Yard Sale Report!

Drum Roll, please...........

At the end of six hours of selling and repurposing your donated treasures, Traveller's Rest was able to add $1,077.89 to the bank account!  Not bad for half a day's work .  I'm also happy to say we sold all the large items which means, in addition to the boost that gave to the coffers, we don't have to store them. 

What a great crowd. Some shoppers came from as far away as the Virginia Beach area, just to support the Geezers.  I can't tell you how much that means.  We saw a lot of old friends who can't get to the farm as often as they'd like.  It was wonderful to see you all again.  Some friends were Facebook "fans" whose names were familiar.  Putting names to those faces means a lot, as did hearing that FB readers enjoy our educational posts.  Since education is a big part of TREES mission, it was gratifying to know we're making some difference in that way.

We also met several exciting new friends, many offering to support TREES' future endeavors with their time and services.  We'll be in touch!  There are some who feel yard sales are not the best fund-raising method for growing organizations, but I have to say you can't beat it for community networking opportunities.

Thank you to everyone connected to yesterday's sale.  Carole, Janet, Helen, Trish, Carol, Deborah, and everyone who donated such "sellable" items, put up flyers, shared on your FB pages or contributed in any other way.  Some of you snuck in and dropped off bags and boxes without waving us down. and we want to make sure you know how much every treasure was appreciated.

Thanks, too, to Carol, who came back early Sunday to help catch up on the general farm cleanup.  Whew. 

Hope got some rest today - you made a great contribution to the geezers yesterday in more ways than you know.

It’s a Fine, Fine Life

Whenever I’m engaged in work that doesn’t require deep thinking – mucking stalls or putting out hay, for instance – I’ve noticed I almost always hum the song “It’s a Fine Life” from “Oliver!.” I’ve done this for years, not consciously, but on a very frequent basis. Granted, in the musical, Nancy was trying to convince herself that hers was a fine life, but in the case of performing TREES’ work it’s true. This is a fine life.

There are moments of stress, like welcoming a new arrival and not knowing if attempts at rehabilitation will succeed. Of course, saying goodbye to an Elder when the time comes is not a favored aspect of this work. Overall, however, the sanctuary lifestyle is very satisfying.

Much of the reward comes in seeing TREES’ residents respond to good nutrition, vet and dental care and regular visits from several practitioners of complementary techniques.

Just as rewarding, though, are the daily restorations of faith in humanity.

In general, people have enormous compassion for those who can’t help themselves, whether the helpless are two-legged or four. We are continually overwhelmed by the generosity of people who themselves have few “extras” in life: Neighbors who offer help in a snow storm; People who donate like new, but seldom used, items for tack and yard sales; Moms and Dads who drive back and forth so their children can fulfill community service projects at TREES; Supporters who cannot perform physical labor but can spend time researching or networking via computer, collecting things like proofs of purchase, or picking up supplies at local stores; Home business owners who offer services free or at a significant discount.  And, of course, the people who do the "dirty work," scooping ton after ton of poop, scrubbing water tanks, raking up old hay, etc etc etc.

All of those people, and many many more like them, find ways to help even though they may not be able to make large or frequent cash contributions. They do these “jobs” with no fanfare, no tooting of horns, and no expectations of compensation. They do it because they want to help.

Meeting such people makes this one fine, fine life.

Super Colossal Big Huge Yard Sale!

TREES is havin' a sale!  Not on horses.  Or on trees.  But on almost everything else!

To raise funds to care for horses in residence at Traveller's Rest Equine Elders Sanctuary, there will be a Yard/Garage Sale
Saturday, July 31, 2010
8AM until 2PM
8815 Robert E Lee Drive
Spotsylvania, VA 22551

Going back to college?

Offered for sale:
two oriental rugs
dorm fridge
small kitchen appliances in excellent condition
dishes
rice cooker
mini stereo
pair of hanging lamps
never used foam mattress pads
electric blanket
never used water color box
artist easel (tabletop)
Cuisinart
vacuum cleaner
tall corner cabinet, rounded front, natural wicker and metal (bronze finish?)
CD racks
All kinds of things to decorate your apartment!

Also:

SADDLES
yard and garden tools
dehumidifier
holiday decorations
truck tires and rims NEW! (Firestone Steeltex A/T, LT 265/75R16, 123/120R M/S. Load Range E)
toys
bicycle - never ridden - 18(?) inch Huffy Rocket
books, books, books
this'n'that, knick-knacks and geegaws.

