And it's gone...

The snow didn't last long, and I'm not complaining! There could be more tonight.

Whiskey and Levi

Silky

Shiloh and General

Sampson

Ruby

Muffin


Football field

Bright

Stephanie

Let it snow...

Good Morning Everyone,

We awoke this morning to a beautiful winter wonderland. Though it was not much, it was an absolute treat for us in Southern Nevada.

The horses are all well and not fazed in the least bit over this white stuff. They of course do much better than we people. Horses are fed and quite happy.

I do hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

Sorry that the pictures are blurry. I was shivering in the cold and I didn't have my glubs on (as Mina would say).









I will post more later.

Stephanie

Happy Six Month Birthday AJ!

Happy Six month Birthday AJ!

I just sat and watched the video of your beautiful birth. I will never ever forget the morning you arrived. It was a very memorable morning, with a string of comedy behind the scenes.

The one thing I will say, I was in awe of you. Totally! It was a beautiful sight to behold and I am so glad you came into all of our lives.

Love.... Grammie Stephanie

(Thanks to LisaCO for the wonderful picture of the birthday boy)

Monday morning

I just got off the phone with A/C. Star will be undergoing another blood panel on Thursday to see what extent of Liver Failure he has. Seems the staff at A/C have a very soft spot in their hearts for him as well. He has a long road to recovery (cautiously optimistic) and will remain under the care and control of the office of Nye County Animal Control at this time and until further notice.

Stephanie

Sunday morning

Good Morning,

I went by A/C to check on STAR and as I turned the corner, my heart was pounding and I was saying a silent prayer. I stopped and the sight I was greeted with was wonderful.

STAR raised his head and looked right at me! His hay was gone. He was standing in the sunlight with his blue blanket on enjoying the warm sunshine.

Please, continued prayers for STAR and may he continue to FIGHT!!!

I hope that our slogan comes true for this special boy

"Helping Heal the Hearts of Horses in Need"

Doing the Snoopy HAPPY DANCE in my chair right now!! :)

Stephanie

Saturday morning, part 2

I went by A/C this morning. Star is still standing. His head is hanging, but the important thing he is still with us.

Please continue prayers in hopes to fan the flame to encourage a raging fire and the desire to live!!!

One of our ABR members posted this candle site that many of us like to visit. If you so desire, please visit and light and candle for Star:

http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=star

Stephanie

Saturday morning

Good Morning,

It is 12 days before Christmas. I count my blessings as this year comes to an end. I am so thankful for my family and their support. I am thankful for my friends, who I also feel are my family. I am thankful for the gifts that the horses have received from so many throughout the world. These gifts have made a difference for the horses as they have provided the much needed feed and supplements they need daily.

Your gifts have made a huge difference in their lives and are genuinely appreciated.

Though 2008 brought sadness to many of us, I also believe it made us stronger and more compassionate individuals. I know it did for me. It brought my family closer to one another, and made us truly realize how precious and fragile we are.

My thoughts and heart are with a very special horse who may come to us if he has the will to live. He was named Star by our favorite cake lady... LUCY. A bright shining star, whose life hangs in the balance right now. I pray that the flame of life continues to burn within him and he will not give up. I pray that he has the will. If I could have anything this Christmas, it would be to have Star walk through the gates of MHR and give all of us the opportunity to care and love this poor boy, who was dumped in the desert to die. He deserves to feel love and comfort from all of us.

I would like to ask each of you to pray for Star and that his flickering flame and his will to survive will grow into a raging fire.

Thank you all for your support and Bless you for everything that you do each day that restores my faith in humanity.

Stephanie

Simba Marie

Simba had a very comfortable, and productive, night. Her treatment worked so well that the vet said to go ahead and give her breakfast. She had her breakfast and is still doing well.

Thank you for all your prayers. They made a difference!

Stephanie

New duds

Thanks to the generous donations of a group of MHR supporters, our blind horses have been outfitted with new Guardian Masks.

