Edward!!!

Kelly just sent me some candid pics of my handsome boy. I tell you, pictures like these of my horses being so well taken care of lift my spirits more than anything else can!!

I have to post something GOOD....

because the next few may be very bad indeed.

First of all, Colton's (Ringo) owner sent me this picture of what a gorgeous boy he's turning into:


She ADORES him and I couldn't be happier with where he is and how he looks. I got so lucky meeting Sandra. She is a skilled, caring, responsible horse owner and with the battle I'm currently helping with (ironically having to do with Colton's dam) a picture like this comes at the perfect time.

I also got an email from Maybe Baby's owner and she adores her as well--AND is looking forward to showing her soon!! Maybe stands 15.2+ H now and is still growing. Not too bad for a 14.1H dam and a 15.1H sire LOL. I am so happy with where she is, too, to know she is so loved and appreciated. It's an invaluable feeling...

Here are a couple of pictures of my current dork :) OK, the first pic is VERY redneck, but these kids, I tell you. The backyard is so lush and green it seems a waste to just mow it all down, so as a special treat I let the boys out on it, supervised. Of course after they had their fill they looked for trouble and I had to nix the whole backyard grazing idea LOL. Anyway, I got these pics on my phone before the boys' fun ended. JJ is a dog, I swear, he'd walk right into the house if I let him....


But here they are before they caused trouble and got put away. JJ stands 15H at the hip now. He's definitely a moose :)

Cecilia "Sandy" Jarvis strikes again...

The poor mare pictured above was due to foal last week.

As many already are well aware, this mare was removed from Sandy Jarvis's place yesterday with the help of the local law enforcement. By the way, kudos to the Kiowa County, OK Sheriff's department! They have certainly been outstanding through this entire ordeal.

In addition, everytime I get an email I see humanity at work in seeing the horse community come together in a time of need. It is heartwarming to hear of so many people reaching out to help. Thank you so much to all those who have contributed so far!!

Just as a comparison, here is how the mare looks when she is healthy:

According to Sandy, these pictures below show a mare that is just "a little thin."

We can guess where the money for feed is going....

Could it be going towards your new tattoos? http://www.myspace.com/diamond_j_ranch Gee, I wonder why it says she's anxious--I guess when you don't call a mare's owner back for several days because another horse looks like this in your care (again) you'd better be a little anxious...

Or, you can follow dear Sandy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/diamondjranch Seems "feeding horses" is not listed in any of the day's activities.

Feel free to check out her public blog: http://www.diamondjranch.blogspot.com/

Enuf said.....

3-Strikes Rescue Operation

SW Nebraska--Three Strikes Ranch, a supposed sancuary for unadoptable mustangs is now the center of a massive rescue operation. According to the owner there were once 300 horses on the place. Reports of up to 50 have been found dead and another 100+ are alive, but extremely emaciated: http://s631.photobucket.com/albums/uu39/mustanglove12/

Here are some current articles on the situation:

http://www.cjonline.com/interact/blog/aleah_mahan/2009-04-20/scores_of_neglected_mustangs_imperiled_on_nebraska_ranch_update

http://www.habitatforhorses.org/whatsnew/NEMustangs.html

Here is the rescue in charge of donations:
http://www.frontrangeequinerescue.org/

According to their website, "There is currently a serious situation at 3-Strikes Ranch in Alliance, NE. Approximately 170 mustangs have been found to be thin and in need of rehabilitation. Veterinarians and law enforcement are currently working hard to determine the cause for their condition. In the meantime, there is a great need for hay to feed these mustangs.
Front Range Equine Rescue in Larkspur, CO, will be handling the collecting of donations and purchase of the hay to help these horses.
The quickest way to help is by Paypal. The Paypal address for Front Range Equine Rescue is: donatebuy@frontrangeequinerescue.org.
If you do not have access to Paypal you can mail donations to: Front Range Equine Rescue, PO Box 307, Larkspur, CO 80118."

I will try to keep the blog updated as to the situation. This is why I am starting to truly believe that licensing for horse owners is going to be a neccessary evil in the future. It will limit all our rights to horse ownership, but I'd rather give up some rights than to have crap like this keep happening...

Thank you AQHA!!!

