As a relatively new 501 (c) (3) non profit organization established during "The Year of No Grass", it would be an understatement to say we've experienced a rough start and it is going to be a long hard ride. During a typical year we start feeding hay to the main pasture horses around Thanksgiving. This year we started in June. This has NEVER happened to us before. Not here, where we've lived since 2003. Not anywhere I have lived since 1960. One of the advantages we have over many other rescuers is that we have 132 acres of land which has 3 ponds. We've always depended on our grass as the mainstay of our horses' diets except for the few months that winter requires us to feed hay. That is how we've been able to sustain our large herd except for the elderly, emaciated or special needs horses which always require more resources than the younger and more fit members of the Triple O herd. Our timing is crummy to begin our endeavor during the worst drought of the century. But our mission is to help horses and during the hard times they need more help than ever. We're learning the ropes, as we go along. Horses we know,,,,,,things like fund raising and grant writing is unknown territory for us. Naturally, growing pains are a part of the process. As we grow, we learn and we have been very fortunate to receive some financial support as well as moral support from a number of unexpected sources.

We have been horse rescuers for many many years. Due to the rising number of horses in need, we found it necessary to go public and form a non profit organization to be able to continue to care for the lost souls that find their way to the Triple O. We received our very first donations in June of this year, as result of funds raised by our Facebook friends. They raised $600 in less than 24 hours for the transport expenses for a injured, blind Arabian mare to travel from Indiana to Oklahoma. We were overwhelmed and astonished by the kindness of strangers that cared enough to give us their hard earned money to bring Luna Angelique to live at the Triple O. She'd been the recipient of the worst of the human race. She'd been starved and neglected. She'd been living tied up and escaped during a storm and was injured. They tied her back up and let the wounds on three of her legs fester until they were infected and filled with maggots.  That is when she finally began to receive the best of the human race. First by someone that intervened on her behalf and got her to a vet, where she spent something like six weeks recovering from her wounds. Her hospitalization was paid for by a good Samaritian and the vet threw in some services pro-bono as well. Luna received her vaccinations. She received laser treatments for her leg wounds. She even had her teeth floated. We have been amazed at the kindness of people that donate to help a horse that they will most likely never meet in person. It does restore your faith in the human race. One of our most frequent donors is a disabled single mom. Her donations mean so much to us because we know she can't really afford it but sends it anyhow to help the horses. Even though the amount is not large.....it is dependable, like clock work on the first of the month. Recently she sent us a  message saying that due to financial difficulties she would not be able to make a donation for the coming month. Despite the message we received, she still send $10 and said she'd squeezed it into her budget afterall. That is what you call priceless.

One of the most painful of the "growing pains" we've experienced is NOT being able to help everyone that has asked us for help. Over the years we've taken in FIVE blind horses. The last two to arrive were Luna and Lance. He arrived in August after being transported from West Virgina, on funds raised (again) by our Facebook friends. He was scheduled for euthanasia at the end of August if he wasn't placed by then, since his owner was in the military and being deployed. Lance and Luna met on 8-22-2011 and it was love at first sight despite the fact that they are both blind. Sadly, we have had to turn down 3 blind horses in the past three months. Until we can expand our facilities and add more fencing and stalls, we are NOT able to take any more blind horses. Every time I had to say NO.....my heart would crack a bit more. I remember the name of each one of the three. can still see their faces from the fotos we were sent and prayed and prayed that someone did help them in their time of need. We know we can not save them all but knowing that fact does NOT make it any easier. We've learned that not all "horse people" are equal.......as a matter of a fact, I have decided to no longer use that phrase. The divisions between us are too great to even be in the category. The same goes for rescues.......not equal at all. There are those who are part of the problem and those who are oar t of the solution and rarely do those two cross paths. Someone asked me, what part of what you do is the hardest ? It's a very iffy business for sure. Everything about rescue work is a risk. It has a huge margin for error and too many variables to be an exact science. For me, the "human aspect" is the toughest. Every step of the process involves dealing with people and often many of them do NOT have the horse's best interest at heart. That complicates the horse's predicament ten-fold. Being in the trenches is a messy affair, so it is hard to keep from offending some of the people you cross paths with even if you try to walk the tight rope of diplomacy. We follow one basic theory. We will do our best to meet the needs of horses and hope that we don't have to step on too many toes. With that being said, I must add that horses in need come first and if we offend someone in the process, then it was unavoidable but necessary. Those growing pains are part of the growth process and we'll muddle our way through it, just like everything else....one step at a time.

