping folks want us to save them and are willing to help. We need adopters, sponsors, donors and lots and lots of prayers. Once again this is an overwhelming task that could be considered a logistical nightmare. OR, it can be a task where everyone steps up and together we get it done. After sorting all the 900+ kids in SD and so many people coming together to take on one or two, this seems like it should be so much easier. If 60 people stepped up each and every baby could have a wonderful home. PLEASE, let's save these beautiful little lives and give them a chance to actually have a life. We can not take on all the babies if there are no other rescues in line to help out. We will take the max we can based on the ability to provide care, feed and what they need until they find their new homes. This really is an emergency and with so many little lives at stake I am confident that we can come together and make this happen. God bless and thank you from all the little ones waiting for their trip to safety. I really do not enjoy fundraising, but it is for the horses and the only way we can save them. It will cost thousands, but together we CAN "git 'er done"! I honestly was hoping to not even be involved, but once again God put it in front of me so we will do our best, as once again we come together with our Chilly Pepper Family.  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 Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, WIN Project - Rescue & Rehab We are now part of the WIN Organization WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407  Meet "Nya", our latest "critical" orphan. We picked her up on Tuesday in Fernley, NV. I have to say she might win the contest for "worst physical condition" since Honeybandit. She is an absolute love, but starved to the point where she could have organ damage. However, she is improving a teeny tiny bit every day. She did not leave the nursery or her air conditioner for the first several days, and is fighting some sort of internal issue. She has a cough and is here fighting for a chance to survive, thanks to Anne Hall and Anna Orchard, who pulled her in the nick of time. Her temperature was all over the place, including a fever of 103+ when she came in to a low temp of 97. But we are watching her like a hawk and what we are seeing so far is positive. She needs lots of prayers and special groceries obviously. We placed 9 of the 15 orphans we had, and then received an emergency call to pick up up 2 4-year old mares, prior to picking up Nya. The wonderful news is that we have a place for ALL 14 of the stallions at a friend's in Idaho who helps us adopt out these precious kids. She is ready and waiting for the 14, after they are gelded. We are going through about $1000 worth of hay every week and a half, so unfortunately the boys are trying to eat all of the gelding funds. (Could they have a master plan? lol). But we have an appointment with the vet on Tuesday and we will geld as many as we have funds for. The minimum charge will be $200 per horse, (and a few of them are pretty big so they may take more meds.) So if we were fortunate and had enough funds to fully cover all 14, it would be a minimum of $2800, just for the gelding. But the great part about that is once they are gelded we get to take them to their new place. This will be a huge and very much needed reduction in our hay bill. It is also imperative that we get these boys where they are going as I am already on standby for another group of mustangs who will be headed straight to slaughter. I will keep y'all posted when I know more, but right now we do not have enough funds to save more while we feed these kids. So once again (as always), the decision will be out of my hands as far as how many we can save. So far, y'all have pulled a miracle every time and we have not lost one. But again, these boys need to get gelded and off of our books so we have space to put additional rescued kids in. So we went from 39 horses down to 30, but had the emergency call for Nya and the other two 4 year olds, so back up to 34 :( As usual, we are trying to make sure we place the horses as safely and quickly as we can. It is so much work feeding and taking care of nearly 40 horses with just myself and my hubby when he is here. So I can promise you we will never ever "hoard horses" lol. If you can help us get these kids gelded and safely transported to their new homes, it will give us a chance to save some or all of the next batch that we are currently standing by for. Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang has now joined forces with WIN (Wild Horses in Need). We will be operating under their 501c3 (ein number shown below) while we continue our rescue efforts. We still work with LRTC, but per Willis Lamm, "You guys have really outgrown our operation and hopefully by reorganizing under WIN, you will be able to perform at the next higher level.". So although logistically it worked out better for all involved for us to join up with WIN, we didn't grow that much on purpose lol. This started out with us just providing critical care for orphan foals. But God has sent us all over the place and apparently His plan was bigger than mine. (Mine involved time off, but apparently I don't really need that.) The only difference this change brings is that any donations made from Sept 1, 2017 onward will be filed under our new tax id number. All donations are still tax deductible and so very much appreciated. Below are two of our orphans who are now 4 years old. Due to a death in the family and the loss of the family home, we went and picked them up. Pistol has an injury to her leg from a roll of fencing that a worker inadvertently left in the field, but we are hopeful everything will turn out well. So as always, there is never a dull moment. Thank you everyone who is part of our Chilly Pepper family. You are so appreciated and you make this happen. We truly appreciate each and every penny donated as they all add up to provide life saving feed and medicine for these kids. God bless and thank you for helping us help these beautiful souls. Please share and if you cannot help with the gelding please spread the word. the sooner they are placed, the sooner we save on our hay bill and will be ready to save more lives.  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 Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, WIN Project - Rescue & Rehab We are now part of the WIN Organization - WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407 - |