Finally...AQHA has finally stopped turning their backs to blatent abuse by BNT's. I am so glad to see this happen. It won't stop him as there are way too many people with money who want to win, no matter what happens to their horse, but this is a start...an important start:

Cleve Wells Receives One Year Suspension and $10,000 Fine from AQHA
GoHorseShow.com
Published 04/22/2009 - 8:08 p.m. CDT
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The AQHA Executive Committee met Wednesday, April 22 at its Amarillo, Texas headquarters. A hearing was called to determine whether or not the Executive Committee would pursue further action after upholding the recommendation made by the Professional Horsemen's Council to remove Cleve Wells from the Professional Horsemen Association. After a six hour hearing and deliberation, the Executive Committee’s decision was to suspend Wells for one year plus pay a $10,000 fine. At the end of the one year suspension, Wells must show cause for reinstatement. If cause is shown and he is reinstated, Wells will be placed on indefinite probation.

Wells was called before the Executive Committee in response to allegations of abuse to Slow Lopin Scotch, a horse which he had in training at his Burleson, Texas facility. Wells and his attorney attended the hearing in addition to Slow Lopin Scotch’s owners, Nicole Marr and Wayne Holley. Witnesses for both sides were also permitted to speak before the Executive Committee which is comprised of Jim Helzer – President, Johannes Orgeldinger - First Vice President, Dick Monahan - Second Vice President, Peter J. Cofrancesco III – Member and Gene Graves - Member.

The ruling handed down by the Executive Committee was due to Wells’ determined violation of AQHA Rule # 104(a). The rule reads as follows:
104. VIOLATIONS.
(a) No person shall treat any horse in a cruel or inhumane manner, including, but not limited to, the prohibited conduct specified in the Show Rules and Regulations section of this Handbook. Cruelty to horses other than American Quarter Horses is included in this prohibition, as it indicates a general course of dealing with horses, that is unacceptable for AQHA membership qualification. For violation of this rule, an AQHA member may be disciplined, suspended, fined and/or expelled from AQHA, and a non-member may be denied AQHA privileges. This prohibition against cruelty includes, but is not limited to, AQHA members and/or owners of American Quarter Horses, their agents, representatives and employees, the actions for that a member or owner are also responsible."

There were so many things that had to happen just right to enable AQHA to move forward on this ruling, but thankfully they were able to suspend Wells and bring some justice to Slo Lopin Scotch. Nicole and her father were very smart in how they handled the situation, documenting everything and bringing their horse to a vet right away. Just remember if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, document and report everything!

Congrats to Nicole, her father and their horse. While I would have liked to have seen an indefinite suspension, this has still made a positive impact and given Slo Lopin Scotch a bit of well deserved justice.....

What a beautiful day!

Very pretty day.... I got home late because of a road closure (gotta love Kansas City) but I was able to take advantage of the nice weather and get to work on the girls.

This is Hope (Hope likes to pose for the camera). She is an absolutely gorgeous mare that my friend Darlene is graciously allowing me to borrow so I can get my riding legs back. She's a very pretty, sweet, well-bred mare. She hasn't been ridden much over the last few years as she's been busy being a broodie, but she's going to be packing me around some this year instead (poor girl LOL). We're both out of shape so we're working on getting into riding shape together. I got to saddle her up and lunge her some today. We both felt great starting out but we both wore out fast so that's as far as we got, but we'll be off and riding soon enough.

It's not really fair of me to post a picture of Paula up beside a stunning mare like Hope (poor Paula got her momma's looks LOL), but here she is...picture taken yesterday while she was playing with Sophie. I couldn't remember if I had ever saddle Paula before, but even if I have it was only once or twice over a year ago. I threw the saddle on her tonight and she did great. I sacked her out, lunged her, and asked her to bend. She did so well....except for the bending lol. This girl has no give at all so we'll have to spend some time on that, but otherwise she did great for what very well could have been her first saddling.

I'll leave you with another Hope pose (she held this position for 5 solid minutes, I swear...). I'm renaming her "Tyra." She wants to be on top. ROFL!!

As Promised....

Pictures!!

After I got done changing the oil in the truck there was just enough time to snap a couple of quick shots. Sorry, the horses are pathetically dirty, but hopefully this week I can give all of them a good grooming. In the meantime, here they all are in their filthy glory....