Now we'd like to announce that we will be changing gears to facilitate our mission. As anyone that follows the Triple O on Facebook, reads our website or blog, I, Elizabeth O'Neal am VERY opposed to horse slaughter. I've posted the statement that all the content of our blog, website and Facebook page are MY opinions and not necessarily those of our organization. The anti-horse slaughter movement has been progressing with pending legislation to permanently ban horse slaughter and protect American horses from being exported across our borders to be slaughtered. Suddenly, the issue was thrown into main stream media with headlines reading - US Horse Slaughter Plants To Be Re-Opened which is a major step backwards into the Dark Ages. I am painfully aware of the fact that our Facebook page has been taken hostage by the issue of horse slaughter. I am sadly conscious of the fact that many people can not face the stark reality of the brutality displayed in the photos or even the horrific descriptions of the process which turns a magnificent creature such as a horse into a butchered carcass hanging in a meat room. It has been my intention to increase awareness and encourage people that oppose horse slaughter to be pro-active and raise their voice to defend the defenseless equine species. I intended on spreading information to help educate people about the plight of the American horse, wild and domestic, so that they could info others and together we could put an end to this madness, which I call our modern day horse holocaust. While I fiercely oppose horse slaughter, I have gone a wee bit  overboard by letting the slaughter issue rule our Facebook page which overshadows the work we do at the Triple O. We have discussed the concerns  of our Facebook friends and FB page readers about the horse slaughter related postings and have decided to change gears and the direction of which we think is best for the Triple O page. We've decided to move the horse slaughter issue off of the Triple O page onto my personal FB account. Sooooo, as of Jan.1, 2012, the FB page will be dedicated to issues with our organization and mission. IF you oppose horse slaughter I invite you to send me a friends request and tell me you are AGAINST horse slaughter. By being on my friends list you must understand that I plan on ending horse slaughter soon and will post even MORE links than before and try to find the most up to date info on the status on the future of the American horse. Come on over if you want to learn more about the issue and want to fight against this vile industry. I've got room for about 3,000 more friends before I max out......so hope to hear from you soon.

To read the blog post Gentle On My Mind....please click on the follwing link. Thank YOU !!!! http://tripleoranchequinesanctuary.blogspot.com/2011/09/not-gentle-on-my-mind.html

Please follow this link to read "Cindarella's One Month Update" Thank YOU !!!!!

http://tripleoranchequinesanctuary.blogspot.com/2011/09/cindarellas-one-month-update.html

Please click on this link to read blog post "Taking Chances" http://tripleoranchequinesanctuary.blogspot.com/2011/09/taking-chances.html

This was sent to us by a friend. Thank you Robin !!!
Two Horses  
Author Unknown

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.
From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. 
But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing.... 

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. 
His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.  
This alone is amazing. 

If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell.  
Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field. 

Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell. 
It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow. 
As you stand and watch these two friends, 
You'll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, 
And that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk 
To where the other horse is, 
Trusting that he will not be led astray. 

When the horse with the bell returns 
To the shelter of the barn each evening, 
It stops occasionally and looks back, 
Making sure that the blind friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell. 


Like the owners of these two horses, 
God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect 
Or because we have problems or challenges. 

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives
To help us when we are in need.. 

Sometimes we are the blind horse 
Being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives. 

Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way.... 

Good friends are like that... 
You may not always see them, but you know they are always there.. 


Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours. 

And remember... 

