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..
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently requested that the 2018 budget lift the ban on destroying healthy mustangs and burros. If the ban is lifted, all horses and burros in holding facilities will be killed or sold for slaughter. And most of the remaining wild horse population will be slaughtered, possibly even through aerial gunning in the wild.
Here’s the bottom line: 92,000 healthy horses will die if this ban is lifted.
It’s time to fight back against this senseless slaughter. Thousands of you have already made your voices heard. Now, we’re launching a new campaign: #NoHorseSlaughter. But we need your help to spread the word.
We’re going to take our message to every member of Congress and make sure they know what’s at stake. We can’t let the BLM undertake an unprecedented mass slaughter of our nation’s healthy wild horses and burros.
Congress is likely to decide the future of our nation’s iconic wild horse population in the next two weeks, which means these next few days will be critical. We’re going to take the fight to them — both in their districts when their on recess and back on Capitol Hill. With your help, we’re going to make sure they know that America is standing up for #NoHorseSlaughter.
* 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..
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..
Big Day of Giving ends at midnight! We are about half way to our goal, but there is still time to donate. Help us meet our goal in the last 4 hours!
This year, our goal is to engage 200 donors and raise $10,000 to help us FILL THE BARN to help support our feed and care costs!
Do you know what your donation could do?
Last year it cost over $50,000 for feed, supplements and care for the horses at AAE! Your donation of any amount will help feed a horse, assist with the cost of veterinary care, or provide for other needs such as hoof or dental care.
Help us care for these majestic animals and donate today!
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is preparing to conduct its 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture. Horses will be included in the Census. Every five years, USDA-NASS conducts an agriculture census to determine the number of U.S. farms and ranches and gather vital information about U.S agriculture, including the horse community. The census is a valuable tool to help the USDA determine land use and ownership, livestock populations, operator characteristics, production practices, farm income as well as other important information.
The announcement of the USDA-NASS census comes as the American Horse Council has initiated their 2017 Equine Industry Economic Impact Study. The AHC economic study questionnaire will be finalized this month and begin collecting data in the following weeks. These two separate, yet concurrent studies will provide both the industry and the public with a strong image of the state of the industry in 2017. The AHC strongly encourages everyone who is offered the opportunity to participate in either, or both, of these studies to do so. The economic impact and the census are critical to promoting the horse industry.
The AHC continues to promote the USDA-NASS census due to the critical need for the horse community to be properly accounted for in the federal governments agricultural findings. The information collected by the Census will be used to develop federal and state agricultural policy for the next five years. It’s vital all farms and ranches with horses participate in the census so the USDA, and the nation at large, has accurate information regarding the size and scope of the horse community.
Farm or ranch owners who participated in the last Census in 2012 will automatically be mailed a survey that can be filled in and mailed back. If a farm or ranch was not part of the 2012 Census or has not received a form in the mail, the owner can go to the USDA’s census website http://www.agcensus.usda.gov and clicking on the ‘Make Sure You Are Counted’ button through June.
According to the USDA guidelines for the Census, a farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products, including horses, were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year.
Further information on the 2017 Census of Agriculture can be found on the USDA’s websitehttp://www.agcensus.usda.gov.
In the hustle and bustle of our busiest time of year, we have a critical case, an orphan filly that was not only rejected by mom, but reeling from the effects of mom’s rejection, malnourishment and selenium deficiency, topped of by stress of transport and dehydration. She needs your help!
We go the call yesterday (4/5), a plea for assistance with an orphaned foal who was just a few hours old. She had been rejected by mom and needed help.
So transport was arranged and off we went. She was about 4.5 hours away, but we met in the middle. Gosh, what a precious lil’ filly we met, but it’s been a really rough start! Unfortunately, she was very weak, and definitely in a fragile state. She plopped down on the ground to rest, so we layed her down in the back seat and hightailed it back to Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center (LBEMC) to check her out.
Turns out she looked better than she was. Her blood values were not good, and she was hospitalized.
Lots of attention and supportive measures were taken. A catheter was placed, blood drawn, and meds administered.
We left her looking fairly good and feeling hopeful.
But with foals, things can change quickly. A call at midnight informed us her blood values moving in wrong direction, and we were being prepared for not so good news by morning. HOWEVER, she was up and drinking milk replacer on her own, so that was good!