Sophie:


Acey looking wonderful in her new Guardian Mask:


General:
Shiloh:
General and Shiloh (Simba Marie on the far left):

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO THE SECRET SANTAS FOR THESE WONDERFUL GIFTS. THIS IS A TREMENDOUS HELP TO THESE PRECIOUS CREATURES.


Stephanie

Wednesday evening

As readers of ABR and the chat know, Simba Marie has had an episode of colic this evening.

Thank you all for the prayers for Simba Marie. Dr. H. believes she will be just fine. Since we do not change diets w/o advice of vet, this is not a diet change colic but a weather-related colic. Simba Marie was sedated as well as given injectable banamine as opposed to the paste we have on hand. She was tubed and did not receive dinner. She is comfortable. We will be watching her throughout the night.

Once again, thank you all for the prayers.

Stephanie

Tuesday afternoon

Hay All,

Our Hay Angel was here today and she spent two hours on the ranch with us. She loved it, loved our operation, loved the horses, the dogs and chickens. She plans on visiting and having coffee. Very nice woman.

She has purchased for all of our horses two tons of hay. Merry Christmas for the horses!!

A very good day for the horses: carrots and hay. We are truly thankful for this gift! She stated this was what she was giving herself for Christmas. Very nice!

I look forward to another visit with her and she had some very wonderful stories of her life.

Hope everyone is having a great day!!!!

Stephanie

Monday evening

Good Evening All,

I wanted to let you know that I have been under the weather today and on the road to recovery. It is just some sort of stomach virus, but should be I hope back to normal as our Hay Angel is coming to visit at 10am in the morning. I stayed indoors and slept the afternoon away accomplishing nothing. I know that all the horses are good, only because every time Rob came in I asked him. He would say "Honey, they are fine, close your eyes".

Whiskey, Grace, Jonah had their feet done today. Additionally, Rob worked on the two big washracks, welding material on them so that a butt chain or butt bar could be placed on them for safety reasons.

Anyway, calling it an night here and will talk to everyone soon. Thank you ever so much for all your support in our efforts.

Stephanie

Silky has a visitor

Today has been a very special day for Silky. Her former owner was in Las Vegas for a few days and came to visit this special girl. She was thrilled to see her and Silky managed to go through about a pound of carrots and have her picture taken.

Sherie was absolutely thrilled with how Silky looked and was quite impressed with the whole operation and visited with everyone. This was quite rewarding for us to share with her, the new Silky. She thanked us profusely for giving Silky a chance.

A good day for all!

Stephanie

Sunday morning

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope this finds everyone doing well this Sunday morning. Saturday was a day filled with chores both outside and inside.

I have been working diligently on the 2009 calendar, it is coming along and should go to print in the very near future, but it is the small details that are being worked on and this takes time. I have had so many pictures to go through and to select from. The pictures selected represent something to everyone.

Saturday also was a day with horses getting their feet done. Dublin, Old Man, Shania, Baby, Acey and Sophie were done. All of them were very good. Sophie was great. She is a sweet horse, and stood patiently. She is doing so very well, and I see some differences in her already. I see new hair growth, tiny little fuzzy hairs coming in where we brushed out the scabby stuff. Her belly is rounding out and eventually it will all distribute equally. She is quite comical now during feeding, she makes a very soft wuffling noise as I prepare to place her feed in the feeder. However, she knows that I have her Sr. food in another container and she stands and looks at me and taps her pretty little hooves and waits for me to give it to her before she literally dives into her meal. It truly is a wonderful feeling to watch her eat and know that she is not hungry.

I received a telephone call last night from an Angel who is coming here on Tuesday to meet the horses and to donate 1 ton of hay. We are grateful for this. This is a blessing for the horses and a wonderful gift for them and very generous indeed. I spoke with this Angel for an hour last night, and the horses' new Angel shared with me that she is 77 years old, and she found her love and passion with horses at the age of 47, and she has received so much pleasure from her horses in the past that she wanted to give to those horses less fortunate in their lives. I will take pictures of her meeting everyone Tuesday morning.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day, we have more horses feet to do today, so it will be a busy day.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone

Stephanie

Sophie's pedicure

Sophie had her feet done today and was groomed afterwards. She is a very sweet girl and truly loves attention. It has been quite sometime since she had her feet done, but she has pretty little feet now.