Be kinder than necessary- 
Everyone you meet is fighting 
Some kind of battle. 
Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly....... 
                                                  
And leave the rest to God! 
 
 
 
FOR WE WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT

Written June 19, 2008
This is our amazing Grace. Since I'd recently posted a blog about Lakota it seemed necessary to write something about Grace. She is now a 21 year old Appaloosa mare that is blind. We adopted her as a companion for our blind wild mustang, Lakota Woman. Gracie has lived with us since May 18, 2007. She was "given up on" by her previous owners and was delivered to a horse sanctuary about fifty miles from where we live. I was told that the previous owners didn't even look back or say good-bye to her. I had been communicating with the nice lady that runs the place. She said that she had been contacted by someone who wanted rid of this blind horse that was stumbling when their kids rode her. They said that she was causing problems around their place because she would get lost from the herd and end up in the woods all tangled up in the briers. The nice lady named Melanie offered us Grace as a companion for Lakota. We accepted and anxiously waited for her to be delivered. When Melanie drove up in the driveway I went out to meet her. She quickly went to the back of the horse trailer to open the door and unloaded Grace. She was a pretty Appaloosa except for her right eye, which was almost non-existent. The eye was shrunken into the eye socket, was badly deteriorated and infected and the eye lashes were curled into what was left of the eyeball. It looked terribly painful. Grace's face told a story of a horse left with a halter on until it wore into her nose. She was sweet natured and very tame.
 
She and Lakota got along well from the beginning, which was something that we were concerned about. I began to contact veterinarians about what could or should be done for Grace's eye. Within about a month of when she arrived to our place Grace underwent an operation to remove the right eyeball. I had no idea of what we were all in for next. I found out that once the vet removed the eyeball that there was not a way to stop the bleeding. He sewed a gauze bandage to the front of her face to hold pressure and to collect the blood. We were told to keep the bandage clean and dry. That was a tall order. It was summertime when thunderstorms would brew up suddenly and I had to get Grace back to the stall before she got wet. It was hot weather which made it impossible to keep the flies away from Grace. And if anyone knows how to keep a horse from rubbing up against something, please let me know. Other than physically restraining her with a "horsey" straight-jacket, I don't know of a way. The wound oozed blood for almost three weeks. From the date of the surgery to completely healing, it took six weeks and three trips to the vet's office. Throughout it all, Grace was amazingly accepting of whatever we had to do to her. She showed grace and dignity as well as patience.
 
Grace by nature is a sweetheart. She is calm and cooperative. I believe that if we had an riding arena with good even footing, that Grace would still be ride-able. From the beginning I tried to follow a pattern while dealing with her to make it routine for her to memorize our daily habits. We put the rubber feeder in the exact same position every day so that she can find it easily without bumping into the wall of the stall. We put her halter on only for a few minutes to move her from the stall to the blind horse habitat. We didn't even leave it on for the 30 minute trailer ride to the vet's office. It's been over a year and you can still see where the halter "wore into" her nose from the previous place she lived. We do everything in our power to make her at home and make sure that she is comfortable. She was a quick learner so I taught her two commands: #1 S T E P, to slowly pick her feet up higher than normal, to cross over obstacles and #2 F E E L to put her nose to whatever it is that I'm trying to show her. Unlike Lakota who is "spooky", Grace rarely gets too excited about much other than green grass or a bucket of grain. While Lakota is easily spooked, she is also very cautious. All of Lakota's moves are deliberate and well-planned. Grace on the other hand, throws caution to the wind and seems to injure herself more often. She is like the proverbial "bull in the china cabinet" slamming and banging her way sround. Nothing major, but she does seem to "bust" her head from time to time. This may just be a part of her personality (she may be like me, accident prone) and may have nothing to do with being blind. She has several "old scars" on her forehead under her bangs from before she came to live with us.
 
As far as "pecking order" goes, over the past 13 months that they have been together, Lakota is higher in rank. Although Grace is the larger of the two, Grace seems content to let Lakota be the boss. And to think that we were concerned that Grace would hurt tiny little Lakota who as it turns out is quite a warrior when it comes to defending territory. When you hear a ruckus out back, it's just Lakota squealing and showing Grace how to get out of the way of her fast-flying hooves.