And more goodies arriving every few days, so
Come.....Browse.......Shop!
Cold drinks will be available.
All proceeds benefit Virginia's Golden Equine Oldies.

Accepting gently used treasures until July 27!

Watch for our "freebie" boxes!
All items sold "as is"
More info:  info@equineelders.org or 540-972-0936

PoP Drive!

With feed prices ever increasing and a larger percentage of Toothless Wonders at the Sanctuary than in past years, TREES' senior feed/ alfalfa cubes bill is currently hovering around $1500 per month. 

If you feed Triple Crown, Legends, or Reliance feeds to your horses, you can help TREES' elders with no added cash coming out of your pocket!  The Proof of Purchase seals on every bag are worth money to organizations enrolled in the Southern States SHOW program. 

TREES has been accepting PoP's for several years, but now we want to ask everyone to go on a PoP hunt.  Does your lesson barn feed any of the listed feeds?  Your riding club? Boarding stable?  Members of your 4-H group or local horse society?  Ask everyone who uses Triple Crown, Legends, or Reliance to clip the PoPs from every bag and bring them to your next meeting. 

(Any Triple Crown feed qualifies.  We used Senior as an example since that is what we have in our own feed room.)

We've set a goal of collecting 25,000 PoP's in 2010.  That will translate to between $2500 and $6250 dollars depending on how many of each type of feed are included in the total.  That's a pretty handsome chunk of change for free.  (Almost free, anyway - it may cost you a stamp if you mail them to TREES at PO Box 2260, Spotsylvania, VA 22553.)

Again,

Buy feed.

Clip PoPs

Mail to TREES at PO Box 2260, Spotsylvania, VA 22553

The Geezers Thank You.

No More Donations from horse.com (formerly Country Supply)

We were very disappointed to learn that horse.com/Country Supply has discontinued its CARE program.  For years, when shoppers entered an organization's "Care Code" at checkout, a percentage of the purchase total was donated to that organization.  That will no longer be the case.  We're disappointed in this change since TREES' supporters actually built quite a little cooperative donation base while shopping through the horse.com site.   A further disappointment was the decision to not distribute what credits organizations had built up in their accounts at the time the program ended.  Bottom line, folks, is that if you were shopping at horse.com more to generate donations than because it was your first choice in horsey retail, you no longer need to factor that into your shopping decisions.

HOWEVER!  We're still members of the iGive mall, and with holiday shopping moving into full swing, that is another way you can support Equine Elders without spending any extra money yourself.  Visit the TREES page at iGive to sign up. 

"Searching or Shopping means a donation. It's just that free and easy. A penny or more per search, a $5 bonus for your first purchase and up to 26% of your purchases at over 730 stores like Amazon, eBay, Travelocity, Home Depot, Staples, and many, many more. Plus you SAVE money with exclusive coupons/free shipping deals."

Hundreds of well-known stores offering everything from pet supplies to inkjets to chocolate.  happy shopping!  Many offer specials, sales, coupons and other extras, just like your brick'n'mortar mall, but without the crowds.

The more you buy, the bigger your donation to TREES! 

Now don't you wish you'd started here instead of in a mile long line at 5AM?

Kids Today......

We'd like to thank Caroline B. and her family for dropping by for a visit today.  For her senior project, Caroline chose to do a presentation on senior horses.  As part of that project, she built a display which featured some of TREES' residents (Miss Mona in particular) to take to local horse shows, and also collected donations and used tack for Traveller's Rest to use in fundraising efforts.  Today TREES was presented with 8 saddles, among other items, that will be used to generate funds for residents' care.  Caroline will also be building a PowerPoint presentation as the final phase of her project.  We hope she'll send us a copy! 

As a side note........Sherman - (formerly) timid, detached Sherman - thoroughly enjoyed Caroline's company and I think would have stayed right next to her as long as she stood in one place. 

Thank you, again, Caroline.  Hope you enjoy your holiday weekend in DC!

Santa's Elves Sneakin' Around

Gifts continue to arrive no matter what time of year it is!

Thank you, Tim, for the muck bucket full of goodies:  Five new breakaway halters, cotton leads, ivermectin, a complete grooming kit, Swat ointment, Vetwrap and a clock almost too nice to put up in a barn.  It may need to go on the porch or in the room used for small tour groups.Thank you, too, for your generous contribution directly to TREES' account at REVC.  We look forward to seeing you again soon as a volunteer.

