The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive

 

Golden Carrot

March 2011 Newsletter

 

This is curious Sarge and Star. Sarge has no one - will you consider sponsoring him? And Star's sponsor has recently been cut back on hours - she's still sponsoring but...can you help her keep Star safe?

 

Sorry for two months passing without a newsletter - things have been VERY tough here.

 

I HAVE been keeping the News/Update link, with day to day information about what the horses and I’m up to here at TGC, up to date (http://goldencarrotrescue.com/Newsupdates.aspx and I hope folks will make that link a "favorite" and keep visiting. We are at almost 5,000 visitors just since the new year - please share the site with your friends, family and office workers, particularly right now when some folks are getting tax refunds they may consider sharing with us! If you can’t help with a donation, one time or monthly, please try to spread the word about our need. Share our website with your Facebook friends, tell everyone at school or the office, be ambassadors for The Golden Carrot horses - you never know when you might find the one person who will make a donation, or become a sponsor!

 

First, the icky news...

Equine Affaire: A huge bust for TGC

 

Well, I’m never doing it again, I assure you. Years ago TGC had a booth at a Pet Expo and we at least made enough in donations to pay the costs of the booth. Here, at a horse-oriented convention, TGC made all of $55 in donations (I don’t know what HHH got). Costs of this booth were in excess of $450. Money I could sorely use right now. I also heard from three people contacting me to put their horses here - And of course, having a full house, I had to say no. One of those horses, Toby, was euthanized. The extra work for 5 days caring for Heavenly Horse Haven’s mob, even with the help of their employee Richard and volunteers, knocked me out. I can’t say one good thing about it. I suppose it might have been different if TGC had it’s own booth, and volunteers able to man it, or care for the horses while I did. But .... the cost was difficult to manage for half. It’s out of the question that I’ll have enough for a booth for TGC alone.

Here's the booth, with Gina and her volunteers.

 

 

I want to thank Lisa Brozek who helped set up the booth; DeeAnn Bradley who manned the booth by herself for a couple of hours on Thursday, dying of boredom the whole time (that first day was pretty dead); Laurie Henkel who had to pay her own way in (Gina’s volunteer had the tickets and couldn’t be reached) and manned the booth for 5 hours on Friday. And also Julia Brozek for putting together a slideshow of unsponsored and partially sponsored horses, and Barrie Young and Sandi Kruise of Sandi Kruise Insurance Training for the 450 double sided color fliers designed by Barrie which were handed out at the Affaire.

 

Now, a little better news!

Another Bulk Feed Bin

 

Last week, searching the craigslist ads, I was able to find a deal for two 6-ton feed bins, exactly like the large one I already have. I wrote the seller and asked if they would consider donating the bins, one to me and one to HHH. And they agreed! Unfortunately, when we went the next day to see them and determine how to get them, one had been given to a neighbor, who promptly sold it. The other was still there, and has a two small holes that needs to be repaired and two legs have minor ‘bends’ which probably occurred when the bin was laid on the ground. It’s all fixable tho, so after much planning, my neighbor "old" Mike Roth and I went to the property last Saturday. Gina and "young" Mike met us to help load it, as once I get it repaired and erected, I can give HHH my smaller 3 ton bin. They use a lot less pellets than I, but this will enable them to get 3 tons delivered, which will last them 3 months. There wasn’t as much manual labor involved as you’d think, considering the size and weight of this bin. I worked up a sweat shoveling old feed and crap out of the inside of it; and "old" Mike did some grunting when levering the bin once it was in the trailer to reposition it a little, but mostly our trucks did the work, pulling it up over the trailer and lowering it in.

 

 

It cost me $40 in gas to get it. Now, I need $200 to fix it, which my neighbor has promised to help with this weekend, and then raise it up. Anyone willing to donate towards that?

 

 

Now, even more wonderful news!

Laddie

 

As you know, Neigh Savers had agreed to take Laddie and retrain and rehome him if I didn’t find a home here. The only lead I had never materialized. But Karin has been doing a bang up job at Neigh Savers, placing several horses, and now having room, she actually contacted me to take Laddie at the end of April. I had intended to start working with Laddie as soon as the weather let up, and then Karin let me know that she had transport coming to this area at the end of March - and wanted to take Laddie then! Wow, only about 10 days away, our oversized mischief maker will be leaving for his new life..... I have absolute faith in Karin, and know that Laddie will be properly cared for, trained, and placed in a good home that will appreciate him. As a one-time Golden Carrot resident, he goes with the promise that, assuming I’m still in operation, he can come back here when his working days are over. Karin also has a ‘no questions asked’ return policy, so I feel Laddie will be safe.  We're gonna miss the squirt tho.....

