The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive
December 2015
Year End Newsletter
I watched the beautiful full moon on Christmas night. The last time the moon was full on Christmas was in 1977. The year Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown (I was there to see him win the Derby!). How much my life has changed in those years. Then, I was 22, a legal secretary, a party girl. Today, I’m just over 60, a stall mucker, and I’m done for the day by 9PM every night! It was 16 years after Slew’s win before I started The Golden Carrot. This year marks the loss of horses who’ve been with me since TGC began, and even before. Somehow, I feel as though a sea change is occurring. I’m hopeful that the one big thing we need to start anew and refreshed is out there, waiting to find its way here. (That’s either a donation of land, or such a huge financial donation that I can buy the land we need)
Dang it all, there HAS been a lot going on!
New Residents
I was approached by the investigating Animal Services officer about this 15 year old OTTB. Their vet had told them he was 24 .... Beppe was skinny and emotionally shut down - well behaved but without liveliness you’d expect at his actual age.
One of Beppe's great-grandpas was Seattle Slew. He’s a racing warrior with 56 races under his belt, mostly in the mid-West, and early races at Golden Gate, Santa Anita and Del Mar. His earnings were just over $64,000. Despite so much work, he’s sound except for a popped knee that at this point doesn’t seem to bother him.
This is Tolly with Beppe (look at how that topline has improved!), 30 days in.
Tolly was a polo pony, and with her age, melanomas and stifle problems, not adoptable. So Polo Pony Rescue asked if we could retire her, and they were kind enough to pick up Beppe from San Bernardino on the way - resulting in the well known ‘trailer love’ so that Tolly and Beppe are inseparable!
She is just the sweetest mare, with soft eyes and a strong interest in food. Also, they used to call her “Dirty Tolly” and I sure can see why. She just ADORES a roll in a mud puddle -
Dear Lucy is a starvation case. Under the Angel’s Wings were contacted about her and asked if I had room. The people who had her ‘couldn’t afford to take care of her’ any longer. And frankly, hadn’t for the entire 6 months they had her. UAWR brought her here, and I was shocked. She is the skinniest horse I’ve ever taken on, and in her 30s. The doctor estimated her at 250 pounds underweight. She has one long tooth that needs floating, but she’s too thin to handle sedation at her age. A couple of weeks in, she developed a thick stinky discharge from her right nostril. This might be very bad news. If it is a diseased tooth, the procedure to remove it will require transport to a clinic and a surgery to punch the tooth out. This is unlikely to be something she can survive in her condition and at her age. We started her on antibiotics for 14 days. At day four, there was still discharge (and still is) but it’s not stinky which is very encouraging, indicating this may be a gutteral pouch infection, or stubborn upper respiratory infection. So at the end of the 14 days, the doc recommended 14 more, and since she’s perkier, and stronger, and gaining weight slowly, we’re hopeful. Lucy has two part sponsors, and needs more. Can you join with Meg and Deb and give a small monthly amount to help her?
Little Glory, a Palomino quarterpony mare, stood alone in the auction, facing only interest from the kill buyers. Lucky for her HiCaliber Horse Rescue was there, and they were able to bid for her, and bring her home. She’s thin, a little swaybacked, and her feet were messed up, but she is absolutely adorable, and I am certain she was once someone’s loved pet. Horrible to imagine her, in her faith and trust, climbing into the kill buyer’s truck .... but instead, she came here. Glory is friendly and fearless - and after flirting with most of the male horses here, has decided that she loves the adorable Pepe Grillo! Unfortunately, I can’t arrange enough horses to put her with him, so each morning, he leads Keller and Lucy over to find Glory, and the four hang out.... Little Glory needs more sponsorship too - can you help?
