Our farrier, Dean Geesen, came out again today to check on Roll assisted by Lucky Three Ranch Manager, Chad. We let Roll go a little longer between trims this time to help with the healing of the White Line Disease. He is making good progress and has a lot of new hoof growth on his left hind. He is having no trouble bearing weight on it.
The dead tissue is now only present on the lower half of his foot and the new growth is staying healthy so far.
We have been fortunate to be able to keep him in good balance over the foot to prevent any more abnormal hoof growth and to promote healthy hoof growth. We put shoes on the other three feet to keep them from wearing unevenly during the healing process.
What we have been doing has worked well. We opted to continue with shoes on three feet and to leave the White Line foot without shoes for one more stretch. We don’t want to compromise the foot with any nail holes quite yet.
Even with all his issues, Roll has yet to experience one lame day since he first arrived at the Lucky Three in 2010. The White Line Disease began in January, so we are making good progress in a relatively short time. Thank you all for your prayers for Roll!
The following news round up comes from the Unwanted Horse Coalition.
Second Chance: Retired Race Horses Find New Home & Purpose, Comforting Veterans
Retired race horses are finding new careers on a farm in Maryland. At Leighton Farm in Prince George’s County, the horses are retrained for a new purpose. While some are trained as show horses, all the animals are also used as therapy for visiting veterans.
Horse Rescue Owners Says Farms Need to Balance Needs
Central Virginia Horse Rescue founder Cindy Smith believes the hardest thing a horse rescue farm has to do is turn away horses.
Cross-country Horse Rider and Savior Stop in Fallon
Crow’s Ear Farm president Valerie Ashker, 60, from Georgetown, Calif., is riding her horse across the country on U.S. Highway 50 to raise awareness about giving retired racehorses a second career.
New Jersey Equestrians Prepare for 2016 Kentucky Thoroughbred Challenge
This is the second story in a series that marks the milestones of three New Jersey residents as they journey toward the Kentucky Horse Park and the Retired Racehorse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover Challenge.
Montville resident helps OTTB race to save retired thoroughbreds
Chelsea Crozier, who has been passionate about horses her entire life and is the proud owner of a 16 year-old retired thoroughbred racehorse, was inspired to take on the task of trainer after following the activities of the 2015 Thoroughbred Makeover Challenge. The event brings in thousands of spectators to watch as hundreds of trainer/horse pairs compete in 10 disciplines, seeking the ultimate prize, America’s Most Wanted Thoroughbred.
Lexington Twins Train Wild Mustangs, Winning Big in Horse Competition
Two 12-year-old girls with a love for horses tackled something that not many people would ever think to try. Robyn and Reagan Leitner applied for Extreme Mustang Makeover, trained two mustangs, and won multiple ribbons at the competition in Jacksonville.
Frodo: From Racehorse to War Horse
A feature article about Frodo, the former racehorse now at the Saratoga WarHorse program, an equine-based, peer-to-peer, military veterans program that addresses the unseen wounds of war.
Springtime at Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center
For the next few months, HorseChannel.com will be giving readers a behind-the-scenes look at the Maker’s Mark Secretariat Center (MMSC) in Lexington, Kentucky. Following multiple horses throughout their time at the center, readers will find out how Thoroughbreds enter the center, the retraining techniques they undergo while learning skill sets necessary for a second career, and more.
Cross-country Horse Rider and Savior Stop in Fallon
Crow’s Ear Farm president Valerie Ashker, 60, from Georgetown, Calif., is riding her horse across the country on U.S. Highway 50 to raise awareness about giving retired racehorses a second career.
Taming the Wild: Hamilton Horse Trainer Competes in Extreme Mustang Makeover
A hundred days to train a wild mustang. That was the challenge that Hamilton horse trainer James Brown took back in February when 6-year-old Reba arrived at the Bitterroot Arena. Brown is the only Montana horse trainer competing in the 10th annual Extreme Mustang Makeover this year.
Five Minutes with Thoroughbred Advocate Anna Ford
An interview with New Vocations Thoroughbred Program Director, who is spearheading a fundraising campaign to build largest racehorse retraining and rehoming facility in the nation.
The following post comes from the American Wild Horse Preservation.
