Hello friends,
I am sitting on the edge of my chair getting ready to go to work. I am looking at four horses on dry lot who peer over the edge of their arena longing for green grass that we are unable to provide. All four of the horses in this arena are trained to ride, none has ever offered to demonstrate dangerous habits, yet good homes remain few and far between. I especially feel for King's Royal Fella, who was ridden for two hours last week by a first-time rider on this horse. He was such a good boy - what potential for someone who is looking for a great riding horse.
I look at the hay supply and wonder where good hay will come from at a good price.
Then I look in our barn refrigerator and realize that our vaccines are all, now, at least two years old, so no one has received spring shots.
We scramble to provide day camp services to kids and lessons without pay. The joy of offering these wonderful horses to young people outweighs the need to charge, yet we must hope for support to keep our program running.
Three horses sit in urgent situations as they have been abandoned by previous adopters. Then, the news today that one of our horses was sold for a meager $150 to a local person who contacted us to let us know she had him. We had been following this situation, with the adopter knowing that the horse must be returned to a local foster farm that was also aware of the circumstances. Yet, they chose to SELL him. I guess in 17 years I have seen everything.
I am somewhat down about the state of things for ASAP, with limited funding coming from the racing organizations. A Chicago track had promised a 5K race held to benefit ASAP, only to find out that now it is benefiting another local non profit. I guess if you offer it to one group I would only ask the courtesy that if plans changed we could, at least, be notified. The group is a wortwhile cause to benefit homeless families in that area, so at least we are glad for that.
Still in the back of my mind the equine market license is sure to expire soon, bringing us yet to another $650 bill (give or take a couple of bucks) to pay. Last year without your support we would have never been able to acquire that license.
If you can offer a space for a horse in an urgent circumstance, please let us know. Thank you to Beth W. for her donation of $50 today, and thanks for the $20 donation received last week. Thank you also to Lori H. for her donation of $100 received last week. It all helps so much.
I will send pictures soon, but had to get my sentiments out so that people understand that all is not exactly well with ASAP. Mostly, I feel so badly for the horses waiting for that special someone to take them home, let them bask in the sun and eat grass and not hay. Is that special someone out there?
