The nutrition segment of Rachel's Hooves 101 class caused us to reconsider horse feed once more, striving to bring down the sugar or fructan levels as much as possible. While we hadn't considered it before for other reasons, alfalfa became a new component of our regimine. Ross Hay Ranch sells cubes by the ton, which they load with a tractor into the truck and we then shovel into our storage containers. Our Ford truck can tolerate right around a ton of cubes, which is more than the photo below shows. The cubes are not easy to eat for old horses with poor teeth, but they can easily be soaked.
September 7
With the assistance of the incomparable Eric Entz, Woody completely broke down the Koi pond and gave it a thorough cleaning. This was a filthy and time-consuming job, but resulted in an absolutely sparkling and healthy home for the fish and turtles. Thank you, Eric - you're always willing to jump in when the work is hard and dirty!
September 8
We were invited by Pamela Gorman (For Pets' Sake) to speak at the September meeting of Nevada County's CAWS ~ Coalition for Animal Welfare and Services. It was a great opportunity to meet and share ideas with various nearby rescue organizations. As one may well imagine, animal welfare work can be daunting and emotionally difficult, but Woody's heartfelt passion for animals and vision of possibility served to inspire some rescue veterans. A sincere thank you to Pam Gorman and Beverly Allbright for their friendship and support.
September 9
Buck and Jake arrived. Jake is a Mustang gelding with bi-lateral stringhalt, which may or may not be reversible. He appears to be 12 years old, according to his brand. His pal, Buck, is a 10 y/o gelding, reportedly Quarter Horse with what appears to be strong Barb influence. Buck was recently gelded and it took him a few days to relinquish his hopes of dominating Star. Buck is turning out to be a nice trail riding horse and Jake is happy to be part opf a "herd." Our hope is to (someday soon) explore Jake's surgical options, but in the meantime, the disorder is not painful and he has lived with it for at least two years already. These two came from a dog rescue who ended up with the horses when they were seized for neglect in 2006.
September 16
The sanctuary was scheduled for two live segments with Courtney Dempsey on Good Day Sacramento. That morning, Courtney was called away to cover a warehouse fire in Galt, so reporter Lisa Gonzales covered our story. Due to a traffic accident on the freeway, Lisa arrived almost an hour late only to find it impossible to get a live signal out of our little piece of Penryn. Lisa and cameraman, Shock, instead recorded material that aired the following day. It was a rare treat for us to have reason to gather together all our "ponies" in one spot. Horses are simply more beautiful living in harmony together.
The Good Day Sacramento clip can be viewed here.
September 19
Our eldest horse, Odie, made it clear that he wanted to sunbathe on the front lawn. We thought perhaps his time was drawing near and we allowed him to lounge as he pleased for a few days in a row. He thoroughly enjoyed rolling and sleeping in our front yard and we were happy to let him do as he pleased. In time, he seemed to perk up and be ready to go back to his daily routine. Whatever the old horse wants, he gets... within reason, of course. Not too much sugar, Sweet Boy.
September 26, 27, & 28
Our trusted resource, Craigslist, revealed that a homeowner in nearby Rocklin was giving away DG ~ decomposed granite. He was digging a wine cave into the hill behind his home, which produced massive amounts. With Winter fast approaching, free DG seemed like a miracle for mud management. When all was said and done, we were able to move roughly 50 yards of DG for the cost of an overnight dump truck rental, although we had the truck for three days.
My best friend and geologist, Mary Gaspari, stopped by to check out the excavation. I love seeing things through her perspective.
Spreading all that DG was backbreaking work, but it was a big blessing. The boys both enjoyed driving the 7-speed Ford F650 big rig, of course!
September 28
The day we rescued LeRoi from his orchard. LeRoi's story will be told in greater detail at a later time. He deserves a rememberance.
September 30
Easter Seals HTR came for their fourth visit. Admittedly, I was not the best photographer that day, being physically and emotionally tired. I apologize to those whose photo I neglected to take. The date on the photos is incorrect because the camera battery had been allowed to die. Details, details!
As the clients gathered in preparation for departure, John acted as spokesman for the group by announcing their decision to choose A Chance for Bliss as the beneficiary of the proceeds from their 2007 Annual Holiday Shoppe. A check in the amount of $1,000 would be prepared right away. My response was delayed ~ this seemed surreal. I mean, we should be the ones donating to Easter Seals, no? Isn't that right? How could we accept this?
Well, graciously I suppose it the best way. It was a stunning concept to receive a donation from them and took me a while to process. This relationship is a perfect example of how we can help one another. Isn't that the Golden Rule?
Thank you, each of you, Easter Seals clients and staff, for lavishing our fur-kids with such loving attention and giving of your financial gifts to us. Our lives have been enriched immeasurably by you.
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