Plans for 2023- Horse

 Back to the old drawing board.

SO I am NOT planning on getting a horse with one eye this time. I want to avoid that pitfall. I am also seriously re-thinking getting an Appaloosa because of the congenital late-life eye issues thay often have. 

I would like to do a rescue/rescue-ish again.

So I'm thinking maybe another Off-Track Thoroughbred (OTTB), maybe a Mustang, maybe a local rescue horse of another breed. 

Do I want a finished horse, maybe older but a known history? Do I want a youngster to train up my own way? Am I too old and un-bouncy to saddle-train a baby again? I haven't decided.

I want to walk, trot, and canter. Jump a few small jumps, maybe go to a schooling show. Trail ride.

RESCUES

There is an excellent rescue here in Longmont called Colorado Horse Rescue, so I am stalking their page. There is also Colorado Horse Rescue Network, whose facility is farther away but they go to the local horse auctions.

There are the local horse auctions. There is a low-end auction every week in close by in Loveland. There are higher-end auctions all over Colorado and Wyoming for ranch horses and sport horses. There are online auctions. I so far like thehorsebay.com, they have several local CO sellers, so if I liked a horse I could go meet them before bidding. 

There is a pre-slaughter feedlot very close by where horses are gathered for a few days to a few weeks before shipping to slaughter. They have a Facebook page I can't seem to stay away from. Low-end auctions and feedlots are of course very high-risk. No history and no pedigree, possibly unsound physically or abused, etc. And lots of pressure to save a horse from a terrible fate.

But this is the kind of video that you get to look at, if you're lucky. Some lots just have still photos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoVruwbGKuY

MUSTANGS

Mustangs in our area usually come from the Canon City Wild Horse Inmate system. Inmates train the horses - either just haltered or under saddle- and they auction them to qualified adopters. There are often two adoptions a month. The facility had an outbreak of Strangles and many horses died. They plan to start adopting out again in Spring 2023.

I could try to adopt from a Mustang event or direct from a trainer. The events are very cool and there are several really really talented trainers I've started following on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXYoZnIsZQk

Honestly, since I would have to board, I'm not sure I could qualify to adopt a newly-trained Mustang. I could look for one that's titled (owned by an adopter for 1 year). 

OTTBS

OTTBs are plentiful close to major racetracks. We do not have a major racetrack in Colorado. There are small tracks in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas,Wyoming, etc. So I have been watching the CANTER site for horses in the western states, including California! I shipped Sherlock all the way from WV, but gas prices are very different now.

Here's what CANTER's videos are like of horses that are still on the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg1qEfAJFZo&t=2s

LOCAL SELLERS/BREEDERS

OK. So if I don't want to rescue I can purchase a horse from a high-end auction, or from a local seller ot breeder. 

I have spoken to a Wyoming QH breeder who has 3 fillies ready to start to saddle. Of course I like the most colorful palomino one.

My riding acquaintances are watching out at their stables for sale horses as well. No news thus far but I see them for lunch every month now!

Another riding acquaintance moved her horse here locally but I haven't been able to connect and see the facility. I was hoping to get some lessons at that place but nothing has come together yet.

I have taken a temp job making cookies until mid-December so I do not have time to shop for horses yet, or even to care for one if I went crazy and got a feedlot horse. I'm doing my freelance Sounds True proofreading when there's work and making cookies Thursday-Sunday. 

These are fantastic cookies. Big chewy, nutty, filling cookies. The kind of cookie you need after you've been hauling firewood in the snow.

https://leckerlee.com/

More news as news becomes available. Love all of you who actually read these!

Plans for 2023- cats

 So, in April we got a new kitten to keep Kaylee company. I don't know how I'd have survived the latter half of this year without Boogiepop Phantom to make me laugh.

Anyway, she is a bit much for 9yo Kaylee sometimes, especially as she is now bigger than Kaylee.

So we will be looking for an older kitten to play with Boogiepop. This SHOULD be a much simpler affair, emotionally and monetarily, than looking for a new horse.

2022- End of an Era

OK. It's been a while again.

This year Grayson and I had to say goodbye to our two elderly black cats and the horse.

Dante we knew had cancer (throat or sinus) and passed peacefully at home 5 minutes before the vet arrived. Sneaky, canny old dude. He hated vets.

 

Ezio I took in for possible urinary tract issues and half his intestine was cancerous. What a lousy day.

 

Sherlock had some vision issues early in the year. His good eye got cloudier again and he cut himself on the fence. He bounced back and we had a few lessons with the local trainers trying to find a good match, but didn't really hit it off with anyone. I didn't really know what to do. Then in July his eye went cloudy again. He got a bad abscess under his jaw - likely from running into something. He hit his head a few times, got more spooky and worried about things he couldn't see anymore. 

We tried to keep him in the corrals while the others went to pasture, so he'd go slower and be more predictable. He freaked out. I started going every day to walk him out to the pasture safely in the morning and get him in at night. He just loved running with the other horses and would get so excited and lose track of the fence- or of the people. It was starting to be an accident waiting to happen. 

I thought about moving him to another facility where he could be in a small paddock all day while we saw if the eye would recover again. But time was already up, as he couldn't see well enough to get into a trailer.

So before we had a bad accident that hurt him and possibly someone else, we euthanized Sherlock in late July. It was a very sad day but I know it was the right thing.