We are on scene in Yakama WA. ALL of this group can be saved, but we need a bit more help.
There are 18 stallions, (instead of the 6 we were told about). So we need to raise more funds so we will be able to pull them and have funds for feeding and gelding them so we can find them homes.
The vet will be here at 10:45 a.m. this morning, so we need to know who needs their Coggins (blood work) done. I have to let the vet know who we are saving. Even if we don’t get enough to cover all of the gelding, if we can raise $3,000 more thousand dollars, – we will have a total of 44 horses and WE CAN SAVE EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Unfortunately we were not planning for and do not have the budget for this many stallions. But with a bit more help we CAN DO THIS.
LET’S MAKE ANOTHER MIRACLE!
(This is it for Chilly Pepper until we have these big kids placed.) We will be able to get babies, but we need to get these homed before bringing in more large groups. So let’s make this trip count!)
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
NO HORSE LEFT BEHIND! – 49 Mustangs Saved from Slaughter!
Yes 49…. WE DID IT!!! Thanks to everyone who stepped up we were able to save the lives of ALL 49 mustangs we were called to help.After these mustangs are rounded up, we get a courtesy phone call and we are the only chance they have to avoid being shipped directly to slaughter.
Initially we were not supposed to bring any horses back to Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang. But how do you look deep into the eyes of the stallions and simply walk away. CPMM is one of the few places who can take on wild stallions, and no one else was going to step up. As they stood there patiently staring at me, the decision was made.
How can you walk away from horses you CAN save, and look in the mirror? Yes, it makes things extremely difficult at times, and is much more expensive as we incur the gelding costs before we can place them, not to mention stallions can be a lot of work. However, the only alternative was to look at them and say “nope – you are too much trouble – die a horrible death”, and it was not an option as we did have the capability of saving them.
So not one horse was left behind – this time…. Unfortunately I have already been warned the phone will be ringing again in a week or two.
But right now we need to concentrate on our orphans, and getting our boys gelded. We cannot place them without them being gelded which means none of the next group of stallions have any chance to be saved.
We now have 3 babies who are on Foal Lac Powder ($149 per bag if we drive 3 hours to pick it up.) They are also on Foal Lac Pellets, ($99 per bag) and we are supplementing with Baby Goat’s milk as it is less expensive and easy to digest and has lots of fat. Add to that their hay, grain and medical care and it eats up the budget quickly.
I am really praying hard that some of the monies that were “promised” for this last rescue come through. We had some folks pledge enough money to make this possible without total devastation to our entire budget.
Unfortunately those funds have not yet arrived, which means our budget is nearly depleted. So until these funds are replaced, we won’t be able to save the next group. The cost of this rescue averaged about $250 (per horse) x 49, which is pretty good when you consider that covers saving them, vetting them, delivering them safely to their new homes and all fuel costs.
Unfortunately, this does not include feeding and caring for the stallions or getting them vetted. We need to buy hay asap. The horses came in pretty thin and beat up and they need extra groceries.
What makes things even harder is that Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, (and all of YOU who helped save the 900+), spent thousands to save the horses at ISPMB. All the funds were supposed to be reimbursed when we went the second time, but we all know how expensive rescue is. It simply did not happen. So our funds were already depleted immeasurably.
However, that was a successful life saving rescue for over 700 horses. There are still horses left, and we offered to place more through Chilly Pepper. However, due to things beyond our control, that did not happen. So although together we helped save over 700, as many as 100+ may face a “merciful end to their lives”. This sounds horrible, and breaks my heart, but at least none of them will face slaughter like the ones we are rescuing at this time.
There is no choice of where to concentrate at this point. A quick painless end to life or a devastating trip through slaughter, where they are often butchered while still alive – the answer is clear – save as many of the Yakama ponies as we can.
Kim Clark took 25 of the mares and foals at “A Little Piece of Heaven” in Idaho. She is a huge part of our success as she is part of the team that finds homes for these horses.
Wendy & Mike Hanson at Mountain Ranch Equine Rehab took 8 to gentle and match up with “their person”. They work with troubled youth and are using some of the wild ones for therapy for some of our amazing heroes (our beloved veterans).
Kayleen and Clint, out of Oregon, took on 5 fillies and young mares to train and re-home, and we have 10 stallions and a mare at Chilly Pepper.
(We like folks to know that they are actually safe!)
Below, meet the newest orphan “My Heart in the Sky” aka SKY for short, with Rocky and no-name in the background (My niece is picking “no-name” out a very special name. lol) Sky is named after our beloved friend Les Stedronsky, may she rest in all God’s glory. We love you and we miss you so, Les!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN! We so appreciate the love and support and I am working on Thank You’s as quickly as I can. We still need your help. So please let’s keep saving lives. Together we are making a difference!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
* Pictured above – 14 Alpacas saved by Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, Equine Rescue & MORE
ANOTHER CALL FOR HELP –
18 MORE wild mustang lives on the line – do we save them, or walk away?? We want to save them, but WE NEED YOUR HELP ASAP! We only have a couple of days.
So many times folks ask us “Why didn’t you save the mares?”. “Why did they go to slaughter?”
The answer has always been “because we DID NOT have a choice”.But today, OUR CHOICE IS YOUR CHOICE !
THIS TIME we have the power….As long as we can raise enough funds, we can save ALL 18, and pick up mares and foals, instead of orphans.
