Wed. March 31 2010

Good morning , last day of March. How beautiful you are.

It was chilly this morning and the horses were having a wild rumpus. Then the food came and everyone stopped playing to eat. Lots of nap taking today. Dancer is enjoying some down time. The March sky is certainly breathtaking.

Love is looking for mice. It's time to clean up the trash. Sorry raccoons. You'll have to find something else to scatter.

Loaded and ready to go to the dump.

Much better. Even the dump looks good today.This is the little road that goes by our place. And this is the road going the other way.

Warrior went off to the trainer today. Jackie Nelson is great and so gentle. Warrior was happy to follow along and get in the trailer. He'll come home rideable. Jackie is donating her skills to Home At Last.

Jake the Brabant is old enough to train now. We are looking for a collar and all the trimmings so he can learn to pull. Anyone have an extra set?

Thank you Carolene and Cathy for your generous donations. Your kindnesses help keep Home At Last going.

The frogs are croaking, the guineas are singing, Hector the tortoise is scrtaching and the goats are calling for their dinner. Good-bye March. April what do you have in store for us?

A Great Visit Tues March 30 2010

The day was cloudy and overcast, but Home At Last had several rays of sun today. The youth group from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Orovillle came to volunteer.

They met the animals and had a great time.

Hooves were cleaned.

We shared lunch.

More hoof cleaning.

Calf visits.

New friends.

Old friends.

Stalls cleaned. Thanks, Pastor Stan.

Horses were groomed and loved all day

Oh boy!! Baby goats!!!!

Thank you Pastor Stan, Lauren, Aimee, Rachel, Destanie, Marion and Cody for all your hard work. The animals loved your visit and so did we.

Sun March 26 2010

Yesterday I spent a lot of time thinking about people and why they do what they do. Like Winnie the Pooh it made my head hurt so I didn't do much but think.Today however, my mind is clear so here I am.

The cool brisk mornings have made everyone active. The run, paw and chase while waiting for breakfast.

When Jim built our house he had two purposes in mind. One was to make the house as energy efficient as possible and two was to let me see horses from every window in the house. He did it!! The house is snuggy and every window can look out to see horses.

When I was little I used to "play horses" all the time. I'd pretend I lived on a hill and had one of every breed of horse. I only knew about 10 of them so I didn't have too many.(I included a zebra). Well. now I live on a hill with 55 horses, donkeys and mules. Am I lucky, or what!?!

Brian and Jim spend some quality time with Banjoe and Julian. Today we had two new volunteers come by to see what Home At Last is all about. I purposely did not take pictures because I wanted the ladies to experience time with the animals and not feel that they had to pose or be aware of anything but the critters. The magic that so often happens between animals and people happened today. It is so wonderful to see love develop. The bonds can be so strong.

Thank you Jenny and Joanna for joining our Home At Last family. Our volunteers make Home At Last function. Helen does work that I don't even know how to do. We are blessed to have so many people care about what we do. Thank you.

Friday March 26 2010 Lessons Learned

It was beautiful

But cold this morning. Julian and Banjoe discuss who is going to get petted first. They run to whomever comes out and expect attention. OK. We'll both get loved at the same time. Aurora, Chardonnay and Sunny taught me a good lesson today. When I went to feed, the girls were standing where Cajun had been with them. It seemed as though they were sharing their grief. Aurora, especially, misses him. When I drove up, they scattered to the wind, their tails high over their backs , ready to eat. They said to me Put your grief in that special place in your heart where sadness lives, then live for today. Live for the living. OK, girls. Good advice. I can do that. Nothing is better than horses in your front yard.... Except horses in the back yard. Sweetie Pie the Hackney Pony and Tucker the mule are an odd couple. She only likes Tucker and he likes everybody. She is little and petite and gaited and he is rather clumsy with his bowed tendon. I need to make a correction on something I wrote a while ago. A mule has a DONKEY father and a HORSE mother while a hinny has a HORSE father and a DONKEY mother. Sorry for the mix-up. Sweetie Pie will either eat alone or with Tucker and Tucker will eat with anyone. I couldn't make it to the lower barn without being mugged by Ruby, Tory and Braveheart. They knew there was something special for them in the buckets. The little tiny orange tree has buds!! Maybe we will get an orange or two, if the calves don't eat the buds. Love is hard to find in the tall grass near the front gate. Something has her attention.

Jake (always afraid of the camera) and Pico are my biggest boys. One is the tallest and the other is the widest. Jake is a PMU (premarin) Brabant rescue. He was born in Canada to a mare whose urine was used to make the female hormone-premarin. Premarin stands for pregnant mare urine. The mares are bred, then tied in a stall standing up for the 11 months of her pregnancy. She does not get to turn around, lie down or go outside. She has either a catheter or urine bag on her to catch her urine. Water is withheld so her urine is stronger. All the babies are due in May. The mare is turned out to have her baby, rebred and put back in the stall. Female foals are kept to make more urine and the males are sold either for food or slaughter.

When the drug industry developed synthetic premarin thousands of horses became useless. Many were slaughtered. Some lucky ones, like Jake, were rescued.

We got him from Animali in Santa Maria. He is truly a gentle giant and will be trained now that he has grown. Sometimes draft horses are worked before their bones are strong enough. He's ready. Pico (Picante) the Westphalian enjoys his dinner. He is friends with a lot of the horses, but doesn't mind eating alone sometimes. He is the tallest horse we have- at least 17.2 hands. A hand is four inches. The chores are done and

And life goes on at Home At Last. Come visit us and share the peace.

Thank you for all the kind words and thoughts about Cajun. They really helped.

Thank you Diane P and Brian C for you generous donations.

530-514-1439 homeatlastsanctuary@gmail.com

Good-Bye Cajun Thurs. March 25 2010

This morning when we went to check on Cajun he had gotten out of his stall and had gone to stand with his mini herd-Aurora, Chardonnay and Sunny. Tucker was there, too. Cajun's head was down and he was in obvious pain.
I led him back to the barn where Jim was waiting with another shot. The girls watched Cajun walk away, but Tucker stayed right with him. When Cajun stopped, Tucker stopped. Tucker never left his side.
We knew then that Cajun would not make it. Tucker seems to know which animals need him
right to the end and he stays with that animal.
Dr Darling agreed with Tucker and Cajun was given- as Tawnee of NorCal calls it- the final act of kindness. Aurora and Cajun were rescued by a county animal control because the horses were so neglected and starved. They fattened up at Home At Last and enjoyed life here. Thank you Dr Darling for helping us when we need you. Aurora will miss her soul mate. We all will. Good-bye Cajun. You were a magnificent horse

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