I want to thank Heather for opening her heart and her home to Chevie Silverado and Goodnight Starship. As it turned out, Chevie was just not a happy horse at Heather's farm, and needed to be brought back to ASAP. Thankfully, Heather was able to take in Bart's A Bad Boy and Race for Home! They are very happy with their beautiful horses, and Heather is very lucky to have such nice horses for her family.
Chevie will hopefully find the family he is looking for - in the meantime, Amy will have fun riding him here! On a side note, Chevie was never misbehaved under saddle. He has been very accepting of different people riding him, so he is well on his way to being a great pleasure horse. Now to find out WHO is going to be his forever family.
We are particularly worried about Spect's Solution, Flaunting It, and Sarajevo, who will be brought here this week unless we can locate placement for them. Please please consider giving them a home if you haven't already. Spect's Solution is the smallest of the three. He was a great driving horse - inconsistent riding horse, but has done trails and pleasure. Sarajevo has been driven quite a bit these past months - is accepting of riders now - a beautiful mare. Flaunting It just needs a place to enjoy the last 10-12 years of her life - very complacent, although she doesn't like to be caught.
Attached please find a copy of a fund raising letter we are sending to as many people as possible. Thanks for your continued support! Pictures include Precious KC on one of her last springs at the ASAP farm with Mayatuk next to her, Haiaku and me before his passing, Sarajevo the trotter who is urgently needing placement, and Bob Cook, our long term sanctuary horse.
Dear IHHA Board, ASAP Adopters and Supporters:
First ASAP would like to extend its most heartfelt sympathy for the weekend fire at Lebanon Ohio that left two people dead and (from what we have heard) 43 horses that also perished in the flames. There is a facebook page where you can contribute to rebuilding barn 16 - donate if you can. My parents lost everything to a house fire ten short years ago. Luckily, my mother was not at home but the house, the cat of 13 years, and everything inside including a safe with cash inside, was a total loss.
Fire is horrific and devastating - unforgiving and relentless. It makes me scared to think about - but we must, to prevent one in a house or barn if at all possible.
We currently have 24 horses standing outside our barn. We also have two round bales and about 20 small squares left, with no clear answer on who will be providing more. It is enough to provoke a panic attack - realizing I do not have the means to transport hay because we do not have a big enough trailer, a storm is coming, and other farmers are also busy this time of year. I hope and pray we do get a load tomorrow, but such is life at the farm, where we must feed hay 24 hours a day and seven days a week to at least 15 at a time.
We are a lifetime placement program. ONLY ASAP and SRF in New Jersey are lifetime placement programs, while all other programs to our knowledge relinquish ownership of horses within six months to 3 years. We could show pictures of horses who were returned to ASAP after 3-4 years away - our dedication to them for a lifetime is sometimes painstaking and requires private investigators or special and talented individuals who are invested in the horses as we are. Attorneys offer assistance when needed. It is necessary to track these horses for a lifetime - after being in business for 16 years we do know that contracts mean nothing unless the person signing them are honest. People "forget" what they sign, or "misunderstand" when it is convenient. Still, at no salary or wage, we endeavor to protect all horses referred to us for a lifetime. We have no regrets about this to this day.
Sanctuary horses? Let us never forget the ones who inhabited this farm for years. Horses were misrepresented as sound when they, in reality, were literally on three legs or ill. Innocently and sincerely, thought we realized something was wrong upon arrival at so many stables, we loaded up those horses and brought them home to do our best by them. Such horses included Precious KC (made $90,000 before she became lame), Arne (made $50,000 before he broke his hock), You and Me Forever (sulfur smells horrid coming out of a horse's nostrils...........colic many times over and only 3 years old.......finally lost her battle with internal problems before age 4), and Brad's Man - named after Brad Farrington (picked up at Maywood in 1993 with a stifle completely shot). Brad's Man traveled with me to U of M for diagnostics. Many vets believed he should be put down, but we kept him for a period of almost two years before he could stand no longer.
Other horses we had knowledge of that we agreed to provide care for were Bob Cook (broke his foot several years ago but never healed to the point of being sound), Free To Go (herniated), and the beloved Haiaku (I will go to my grave remembering our daily care of this great gelding and the appreciation he showed in his eyes). Haiaku had a fractured hock and over the years the other hip/leg slowly degenerated. Haiaku fought a long, hard battle while experts from Texas flew in to try to fit him with braces and other orthopedic devices at no charge to improve his quality of life. Haiaku left us two years ago - and I still cry over him.
It isn't easy being "ASAP". Over the years I have probably lost some time off my own life out of grief. Brown Sugar Babe, a rescue mare from a feed lot in Cannon Falls, MN - one of the loves of my life - left our farm for what I thought would be a great new home - only to die within three weeks after leaving. She had been rehabilitated here and had bonded with Haiaku and Precious. She looked good and was very happy. I was scared to let her go, but Craig stated it was time. A portion of me wonders if she died of heartbreak? The voice over the phone the night before she was to return to ASAP stated, "I think she misses all of you and is homesick". Yet, it was too late to ever know. Why did she have to go?
Yet we carry on with boundless stories of happiness and partnership between adopters and the horses we serve. There is the hope in the goodness of people stepping forward, and those people making a commitment to their pets. I have come to realize over the course of my own life that not many people view horses as part of the family. It would appear that there are many horses returned to ASAP over time. Some people ask why that is? Simply stated, when hard times come, a horse is a big expense. Whether you are boarding or keep a horse in the back pasture, they still must be vetted, trimmed, and fed. When medical problems arise or there is a death in the family, priorities must change. It is inevitable and understandable. We are happy to attempt to assist people in finding new and wonderful homes for their horses. We often are unable to make this happen overnight. We need time. We appreciate and adore your patience. An option for all people if they MUST relinquish their horse is to recruit your own adopter in your area. The only specific detail that must be followed is that any person acquiring an ASAP horse must have been approved through the application process. Thank you for understanding and respecting things for the protection of the horse.
So who feeds Bob Cook, Arne, Brandy, Strawberry Jacki, Steelin Apples, Miss Molly P, Chevie Silverado, Stylish Sharon, and the other sanctuary horses living out their days at ASAP? That is where you can come in - to stretch out your hands to these horses who are in need of support. We have asked the racing industry's organizations, and now it is time to ask you. Remember that anything you donate goes directly into the fund that feeds the horses waiting for homes at ASAP. If you prefer to sponsor a horse at a foster farm (for example, Sugar, Thunder, FV Terror, and Comet who are all near Madison), let us know! We can help you make the connection to make that possible. We have other foster homes in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Illinois that would also love the support. Please, this holiday season, help if you can! Let's get through this most challenging economic period together. We simply cannot exist without your assistance this year.
Loving the horses,
Susan
