Thank You!

Hi ya'll,

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who made it possible to bring Little Mister home, whether it be financial or prayers or good thoughts.  I am sorry that I haven't written sooner, but it has been pretty tough.

The donations that were made are the ONLY reason we were able to pick him up, and God bless you for that.  Just a little info so you know kind of what is happening in "your" little rescue.  I have had over 35 surgeries on my right leg, including 3 total knee replacements.  I have a very weird and rare nerve disease, which between that and the orthopedic issues create chronic pain.  (The only reason I tell you this is so you know why I don't just run out and get a fabulous job :) )  The fact that I am unable to sleep most of the time does make it easier to care for the foals in a small way, so I guess that is a good thing - haha.  But I have also been paying hospital bills etc. for the last 33 years, (ouch - did I just write that).  This is not a "poor me" thing, I have a wonderful life, great friends and am lucky enough to live in one of the greatest communities and do what I love.  However, it does contribute to the fact that we operate on fumes.  We recently had to move due to financial reasons, but were once again, extremely blessed to be able to move to a wonderful place where we can continue our mission.  (It needs lots of work, but we are good at work).

I received a couple of comments about picking up a foal when we did not have funds for fuel.   Our rescue maintains emergency and immediate supplies for these babies.  We always make sure we have foal lac (milk for newborns), antibiotics, medical supplies, blankets etc. on hand.  When we get a call, we are ready to roll, with the exception of fuel funds sometimes.  It takes a lot of fuel!   However, we are running some extremely heavy and old equipment.  This is not a complaint however, because we always manage to "git er done".  But the difficult part is that the truck is getting about 8 or 9 miles to the gallon when we pull the heavy trailer.  We drove to Palomino Valley to pick up Little Mister, then took him to our "temporary nursery", which is offered to us by our wonderful friends/family Pat & Teresa Patterson.  We then had to run to Dayton in the middle of the night for some emergency medicine for Little Mister.  Then the next day the local vet advised us to get him home and settled as he was feeling decent.  By the time we completed our trip, we had driven 549 miles.

That is a lot of fuel.  Now I only bring this up, as people have indicated we should have those funds set aside.  That is a wonderful idea, but our budget doesn't allow that.  So when ya'll step up and provide the funds for us to pick up these babies, YOU ARE THE ONES THAT ARE MAKING THIS HAPPEN AND GIVING THESE BABIES A CHANCE TO SURVIVE.  I will work non stop until the very end and do everything possible for these little ones, but you guys are truly the ones that make it possible.   We are working on getting some better equipment, which would not only save fuel, but bring our response time down, which in some cases can be extremely important.

It brings tears to my eyes, (and yes, I have shed a lot of them lately) to know that so many people care about and love these innocent little angels.  I promise I will always do what I can as long as I can, with your support and prayers.  Together, we do make a huge difference.  This little baby bonded immediately and instead of being alone and cold somewhere, he got to play in everything, knock stuff down and make me pick it up over and over and was feeling really well.  I will always treasure the moments we had together and the sound of him calling us.  He got the biggest kick out of sending out his tiny little whinny and we would run up to the window and he would give us kisses.  (The "nursery" is inside our friend's home and there is an open window right into the living room.)  So we were always together.

So I just wanted to let you know how much love and appreciation there is for all you guys do.  You are truly amazing and I will forever be grateful to you for being part of this.  I am sure that Little Mister is watching over every single person that helped him.  I am also sure that he is galloping away with his real mama, free and wild up in heaven.

God bless you and thank you again.

Big hugs
Palomino, Matt & the rest of the critters.