If we do not pick them up, they will ship directly (except for the babies that are too small, and if they are lucky and survive, they will come home alone and heart broken). Let’s keep them safe!!
I am hoping that folks will want to help us save the mares, so we don’t have to pick up more orphans. No horse deserves to go to slaughter, but it is twice as bad when not only do the mares die a horrific death, but their babies are stripped off their mothers.
These horses do not go to auction. The ONLY chance they have for life is if we pick them up and find them homes. God put this in front of us again, so here we go.
(Honestly, I was hoping to not do the Yakama horses this year, but I simply cannot just walk away when we can make a difference.)
One of the really great things is that although our rescue incurs the costs up front, we have been very blessed with the folks we work with in placing these horses. We pay to “save them”, get their Coggins, Health Certificates and Brand Inspections. We incur the costs of picking them up and moving them where they need to be so they can get the training they need for a successful and happy future. This saves so much money as they are no longer on our books.
Many times they come to our rescue for a short time, but most of them are not here long term. This saves a huge amount of expenses by not “hoarding them” and placing them as soon as we can. We normally only offer sanctuary to special needs cases, and even then we place them as often as we can.
These 18 horses ALL have a place to go. NONE of these will be coming back to Chilly Pepper. Of course there may be others in the trailer lol, you just never know.
So PLEASE help us save these beautiful souls. As always, Matt and I are willing to do whatever we can, but we need your help!
Thank you for all you do. Our name is Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, Equine Rescue & More, and this last week we did “MORE”. We received a call from a lady who lost her husband and had no place for her 14 Alpacas to go. We placed 11 of them in Idaho and we have the “special needs”, blind one and his two buddies here at Chilly Pepper. For now, we will be sharing them as part of our “petting zoo” when kids, (of all ages lol) come to visit.
Snowball is blind and needs his lil hoofers done quite badly. But now it is time to focus on the wild mustangs that need our help once again.
Shown below are Anika and Midnight Onyx, our Blind ISPMB horses who are now inseparable. They are very happy and enjoying their lives. Midnightno longer is stressed and wanting to fight. It brings joy every time I see them.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Quick update. – As usual, the information we received when we get a call usually changes by the time we actually pick up. This time was no different. We were able to save Double-J n Trailer, thanks to the awesome folks at the actual DOUBLE-J TRAILERS in Woodland WA.
We also have 7 orphans in the trailer. We thought we would be picking up more adults but this time we were not offered that choice.
We purchased all the horse kids and spent just short of $900 to get them all vetted. So we are just shy of $2000 to save these kids just to get them in the trailer.
Thank you to all if you who donated to help with this rescue. Covering even part of the costs helps tremendously.
The horses (and I) so appreciate it!
We just wanted to make sure y’all knew what horses we actually picked up, and that your money goes to save real horses LOL.
Please help us continue to make a difference in these critters lives, and THANK YOU for all the love and support!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
It is with extreme sorrow I share the news that June 1, Colt slipped quietly away with his head in my lap. The vet had been to see him just that afternoon, and was extremely pleased with the way his wounds were healing and his progress in general. We knew he was weak, but was eating, drinking, pooping and peeing. Unfortunately, the trauma was too much and about an hour before he passed he let me know he was done. So we sat quietly together until he slipped away. As the tears streamed down I reminded him of how many folks loved him and had prayed for him.
So I am hoping that we can honor his memory by saving the mare and foal that are waiting for us to pick them up, as well as the ones who are being rounded up this weekend.
We received the call this morning while we were on the way to get the Rolling Foal Hospital repaired. The -40 degree weather really caused a lot of damage, in spite of our efforts to weatherproof it.
There is a mare and foal in the feedlot and we can save BOTH of them.Prior to saving the band of adults last year, we were not able to save the big horses, only the babies under 6 months of age.
BUT TODAY – we got a call and have the chance to save not only the Foal AND her Mama, but ALL the horses in the next batch that are rounded up, mares, babies and the stallions.
But we NEED YOUR HELP! Saving these horses is not easy nor is it inexpensive. For a batch of 10 adults, the cost for bail would be $1500 – $2,000 with younger ones being a bit less. (The mare and foal will be $275). Then we need to get the Coggins tests, and Health certs so we can transport them home. We need to raise at $5,000, as this is just the beginning. So we really really need your help to make this a success story. At this point we are waiting to find out the number of horses they are bringing in, but at the very least we are bringing the mare and foal home this trip and coming back for more.
The loss of Colt was devastating at the very least, and it has been a really tough year. Out of the 12 babies so far, 3 of them were in such bad shape we didn’t even get to try and help them, and the rest of them (with the exception of Colt), have been placed in their loving, forever homes. So although we have all been through a tremendous amount of loss already this year, we have also saved many lives.
We have also been called in for an emergency rescue of 14 Alpacas.The owner lost her husband and has to be off the property in 3 weeks. So as usual, it is going to be non stop crazy.
Please help us continue to make a difference in these critters lives, and THANK YOU for all the love and support!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Meet “COLT”, the newest orphan at Chilly Pepper. Colt was born in the wild and was severely injured by coyotes. After getting permission from the proper authorities he was brought in. That’s when life became even more “interesting”.
As usual, there is never a dull moment at CPMM. Matt and I had just gotten home from an event in Carson City with Lacy J Dalton to fund raise for the wild ones. We had taken Sapphire, Diesel and Stormy, the resident orphans, for a “meet and greet” at Lacy’s request. The even was amazing and so many folks got to “touch” a wild horse in the proper way. The babies did awesome and it was a great evening for all.