This morning, she was holding her own, but still quite sick. She was still getting up on her own and drinking her milk replacer with a good appetite. That offered some optimism to keep pushing forward. This afternoon, she was up, she was eating, and her blood levels were finally trending in the right direction, and the 9p update is things are still moving in the right direction.
She wants to live! She’s a FIGHTER and AAE wants to support her as she continues her battle.
Although she’s not out of the woods, the docs think she’s moving in the right direction. It likely she’s dealing with the results of being rejected by mom, and secondary effects resulting from mom’s malnourishment and selenium deficiency, as well as stressors from long transport and dehydration. It’s a lot for any young, new life to endure. Docs are hopeful that with 5 +/- days of hospitalization and supportive care, she has a good shot at a relatively normal life. However, there is a chance there will be some long lasting effects, but it’s too early to know. We need a few more days to have a better picture, but so far, the trend is good.
A BIG THANK YOU to the docs at LBEMC for their quick actions and the outstanding care provided for this little filly. We are all hoping for continued progress.
Without hospitalization, she has little chance of survival at this point. The unfortunate reality is that we are looking at a big expense for this one little life, well over $5,000 to get there. She needs your help.
If our big community can help in little bits, the hit isn’t so hard to any one, and for those that need, AAE is a 501(c)(3), so donations are tax deductible.
No donation is too small. If everyone that can will help just a little, we can give this precious girl a chance to live a full life.
Some folks may think because of the costs that euthanasia is the better choice. Fair enough, and if you feel that way, you are under no obligation to donate. But if you are like many others and believe every life counts as long as there’s a good chance for a good quality of life, please help if you can. Because this little girl has a good chance for a good quality of life, we think she deserves the opportunity. This girl wants to live!
This little girl thanks YOU for caring enough to help her live.
“By saving the life of one horse, we may not be changing the world, but we are changing the world for that one horse.” – Author Unknown
Please note, should there be excess funds, they will apply to future AAE veterinary needs.
The UHC welcomes two new members, the Retired Racehorse Project and Palmetto Carriage Works. Each will be featured in future editions of the UHC Roundup. Member organizations help make programmatic decisions in the areas of education, programs, funding, and visibility.
This is a tough one to write. Thank you! to everyone for the love, support and prayers you are sending. We have made real progress, but are still not even close to where we need to be. However, together we have saved about 25% of the horses so far. When you look at how many are still out there, your heart breaks. But, for the horses that have been saved, it is EVERYTHING.
The situation is fast coming to a close, and I can’t imagine it being a happy one. We officially have 7 days left, although Karen is in default of the court order. It is terribly painful to get to know these horses and realize that we won’t be able to save them all.
The stallions are fighting non stop as we break their hearts. Every time we steal their families, they fight more and it is obvious they are hurting. They run the fence line, screaming for their families. The number of stallions is staggering, as you have 16 years worth of colts who have grown up in the mix also. This creates highly dangerous conditions when sorting the horses.
Elaine Nash, of Fleet of Angels, has been spear heading the whole effort, and a wonderful lady named Barbara Rasmussen has literally been here for about 8 weeks, trying to sort through the adoptions. These two ladies have literally stopped their lives and given up everything to try and save these horses.
The stress of this is unbelievable. My heart is breaking and it makes you physically ill. Every night when your head hits the pillow, it all comes crashing down. Knowing how many of these horses will probably be slaughtered, the stallions especially, is too much to bear.
These horses never ever did anything to deserve this. There is too much pain here to cry away, but every morning you get back up and start over.
We pulled another 14 or so yesterday, and Matt and I have 2 babies in our “nursery”, hopefully in time.
We will keep fighting until the bitter end. But it is an amazing gift of life to each and every horse we pull for adoption. Please keep praying and know that we so appreciate the support that makes this possible. We have to pay someone to be at our place, and although he is getting a tiny portion of what he is worth, it still adds up.
We will bring as many horses home as we have funding for, and tomorrow when I think about what to be thankful for, it will be ALL OF YOU! and the lives we were able to save because of you. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I only wish you could lose weight from crying because I would be lookin’ good lol.
Again, THANK YOU for all you have saved, but we are in desperate need of more help to save more of these horses. If you are interested in adopting any of these beautiful horses, please contact ISPMB asap.
(Karen is actually still in control of the horses and the Sheriff did not take control of the adoptions.) The County will take the horses to auction December 1st under the current court order.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives and to give Shadow the life she deserves.
