PLEASE DONATE.......!!!!

There is a link on the right to help Hoofprints of the Heart with some of the expenses for this huge rescue effort.  All donations no matter how small, will help them continue to help these and other animals.  

It is a sad fact to rehabilitate equines that have been neglected is quite expensive.  Overgrown feet, x-rays, infected teeth, special feeds, and supplements, and vaccinations, for a start.  A minimum estimate to take care of a healthy donkey would probably be about $600 a year.  These neglected animals could cost many times that & even then might not be adoptable.   Penny & Coquette will not be adoptable, they both have too many problems, that would make them a very hard "sell", no matter how sweet they are.  

Please consider giving what you can to this worthwhile cause.  James at Hoofprints gets maximum use from all donations, & really could use your help. 

THE GIRLS ARE HERE..........!!!!

Here's a herd shot when we went up to Hoofprints of the Heart yesterday to pick up the girls.........yes the girls.  When we rounded them up, James had to rope Falena, aka, Coquette, aka Arabella (I'm having a terrible time getting a name to stick on her).  I guess that was the closest he had been to her, and we discovered she wasn't a gelding after all.......!! 

You'd think with feet like this she would be easy to halter, nope those feet might really look ugly, but they seem to work just fine, at least on soft ground.

Penny's name seems to fit her.  She was a little easy to work with and didn't mind being haltered and led.  

The dark spot on the left is her withers, she is hunchbacked.  The front half of her back sticks up about an inch or so.  Dr. Weaver came out today to see if he could manipulate her back.  He said her back is twisted where it dips down.  He adjusted her back and she tried to "adjust" him a couple of times, before she settled down.  He wants to work on her in a few weeks, he says she probably either had something fall on her, or was trapped in a twisted position.  It doesn't seem to bother her, she moves very easy, and doesn't seem to have any pain from it.  

She does have habronema larvae under her eye, I started working on this morning.  She obviously has not had a lot of attention & didn't really appreciate my "doctoring".  Some of them were big enough I could "retrieve" them with surgical tweezers.  The rest of them, I smeared with Ivernectin worming paste.  She has quite a few in the tissue around her eye.  Dr. Weaver said the Ivermectin wouldn't hurt her eye, so tonight I put some on the sores in her eye socket.  I can't dig them out like I do the ones on her cheek, so hopefully the Ivermectin will kill them.  We will keep a fly mask on her until next winter, so eventually we will get rid of them, but it will probably take all summer.  Her front legs are bald, just like Quillas.

It is always interesting to try to help these animals that haven't had the care they deserve.  I just wish it wasn't necessary, that people would take care of them properly & make sure they have what they need.

MORE OF THE HERD AT HOOFPRINTS OF THE HEART, MARANA, ARIZONA

JOHN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HIS NEXT MOVE

 READY TO GO HOME............!!!!

NEWS COVERAGE OF THE RESCUE

Last night local channel 13 covered the rescue at 5, 6 & 10 pm & tonight KGUN 9 will also have something at 5, 6 & 10 pm, not sure if all 3 times will have it. 

I hope the coverage generates a lot of donations for James & Hoofprints, just the gas bills for the trucks hauling the trailers are frightening.  

When we go up to Hoofprints tomorrow to pick up those 2 donkeys, we are also going to be looking for Roxie a BLM jenny that was signed over to Milagros last summer.  Her Mom is one of the people that has been instrumental to keeping this deplorable situation out in the fresh air & sunshine, until something finally happened.

Not sure we will be able to recognize her, she is such a common color, but we'll look.  If we find her, her Mom would like to have her come home.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Took Molly to the vet this morning as planned.  She still hasn't peed...........!!!!  The vet said if she hadn't peed since Saturday she would probably be dead by now.  She has been in a pen by herself & there is no pee in there.

The vet checked her heart, said if her bladder had ruptured or something like that her heart rate would be thru the roof.  Everything was normal, although she was a little dehydrated.  But it is so hot right now, that isn't really a big surprise.  We had a CBC  (Complete Blood Count) draw, & she also got drenched with a tube up her nose & down in her stomach.  It's been over 5 hours & she still hasn't peed.

She really was a good girl, even for the tube in the nose.  That is usually not very well accepted by any of them.  Jack was thrilled when she came home, & has been outside her pen ever since.  She is staying in that pen until she PEES......!!!!!

HACIENDA de los MILAGROS IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED AS OF JUNE 4, 2013

RIP, the pain & suffering is finally over....  Thanks Patti

Can you imagine looking at an animal like this every day for months, having to turn him over so he didn't get open sores on his body, because he couldn't get up or stand? I will go to the wall for these animals.  But part of being a good steward is making sure they have quality of life.  These animals deserved better.

Thank heavens.........!!! It was too late for 7 donkeys & some of the horses, but for the  other 80 plus equines they now have a chance at a life with health care, dental care, foot care, food to eat & when the time comes a final obligation that is the responsibility of everyone that has animals in their lives.  

I will cover this in more detail later.  Right now the director of the "sanctuary" is trying to start another sanctuary called Circle of One.   He managed to take 7 horses when he was removed & is now using them as "seed" for the new rescue.  He is sending out requests for donations to people that were on the donor list for Milagros.  Please spread the word to anyone that might be tempted to donate to Wynne's new endeavor.

Wednesday we're going into Hoofprints in Tucson to pick up the crippled jenny, & James at Hoofprints asked if we would take a club footed younger gelding too.  Guess Courtney is going to have some interesting new feet to work on for awhile.

About 60 of the donkeys are at Hoofprints & the last 5 donkeys are being removed from HDLM tomorrow.  So if anyone would like to add a donkey or two to their family, I'm sure James could find a special one for you in the herd.  

 

We picked up Jack & Molly as planned.  We're keeping her in a pen by herself so we can monitor input & outgo.  So far she is eating, drinking, & pooing, but no peeing.  Not sure what that is about.  We have an appointment to take her into the vet tomorrow to see what they think & do some blood tests. Jack is very confused, he doesn't understand why he can't be in the pen with her.  For one thing she is getting a little alfalfa hay & oats.  If she does have hyperlipidemia it is important that she eats, so her system doesn't think it's starving to death.  He's such a little pig, he'd be right in the middle of the goodies.  

Got a call from our neighbor that has the movie site, Gammon's Gulch across the road from us yesterday afternoon.  They had been sitting at the table looking out the window & saw a young black bear wandering down the main street of the western town.  That's the first time we've heard of a bear that close to us.  One of the other neighbor's said she saw it a day or two before.  I would imagine it is a young male that has been kicked out of the area he was born in & is searching for a territory of his own.  There really isn't much in this area to make them stay, so hopefully he has moved on.  Years ago the local rancher shot a mountain lion, but we've never seen one of those either.  I don't think a black bear would bother the donkeys, they are usually pretty timid, but if he got hungry enough he might take on one of the minis.  So I would just as soon he go someplace else.