Matt and I spent the night with the babies in Gardnerville as we had to pick up Buddy, a sweet 4 year old mustang that we helped place in a new home up in Idaho. The next day we went home to meet the vet and brand inspector to get the 6 ready for their trip to Idaho.
Early Monday we loaded up Diesel and the other 5 and Matt set off to Northern Idaho. Once again the rescue truck needed repairs so my son took me and we dropped off that truck. About that time we got an emergency phone call. The horse Matt was supposed to pick up upon his return from BLM in Utah needed to be picked up ASAP. So as usual, God was giggling and Matt turned around, came home, unloaded all 6 and headed to Utah to do the pick up.
All went well and he returned with a gorgeous mustang. Once again we loaded up the 6 and he headed on out. While Matt was delivering in Idaho, and the rescue truck was sitting in the shop, we received notice about Colt. He was in extremely critical, life threatening condition and we had to get him asap. I was shocked and so proud when my son offered to pick him up in his little race car lol. He has a Golf GTI and he doesn’t even let anyone eat in it. He loves that car, but was putting it out there to pick up a stinky, injured orphan who was oozing puss to try and save it’s life.
It took nearly 7 hours to get to Reno, pick him up and get back home. We immediately started treating him and have been round the clock ever since. His injuries are severe and his whole right side is extremely swollen with edema from the trauma. He can barely walk and is unable to get up and down by himself except for a rare occasion or two. The vet is happy with the wounds and how they are draining, and is hopeful we will be able to pull him through.
Unfortunately last night he stopped drinking for the most part. So I am using a syringe and per the vet’s instructions making sure he gets alternating milk and water. We are trying to avoid having to do IV fluids. He is on pain meds and we are doing everything we can to keep him comfortable and give him time to heal and survive.
Folks were asking what supplies we need. _This is what we use on a daily basis for Colt. _
Paper towels Gloves (type to keep sanitary lol) Probios Banamine Paste Uniprim Foal Lac Powder Powdered goats milk Foal Lac Pellets Shavings Soft grass hay Betadine Garbage bags
Please keep him in your prayers.
So we placed 6 horses, including Donkey, but already picked up another baby (“Colt”), and Matt is picking up 3 miniatures in need of help and bringing them home from California. It never stops and God keeps putting these beautiful souls in front of us.
We also got the dreaded “yakama call”. I was honestly hoping to not need to help so much with that this year, but there is only one place up there who can help so far and they can only do the babies. So it looks like there will once again be no rest, but I know God only gives us what we can handle. (That’s what I keep telling myself lol).
So we continue non-stop and want to say Thank You to everyone who is in this with us. It can be very overwhelming to everyone, but the best we can do is keep plugging along. I just try to get through one day at a time, celebrate the victories, mourn the losses and keep trying to “git ‘er done”. Y’all are amazing and we so appreciate you and all the love and support.
Picture below: Top left – injury to his back upper leg. Bottom left – severe swelling and injury to his leg.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
We knew this was coming, and now our worst fears have been realized.
Yesterday, the Trump Administration released its budget request to Congress for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and it literally places the lives of over 90,000 wild horses and burros in jeopardy.
The Administration is asking Congress to lift the ban on killing healthy wild horses and burros or selling them for slaughter. The BLM wants permission to destroy “unadoptable” horses and burros as well as those it considers to be “excess” on the range. If Congress approves this request, the mass killing of the 46,000 wild horses and burros in holding facilities and the 46,000 “excess” animals on the range would begin.
We must make sure Congress stands firm against slaughtering our national icons!
This is going to be an intensive 4-6 month campaign to defeat this lethal budget proposal in Congress.
Right now, we need you to do these three things IMMEDIATELY!
1. Send a strong and unified message to Congress.
2. #JoinTheBand to send a tidal wave of public support for wild horses and burros on social media on May 30.
3. Donate so that we can elevate our grassroots and legislative campaigns to the seismic level necessary to save our national icons!
The fight is on to save our wild horses and burros! We’re ready, but we NEED your help. Let’s protect our wild horses and burros from this Administration’s lethal plans… Take action today!
Once again my heart feels like it has been shattered into a million tiny pieces.Early Wednesday morning, Matt backed in the trailer to our loading area and I went to get Frosty and Braveheart.
To my horror, I noticed something was wrong with Braveheart. Just the night before he had been be-bopping around and feeling great. But this morning, something was terribly wrong. His poor little face was swollen halfway up, and you could tell he was done.
It took a minute to realize that overnight he had become 100% blind. He was struggling horribly and extremely frantic at losing his sight. Of course I called Doc immediately, and she came out to see what had happened.
The most likely explanation is due to the fact that his eye had been so horribly infected for so many months, (if not years), that he had probably had an abscess that for some unknown reason decided to burst during the night, and it caused the immediate blindness. Doc’s other thought was that it could have been an aneurysm, but in either case, the way he was standing with his head down would account for the swelling of the soft tissue.
His eye was still perfect from the surgery. But my beloved Braveheart went from feeling great to absolutely miserable. Whatever happened last night had been traumatic and my sweet boy was done. I knew even before Doc arrived that his beautiful life would end on this day. The tears ran as I tried to comfort him until she arrived.