Several days ago we received a request for an emergency pick up in Idaho. We were told there were 2 stud colts who were well on their way to starvation. Their feet were horrible, they were “wild” (although they are domestic horses) and would strike if you tried to do anything with them, and they needed help asap.
Yesterday Matt drove about 12 hours and went and picked them up. They are in pretty horrific shape. Especially with the weather changing, we need to move quickly, (although we have to be extremely careful not to “overfeed” and make them sick). We have definitely seen and cared for worse cases, but under that hair they are very skinny and they have no muscle tone.
Luckily they have a pretty long coat which has helped them survive. It has also helped disguise their true condition. They have both been sick, and they are quarantined where the cannot have any contact with the other horses here.
They were both in a tiny pen in deep mud with absolutely no shelter or wind breaks. It has been pouring rain where they came from the last few days.
These babies are going to need lots of TLC and groceries, as well as some extra hoof care. This was an unexpected trip, but they definitely would not have survived if left in those conditions. They will also need vet care (ie. gelding) as soon as they are healthy enough.
SHADOW is doing awesome. She runs and plays in her tiny pen and we can’t wait to get her the space she needs. But I am so glad we chose life for her. She is a very happy little girl and absolutely gorgeous.
The folks over at Save Your Ass Long Ears Rescue have quite a few donkeys and mules up for adoption. Click here to get more information. Adoption fees may vary, based on any individuals level of training, (ie under saddle, driving, etc). All animals will be up to date on rabies, tetanus, and have a current Coggins if applicable.
An Albemarle County horse-riding center spent part of Sunday afternoon shining the spotlight on rescue horses.
North Garden Equestrian Center hosts several horse shows a year but for the first time, a new division was added that exclusively featured rescue horses.
Twelve-year-old Taylor Thomas was one of the riders.
She’s been riding horses for four years but it was only just last Christmas that she was united with Amber, a rescue from Hope’s Legacy Equine Rescue.
“She was skin and bones and covered in lice but she was a sweetheart and Taylor fell in love with her,” said Keena Thomas, Taylor’s mom.
“She’s a good girl,” said Taylor. “She does anything I ask, basically. I bathed her and got most of the lice off and then trained her basically again.”
Since her rescue, Amber has gained more than 100 pounds and is now winning ribbons along with the best of them.
“I am extremely pleased to be able to be the first one to judge it,” said equestrian judge, Davera Ackenbom. “I have goosebumps.”
This is an update from Chilly Pepper-Miracle Mustang Rescue.
The “Land & Life Support Challenge” is going very well. We are over half way there and have received donations of all sizes towards this amazing goal. We are so appreciative as we are going through over $1000 per week with Foal Lac Pellets, grain etc., not to mention hay. We still need a little over $2,000 so we can achieve success. SO PLEASE LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
So THANK YOU!!! to all the folks who have stepped up to help us accomplish this. We have received some amazing donations and are so grateful for each and every dollar. Again, I apologize for the slow “thank you’s”. We have literally been working every day ’til nearly dark as we try to achieve the best set up possible here.
Together, since we came here in June, and THIS WAS POSSIBLE ONLY BECAUSE OF Y’ALL, we have saved the lives of 25 babies and 12 adult horses. You guys are amazing. We are currently sitting at 2 babies in Shingletown, 11 here and two more arriving Friday. So every time we adopt some out, more come in.
It is overwhelming, but as long as we have the funds, we will continue to do everything we can. So again, Thank You! – because you have saved all these lives in the last 2 months.
Unfortunately, the round ups are continuing and Matt is on his way to pick up more babies. The foal above is in very poor shape, and was injured quite badly. She has a severe head injury and her eye is swelled shut. Her other eye is cloudy and she seems to have extremely limited eyesight.
(No matter how hard folks try and how careful they are, there is always a chance that a wild horse can be injured when “sorting” occurs. Folks see them standing calmly and can often forget that when they are scared, they can panic and easily hurt themselves. Unfortunately this little girl did panic and we are going to make sure she gets the best care possible.)
So in addition to the normal costs to pick up these babies, we have already incurred vet bills for the injured foal. We are praying she will have full vision, but no matter what we will figure out what she needs.
So please help us keep on saving lives. Together we have accomplished major things for these horses and instead of being slaughtered and dying a horrific death, they are munching away under clear blue skies.
