Latest Update from Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang

On Friday, May 2, which just happened to be Matt and my 6th anniversary, we had headed out to take Precious home.  The next day I got a call from Shirley, who had gotten the meds that were needed for Texas' scours.  So Texas and I drove to Susanville to meet her and get his meds.  I have to say PTL!, after 5 weeks of scours, we are actually seeing improvement.   Tex is thriving and growing up strong and healthy.  We have been going a bit nuts trying different things to get rid of his tum tum bug, but we are happy to say that Doc finally found the magic, or so it seems.  The next day we were just getting ready to load up for a very long overdue shopping expedition when the phone rang.

It was our friends Tom and Susan from Whispering Winds in OR.  Susan had rescued a beautiful pony named Little Joe from imminent death, and needed to get it to Oregon.  The poor thing had foundered and his feet were hideous.  He was in quite a bit of pain, and we could not delay his transport to his new home, where he would receive the appropriate care to alleviate his discomfort and get him back on track.  They had driven down with the woman who was going to care for him, when of course, their truck broke down.  It's almost funny how many tails of sadness and woe there are when you are trying to transport a rescued animal.  So we loaded up Tex and jumped in the truck. Once we arrived there, Matt and Tom started working on the truck and we three ladies loaded this beautiful pony "Little Joe" in the back of my trailer, with Texas in the front and headed up past Medford.  Now I will tell you that my lead foot seems to disappear when I am hauling my babies, or any other equine.  I have to say that I am not normally a person that even has to worry about getting into any issues when driving.  If someone is tailgating and needs to get by me in a hurry, I will always let them.  (I cannot tell you how many times Matt had to rush me to the emergency room, and you simply never know if someone truly does have an emergency, so we just let them go by.  It makes things so much simpler.)  However, when I am hauling my babies, it is amazing how fast you can go from calm to not calm.  I absolutely hate it when folks tail gate the horse trailer.  Maybe they don't realize that if I have to slow down quickly to avoid a deer or whatever else jumps out in my lane, that they are going to drive right through the back of my trailer.  They obviously do not know how important our "precious cargo" truly is to us.  Anyway, I turn into Grandma driver, pulling over anytime a couple of cars get stacked up behind me.  But folks do have to realize, when someone wants to pull over to let you by, there has to be enough space between the back of your horse trailer and the front of their car.  You cannot slam on the brakes without sending your critters flying.  They are not seat belted in!!!  So off we went on our newest adventure.  It was a long and slow trip, as I wanted to make sure it was as easy as possible for Little Joe and Texas.  We stopped and let them rest and it was a very successful and happy trip, with neither equine being too stressed out, although at that point any travel was hard for Little Joe.  Of course Texas is already a champion traveler, and he will just lay down when he is tired.  He happily hops right in when we need to go somewhere. :)

We were heading back home around 10 p.m. when I finally got the message for an orphan on my cell phone.  (This is why I ask folks to leave messages on both numbers if we get an emergency baby call, as I actually lost a baby due to the folks only calling my cell and it didn't come through in time.  Was so very sad and heartbreaking.  Am working on getting a better phone next time.)  So I jumped on the phone and called Matt, and we headed back towards California.  Luckily, it made more sense to go straight to pick up the baby, so Matt met me part way there and he took over driving PTL!!   We arrived just before day break to pick up the beautiful "Little Orphan Annie".  She is so small, actually tiny, and Barbara was not sure if she had been "stolen" by another mare or rejected.  Of course there were a few mares that were kicking at her, and so once again, one of our human "horsey angels" risked life and limb to pull out a tiny one in need.  For those of you who have never experienced something like that, it is not only dangerous, but scary.  With a large number of horses it is easy to get trampled if one spooks or drives another one towards you.  Especially if they do not want to give up the little one, and she was in with a bunch of wild mares.  So once again, my hat is off to Barbara who saved this little one's life.  You also have to spend an amazing amount of your time to always be watching so you can spot a newborn born in the midst of a large bunch of wild horses right away.  She was born the day after we dropped off Precious. 

So we loaded her up and headed back home.  She is doing very well, and is learning to buck and kick.  Her legs are still quite wobbly but she is already showing lots of spunk.  Sometimes I think God blesses these little orphans with extra amounts of heart and spunk to help them have the will to live.

We have been lucky with Lil Orphan Annie so far.  Not too many extra expenses as so far she seems to be doing very well.  PTL!!  We appreciate anyone who wants to help get these two little ones on their feet so they can grow up and find their forever homes.  We are going through about 45-50 pounds of milk powder between the two of them each week.  Both are doing so well, and we are also extremely grateful and appreciative for the prayers that keep these little ones alive.  If y'all want to help, you can go to www.chillypepper.weebly.com and use the donation button, or you can go to Paypal and go to [email protected].  Our address is  Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang, at 34694 Sidebottom Rd., Shingletown, CA  96088.  We have already had tons of visitors and if anyone else is interested in meeting all the critters and having some R & R, please contact us at 530 474 5197.  This is your rescue and we are so grateful for all of you!

God bless and thank you from all the critters at Chilly Pepper - Miracle Mustang!

THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!
Matt, Palomino & The Gang