So instead of loading up Braveheart, Frosty, Shadow and Dabubbles, we spent the day taking care of Braveheart for the last time. It was devastating beyond measure to let him go, but it was our final gift to him. The only comfort I can find is the fact that he was so happy here and absolutely loved not having to fight for his food and to know so much love.
The happier news is that Shadow went to her new home yesterday and she is settling in well. We are already getting happy reports from her new place. Frosty is also settling in to his new place and already has a new friend. That warms my heart as he was kind of a loner, and he has a beautiful white gelding he is hanging out with. So that is definitely great news.
While we were in South Dakota we had purchased panels for the mission, and were planning to bring them home for the “blind pen”. Unfortunately when it came time to bring them home we simply could not afford to. So we sold them back instead. It was definitely not a happy decision, but we ended up using the funds we got back from the panels to finish what we had to do in South Dakota and to bring the horse kids here and get them the care and special feed etc. they needed.
I am working on individual Thank You’s, but as usual I am far behind. I want everyone to know that every single penny is so much appreciated and remind folks of how many lives y’all have saved. Unfortunately in our world it just doesn’t seem to stop. But God is not only blessing us with folks like you who show your love and support for His creatures, but He is also blessing us with good homes for the ones we save. So please know that not a penny is taken for granted and I am working literally round the clock at this point. 3 babies doesn’t seem like much but they still want their milk every few hours and really don’t care if mom gets any sleep. lol
We need to raise funds for another delivery to the northern most border of Idaho. We need roughly $2000 for transportation, and 6 more horses will have their forever homes. These horses will be part of an amazing program where troubled kids have their hearts and souls healed by/through equine therapy working with the wild horses. Diesel, Lacy, Donkey, Chester, Loves Legacy and another wild mustang named Buddy will be heading out, (hopefully on the 22nd if we raise the transport funds).
Once we get the next batch of horses to their new homes, we will have the two little ones Sapphire and Stormy (who have potential adopters), Anicka and her seeing eye horse Diamond Dancer, Midnight Onyx (our blind ones from the ISPMB rescue), Honey Bandit, the twins Lucky and Spartan, Denny, and DaBubbles, (our little therapy man) and we are scheduled to pick up two additional miniature horses who needed rescued in the next week or so.
And baby season is just beginning. As I write this I am on standby for an approximately 3 week old colt whose mama was killed by a car today.
So the kids just continue to keep coming, and since most of ours end up being special needs, we cannot thank you enough for keeping this amazing journey a success. Your donations make it all happen.
So please, stay with us and lets “keep strong and rescue on”. YOU are the reason these lives are being saved. We so appreciate your love and support and we will continue to share the stories of the lives you are saving and the difference you make for each and every horse we bring in. Some times the end result is simply giving the horse the gift of knowing what it feels like to be safe, have enough to eat and leave this earth peacefully, and those are the hardest ones. Those are the ones that make me want to quit, but I know that whatever God puts in front of us we need to take care of. So we cry for days, and then put on our big girl panties and “git ‘er done”.
Thank you for being part of this!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Congress just passed an Omnibus spending bill to fund the government for the next five months – until the end of Fiscal Year 2017. The good news: Congress maintained the de facto ban on domestic horse slaughter and the prohibition against the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) sale for slaughter or killing of captured wild horses and burros. More troubling, though, is a provision in Section 116 that allows the BLM to strip wild horses and burros of federal protection and transfer them to state, federal and local agencies for use as “work animals.”
We thank the Appropriations Committee leadership for including a prohibition on slaughter and euthanasia of healthy horses in this language. However, we remain gravely concerned that this new law is open for abuse and could become a vehicle for delivering captured wild horses and burros into the hands of state and local agencies that actively lobby for their destruction. Also troubling is report language accompanying the Omnibus that calls for “accelerated” roundups to reduce wild horse and burro populations to the BLM’s “Appropriate” Management Levels. If taken literally, this could mean the removal of as many as 50,000 more wild horses and burros from the range.
Over the last week, AWHC members made tens of thousands of calls and sent 55,000 messages to appropriators expressing concern about threats to wild horses and burros in the Omnibus. This strong show of public support and concern will make it more difficult for opponents of wild horses to exploit loopholes in the new law, and serves as a safeguard against more dangerous threats that may be in store. So far, Congress is holding firm against mass killing and slaughter, but that support is fragile as pressure builds not only for mass roundups but also to upend the federal law that protects these national icons on our Western public lands. Now is the time to make your voice heard.
It’s go time again at Chilly Pepper. (Although it seems like that is the norm nowadays.) But we are moving forward and y’all have helped save alot of horses.
YOU are the reason this is all possible and we so appreciate the love and support.
A quick summary of some of the purchases y’all made :)
$ 2,800 for hay $ 2,500 Foal Lac Powder & Pellets $ 400 bedding $ 3,200+ vet bills $ 250 farrier expenses $ 750 Colostrum & misc
Those are just some of the major expenses. There are lots of other miscellaneous costs for these kids, but you have made it all possible with your love and support, so Thank You! (At least you know we are not wasting a penny of your much needed donations.)
BRAVEHEART had a very successful, (although expensive) surgery. His bill (not including his gelding) was $950, with the total bill that day for Chilly Pepper coming out to $1250.00 We had his teeth done, his eye removed, he was gelded, had his vaccines and was wormed again, and he is a new man. Both vets concurred with his age only being around 11 when they looked at his teeth. Glad I listened to that little voice in my head that said NO – do not euthanize him. Braveheart made it very clear he was not ready to go anywhere. There was simply no legitimate reason to kill him. He is a very happy and friendly guy and heading to his new home on Wednesdaymorning.
