Quick Update

Hi y'all,

Hope this email finds everyone in good health and spirits.  Matt and I are driving to Las Vegas for the International Equine Welfare Alliance Convention.  We are so very excited to be presenting on the topic EXTREME FOAL CARE.  This is a wonderful opportunity, (although we did think about the price of fuel long and hard), to share what we do and also to soak up as much knowledge on the issues that our horses are facing today.

We are looking forward to meeting many of the people that we work with via the internet and meeting them face to face.  It is such a critical time for the horses right now.  We are finally seeing some really great improvements working with BLM and the foals, and now there is the big issue in Nevada with NDOA.  It is truly a time when we all need to work together as we are running out of time.  After this is over, we are boot scooting back to Shingletown to get the place ready for winter.  It snowed last year on October 5.  Not a huge snowfall, but pretty cold and wet.  We are working on getting the hay shelter up.  We have some of the materials but need to get a few more things to finish it.  The nursery is coming along, but needs another wall and some more work.  It will be a wonderful place to bring the orphans and/or sick babies.

We would like to remind everyone that if you had any construction projects going this last summer and might have any extra wood left over, we would be more than ecstatic to use your leftover wood pieces.  We have finished about 2/3 of the back "insurance fencing" to make sure that the horses won't run through the fence if they are panicked again.  We also welcomed a new "Watch Donkey", Pepe, into the rescue.  He was donated by some wonderful friends in Nevada and is settling right in.  He is already getting territorial about the place and I am pretty sure he will be a huge deterrent for the mountain lion. It has been noticeably quieter at night since his arrival. However, just in case, we still need to finish "doubling" the back fence.  It is going to look a little bit odd, but no one really sees it and the horses will be much safer.  We appreciate the donations of panels/gates that we received and only need about 15-20 more to completely have the back done.  It doesln't matter if they are a little bit bent, smashed or just plain ugly.  This is strictly a safety issue.  We have gotten a few old cyclone  panels from people's yards and those work well too.  So if you want to do some "clean up", we would be more than happy to assist with those items.

Honey Bandit is now hanging out with Chilly Pepper and Dakota, and Rocky and Romeo are pairing up pretty fast.  The most amazing thing is that Rocky has learned that if he wants to, he can get his fair share of the food when it comes to moving Romeo.  So all the horse babies are becoming "regular horses" and learning about space and manners.  Woo hooo.  That is always a good thing.

Take care and have a wonderful day.