These are dangerous times on Capitol Hill as public lands ranchers and their political allies in Congress and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) make their moves to lift the prohibition on killing healthy wild horses and burros and selling them for slaughter. Their agenda is clear: mass roundups and removals, mass killing/slaughter of more than 80,000 wild horses and burros (those in holding and those considered “excess” on the range), and the surgical sterilization of wild horses and burros that remain on the range after the mass removals take place.
We need you to weigh in NOW by contacting your elected representatives in Congress. Please urge them to resist any efforts to remove the ban on slaughtering America’s wild horses and oppose any language that creates a back door route to slaughter for these iconic animals.
They want to kill over 80,000 wild horses & help sterilize the rest. Help us stop them.
At a rigged oversight hearing on Capitol Hill last week, Rep. Cynthia Loomis (R-WY) called for the “lovely and peaceful” killing of all the wild horses and burros in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holding pens because their “wild lives are over.” Nevada rancher JJ Goicoechea called for mass roundups and sterilization.
The livestock industry agenda for our national symbols of freedom is nothing short of un-American and we can stop it…with your help.
Please donate as generously as you can to support our legislative, legal and grassroots efforts to save America’s majestic mustangs and burros. We can do this, because we have the power of the people on our side!
Tomorrow, June 22, 2016 – the House Natural Resources Federal Lands Subcommittee will hold an “oversight” hearing on the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horse and burro program. This hearing is being driven by pro-livestock members like Wyoming’s Cynthia Loomis and will be completely stacked in favor of legalizing the slaughter of America’s wild horses and burros. Just one witness – Ginger Kathrens of The Cloud Foundation — will testify for our side, while four witnesses, including the BLM, two ranchers and the anti-wild horse Wildlife Society — will make the case for slaughtering our wild horses and burros!
Since your Representative is on this subcommittee, YOU are in a unique position to influence this dangerous development. Please ask your Representative to attend the hearing and speak up for the American public, which wants our wild horses and burros protected from cruel roundups and brutal slaughter.
This hearing will happen TOMORROW, so please act immediately!
Thank you so much – everyone who stepped up and made this happen. Every single dollar is so appreciated and being put to good use. Being this was an emergency we had some extra expenses. But thanks to you wonderful people we hope to have enough for what we need. We had an angel who simply paid for the whole band. God is blessing this because it is His Plan. Unfortunately, it is really expensive to do this :(
We have had so many wonderful folks stepping up, so I want you to know what is happening.
We had to purchase 16 Six foot high, heavy duty panels $ 3,385.00
We were blessed to find a safe place to board the 1st night 80.00
Approximate cost for Health Certs, Coggins etc. $ 2,470.00
Approximate cost for Babies $ 500.00
Big horse kids ($900) for the band $ 900.00
Approximate rental cost for chute $250-$300? $ 250.00
Farm call (with hourly charge due to circumstances) ??? $ ?????
Brand Inspections for first group $ 52.50
. Cost for Gelding the stallions (???) $ ?????
Subtotal: $ 7637.50
There are a lot of stallions in this group, and that is why they are so banged up. They are doing their “stallion play fighting” and have done quite a number on each other. When we get them home we will make sure all the mares are separated.
The baby with mama is in horrible shape. His big sister (or brother) was stripping Mom of all her milk. His coat is awful and he is really bony under that long hair. We are giving them the rest of the day to see if he gets to nurse. (We separated the yearling so no more milk stealing.) If he doesn’t get to nurse by tonight, we will have to help things out.
So many folks say “please save the moms and dads”. We are trying, but these kids were saved entirely because of you and the love and support you show. We have a lot of stallions, and they will all need to be gelded.
I knew God sent us to buy “the palace” (our NV Chilly Pepper facility) for a reason. Chilly Pepper in CA is not equipped to deal with wild stallions. However, with the panels and the round pen area in Golconda, we can safely keep these horse kids while we get them gelded and figure out their future.
As we are also bringing back 8+ (still unknown the exact amount) orphans, we will need the additional space. Thank the Lord we have great folks who live at our place when we are gone to watch over everything.
A little bummed because our water heater didn’t work for about 3 weeks, and we just got it fixed the day before we came here. “The palace” (which has a “tear down” mobile which we are fixing up) only has the “hose in the window” for water, so once again no hot water. Oh well, guess we can tough it out for the horse kids. The really important thing is having a safe place for all those stallions. We watched them jump a 4 x 8 block of hay (on its side), a huge over turned water trough and one just jumped higher than my head. They are much more reactive and sensitive than many of the kids from NV as they see no people until they are caught.
