Worming Pastes!

Hi everyone,
The vet was out yesterday to float teeth on two horses.
I began doing the spring shots (with Craig's help) and worming and realized that we only have three doses of Ivermectin paste and NO pyrantel or anthelcide wormers.
If you have even one lying around that you would like to donate, that would be wonderful. We usually have an ample supply that is donated each year, but we must have run out.
The vet was pleased with how Remmie looked and, as always, made comments on how nice the Standardbreds are to work with.
It is hoped that someone will come along to love Miss Molly P and Chevie Silverado soon. I will be busy with the shedding blade on many of our older, more shaggy horses that are now losing their winter coats.
Our address for wormers is:
S 6039 Pedretti Lane
De Soto, WI 54624
I am sure some of the foster farms would appreciate some wormer as well! Thank you for your continued support.
Susan

MWHF

Well after a week I am able to sit down and share pictures with you from the Midwest Horse Fair. What a bummer to come home to the usual routine after three full days of nothing but horses and horse lovers in Madison! I can say that our demo on Friday was good, but our demo on Sunday was even oh so much better! The horses all looked so GREAT, thanks to the hard work of Lisa De Garmo and Lexi and Sandee Wellman. The booth and display were patriotic, crisp, clean, new and beautiful. Horses were all decked out in matching polo wraps and saddle pad covers and red white and blue bling on manes and tails. Everyone did a fabulous job and we all were just one happy ASAP family. Thanks to you all for your participation. We hope to have all the same participants next year. In all, there were 11 ASAP horses from all over the state involved in the demo. It takes a lot of sacrifice on everyone's part to take off work and pay for motels and demo materials. You all are awesome.
The list of horses who demonstrated were:
Janimal
Remmie
Squire One
Springtime Beauty
Pistol Pete N
Sunny Forecast
Forrit Biskit
Victory Buck
Silent Pursuit
Tyler's Tanya
Johanna's Flying Star (participant in driving clinic)


Yesterday was a really sucky day. I had the couple whose family picked up Windswept Glory on the highway after he was struck from behind in December in my yard to ream me out. I was on the phone, trying to get our place in South Dakota rented or sold, and Craig saw these people pounding down the door. Apparently they came to explain that they were personally not the couple responsible for hauling Glory to Genoa, but their family member was. Craig was not at all happy about having to handle the situation. I apologize for communicating with them about the fact that ASAP now had the horse and he was rehabbed thanks to Andrea and Shannon and the farrier Dave and was placed in his new home.

After that I was really down, but then a wonderful woman who was an adopter about 11 years ago stopped by. She had gifts for ASAP!!! She had previously lost her husband and had to bring the horses back to be re-placed. She also donated JD and Chance the QH (JD is now deceased but Chance is doing well in his home of several years). She had a tack store and had made the decision to close and buy a great place in Missouri and is relocating. Wow, the boxes she brought! Bridles, bits, grooming supplies, hoof polish, leather cleaner, jewelry, watches, breast collars - the list goes on and on! We could have a great rummage sale! Thank you so much, Elaine Doyle, for your generous donations. It brings tears to my eyes that people think of the horses at ASAP.

Then Crisse and her friend stopped by. Another great event! She had heard we were out of hay, and were in financial distress. Crisse had asked some loyal friends and animal lovers for a donation for ASAP to buy some hay. She came to deliver the donations personally and to see the horse she will adopt soon - RT Rocky. Better yet, her friend is considering adoption also! Thank you Crisse.

We still have at least four adoption fees out, which is holding us back from paying hay bills. $1,400 is a lot of money!
Try as we might, people who owe are either not getting back with us. This creates such a hardship for horses here who are waiting for homes, or those who will never get homes due ot age or soundness. When I stopped to think of it, if we have 25 horses at the farm, and nine are our own, we can calculate 16 horses that need supporting. If we even state a minimum cost of $100 a month to feed them and care for them at a bare minimum, that is $1,600 a month that it costs us to do so. We are not anywhere near taking in that amount of money in donations, sponsorships, or adoption fees. How do we survive? Right now that is in question. After Timesareachanging comes, we need to close our doors to any more horses until adoptions increase and/or we can write some grants. We need to network to get more available foster homes for horses that must be returned due to emergency situations. We need to recruit more donations of hay. Thanks to Lori H. in Iowa, we received 30 doses of vaccines for horses here. Thank you Lori!!!! We have to hope for no illnesses and no emergency vet calls. I know we can make it, but right now is the worst, tightest situation we have been in for 16 years. I recently had a conversation with another rescue who is at 30 horses and cannot take any more in, and they are struggling. What is happening? The market is simply saturated with horses who need homes. Sigh.

Let's have an update on Hiawatha Hannah, the mare that was relinquished back to ASAP after suffering severe infections and thrush. She is being helped by Dr. Jan Schilling, Shannon, and Andrea of Comfortex Mattresses. They are working night and day, giving her iv antibiotics into the legs and keeping her moving when possible.
Yesterday at 4 pm Dr. Schilling performed surgery, placing a placenta (forgive me if this is wrong) over the infection to help accelerate the healing process. Her left leg became so swollen on Wednesday that they were gravely concerned about her ability to survive. I think things are looking up again. This horse has a strong will to live and a strong heart. Please pray for her!

Today was an emotional farewell for a wonderful family who had to return Royals Swan Song to ASAP. They have had him for nine years, since he was three, and would never have returned him if it were not for his allergies which have become worse over the past two years. They are hoping that by placing him in a different geographical area, those life-threatening allergies will not return. So far, so good here. If all works out, he will go to Crisse's along with Rocky. I assured the family that I would put Crisse and them in touch with each other to maintain contact with Swannie. He certainly is one big fellow!