Fabian and JJ playing. Bad shot of JJ but kind of a cool shot of Fabian. Fabian has the prettiest face (but no butt LOL)

Yes, this is the horse I have to break next month.....

"It's MY baby!!!!"

Turns out Fabian has some of his daddy in him afterall.... Look out Samson!!

I've never seen Samson move so fast....

But he was ok! Here he is resting. He's looking more and more like a Great Pyrenees everyday.

And here's Empress. She's got a belly, but she's not pregnant!! (She's also very dirty, but we'll fix that tomorrow....)

Hope everyone else is enjoying this lovely weather. I am on track to have 2, perhaps 3 stalls done by the end of the month. Keep your fingers crossed for me! I can't wait to get JJ and Laramie in and start fitting on them.

Good News!!

First of all, I sincerely apologize for my lack of posts. I've really been getting things caught up around here, though, and I'm trying to take full advantage while I'm still in the mood to get organized--so bear with me! I'll be back soon....

In the meantime, I was out checking on the girls today during a break and checking Empress's bag as I always do, and Hope (the lovely mare I'm borrowing from Darlene so I can get my riding legs back) walks up to us and Empress walks towards her. I'm expecting Empress to get bitchy with Hope as she usually does, but instead she arches her neck, sniffs, and pees! I've never been so happy to see a mare pee LOL!!! She's NOT pregnant!!!! YAY!!!

Needless to say that is a huge relief. I can let her just slowly recover, keep working on her feet and let her just be a horse for the summer, instead of worrying about pushing more weight on her, preparing for her to be in more and more pain as the weight increased on her sore legs, etc....what a trial that would have been for us both. Now I'm not worried at all--she will have tons of time to recover fully and we won't have one more mediocre foal in the world. Don't get me wrong, the stud was cute, but it would have been a very average foal by a very average stud (I still think someone should buy him and geld him--what a nice looking riding horse he'd be!!). There are way too many babies out there right now and Empress needs time to heal before she has her next one. I am so very happy we've bought some time for her recovery and no worries about trying to find another horse another good home!!

I'll try to get some pics and news posted tomorrow. I have a very funny video of Samson as well. Stay tuned!! :)

What is wrong with people?

Anyone want to join me in a lynch mob, since there doesn't seem to be any justice out there? My mind can't--won't conceive of how a person can watch a horse starve to death and do nothing at all about it.

"Just wanted you all to know before it gets out, that our Stallion Titan A Barlink, that was a 2X APHA Res World Champion, has passed away. Danny sold him to a man under a contract with 2 other horses and was residing at Creflo Dollar (a TV Preacher) estate. We didn't have a contract with him but the man had a agreement to have them there. Well long story short this man starved them and on the report Titan weighed only 800 lbs. close to the time of death. You know me well and I am going to get the word out. We had to go to court for repo to get him but by the time we got the judgement we were a week to late. I have contacted news and legal and this is not the end, I will keep you informed of the out come. "

Here's the news story: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19179315/detail.html#-

Put his name right there with Cecilia "Sandy" Jarvis (see Paula's post here).

A Very Lucky Horse

This is Ben

Ben was born windswept. We took him to an equine specialist at only a few days old to see what could be done as both his front and back legs were bent badly.

The vet said to give him Adequan injections and showed us how to trim him every week to encourage his legs to straighten. His back leg corrected itself and his front leg started doing better. He was almost normal for a bit.

But then as soon as we thought he might get better, he got much worse. Another trip to the vet was fruitless. Radiographs were taken and no surgery would help. We considered euthanizing Ben--we didn't want him to have a life filled with pain, but the vet assured us his quality of life was not yet compromised, so we brought him home, hoping we could find the right home to adopt him out to. He was so incredibly sweet and loving, I wanted to give him a chance to live out as much of his life as his body would allow.

Several people responded, but none made me feel comfortable enough that Ben's needs would be taken care of, including that one hard day when his quality of life would be compromised and his new owner would be called upon to release him from his pain. This is a lot to ask anyone to take on, but Lucy Flannagen answered the call.