 

 

Some thoughts...

 

I wasn’t kidding about there not being a lot of news, am I? This is a slow season here, due to the wretched weather. We’ve had record rains and snow fall and unbelievable bitter cold. This affects finances, because although my horses have stalls and blankets, they are mostly OLD - and like me, they FEEL the cold more. My only aid to avoid weight loss is to feed more - they need those calories to stay warm. And so the feed costs are higher than summer. Which brings me to my usual plea - PLEASE DON’T FORGET US!

 

The forgotten ones

 

In the horse world, as Equine Affaire clearly showed, these old guys are the forgotten ones, the disregarded, fading out of awareness or concern. All their years of effort are dismissed and their willingness to still work is denigrated. They’re not useful enough, strong enough, sound enough anymore. I believe with all my heart that this is a prevailing attitude in society about everything "old", be it humans we don’t care for (check out your local senior center and look at the hopeless loneliness on the faces), old cars (all of 5 years old and replaced for something ‘better’), old clothes, or old animals. I can’t understand how someone can turn their back on an old dog or horse, at their most vulnerable due to age, difficult to place or adopt due to age, scared and unable to change easily due to age. But it happens every day. I can’t solve all problems, or save everyone.

 

But here at TGC, these equine residents have been saved and have become a family. Can you help them, with just a $10 or $15 donation each month? That’s not even 50 cents a day! But if enough people will do it, these horses, and perhaps more, can be safe. You can set up a bill-pay with your bank, they send the check each month and you don’t have to think about it. You can use Paypal and set up a monthly deduction from bank or credit card. You can write that check - maybe send $30 every 3 months to save hassle and postage? I don’t want it to be an irritation - I want you to feel the satisfaction of helping these horses, and this is truly an easy thing to do. To help these horses, go to Donate/Sponsor a Horse to see the different ways you can help.

 

Donations so far this year have been painfully low. I’m serious folks. There’s only so much I can do to save money. The feed bins make a huge difference, but ..... The horses need sponsors. See who has no person of their own at sponsored/unsponsored horses The horses need donors. It’s literally life and death for them. Remember, this is a sanctuary. Your support provides a safe haven for these horse for the remainder of their days. And so, unlike many rescues, we do not get adoption fees. Only donations from folks like yourself keep these guys safe. Every week, just from the Fallon NV feedlot, 35 horses ship to slaughter. And I see daily reports of another rescue closing its doors; another "rescue" found starving its residents; and read daily pleas from other rescues for small donations just to feed the horses. We have all suffered in this long bitter-cold winter from higher feed bills and lower donations. I feel that people are closing themselves off, and holding on to every dime, at a time when all need to be opening up, helping each other, reaching out.

 

I understand that times are unbelievably difficult. Remember, I barely survived myself last year, making all of $6,700 for the whole year. I had hopes in 2009 that maybe TGC could start paying me a small amount for all this work, but these days I’m worried about just meeting the feed bill. I understand about sacrifice and cutting back. I never leave this property unless I can hitch a ride with my neighbor, because I can’t afford the gas. I go to the store with a strict list, and only buy things on special. But just about anyone can afford $10 a month. Will you?

 

And just to be clear - more is better! :-) Check out the website, find a face that calls to you, and tell me you’ll step up for that face, each month. Shari Davies just joined our family, stepping up with a partial sponsorship for Shine. Maybe you'd like to join her to help Shine, or look for another to help. You’ll be amazed how happy you’ll feel, the minute you make that commitment!

This is Silver - HE could use a Sponsor....His sponsorship is $100 per month, or whatever you can commit to for a partial sponsorship.

 

I want to take one last moment to thank you all - each donor, each golden sponsor, each friend who spreads the word about these horses and their needs. These horses are safe because of you, and if you never did another good thing in your life, this should earn you some wings, in my book. It’s hard to help the downtrodden and disregarded, because there’s not a lot of glory in it. But I promise you, the relief, and gentle glow of happiness and comfort in their eyes is more than glorious. They would tell you "thank you" too, if they could.