And Trish!  Toothless Wonders, one and all, thank you for 50 lbs of alfalfa cubes as well as the grooming supplies.  The extra soft brush and curry are perfect for new arrivals like Sherman that may be carrying little flesh over their weary old bones. Since we've seen more bot eggs this year than we usually do, the bot knife is particularly welcome!

At the risk of sounding a little repetitive, we could not offer TREES' residents the level of care we strive to meet without community support.  Every gift, big, small, cash, goods, or time, adds to the sanctuary's ability to execute its stated mission and goals. 

Thank you, everyone.

Christmas, Birthday and the Fourth of July!

Yesterday felt like all three rolled into one.

This area is absolutely crammed full of wonderful people who really love horses. Foals, show horses, race horses, trail horses, polo ponies and yes, retired "pasture puffs." Virginia's horse lovers want to see them all well cared for.

Yesterday we saw that love of horses represented, again, by the staff and customers of the Charlottesville branch of Dover Saddlery. Thank you Heather, Amanda, Wendy, Michelle, Beth, Jules, Lisa and everyone else who donated anonymously.

The bed of a large pickup was fairly well filled with goodies for the geezers. Rambo blankets, fly masks, wound ointments, bandaging, leg wraps, hoof picks, snaps, manure buckets, sponges, ivermectin, grooming and first aid supplies of every imaginable sort, mineral bricks, and more. It truly felt like Christmas at TREES!

Every now and again, when we run into a horse like Mona, we wonder what goes through someone's head that allows him to let a horse fall into that condition. The good news, however, is that people like our visitors from Dover far, far, outnumber those that don't appear to care. We know that because we meet more of them every week.

Thank you, all. We couldn't do this without you.

Any Trailer Rehabbers/Customizers out there?

Would you be willing to consider, or know of someone willing to consider, a "project" to help the Elders of Traveller's Rest (or future residents of Traveller's Rest?)

Christmas came again and TREES was given a pre-owned stock-type trailer! This type of trailer is exactly what we would like for TREES' purposes, but this one needs a little TLC (much like most of the horses that come here) and a little customizing, if possible.

We'd like to find someone who can look at "The Sergeant Kirkland" (See here for the relevance of the name) to see just how much work we are talking about and give us an estimate of costs. There are a few areas of rust damage that are of concern, along with some more minor but necessary "fixes," such as missing safety chains, damaged exterior lights, etc.

We'd also like to have a little customizing done to make the Kirkland a more suitable "ambulance" when needed. This would involve things like padding on the walls and a more substantial divider in the front compartment that a debilitated horse could lean on when necessary. Then there is the issue of a new paint job, of course, and some new tires.

Anyone out there willing to tackle a project like this for a good cause? Please give us a holler at 540-972-0936 or email info@equineelders.org

Our day at Tractor Supply

Thank you, again, Fredericksburg Tractor Supply Company for hosting several local animal welfare groups for the day. We always enjoy talking to your staff and customers. "Everyone has a story." We were especially thrilled to meet so many people describing keeping elder horses at home as part of their families.

Thank you, too, TREES volunteers. The items you made to help raise funds were just beautiful. Your creativity grabbed the attention of store customers, though we did not sell as many goodies as we hoped we would. No worries, though. TSC plans another event in December. Think " 'Tis the Season." We're open to any and all new ideas.

We did distribute a good number of brochures and other literature and, since education is part of TREES' mission statement, we can consider the day a big success on that front alone.

We actually had more people stopping to read about the sanctuary (table facing left in the background) than to sample goodies. That's a good thing!



The end to the day. Thank goodness we were inside!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Merry Christmas to TREES,
Merry Christmas to TREES,
Merry Christmas, in October...
Merry Christmas to TREES!

Two more whisk brooms and dust pans, (remember an earlier post about how excited we get about "small" things?) two water hoses and news that a whole stack of new muck skips is on the way. What that means to TREES' Mad Muckers is that you won't have to stand around waiting for someone to gather up the full skips and tote them back to the manure spreader to empty them. (wink, wink)

Thank you Gene and Carol.

Now the bad news....just ordered new chains and bars for Big Sam, the 1947 JD spreader. The current set broke twice today under fairly light loads. Ah, the ups and down, yin and yang of farm life!

New Zazzle goodies - SALE!