Lucy has had Ben since he was weaned. He is three years old now, a gorgeous bay gelding whom she loves and takes incredibly good care of. Just recently Ben had tendon surgery to make him more comfortable. This is a picture of him before his surgery--I will share the after pictures once I get them. It's clear to see he is well loved and cared for--he is glowing with health. His leg has obviously changed a lot and he will always have some sort of issue with it, but Lucy is dedicated to giving Ben as full of a life as possible.

What a lucky horse. There are not many people that would give a crippled up horse such a wonderful, loving home. Thank you so much, Lucy. You're truly Ben's angel!

A Fun Comparison

I just realized today that JJ looks exactly like his daddy did when he was young--particularly his head. Sadly the photos are not very flattering, but it does give me a hint that JJ might turn out to look a lot like Eddie when he gets older, which I wouldn't mind too much at all....

Here's Eddie shortly after his accident and subsequent neglect:


And an unflattering shot of JJ, but I needed one with his ears not up:

Of course Eddie is very underweight in his shot and JJ has never missed a meal in his life, but I think you can see through those differences to the similarities beneath.

It's really funny how much he acts like Eddie, too, but I do see his momma in him. He's going to be a really fun horse, even if he is a just a big dork just like dear old dad :)

I am very conflicted over this....

One one hand, this is an amazing display of training and power. On the other hand it's incredibly dangerous, not to mention cruel to the bull (did you see those barbs). In any case, it's fascinating..... Go Merlin! LOL

Update on Donna Byrne (Homeless Cowgirl)

A reader posted a comment update on Donna here: http://rosevalleyranch.blogspot.com/2009/02/homeless-cowgirl-sign-of-times.html

Thankfully she is getting the care she needs....

Sophie's Fashion Shoot

There's just not a whole lot to do on a rainy day on the farm :)

Seriously, I have not lost it. I found these sweaters at Petsmart for only $3 each (they are usually $16). I grabbed a few since she won't go out onto the back porch all day if she's cold--she really loves her sweaters and hoodies, so they will be good to have next winter. I had to try them on anyway, so I thought I'd take pics. She's so cute I just can't resist.....

By the way, she LOVES clothes. She knows she has to put her legs up through the holes and will almost do it on her own if I hold the fabric out. If it's cold out and she goes out to play she'll scratch at the door, then stand there and whine at me to put her hoodie on and then want back out. She's such a card....

Empress Update

Enough said :)

Finally a pretty day!

I worked from home today because my back was really acting up yesterday and then after my adjustment last night it was pretty sore. I got up this morning at 5 and started getting ready for work and felt really weak, so I decided not to chance it. I haven't been doing much with working so much and my commute, I am just too tired when I get home to do much and that's really bad for me. So today I rested, stretched, did some work online and then clocked out and went out and groomed the girls. They are all shedding so much! Empress is really coming along so well. Her sores have healed and her rainrot is gone. She has enough fat covering her bones that I can brush her without thinking I'm going to hurt her.

Poor Baby is just so darned small. Everyone is passing her once again. She has a little sore on her back leg that I washed and treated again. She's doing really well with standing tied. Not sure what to do with her yet.... I'd love to find her a good home. She's so dang pretty, but is such a tiny thing and doesn't fit into my program really at all. What to do, what to do......

Good news, though--Laramie got her halter off! She trusted me enough to slip a halter on her without even having a leadrope around her neck, so I thought she had come to the point where I felt like I could catch her out in the pasture fairly easily. Good deal! I HATE leaving halters on!! She's really warmed up to me now and comes up to me seeking attention. She trusts me and although she is super sensitive on her nose, she trusts me enough to let me do what I need to (get that halter on over it) and not freak out LOL. She's such a good minded filly on top of all her other outstanding qualities. I love her!!

Speaking of loving her--I am in awe of Bambi. I am thinking she might have to come into the barn, too. To hell with height LOL. It's funny, when I named her "Beyond Fabulous" I told a friend of mine she really won't be "beyond fabulous" but it's a cute name, so what the heck....but she IS! She IS "beyond fabulous!" She has such a great temperament, too--really fun and you can do anything with her. So, I'm thinking we're going to have to go to a lot of local shows to get both these girls out, since I don't have anyone to help me show them. We'll see....

After that workout my back is feeling much stronger and not so tight. I'm running up to an auction just a couple of miles away tomorrow in hopes to pick up a super-cheap lawnmower. Wish me luck! :)))