Today we were supposed to be at a 4-H horse show but I woke up to storms and just didn't feel like getting rained on. Now it is starting to lighten up. It is a quiet day at ASAP.

Thank you for reading up on everything and I'll try to continue to keep you informed about all that happens. You are all blessings in the horses' lives!

Susan

Timesareachanging - Literally!

Hello and happy spring.
Hope all of you had a blessed Easter - it was great for our family to be together and what wonderful weather we had, too!

Once again, I am full of appeals.
We have a horse in Ohio who was relinquished to a local rescue because they could not afford to keep him. He needs a ride to the ASAP farm. In addition, we are very excited to say that Timesareachanging, who made almost 2 MILLION DOLLARS and is only 8 years old, is being placed into the ASAP program!

He is currently boarded in Vernon New York and time is a factor here - we greatly need a ride for him from New York to either Illinois or Wisconsin. Right now we have a price quote on shipping for both the Standardbred in Ohio and Timesareachanging of $475.00 total. ASAP is suffering financially and has NO FUNDS to pay shipping. We are looking for a good Samaritan to help Timesareachanging get to ASAP - every dollar donated pays for 2 miles of hauling! He needs to come about 1000 miles, so any ideas on how to recruit donations for this racing champion would be greatly appreciated. Of course, if you are an approved adopter and would be interested in paying the hauling fee in exchange for adoption of him, we would be thrilled.

Let me know any and all ideas, and thank you for your support!

Susan

Iowa Horse Fair Pics

As promised, here are pics taken from Iowa Horse Fair weekend. We took Janimal and Remmie (the Amish horse). It was fun, but the blizzard was not!
Many many thanks to Mary Lou Lawless of Iowa Harness Horseman's Association for the privilege of doing a duel demo, and for picking up the tab for our room. They are so kind to pay for stall space and motel - we are very blessed people to have their support and kindness!

Updates

We made it!
Just got back from Iowa Horse Fair in Des Moines. I will post pictures later from Zach's Photography (told him I'd give him credits again!), but most importantly wanted to let everyone know we arrived home safely.

Blizzard conditions hit yesterday morning and continued on during the day. We stopped by to see Jody Lyons and watched John Lyons at his 2:00 clinic. Jody said they had planned to leave Sunday, but were certain with interstates closed they were going to be staying until Monday. I actually got tears in my eyes, feeling sorry for the horses having to be in stalls for yet one more day and me not getting home to see the dogs. After a little grumping around I decided to check emails at home from the hotel computer and found one crisis pending and one crisis resolved.

You see, I say time and time again that ASAP is a family of people who work together, expect nothing in return, but are owed God's richest blessings. We have a mare placed into the ASAP program many years ago who had foundered on her adopters.
They didn't know why or how, since her diet and lifestyle were always the same. It could have been a high fever at some point that was undiagnosed. Still, they were not in a position to continue dealing with "whatever" it was that was wrong with her and asked for permission to euthenize her, as she had not been out of the barn in quite some time due to pain. Now, you know that little voice the creeps up inside you sometimes and gives you a little "unrest" in your spirit about things not being just right? I gave it long hard thought and meditated on it. Realistically, we do not have the room at the ASAP farm right now for yet another fairly unadoptable horse until her condition improves. We do not have millions of dollars sitting around for diagnostics and treatment. We have many many many needs coming at us daily. I needed to reach out and ask for help and explain the situation. That is where Andrea T., once again, came to the rescue. She offered to take the mare and pay for her boarding at Shannon's place in Minnesota. ASAP paid the vet to go out and draw coggins and do an interstate health certificate. Shannon, bless her heart, went without expecting pay to pick up the mare and take her to her farm. The vet and farrier have both been out, and pictures are going to be posted here that are not pleasant to see. Still, I want to show you all what we are doing when we aren't readily available for an email or phone call right on the spot. We are not an organization with nothing to do - we are always responding to a need to the best of our ability. Without Andrea and people like Shannon, or Lori who just donated 30 doses of vaccine for horses at ASAP and some foster horses, we could not exist. Horses like the mare you are seeing pictures of would not have a second chance at life. AS it turns out, this mare is going to be okay. She does have problems, most of which are severe abscesses and horrific thrush. Have you ever seen infection come through a coronary band? It isn't pleasant to see................but the vet and farrier working together have greatly improved her quality of life even today. So in the last 72 hours this has all been taking place, while we were in Des Moines demonstrating and advocating for the breed and fighting blizzards. We are a huge network of compassionate people, including people like Trudy S., Marie K., Julie P., Cindi J., Bonnie F., all in Wisconsin, and Denise in Iowa, Wendy in Iowa, Tammy in Iowa, Lori in Iowa, and so many more I know I am leaving out. You see, I think that sometimes people reach a point in caring for an animal where they financially cannot afford to do it any more. For those with the means, adoption horses DO have a chance to be treated and helped above and beyond the measure an adopter can do at times. This horse has a hopeful prognosis, but it would not have been possible without the aggressive veterinary and farrier care provided by Shannon and Andrea. Hats off to you guys............and thanks also to the same people for helping Windswept Glory recover after being hit from behind by a car while pulling an Amish cart in December. Glory is now being ridden and has been adopted by the same family who adopted Spirit the Paint from ASAP. Thanks to Pam and Chris for their love for this horse as well.

I'll share more about Iowa Horse Fair later, but wanted to tell you we are hoping to diplomatically solve the horse issue with the Janesville area people shortly. We are in the communication stage, and we are trying to be adults and work through issues together. I hope to have this completely resolved by the time of Midwest Horse Fair and I know many of you have asked questions that I hope will be answered by that time and hoping that the ASAP horses in their care will continue to be cared for and loved in their present situation.

Praise for another day!
Susan