Stephanie

Friday morning

Good Friday Morning,

I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know that Rosie is going to live the life that she wants. She will be with the other horses and have minimal human interaction. We at MHR generally do not pick out the horses that come to us. When we have the room, and in the case of Sophie and Bright who were under extenuating circumstances, we take them regardless of physical condition etc. Rosie however, was purchased in '06 along w/ 5 others as they were chosen. We knew nothing of her personality. No one did.

Once we got her back here we knew she had some issues, but we worked through them the best we could. She has overcome some but has retained the deep dark baggage she carries with her. Horses have a flight or fight personality and she would rather fight and fight to the end. So with all of this in mind, she will be cared for, receive vet care when required, be sedated when she has her feet done and be with her horse friends

Though it is not the life we had envisioned for Rosie as human beings, it is obvious this is what Rosie needs. I wish we had more land for her to run with others that have the same issues, but we do not, so we give the best we can.

Stephanie

Thursday morning

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope this finds everyone well. It has been a couple of days since I have written as I needed some time to think this post through.

On Tuesday, we had a very terrifying experience that could have changed our lives in an instant and one that would have changed my life forever.

It all began with us preparing to do Rosie's front feet. I went out and caught her up without any problems. She was a bit snorty and I was very cautious with her as Rosie has proven in the past that she can snap and rear up in a split second. I brought her out and Rob reiterated that we have to be careful. Rosie has always given her front feet without much of a fight and it has always been the rear hooves that we had to have her sedated for. However, she had a chunk out of the front right hoof and Rob wanted to trim and repair it before it got worse. I stood holding her, talking to her and petting her neck. She was jerking her foot away, rearing up, going backwards and then charging forward striking out with her front feet and coming at us. At one point, she got away from us. I had her on a 12 foot lead rope and the rope whipped through my hands, and I could not hold onto her. Once we got her into a position where she could be caught, she spun and charged at Rob, teeth bared.

We did not stop, we allowed her approximately ten minutes to settle down and I continued to stroke her neck. He went to work on the other front foot and she was getting progressively worse. After the third attempt of picking up her foot, Rob threw in the towel and said we will have to call the vet for her.

As Rob was walking her back to the football field she tried bum rushing him on several occasions. What happened next was the most horrifying experience that I have encountered. As Rob took Rosie back into the football field, he turned her back towards the closed gate so he could remove her halter. The next thing I knew Rob was in the corner and Rosie was above him rearing and making every attempt to strike at him, just as she did to Wilbur. I began screaming and ran towards the gate and it was at that moment that Whiskey and Grace came running up, and Rosie took off. Rosie's intent was to destroy. Rosie has never ever been treated badly since she has come to us..ever.

So, we have deemed Rosie to be completely and totally OFF LIMITS TO EVERYONE. Rosie will ALWAYS have a home at MHR. She will have her feet done, when it is needed BUT ONLY UNDER SEDATION. She will be treated with the diginity that she has had from the day she was rescued. This was extremely, and I mean extremely, terrifying for me, as Rob could have been seriously injured or worse yet killed. I shudder at this thought. I am thanking the Lord that he escaped with just a few minor bumps and bruises.

Please everyone know that you never can tell what will happen in a split second. In all of our years of experience with horses we have never had an incident of this magnitude ever happen with us and I do not want to go through this again.

Everyone have a great day and tell those that are part of your life that you love and truly care for them.

Stephanie

Food Cam starring Sophie

Tuesday morning

Good Morning Everyone,

Thank you to everyone for shopping at the Gingerbread Shoppe, it is appreciated. Remember the beautiful blanket with our sweet Nellie. Proceeds from this will go towards the needs of the horses. Also the December Hay Ride is underway if you have a chance to visit any of these locations please do.