Although it breaks my heart, we have found the perfect home for not only Braveheart, but my beloved Frosty. The vets were amazed when I guided Frosty down the runway. He is extremely smart and would follow voice commands so he avoided hitting his head. (He is completely blind and a wild stallion.) I am so in love with him but can’t keep a horse “just because” when it has a wonderful home available. So I cry like a baby as usual. He was also gelded and had his lil hoofers done, as well as had his vaccines.
Chester, our – hours away from being loaded onto the slaughter truck guy was also gelded, vaccinated and had hoofers done.
But the highlight of that day was having our huge, blind, black stallion safely gelded. Midnight Onyx is ginormous, and nearly jumped out of the 6 foot panels. His back hoofers were about a foot from clearing it. That would have been devastating. He needed a great deal of sedation due to his size, and often times they wake up thrashing and crashing around. Our vet gave him fluids and when he woke up he simply popped to his feet. We definitely had our angels around that day.
We transported 18 horses (mares & foals) for Return to Freedom and Neda was kind enough to make sure we received some compensation for that trip. Woohoo. We so appreciate that.
We want to say THANK YOU to Neda DeMayo and Return to Freedom for sharing their grant from the Coalition for Unwanted Horses. They covered ALL the gelding which came to $1000, leaving the $1250 that Chilly Pepper covered. She is also providing us with some vaccinations for some of the rescued horses. I love working together. It makes us so much more successful.
We seriously need to buy panels for the blind horses to have more room. Our beloved Shadow is also leaving on Wednesday, so we will “only” have 2 blind horses left.
Love’s Legacy is gaining weight and feeling much better. She still cannot eat hay and we need to find her a place where someone has time to give her the special care she needs. She will make a wonderful riding horse, although I wouldn’t put her in a bit. But she is sweet and happy and looking for a new place to land.
STORMY, SAPPHIRE & DIESEL are hanging in there and getting stronger every day. They are still having issues with their tums, but compared to where they were they are doing much better. Please send prayers for their continued improvement. Their is definitely a reason they were not kept by their mama’s.
As always, we appreciate any help with the costs of saving these kids. Unfortunately the type of work we do is the most expensive type as far as the special needs and orphans. But this is where God wants us, so we will rock it the best we can with your help.
Photo below, babies from the Gila Herd from the ISPMB rescue. Matt took the babies and I took the mama’s.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Horses in all segments of the equine industry are regularly transported both intrastate and interstate for a variety of purposes, both by individuals and businesses. The ability to move horses easily for competition, breeding, sale, and recreation is of vital importance to the economic health of the industry.
In order to ensure the American Horse Council has a better understanding of how enforcement of federal motor carrier safety regulations are impacting the industry, we request all members of the horse industry take the following short survey. The survey is anonymous and the results will be used solely for informational purposes.
If you are an equine organization we ask that you please distribute this survey to your membership.
The survey will remain open until May 20th. If you have any questions, please contact the AHC.
The pain and heart break that is a part of rescue can sometimes be too much to bear, and you feel like your heart will never survive. Once again my heart was shattered into a million tiny pieces.
Matt and I had been called to pick up an orphan foal, but about 120 miles into the trip were turned around as the baby seemed to be improving. She was nursing and her mom was protective and all seemed well.
Two days later we were called on the same foal. Matt was in NV and I was in CA so he picked her up and we met and I started home. We both provided critical care, but when I stopped to treat her I opened the door to my worst heart ache. “Little Girl” had slipped from this world and was gone. I sank to the trailer floor and held her beautiful little body in my arms. Tears slid down my face as I couldn’t help but sob out the pain of losing this little one before I could even start to help her.
I drove the longest and loneliest drive home to our intern Mona and our orphans Diesel and Sapphire. (Matt was on the road delivering horses.)Wrapping my arms around them I thanked God that they at least have a chance.
CHILLY PEPPER – MIRACLE MUSTANG really needs your help once again. Diesel decided to find a 100 year old nail and step on it, putting it into his frog. Luckily, it missed the bursa sack and coffin bone by a hair, but still required veterinary care. That turned out to almost be the easiest part.
Sapphire’s mom was trying to kill her and Diesel’s mom was no where to be found when these babies were pulled in. We knew these babies had issues, even though Diesel was fever free, played and ate very well. That doesn’t always mean what folks think it does. He has an internal infection, as does Sapphire. The first vet bill was about $1000 between the two of them, with the 2nd visit $350. Diesel has to go back one more time, but of course that is not the end of it.
Last night we got another call and Matt brought me another baby who is barely hanging in there. He is the one in the top photo. Black Jack can barely move, cannot lay down by himself, and was attacked by something prior to being brought in. He was found yesterday alone, no one in sight. This is usually a pretty good indicator that the band realized he would attract predators. I am not sure but the way he moves it is almost like they beat the stuffing out of him before convincing him to not follow the herd. Again, you never really know for sure, but there are indicators to what might possibly have happened. At any rate he is hanging in there as of this post. He is eating, on medication and we are spending 24/7 with him. He is one you have to stay in the stall with. His eyes are as empty as I have ever seen, although there was a tiny spark today.
Black Jack is having severe gut issues in addition to all his other problems, but did manage to poo just enough to spray me and the blankets as I lay in my chair in the stall with him last night.
