I'm back!!!!
I must admit it is difficult to readjust after basking in the sun under the palm trees with birds a-singing......as well as roller coaster rides and sticking my toes in the sand on the gulf side on the way home.......but I'll bore you with pictures later!
I want to thank the UW-La Crosse Equestrian Team and De Soto Strivers 4-H club for holding the fort down and taking full advantage of our wonderful horses this past weekend. The equestrian team showed the 4-H'ers a lot of things that were educational and fun, and Sheba, Chief, Janimal, Tex, and Remmie were the star lesson horses. I want to make a correction that on Saturday for the coggins clinic it was not Dr. Jacobs of Viroqua Vet Clinic that came out to show the youth about EIA testing, but Dr. Solverson of Westby - OOOPS! Sorry for that! Thank you to Dr. Solverson.
Now usually while we are away, things happen. Naturally, that very same thing occurred this time. Precious KC decided to lie down outside of the barn and could not get herself up. She was in the large stall area with outside turnout, but the rain started and despite the entire neighborhood's attempts, Precious laid there until she could muster the strength herself. As a result, she suffered a head injury and scraped herself up. Now looking at Precious one would assume that she should be put down. Try to tell her that!!! Penicillin, bute, banamine, nitrofurazone, hydrogen peroxide all seem to bother her more than her injury. She runs away and almost gets viscious when we come to doctor her! If she could run away at full speed she would. So.......her will to live is voracious. She also is eating like crazy. So........what do we do?
The swelling in her leg has come down and the swelling on one side of her face is down, but the pus continues to ooze out of the injury above her eye. Please say a prayer for this girl - she has had so much to contend with in her life!!!
I am happy to say that the neighbors may be ready to rent us the ten acres of pasture we have been praying for. Add to this the 90 acres that my mother gave us after my father passed away, and we just may convert a portion of this into sanctuary land for the horses. Also we are thankful to Ursula for her donation of what seems like 50 acres of pasture we have access to yearly in June. We have a lot to be grateful for in terms of future care of incoming horses. We still cannot the people who have been so helpful in the past, such as Tim and Patty, Marie, Bonnie, Angie, Jackie, Michelle (our newest and very active chapter near Springfield IL!), and
Kim, Carmen, Trudy, Lori, who have I left out? Seems like just a beginning!!!! With so many people involved we are able to cover a lot of ground in terms of serving horses waiting at the tracks and beyond. And our childrens programs seem to be growing and thriving.
I am also happy to report that as of next week I will be working just one day a week for the time being. This will give me time to pursue more meetings with racing administration and officials and people involved with ASAP. It is well-deserved time to focus as I think about my life work and where it will lead me next (aside from the charity).
I want to thank my mother in law for being here for us while we were on vacation. And of course Ethan. My mother in law stayed by Precious' side and rallied help from Lisa (I thank you too for being there for Precious!) and Patty and Kelly (all neighbors). Their goal was to keep Precious alive until we got home and they did a good job! Thanks to Sandee for cleaning my house on Saturday, and to Brittany my neice for helping, too. All was a labor of love!
Gear up for this weekend - Iowa Horse Fair in Des Moines! We will join the Iowa Harness Horseman's Association for two days of demos, then on to Midwest Horse Fair where we will be in barn 11 (don't forget!)...I think you will like our demos there too!
After the next two weekends I'll probably collapse for awhile, but it is always fun to see the people who have given great homes to so many horses. I can hardly wait to see you! Pictures tomorrow? Hopefully so!
Love
Susan