Fundraising Efforts
We had our Christmas auction on Facebook, and thanks to the donors who gave us such lovely items we raised just over $1700!!! YAY! Many thanks to Irene, Katja, Dawn, Sue and Renee for donating such great items, as well as shipping and handling. We had over 60 items in our auction, so the amount of work to take photos, provide descriptions, package up each item and ship them at Christmastime is enormous. I and the horses really appreciate their efforts!
Lisa Montgomery, one of our supporters, set up a GoFundMe and helped to raise over $550 for us! YAYYY! It was just a spur of the moment fundraiser, and we are so grateful that she thought of us, and did the writeup and got this money to us!
Horse & Man has made Lucy and Glory their Bucket Fund horses this month, in honor of Dawn’s dearly departed Mama Tess, and so far, we’ve seen the amount raise to just over $1000! The Bucket Fund works on the premise that only a few dollars from enough people will add up to help a LOT, so if you’ve got $5 to spare, would you join with the others to help Lucy and Glory? I think it would also help Dawn, who is grieving the loss of her lovely mare. Many of us follow her blog and went thru the last years of her efforts to save Tess. It was a huge shock to me that Tess was done, so I imagine for Dawn, it was a blow from which she will be slow to recover.
After the Finish Line also stepped up this month to help Beppe! They gave us enough to cover all of Beppe’s expenses for four months! This is a terrific organization who support off track thoroughbreds all over the nation. Anytime you get tired of my pleas, but you still want to help horses, this is a great organization to consider, as they make SURE your donated dollars go directly to the care and comfort of the horses.
Losses
In 2015, we lost ten friends. From the sensitive Shawnee, who had been my friend for over 20 years, to dear Saki who had barely 3 months here, each took a piece of my heart with them. But with your help, we took in 11 new souls. Reggie, Trace, Tolly, Beppe, Princesa, Glory, Carson, Durango, Jules, Rebel and Lucy are all alive today thanks to you. A wide range of horses, who were in different conditions, with different personalities, but each one worked for humans their whole life - lived under the thumb of humanity and doing what they were asked until they could no longer. The Golden Carrot is their reward - our chance to give back in appreciation of their effort.
We also lost some sponsors, as will happen, but were particularly affected by the loss of Donna Naylor, Biscuit's longtime part-sponsor, to cancer. She was a lovely woman, always took the time to send me encouraging notes, and in addition to her sponsorship, some 'extra' for the pellet fund, and cookies for Biscuit on Valentines day and such. RIP Donna. I don't have to tell you to watch over Biscuit from heaven, I know you will.
And 2015 was the hardest year of all for me. 22 years into this endeavor. I started the year with a very bad injury which has literally affected my every move - thankfully I feel I'm slowly heading towards better physical ability. On top of that, all these emotional losses. And the continuing day to day drain dealing with yet another request for TGC to "take my horse(s)". I've had some help from volunteers Irene and Deb, but distance limits what Irene can do for us, and Deb has as many physical problems as I! I hope that in 2016 two things can happen - one is that the land TGC needs will be donated, or some enormous donations will be made allowing me to buy that land; and two is that somewhere, somehow, I can find someone to be a helper at least a couple of days a week - a reliable hardworking person who needs an extra $100 a week or so.
We keep on. We keep trying, because the horses need us. They are the innocent victims of humanity's selfishness and indifference. We take away their choices, and even lives, as Mother Nature designed them, and then punish them for "being expensive" or "not behaving" the way we want. Humanity as a whole disregards their effort and willingness to please, and disregards their needs if those are "inconvenient". At the Golden Carrot, we try hard to allow them to be horses. To consider their needs before our convenience. To show them that some humans appreciate what they've done. I am grateful for your help in this endeavor, and I swear to you that they appreciate it too. I try hard to use our FB page as a daily diary of the facility, so even if you're not "on" Facebook, try clicking that link and put it in your favorites, to see our day to day activities. You, I believe, will see that they are happy. And that is because of you, and your support. In this last week before New Years, please consider making a donation, in ANY amount, to their care. You can find what you need at our website page: Donate/Sponsor a Horse