We have been hit with a lot of expenses with the horses, feed etc. and the vet bills. Matt is on his way Right Now to pick up ANOTHER baby, and possible an additional one who is injured. So we are looking at more expenses and all these kids will most likely need more vet care, hopefully with the exception of Sapphire.
With 5 babies on Foal Lac the milk powder alone will be $1500 + for a month. That is just a drop in the bucket as far as what we use to care for them. Add in Foal Lac Pellets, Kerosene for their heaters, Baby wipes, Vaseline, rubber gloves, shavings, syringes, needles, enemas, BioSponge, ProBiotics, hay, etc. etc. it just keeps adding up. So as always, the orphans are spendy, but I believe when God puts a baby in front of me we are supposed to give it every reasonable chance available.
We also just picked up another stallion (in addition to all of the other kids from the ISPMB rescue) who was ready to be loaded on the slaughter truck. We received a “hail mary call” and God whispered in my ear “say yes”.
So although we have had an amazing year placing horses, more keep coming. THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO SAVE THESE KIDS! Together we have accomplished amazing things, but it seems like the work has just begun.
I was kind of hoping for a break after South Dakota, but God giggled at me again. I hope folks remember, we only ask for the horses so we can take care of them and give them a chance for the lives they deserve.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning to authorize a 44,000-acre expansion of an open pit gold mine in Nevada. The massive expansion will negatively impact wild horses in four Herd Management Areas by significantly reducing their habitat and subjecting them to increased vehicle traffic, noise, and human activities in the project area. The mine will also consume massive amounts of water in an area where water is already scarce, and where the BLM often uses lack of water as an excuse to remove wild horses from public lands. The agency is seeking public comments on an Environmental Impact Statement for this project – get your comments in today by clicking below.
Last month marked the second anniversary of the signing of our cooperative agreement with the State of Nevada for the humane management (via PZP birth control) of the historic and beloved Virginia Range wild horses near Reno. This community-based program has been a success and exceeded our established target goals. The Virginia Range horses are challenged by habitat loss due to encroaching development in this fast-growing area of northern Nevada. The program’s goal is to reduce the removal of horses from the range by humanely slowing population growth rates and reducing population numbers over time. Read more about this exciting public/private partnership that is Keeping Wild Horses Wild in Nevada by clicking below.
Last week, we scored another major legal victory when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the Nevada Association of Counties, the Nevada Farm Bureau and others seeking the removal of thousands of wild horses and burros from Nevada public lands. It was our third appellate court win in less than a year! The battle in federal court goes on, however, as wild horse opponents shift legal strategies in an attempt to force massive wild horse roundups. Read more about the ongoing battle and how you can help below.
The wind is blowing the frozen snow and the roads are covered in ice. The temperature has been -18 degrees wind chill factor and conditions are brutal. However, the good news is that more horses are going out today, and even more are scheduled to leave in the next week or so.
Your donations have purchased another $1100 in milk products for the 6 babies back at Chilly Pepper. Another $1000 to pull 4 more horses (transport, vetting etc.) this last week and yesterday it was over $550 for medical supplies. This was for medicine used for the babies and for horses in need of meds at this time.
We purchased over $5000 worth of panels and had previously purchased $4200 worth. The $4200 was specifically donated by a wonderful woman named Sara, thanks to Elaine Nash and Fleet of Angels.
It sounds like a lot of panels, but unfortunately even with the additional panels purchased by Fleet of Angels, we are still substantially short. A great number of the panels purchased for this rescue are being used to cover up very dangerous fencing so we can safely sort without horses being torn up.
I know God put this in front of us, so we are here, but sometimes it is just really hard. Even though we did not cause the situation, we are the ones who have to listen to the stallions and mares screaming for each other. We are the ones in the middle of the stallion fights and due to the lack of gelding, there are so many more in small areas than is normal. We are also dealing with horses with long standing injuries and we are the ones separating the families.
Unfortunately we are not able to stay in the trailer on the property this time, so there are food and lodging expenses, as well as many miscellaneous expenses. We have had to purchase lots of rope to tie the panels together, hardware for fixing dangerous situations and the list goes on and on. Many of the expenses are small, but they do add up. Hay prices are rising due to the extreme winter, and the initial budget was $250,000. At the same time these costs are being incurred to secure these 500+ horses their forever home, our rescue still has it’s normal expenses, with the additional “ranch hand costs.
But we will get this done with your help. Y’all have been amazing, and saved so many lives already. With the 30 that have already gone out, TOGETHER WE HAVE SAVED OVER 300 LIVES – JUST SINCE OCTOBER. THANK YOU!!
P.S. If you have donated via a check and it hasn’t cleared quickly, please understand we are stuck here in South Dakota and even when we can get mail forwarded we are hours away from a bank, and we normally work straight through, 7 days a week. There were also several pieces of mail that were lost from around October. We just received them. If you are worried about a donation, please call me at 530 339 1458. Thank you!
After days of driving very slowly on solid ice and snow, we arrived safely after delivering the horses to their new homes. Matt and I have never seen so many wrecks. It was truly terrifying with our precious cargo on board. But our prayers were answered and we had Angels all around us.
We delivered Copper, Delilah, Precious and Abilene (shown above) safely to their new homes and headed back towards ISPMB. As you can see, by the photo below, the snow is once again a hindering factor in our work.
This photo was taken just before we arrived at ISPMB. Snow has actually drifted so high over some of the fencing that horses can simply walk out.