I am in the process of making ornaments for the holidays. The ornaments consist of photos of the horses and will go up for sale in our Cafe Press store very soon.

All is well here at the ranch and everyone is doing well.

I hope you all have a great day!!!!!



Stephanie

Monday morning

Good Morning to Everyone,

I am going to try and answer the questions, I saw on the thread as well as to let you know what has been going. :)

First, you are all welcome for the photos and videos. It is so much easier to do when you have more bodies around. So I was very happy we were able to do this.

Description of Bright Eyes or as I call her Mini Paris:

She is a beautiful, Doe Eyed Welsh Pony. She has foundered, and without having x-rays we do not know the extent of damage done to the internal hoof. She has already had her heels dropped and the toe rolled to relieve the pressure off the toe. In a week, more heel will be trimmed off. She was a bit uncomfortable the day after her trimming so we gave her a gram of bute and this seem to take the edge off her discomfort. Today no bute as she is moving well. The day she arrived she appeared to be standing on little tree trunks and also had shoes on that were not even nailed on correctly..so those are off completely. We were informed by the previous owners that the individual who was feeding them while they were at work was throwing Bright a full bale of Alfalfa Hay and would come back about every four days and the same thing was done. This is the reason she is the size that she is and hence the foot issue. So now she is on the grain hay, NO ALFALFA. I have already checked with the vets and this hay is okay for her and she is receiving the proper amount.

Her pushy little attitude is really not too bad and can be worked with. When leading her, she tries to get ahead of you, but she has now been introduced to take five to ten steps and stop and then proceed in this fashion until we reach our destination or if she continues being pushy, we back her up or make her walk in circles whereas the focus is back on us and not her mission to get where she is going fast. She will learn patience this way, she did better yesterday going back to her stall. But daily interface is important. We were also informed that Bright was afraid of people, she has not displayed any of this behavior with anyone that she has encountered upon their arrival on the 29th up until today. I will reiterate what everyone has said, she is a little white Fairy Princess, a Magical Unicorn and to me she is our Little Paris. She will be with us for quite some time as we really need to ensure her feet are the best they can be and we have taken the excess weight off her through proper diet and monitoring.

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Sophie, what can I say about this sweet gentle lady. Sophie does not have front teeth, her coat is in poor condition, and she has scaly skin under her coat. She even has her own brush, which is not to be used on anyone else. Her coat is dull and brittle. She has a very thin, wispy tail. We use to call this a rat-tailed Appy. You can see the dock of her tail as this is how thin it is. Now Acey and Shiloh came to us with hardly any tail hair either, but now they have beautiful tails. So, with good nutrition we are hoping all of this will be reversed. Sophie is receiving soak warm alfalfa cubes, along with Sr. Equine. I blend the Sr. in with soak cubes and it is good to see that Sophie is eating this with so much gusto. The last two feedings she has whinnied at me, as if telling me, I am here bring it to me..wonderful feeling. She is blind in her left eye and seems to be well adjusted. Sophie is truly a love, and while grooming her, had she been a cat she would have been purring. With time and good nutrition we will see a difference in her. She loves attention.

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Jerri and Theresa have forged a bond. This is good for Jerri. This bond is important as it will allow Jerri to accept others more readily. We will never give up on Jerri. If this is the best she gets then we accept this. Everything is taken in stride, without a ounce of aggression on our part. We approach Jerri with caution and respect, and she has learned to respect our space as well. The nut will be cracked, when it is ready.

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It has been two weeks since Spirit's gelding and he is all healed and is in excellent condition. No problems whatsoever. In January he will be allowed to be with Baby B once again, and they can sort whose the boss then. Of course under supervision. :)

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I hope that I have managed to answer the questions some of you may have had. Thank you to everyone for participating in our fund raisers, it is appreciated.

Have a great day!!!

Stephanie