If you haven't visited TREES Zazzle store yet, please do at http://www.zazzle.com/equineelders/gifts

SALE! Get your Traveller's Rest merchandise at 14.92% off this weekend. Use coupon code 1492COLUMBUS this weekend only.

We've recently added a few new items - postage stamps and two more mugs, including:

Foal Christmas Stamp by equineelders
Browse Horse Postage

Hugged Mug by equineelders
See other Horse rescue Mugs

The Little Things

It doesn't take much to get us excited. Yesterday, Gene & Carol brought two new whisk brooms and that's about all it takes. (We use whisk brooms to sweep up the Toothless Wonders' feeding stations so other horses don't try to vacuum up the leftovers and swallow a lot of dirt or sawdust in the process.)

During the past few weeks, there has been some discussion on several Internet forums about how a specific medical crisis was handled at another horse welfare organization. We're not going to discuss the details or opine on who was "right" or "wrong" but, eventually, the discussion turned to criticism of the farm's appeal for donation of bandaging materials. "If they can't afford bandages, how can they afford feed, hay, vet care, etc etc etc?"

If you've visited the Traveller's Rest web site, you know we also appeal for donations of "little stuff." And here's why:

Not many people are able to donate, say, $1,000 for a load of hay. But most people that want to help can manage a bottle of fly spray, several rolls of vetrap, or a few tubes of antibiotic ointment. Now, if only 100 people donate one $10 item, that's $1,000 not coming out of TREES checking account for "little stuff." $1,000 that can then be spent on hay, vet bills, senior feed, etc etc etc.

In addition to allowing TREES to not spend money on small items, those donations very often cost the donor little to nothing as well. The item might be something they've had sitting on a shelf for months or years. It might be something that was on sale, or even a BOGO deal. Maybe its something that just didn't work for the donor's horse, but is perfect for one of TREES' residents. (We also have to note the benefits of recycling/repurposing in these cases.)

Coming from another angle, we never want visitors to feel their gifts are "too small" or "not much." Every - and I mean every - donation contributes to the overall well-being and happiness of TREES' resident geezers. That includes donation of "stuff," time, services and good old moral support.

Celebrate the "little things." We do!


(PS......we owe quite a few people thank you notes for gifts received during Nate and Mona's rehabs........we acknowledge being very behind in that department. We haven't forgotten your kindness and are grateful for your patience. )

Building a Horse Care Library

Checking email this morning, we found an ad from Amazon.com promoting a sale on new and used textbooks. Eureka! A chance to build our horse care library.

But, alas. Even "on sale" textbooks on equine subjects are a little out of range of our normal budget.

Soooooooo.........seeking donations of used textbooks. If anyone wants to let go of those they have, that is.

Here are some examples of books we thought looked useful on Amazon's list:

• Equine Neurology, by Martin Furr & Stephen Reed
• The Horse in Motion: The Anatomy and Physiology of Equine Locomotion, by Sarah Pilliner & Samantha Elmhurst
• Equine Wound Management by Ted S Stashak, DVM
• Equine Nutrition and Feeding, David Frape
• Equine Respiratory Diseases, Bonnie Rush and Tim Mair
• Equine Veterinary Nursing Manual, Karen Coumbe
• Equine Dentistry: A Practical Guide, Patricia Pence.

There are probably dozens more we could list, but you get the idea. Any books that might help us further educate ourselves about the care of our residents would be most welcome. Do you have any collecting dust?

Just in case, our mailing address is:
TREES
PO Box 2260
Spotsylvania, VA 22553

If you prefer to use UPS, FedEX or another freight service, please contact us for our street address.

The Geezers thank you!

Visit TREES at Tractor Supply Aug 29!

Ahhhh....

A nice cool, indoor event! On Saturday, August 29, the Tractor Supply Company on Plank Road (Rt 3) in Fredericksburg, VA, is hosting an animal welfare/rescue/adoption event.

Groups representing dogs, cats and horses will be included. The good news is that TREES' booth will be inside the air conditioned store! Golden Geezers will not accompany us to the event due to potential heat and lack of shelter outdoors. How could we ask them to give up their shed fans just to let folks gawk at their beauty? I mean..... Really! Priorities, dontcha know.........

Sonny, at age 36

But I digress.......

As of now, our table will be inside, toward the rear of the store, near the horse supply section. Please be sure to seek us out and say "Hi." The Fredericksburg Tractor Supply is at 4179 Plank Road (Rt 3) just west of the Salem Church Road intersection.