As we were driving, I received a message from the Sheriff that the court hearing had been cancelled. A deal had been reached between Karen Sussman and the Counties. Karen gets to keep 20 of her favorite Gila horses and the rest have been turned over to Fleet of Angels.
So the work begins. While I would much rather be back home taking care of our critters, there are 520 horses needing homes immediately!!
Folks have asked “Does that mean the horses are safe?”. In reality, the answer would be No – Not yet! Until ALL these horses land safely in new homes, there is always a risk. If there is no money to feed them or a place for them to live, then “NO”, they would not be safe. However, the whole reason we are here is to MAKE SURE they end up safe, and that takes everyone!!
This is PHASE 2. – I hate to say it but it is where the real work begins. We are on a limited amount of time and we have to keep going.
This is one of, or possibly THE largest rescues ever. There is so much riding on this. If we cannot pull together and save 810 horses, how on earth can we take care of horses if the borders are closed. This is huge folks, we must succeed. We want slaughter eliminated – then we need to come together and show that we can “git ‘er done”.
Meanwhile my little monkies back at the ranch have nearly gone through all their milk and munchies again. But they are doing very well and thanks to Pete Dunham who is taking care of those kids, I can be up here in balmy South Dakota saving more lives lol.
Matt picked up 4 more horses for Chilly Pepper and is once again on the road.
Fleet of Angels adopted out my crew sorted and loaded out 10 horses yesterday. I have to say I am so grateful that Elaine and Barbara handle all the paperwork. Never have I been so glad to just be “horse-girl” lol.
Hay prices are jumping due to the severe winter and we need help in this endeavor. The expenses for a rescue like this are horrific. We need everyone to help us save these horses. Whether it is a home, financial aid, prayers, sharing the information, helping deliver horses, well the list is endless.
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE! YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT ARE THE ONLY REASON IT IS HAPPENING!!
As I steal a few moments to send out a quick update, Matt and I are on our way back to South Dakota. The good news is that we are delivering 4 horses to their new homes before we go back. We placed 2 last week and are so happy as we cannot afford to “rescue & not rehome”. lol However, we need help badly with the ongoing expenses involved in this operation and for the special needs kids who are landing at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang.
We are spending about $300 per month for milk powder per baby, and we currently have six on “liquid gold”. So that is roughly $1800 just for milk, and then we are going through about 4 bags? of milk pellets at roughly $100 each bag. These kids were a bit behind so they are taking extra. Add to that the enormous amounts of hay they are consuming and their bedding and their Mare and Foal Pellets, we are easily spending thousands on just the 6 babies alone. The good news is that they are doing better and better every day.
We spent $1100+ on the last kids that came home to get them vetted and their lil hoofers done. This does not include Coggins or Health Certs etc. or to even get them home. As we are taking on several blind horses that have no where else to go, (including Frosty – the blind black stallion), we need to add additional shelter and make the pen for Shadow and the new blind kids larger than originally planned.
This is Matt’s 5th trip to SD, my 4th (as I lived there for several months) and as it is approximately 1100 miles each way, well that adds up quickly. It costs roughly $900 per trip, and that is just for fuel, motel and an oil change etc. Normally we wouldn’t drive this far over and over but this was a situation God clearly put in front of us. It is and has been exhausting, but knowing at least 270 are in (or will be lol ) in loving homes, it is worth it.
SITUATION UPDATE: Matt and I have more horses to pick up that were already in the 270 number. We are picking up for another sanctuary who agreed to take the horses and they need to go through our place for vetting and hoof care etc. We are responsible for all the preliminary care and then the sanctuary will be giving them a life long home for the rest of their lives. So we need funds for those 10 also. We also need to pick up our stallions and a couple other special needs kids. They were supposed to be picked up a long time ago, but due to the weather and an emergency pick up from CA, this is the soonest we could get back.
So we really need help so we can continue helping the horses in what ever way we are needed.
COURT DATE – The State is trying to remove the horses from ISPMB. If this happens, they have asked Fleet of Angels to be responsible for finding them safe homes and to take on all responsibility of their care.
If this happens, we will need to continue to load, sort and help these horses find a safe place to land.
If this does not happen, I have been told that the numbers would still need to be reduced, so again, we would most likely need to be on hand to help with placement of the horses who were not staying.
So either Matt and I have 3-4 more trips to secure the horses that are already in the 270 number if nothing changes, or we will be there longer if more horses need to be rounded up and sorted. In any case, we also are incurring added expenses to hire someone to stay at Chilly Pepper and take care of all the horses that are already there.
We want to thank everyone again who has been part of this. Y’all are the ones who make it all possible!!!
If anyone does not receive their end of year tax receipt, please call me at 530 339 1458. For some reason there were a couple of folks whose information did not show up on their credit card donation. * Tax receipts will all be sent out by Jan 30th. Again, you guys are amazing and are so very much appreciated.
I am sorry it has taken so long for an update. We had no internet for 11 days, and Matt and I have been working 12 hour+ days to “prep for winter”. As we were never supposed to be in South Dakota even up until Thanksgiving, staying until two days before Christmas really put us extremely far behind.
The babies are improving greatly and enjoying the nursery! We do want to send out a special “Thank You” to Dee Gregory, who was (hopefully still is LOL) our “go to” guy who made it possible for Matt and I to safely leave our rescue. Without him, we would never have been able to “git ‘er done.”
