The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive

Daisy

We’ve taken in the third horse mentioned previously, at the request of Animal Services of Riverside. Sweet Daisy, a tall elegant mare, aged approximately 23 years, with possible paint or Appaloosa breeding (one half-blue eye). Animal Services seized Daisy in November of 2009 from a facility where there were one dead and several thin horses, and a number of pigs who had starved to death. Daisy is really in great shape, and after a few weeks here, has gained weight, and established herself as the lead mare of our little herd in the ex-quarantine area. She appears to be sound, and as soon as the weather permits, I’ll be beginning to work with her, first on the ground and then under saddle, to see if she will be, as we hope, a good candidate for our therapy riding program.  Daisy has a dominant herd mare personality like Chacha, and rules her little herd of Anaba and Oso with an iron hoof.  But she is a sweet thing for people to handle.

With relation to the newbies, Anaba has developed a skin fungus that we’re treating with fungal shampoo and medication - hopefully, we’ll have the same success we had with Hershey and Prophet last summer. Unfortunately, she has a thick winter coat making it difficult to treat, and so right now, she looks a little scruffy! Otherwise, she’s gained weight and looks great - she took a little beating from Daisy as they established hierarchy and now the girls seem to be good friends.

 

Oso has blossomed! I laughed to see the excited face of my volunteer, Shela, when she reported that Oso, on seeing her approach, came thundering down the whole length of the turnout - so fast she was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop! He proceeded to tell her a sob story that he’d not yet been fed, and she was so convinced, she gave him an extra portion of pellets! I know he was hoping for apples and carrots, which she often brings, but of course, he ate the pellets too! I wish I’d seen it, but have seen him develop such a personality - if I offer something less than he wants, he goes to his stall door and begs to be let in where the GOOD stuff would be! He’s filling out, and doesn’t spend as much time lying down. 

A couple of days ago, I was attracted to a disturbance in the main paddock, and realized with a shock that Oso had decided to take his ladies walkabout! All three of them were on the main road outside the property, and as I hotfooted it out there, halter in hand, Oso took off down the road in a very brisk and businesslike trot!   Realistically, this was probably more than he could do, and I think he was grateful, as I was, when I was finally able to catch him.  Daisy was thundering around him in circles with her tail flagged, Anaba looked worried, and they were happy to follow me when I led Oso back to the arena.  Upon arrival, I found he had simply PUSHED the fence right over!  They all seemed relieved to be back on familiar ground, and supervised while I made some repairs to the fencing.  Today, I was grateful when volunteers Andrew, Billy and Ingrid made some more substantial repairs to the arena fencing, to prevent a repeat.
Their methods may be unorthodox, but they were having fun, and the results were very functional!


So I think Oso may be on the road to full recovery .... We have to remember he’s 19-20 years of age, and with such a large horse, may not have many years left, particularly after the strain on him caused by his starvation. But ..... we’re hopeful. The final good news for Oso is that Garys Deli in Idllywild has been collecting funds to help with his extra feed expenses.  And due to Garys generosity to me as well, I can testify that he has some FABULOUS vegetarian items to offer - I recommend checking out his store if you visit Idllywild!  Thank you, Gary, for stepping up for Oso.

 

And Duke has a sponsor! I’m thrilled that Shela has fallen for the teddybear ears of Duke, and decided to sponsor him as well as Chacha! Shela knows that she has the two oldest, frailest sponsorees. She didn’t want them to die having never had their own person to care .... They are very lucky. Duke showed a lot of spunk when we had to lay him down again to trim his feet, and continues to show a determination to live that keeps me from making that final decision. He had a huge abscess in his right front foot, and so I put him in the spare stall for a couple of days (his is a quagmire) but he was so upset about it, and tried so hard to go thru the fence back to the main paddock and "his" herd, that I gave in (after yet another sleepless night with him calling every hour on the hour) and put him back in his usual stall. Daisy was very sad to see him go, but he walked off without a backward look! What a guy.... but before you are surprised, Happy did the exact same thing, after a similar experiment with him. Surprising to me - it’s not like they were alone! And the stall they were in was nice and dry! Sheesh.... My grumpy old men....