GREAT NEWS – The 65 Wild Horses and 7 babies born to that group have ALL been placed. Matt is delivering the last load today as I write this. All those horses saved from slaughter and no longer our responsibility to feed and pay board on. This has been a long time coming. CONGRATULATIONS!to everyone who helped get this done.
We are working on finding homes for the horses we have now, and still need help feeding, providing veterinary care and picking up the new babies.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us save these horses.
Joelle Dunlap’s non-profit rescue, Square Peg, was recently featured in an NBC news story that highlights the new life of the rescued racehorses. The racehorses are paired with children with special needs, primarily autism.
The folks over at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang Rescue have been given a matching fund challenge by a supporter to purchase land for the rescue.
We just received GREAT NEWS from one of our Angels. We have a wonderful donor who is throwing out this challenge.
She will purchase an adjoining 3 acre parcel for Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang so we can continue to help save the wild horses. IF, folks will step up and match the $5,000 needed to buy the land, she will “git ‘er done”!
Her donation of $5,000 will buy the land and the “matching funds” will feed the horse kids through August.
You can donate – Please put in the notes “For the Land & Life Support Challenge”. (If you can’t donate, please share far and wide. You can still be part of saving these lives).
We need a bit over $5,000 for the month of August to feed and care for the 25 horses here in NV and the permanent residents (plus two orphan foals) at our facility in Shingletown.
We are feeding about $1000 worth of hay in NV for the month (11 adults – 5 of them pregnant mares), one nursing mare with a foal and 14 orphan foals. We have several babies who are spoken for and waiting to go to their new homes, but lots of beautiful babies for adoption.
Two of the babies are in really rough shape, so they need extra prayers, as well as groceries.
The average cost for a new foal is about $300 month for milk and feed, and we have 14 of them here in NV. So that is about $4200.
The good news is that a few of them are older so once they get to a healthy weight their costs won’t be quite as much.
“Saving them” is just the beginning. Now the real work begins to feed and care for them, get them healthy and find great homes.
We so appreciate all the folks who are going the distance to save these horses. We are willing to do the work, but simply don’t have the funds we need without amazing folks like you. THANK YOU!
One of our mares that is pregnant. She was nursing the foal who belonged to the mare that was shot in the head.
Knowing we were powerless to save the rest of the band, my heart is breaking, but it means we have to fight that much harder to take care of the ones that we were able to save.
The following post comes from Chilly Pepper Equine Rescue.
CLOSE TO $4,000 +/- IS NEEDED for emergency repairs to fix the rescue truck. – (We have spent over $1000 so far, and now the other bank of injectors is needing replaced prior to Matt driving one more mile.)
Matt is stuck waiting for the truck to be repaired, and as usual, God sent us an Angel. His name is Larry, and the picture above is his place and the horses are happy and enjoying their “break”.
As we deal with the frustrations of old equipment and trying to save lives, I have to once again be grateful. Our angels watched over us again and the truck started having issues about 10 miles from the shop, as opposed to Matt being stuck out in the middle of nowhere with the horses.
I paid for our “rescue truck” personally, with my own funds, but have designated it to the rescue and for rescue use only, pretty much since the rescue started. It has been our “rescue” truck since the very beginning, and we have put well over 100,000 miles on it saving babies, big kids and a few other assorted critters.
While y’all are the reason we have been able to do what we do, without that truck none of this would have happened. Unfortunately it has 200,000 miles + on it now, so we will be needing to raise funds for a new truck in the future. However, everything is checking solid with the exception of needing the new injectors, and I am happy to say that we did get about 100,000 miles on most of them. (We did have to replace a couple of them last year, but they are not the ones that failed like I thought.)
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So once again, the horses and the rescue need help. Things are going well here with the horse kids that are here. We have placed 5 of the babies we brought home and three more, possibly four, should be heading to their new homes in the next week or so. The gelding of the 6 stallions has been scheduled and once we get through this, we will continue saving lives and doing what we do.
Thanks to all of you, we have been blessed to be able to save 32 babies, 11 adult wild horses, the Percheron Big Girl, two miniatures, and we are receiving a Jenny this coming week. So because of the love and support our “rescue family” has shown us, we have been able to save all those lives AND help place over 20 wild horse kids in safe and loving homes.So thank you for saving 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.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us save these horses.
You can donate via check at Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, 34694 Sidebottom Rd., Shingletown, CA 96088or mail a check to Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang, P.O. Box 190 Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
530 474-5197 or 530-339-1458 If you are interested in visiting or adopting one of these beautiful horses