We got an emergency call today. One of the really big trees crashed through and destroyed some of the panel fencing at our place in CA. Thankfully, although DaBubbles panicked and was running around loose, Seanna and Carl were able to lock him up safely in one of the shelters. So now Matt has to postpone his trip back to South Dakota to pick up our stallions and go pick up the remaining horses in CA.
While I was writing this, we were informed that the road between here and our place in CA is shut down as a result of the weather? So hopefully tomorrowhe can pick them up.
Again, never a dull moment or one to rest.
Meanwhile, we are busy at home feeding, working on the nursery, trying to play “catch up”, vetting, getting hoofers trimmed and trying to get more shelter set up for the additional horses that will be coming to Chilly Pepper. We now need to set up an even larger “blind playpen”, as we already have two and more coming.
We are going through hay like crazy and the babies are absolutely loving their milk. Unfortunately with six on milk powder and milk pellets it can be a real damper on the budget. But all of them are doing much better and that is what it is all about.
PHASE 1 of the ISPMB Adoption Campaign has been completed. Thanks to lots of hard work and the amazing love and support y’all have shown, the 270 horses we were allowed to adopt out have been safely loaded and transported with zero injuries.
DUE TO OUR SUCCESS the remaining horses being removed by the County have been offered a chance to avoid auction. We are very happy to have more and more folks stepping up and joining “the team” to make this happens. There are some really amazing folks joining in to ensure this mission will protect any horses the County takes from ISPMB.
We have been asked to continue managing the ground crew and we will need to head back to South Dakota so we can continue sorting and loading any horses who need placement.
This is a statement made by Elaine Nash, Fleet of Angels, who was solely responsible for creating, organizing, and managing a comprehensive national campaign to get the ISPMB horses adopted and in safe homes, at the request of SD state’s attorney, Steve Averly.
“IT’S OFFICIAL. . . .
Two SD State’s Attorneys and the SD Animal Industry Board have officially filed a motion to remove the remaining 540 (+/-) horses from ISPMB in Lantry, SD.
To prevent the auction and possible slaughter of any of the horses, Fleet of Angels has joined forces with Habitat for Horses- an equine rescue in TX, Return to Freedom- a wild horse sanctuary in CA, and numerous other animal welfare organizations who will collaborate with us to insure that every horse is fed during both the legal process and the adoption process, and they will help FOA insure that every adoptable horse is placed in a good home.
Only with the help of hundreds of people- including all of you who make up our ground crew, administrators, adopters, transporters, donors, and other providers, will we be able to protect all of the horses if they are removed from ISPMB. If the ISPMB horses are entrusted to us to place, it will be a massive, difficult, hugely expensive job, and we will need everyone’s help to be successful.
We’re already at work raising funds for this effort because we’ve agreed to pay the counties all they’re owed to date, plus we have to cover the cost of hay for the horses during this process in order to save them from auction. We will be counting on you to contribute to this effort, and participate in any way you can. We can do it. We must do it. We will do it!”
It’s Thursday, and Matt and I are finally headed home for a break. We are hoping to celebrate Christmas with our family. We have precious cargo with us once again, and Circle Bear, Princess and Leeanna are all special needs babies.
Circle Bear, shown above, was severely underweight and barely hanging on. The severe weather is extremely hard on these little ones and he was by himself. We don’t know where Mom is, but it was life and death for him so we brought him in. He has pneumonia, so please send lots of prayers.
Princess is on the left, and she is recovering from a coyote attack. I know all of us with horse kids have to worry about those beautiful little hunters. It is so hard as the coyotes are doing what comes naturally, but they do not mix well with baby horses. Princess is lucky, as her injuries could have been much worse, and she is hanging in there. She also has a cold and is feeling quite poorly.
Leeanna also has pneumonia. This winter has been brutal, and she also is severely underweight. Due to the severity of the weather, we made a temporary nursery inside the mobile home we were staying in.
The vet is hopeful they will recover, and they have been on meds and we are doing everything we can. I am so excited to get them home and into our nursery. These babies need lots and lots of prayers.
We are heading back to South Dakota after the New Year. As of now we are at the limit of 270 horses allowed to be adopted out per the court order. Matt and I still have to pick up ones that we have adopted but not yet brought home.
On a sad note, Princess Big Girl passed away. She was in labor, (yes she was pregnant and I cannot believe anyone would have bred her. arghhh). She was doing well, all her tests were good and the vet was giving her a bit of peace and quiet. He returned and she was gone. Later that night Lee had a dream she said was the best and saddest ever. Princess and her baby came to Lee and told her how sorry they were to leave, but because Lee loved her so much she could go, and that they would be waiting for her and see her again.
Due to the severity of Lee’s burns, there is a need for another therapy horse asap. Elaine Nash and Fleet of Angels have come up with several options, and I told Lee that Big Girl was sending her a new horse to do her stretches with so she wouldn’t feel guilty about loving a new horse.
Matt took the last load of horses to NV and on his way back the front end of the truck had some serious issues. Another $5,000 repair bill, but she is running perfectly and once again, God made sure we were in a safe place. :)
It’s been an intense year and I want to thank each and every one of you for being part of Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang. Thank you and God bless!
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After days of driving very slowly on solid ice and snow, we arrived safely after delivering the horses to their new homes. Matt and I have never seen so many wrecks. It was truly terrifying with our precious cargo on board. But our prayers were answered and we had Angels all around us.
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