And while you are there, please thank the store management for supporting animal welfare organizations! We all need all the support we can get these days!

Oh, and if you're really more interested in meeting the Elders than you are in saying hi to their human caretakers, please just give us a holler to schedule a tour. 540-972-0936 or info@equineelders.org

The Fun of Naming Horses

During today's morning mucking, I found myself singing:

"It's just a little bitty pissant country place,
nothing much to see
No drinking allowed,
we get a nice quiet crowd,
plain as it can be......
It's just a piddly squattin' ol' time country place,
Ain't nothing to hide at all

Just lots of good will,
and maybe one small thrill,
but there's nothing dirty going on!"

Dolly Parton fans will recognize the lyrics.

And so, of course, our new mare's name is "Mona." Our goal is to have our "Mona" showing some of the same voluptuous curves as Dolly's "Miss Mona" in short order.

Mona enjoying 10 minutes of hand grazing

Aug 8, 2009

When will it stop?

One more new resident. While we always look forward to getting to know a new arrival, just welcoming a new arrival means that someone somewhere met with trouble. In this case, quite a few horses met with trouble.

Yesterday morning, TREES received a call from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, asking if we could house a senior mare who, along with several herdmates (being boarded elsewhere,) needed some TLC pending legal action.

This afternoon, the mare arrived. We don't know a lot of details about the case in general, but want to say thank you to the Orange County Sheriff's deputies and Animal Control for helping quite a few horses escape what appear to be very dire circumstances.

Unfortunately, cases like this mare's seem to be more numerous than in the past. Calls for help are coming more and more frequently. Many times, senior horses are the first to suffer since they often need a little extra care and can be difficult to sell or place in new homes.

TREES is currently operating at absolute maximum capacity and needs your support. Please consider the following ways to help, especially as you do your back-to-school shopping!

Zazzle! Buy customized Traveller's Rest merchandise. We're adding new items as often as we can find the time!

iGive: Online mall including over 600 stores. New members earn a $5.00 donation for TREES when shopping within 45 days of original registration. Stores include 1-800 PetMeds, BabyGap, Back In the Saddle, Birkenstock, Chocolate Source, Eddie Bauer, Land's End, Montgomery Ward, Old Navy, PEt Food Direct and hundreds more!

Country Supply: "Best In-Stock Rate in the Industry!" At checkout, please use Care Code "equineelders" to have 5% of your purchase total benefit TREES. (Dewormers do not qualify toward the eligible amount.)

Use iSearchiGive as your Search Engine and help the residents of Traveller's Rest every time you search the web.

Of course, direct donations are welcome at any time. You can donate online through paypal or mail a contribution to TREES, PO Box 2260, Spotsylvania, VA 22553.

If you live in the Spotsy area, please visit the TREES booth at the American Legion Community Yard Sale on Saturday, August 15, 8AM-4PM, 8456 Brock Road, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, Booths 41 & 42. (Or donate a few gently used treasures to add to our sale selection!)

Meanwhile, our new guest, who as yet has no name, has had a small supper of Triple Crown Senior and alfalfa cubes, a small portion of grass hay, a nosh of salt and an energetic roll in fresh sawdust. Fingers crossed, this rehab won't be as complicated as Nate's, but if it does take some unexpected twists and turns, we'll do our best to keep up.

Welcome, ol' gal.

TREES Opening Zazzle Store!

In addition to regular horse care expenses, TREES now has seven - 7 - "lucky number" - horses in our "Cushings Herd." That means seven horses on pergolide. (If it doesn't hurt too much, we may figure out the cost per day of that alone and post it later.) We're not complaining, mind you. Ten or fifteen years ago, there were no truly effective treatments for Cushings, and a diagnosis of Cushings was viewed by many horse owners as a death sentence. Not so these days, but there is that pesky bill to deal with.

In an effort to find more ways to help you help us, TREES is opening a store on Zazzle.com . The store is in its infancy, but we hope to add many many more items over the next few weeks and months. We chose this option as a way to raise money because it costs us nothing in terms of overhead. We upload images or designs, you order customized TREES merchandise directly from Zazzle, and TREES receives a "royalty" for each item.

For a sneak peak, visit http://www.zazzle.com/equineelders* . Check back often to see what is being added. And, please.....send us your requests for specific Zazzle products or specific TREES residents you'd like to see added to the product line. We'll do our best to accomodate!