Everyone here has been amazing and we are so grateful to work with such caring folks.
I have to say when they pulled in the yard the tears fell. It was such a beautiful moment knowing that together we saved those lives.
We want to thank everyone for being part of saving all of these lives. It means the whole world to each and every horse that we save, and although we can’t save them all, we are grateful for all the lives we do save because of folks like you and your love and support.
Tomorrow morning, June 16, at 10:30 am EST, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to hold a “markup” hearing on the 2017 Interior Appropriations Bill.
The bill will likely include language which allows the BLM to transfer our federally protected wild horses and burros to state, local, or other federal agencies ‘to be used as service and work animals’, which strips them of their federally protected and wild status.
Since the passing of the Burn’s “Sale Authority” amendment in 2005, what little protections exist for wild horses and burros are being traded away.
The chipping away of protections intended by the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act in 1971 continues to open the gateway to the slaughter and the easy disposal of our iconic American mustangs and burros.
With over 45,000 captured wild horses and burros warehoused in holding facilities and over 40,000 wild horses and burros that BLM wants removed from the range, the stakes are high.
Section 110 of the BLM’s 2017 budget proposal has no mechanism for humane oversight. In addition, any amendment to Section 110 to protect the horses and burros from slaughter is not enforceable and will not prohibit their slaughter for non-commercial uses. The language leaves a broad range of interpretation and has no recourse for accountability.
If your Senator is on the Appropriations Committee, you can influence his or her response in tomorrows meeting!
Please TAKE ACTION NOW and Share with Friends in your community who love wild horses and burros!
The following post comes from the American Wild Horse Preservation.
“BLM’s latest policy initiatives may lead to mass slaughter of wild horses.”
– The Daily Caller, June 1, 2016
The Daily Caller called it right. Danger is lurking on Capitol Hill, as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continues to lay the groundwork for the mass slaughter of America’s mustangs.
It’s the most serious threat to wild horses since 2004, when the Burns Amendment legalized the sale for slaughter of “unadoptable” wild horses.
The BLM is pushing budget language to strip wild horses of their federal protection and deliver them into the hands of local and state governments who want them removed from our public lands and slaughtered.
Western members of Congress allied with the livestock industry are pressing for a “solution” to the wild horse “problem,” and we know what that means.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, the BLM is pressing forward with gruesome sterilization experiments on wild mares.
We are with fighting with everything we’ve got to uphold the will of the people to protect our mustangs….
…. Our federal lobbyists – including a respected former Congressman – are working to defeat any attempt in Congress to weaken federal protections for wild horses or authorize their mass slaughter.
…. Our legal team is suing the BLM to stop the agency from destroying a wild horse population in Idaho by surgically sterilizing every one of its stallions and mares.
…. Our staff has delayed approval of the sterilization experiments by months by documenting and exposing as fraud the documentation on which the BLM was basing its approval of this “research.”
…. Our grassroots and public awareness efforts continue to harness the power of the people – the only way to defeat the special interest lobbies that want our wild horses and burros gone forever from our public lands.
Every donation to this cause is critically important. Together we can and will fight the BLM’s disastrous plans for our iconic and cherished wild horses and burros.
Did you know that the babies you hear about from Chilly Pepper-Miracle Mustang are available for adoption and you can visit them and see the good work being done there? Call 530 474-5197 to schedule a visit or inquire about adopting one of the many equines they have rescued.
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture supports grants to continue building a foundation of knowledge critical for solving current and future challenges. NIFA is the USDA’s primary extramural agency to advance agricultural sciences. NIFA has funded nearly 300 active equine projects through the 2015- 2016 fiscal year.
The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is a competitive grant program that provides funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and Extension projects in agricultural sciences. In their most recent request for applications, NIFA is seeking applications for the Foundational Program for FY 2016. The anticipated amount available for grants in FY 2016 is approximately $130 million.
Land-Grant Institutions, for-profit organizations, individuals, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, small business, State Agricultural Experiment Stations and more are able to apply. Applications are due to NIFA by Wednesday, August 31, 2016. For more information visit the link below.