I was thrilled when, at the recommendation and request of my Idllywild volunteers, Community Lumber in Idllywild donated some lumber for stall repairs and roof repairs. And then they THANKED ME for helping them clean up their yard! "-) In addition, Shela donated some paneling to replace damaged roof panels, as well as some 2x4s, joist hangers, and some money to pay Albino for labor too. So, as soon as the weather will cooperate again, more repair/replacement work on the stalls will continue. I’ve had Albino out to separate Debbie and Mary, as finally, I think, Debbie was eating too much too fast, and leaving Mary without the comfort of eating at her own speed. Mary is starting to show her years, and it was important to give her the time and space she needs. She and Deb are still inseparable in the field everyday and still next door to each other, sharing the same roof, and Mary seems to be doing a little better. Albino also extended the stalls for the new horses - when originally built, they were to be short term quarantine stalls, with daily turnout. But now, horses are living in them, and at this time of year, spending a lot of time in them. They’re now the same size as my main stalls...

I’m writing  because there is a bit of a food crisis.  Although Casey can buy a few bales at a time, she saves $1000 if she can get a truckload at one time….and she feels like she owes it to her donors to be as responsible and accountable as she can be.  Right now, things are tough, as we all know, and she doesn’t have enough to buy a truckload. 

I am asking, humble hat in hand, if everyone who is comfortably able to would please consider putting a $10.00 bill in an envelope today and sending it to The Golden Carrot, 44700 Tule Canyon Road, Anza CA 92539.  Your $10.00 will buy a bail of Bermuda grass hay, alfalfa, or a bag of alfalfa pellets.  As some of you know, we have a Belgian draft horse who is recovering from starvation and that guy can eat…in fact, hasn’t stopped eating since he arrived! 

If this is something you aren’t able or wanting to do, please send your best thoughts and energy to the horses...visualize 35 velvet noses noshing away!  And if you have already given to TGC, please disregard this and know how appreciated you are.

This is a one-time request…I won’t be asking for anything more on their behalf….Thank you, Shela

 

You have to love her, doncha?  At any rate, I continue to feel that if I could get everyone on my mailing list, and all who have joined as members of the Golden Carrot Facebook page to send $10, even once, let alone monthly, feeding these horses would no longer be such a strain.  It is not that I do not want more - I can always use more for vet and farrier bills, materials and labor for repair/rebuild of stalls and fences and I thank you if you can send more - but feed is always the greatest concern, and it seemed to me that $10 is something most can afford.  If you can send $10, either one time, or monthly, it WILL ABSOLUTELY help!

Speaking of my Volunteers -  I had all three of my regular volunteer ladies (Shela, Danielle and Leslie) learn, with sweet Falcon, how to lead a horse, both singly and with a rider; and then gave each of them a few minutes in the saddle! They all did great, and we’ll continue to work with having them handle different horses, particularly those we hope to use in our therapy riding program...　In addition, I have been happy to meet Andrew, Billy (goofing around above on the fence) and Ingrid (below hugging her best bud, Prophet), who want to volunteer weekly, and who have mentioned the possibility that they may do a partial sponsorship for a couple of horses.  Fingers crossed! 

 

I was very happy to hear from Debbie Friedman, who owns SwingSwingSwing, half brother to our own Swings Lew! Debbie has committed to a small monthly amount to join with co-Sponsor Julie Cecere sponsoring Lew, provided me with information on Lews Daddy, Swing Til Dawn, and is going to get me more information on Lews birth stats!  What a great person - I am glad to welcome her to TGC!  Please see www.thegoldencarrot.org/Lew.asp to see Debbies darling Mason - they DO look like brothers!

 

 

On a final, personal note, I need to report to everyone that TGC no longer has a phone. I SWEAR - I paid the bill!  But Verizon took over my phone accounts from MCI, and despite over 25 hours spent on the phone before they turned it off, they can not seem to figure out what they are doing.  They sent back one of my payments; they turned the account on, off, on again and then off without any warning to me.  Bottom line at this point, I finally gave up and wrote a letter setting forth the history of the silliness and am hoping to hear from a real human being soon.  For an account that was only open 1 month and 3 weeks, and which they told me would cost $95 a month, Verizon is trying to charge me $406.  They ARE charging for the time the phone has been disconnected, and three weeks into the future!!!  Dang.  No cell service is available at my home.  Obviously you can still reach me via email which I check constantly, and I have a wierd computer phone thingy (951-267-0441) which will take messages (talking on it is like talking on a very bad radio connection but for some reason, messages are usually quite clear).  Hopefully, at some point, I can reach a person of reasonable intelligence at Verizon and get my phone back, but that is kinda stretching optimism.  I feel like Im waiting for an audience with Oz.....

 

OK, that is the news from TGC.  Please remember that these horses are here and still need you and your support so much.  And hay, even though I do not have a phone, I still need to know you are out there.  Anytime you have a question, or suggestion, or comment, I really love to hear from you.  Please - I feel pretty isolated these days - drop me a line!