Emma's Eye by equineelders
Create personalized t-shirts at zazzle

Nate News (+ Hi, Mom!)

More exciting news today, slightly bigger than a baby step this time. As we exited the convalescent paddock to go on our little walk this morning, Nate cleaning lifted all four feet over the bottom of the gate frame. All four. Cleanly. No bumping, tripping or stumbling. This points to two exciting conclusions: first, that all of Nate's feet and legs are getting the message from his brain saying "There is an obstacle on the ground here. Lift your feet higher than usual and step over it;" and second, Nate's muscles, tendons, joints and all the other parts of his anatomy involved in walking are developing strength.

Hi, Mom! {{waves at camera}}

First, let me apologize right up front in case anyone in any way thinks I am comparing my mother's health history to that of a horse.

Second, I'd like to thank Mom (Helen W. of Pittsburgh, PA, soon to be "of" Spotsylvania, VA) for reminding us about some aspects of her post-stroke rehabilitation several years ago. Until now, when Nate tired during a walk, we declared him finished for the day and took him back to his paddock. Mom reminded us that, during her rehab, when she tired, the therapists allowed her to stop and rest until she felt ready to continue (her decision,) then did a few more repetitions of the excercise. So, starting now, as we walk with Nate and he tires a little, we'll stop and rest until he seems ready to continue, then walk just a little farther.

See? You just never know where horse care ideas will come from!

How's Nathan?

We apologize for the delay in “Nathan Updates.” Nathan has only been here one week, but it seems like we have volumes to write about him already. We’ll have to post about him over several days.

We’ll start with a few details about Nathan’s condition on arrival. A one-word description of the overall picture might be “overwhelming.”

As the trailer door swung open, the most obvious problem was his weight. Even with an abnormally thick summer coat, hip bones, ribs, shoulder blades and vertebrae were clearly defined. The heavy coat itself seemed a big bold arrow pointing clearly to Cushings. Nathan’s feet were all abnormally shaped, obviously not trimmed in some time. The biggest concern, however, was his balance. The gray gelding’s back end did not seem to be doing quite what he asked it too. He “listed” to the right, dragging his left hind leg any time he turned in either direction. There was no life in his tail, which hangs limply while the other horses’ tails swish gracefully back and forth as they graze.

Any one of those conditions, other than neglected feet perhaps, put Nathan’s future in question. Together, they seemed impossible to manage.

Once he was comfortable in his new accommodations, we stepped back to evaluate one step at a time. First…..feet. That issue seemed like it should be easiest to resolve and might bring the most immediate comfort. The problem, however, is that impaired balance meant it was difficult for Nathan to stand on three legs. When Nate finally did pick up the foot that appeared to be in the worst condition, we found it was heavily infested with maggots. The heel was virtually nonexistent accompanied by deformed bars and overgrown hoof wall headed in every direction. The smell was nauseating. Yet, Nathan looked fully weight bearing on that foot. Had he been like this so long that if felt “normal?”

The Animal Control Officer who brought Nate to Traveller’s Rest considered this a need for urgent veterinary care. We agreed and made the call. While here, the vet also documented Nate’s condition at time of arrival.

During the veterinary exam, the two biggest concerns were Nathan’s feet and his balance. Working together, the two issues made each difficult to evaluate separately. With poor balance, Nate couldn’t pick up a foot easily. Abnormal feet aggravated the balance problem. This combination of problems also made it hard to determine just how much of his lameness was pain and how much was neurological impairment. In addition, Nate had no muscle mass due to his malnutrition. Starve horses often drag their feet until they become stronger and rebuild muscle.

The maggot infested foot was addressed first. It was cleaned, flushed and poulticed with a Betadine/Epsom Salt paste, held in place with a baby diaper and duct tape. Not pretty, but functional. The hope was that the salt would kill any maggots that might still be hiding in any crevices, or hadn’t yet emerged from the diseased tissue covering the bottom of Nate’s foot. To thoroughly debride the foot, Nate will likely need to go to the vet clinic, but that’s a decision for later. At the moment he is likely not strong enough to tolerate anesthesia.

Where do we start in formulating a possible rehabilitation plan? Can we rehabilitate this beautiful old soul? Being realistic, as we continue to evaluate, it may be determined that the kindest thing we can offer our big new horse is a peaceful transition to his next life. That remains to be seen, but we’re trying to keep an open mind.