Update: Grace's good eye (left eye) continues to shrink and deteriorate which may require surgical removal as her right eye did in 2007. Notice that her face is still scarred due to people leaving a "too tight" halter on her for "too long". Here she does not have to wear a halter, more than a few minutes at a time, and only when necessary to move her from one place to another. She and Lakota live happily here at the Triple O Ranch Equine Sanctuary

 Written: October 5, 2007
Lakota - the blind wild mustang

My mom died in Jan.2007. She left behind a couple of horses which we had to rescue from her property.... Lakota is a seventeen year old wild mustang mare that was born free and wild in Nevada. She was captured by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) adopted out and later sold to my mother. At the time, Lakota had a six month old daughter named Cheyenne. Both were wild and lived there on the property. After my mother's death, it became urgent to relocate them. Lakota had gone blind and moving her and Cheyenne became a monumental task...We set up a round pen (corral) and once Lakota was inside the corral, we began to remove panels to reduce the size of the corral...My husband roped Lakota and I injected her with tranquilizers from the vet. Even sedated she was terrified. After trapping, loading and transporting her to our house, we set up the corral in the yard, opened the horse trailer and attached it to the corral. It was a stormy night and Lakota unloaded herself in the middle of the night. Lakota was totally terrified by everything. I was told that being blind is hard enough for a horse and being wild and blind was an impossible combination, and that very likely we would have to have her euthanized. I looked on the Internet for expert advise....many had experience with wild horses or blind horses but to date I have not found anyone that claims to have experience with a blind wild horse.I was told that most likely I'd never get my hands on this horse, which if it weren't for medical reasons and the possibility of having to handle her for any number of reasons pertaining to her health and well-being, then I'd just as soon, let her stay wild. I started by just talking to her. The sound of my voice made her spook and move away from me. While feeding her, I tried to give her a carrot from my hand, which totally freaked her out and she wouldn't come near the feed bowl until I would leave the corral.. For the next three days she wouldn't eat until I would leave the area. Little by little, she allowed me to come near her again. I spent countless hours just talking to her. I continued to try to gain her trust and used the carrot to guide her to the rubber feeder that contained her grain. By tapping the carrot on the feeder bowl, she could find her way to the food. Little by little she began to tolerate my presence and be less spooky.
 
Lakota has retained so much of her natural instinct, which is obvious by her reactions. She knows when a storm is brewing up, long before any of us or any of our many other animals. She notices any sound of movement long before any of the other horses. For months, we'd move the corral around to new grass for her to graze on. At first she was terrified of the sound made by the metal corral panels and would spook and bump into the panels.. After a while she would stand patiently in the center of the corral while we pushed it around,knowing that we were moving it to new grass and as soon as we would finish, she would have her head down searching for fresh grass. We began building our blind horse habitat and in the process, adopted Grace, a 20 yr.old Appaloosa mare, also blind but tame...Grace's right eye was deteriorated, infected and painful... The vet decided that it was medically necessary to have her eyeball surgically removed.. Within a month of adopting Grace as a companion to Lakota, she had the operation.. It was very much of a big deal ( for her as well as us ) to have an eyeball removed. After a tough month and a half, Grace finally was healed.After five months of living in the corral, Lakota and I had made progress. She now allows me to touch her face, neck and back.. She moves toward my voice and will "answer" back when I call to her.
 
When we completed the fencing for the blind horse habitat, we moved Lakota's corral as close as possible to the driveway, connected corral panels to the new enclosure, opened up the corral and Lakota MOVED HERSELF across the street and into the new area. Now Lakota and Grace live together happily.They spend their days grazing, swatting flies and enjoying the shade of the big oak trees... and from a distance, no one would ever know that they are both blind.. Lakota and I continue to bond a little more each day as she permits me into her world, which is a calm and relaxed place compared to the terror of the darkness she previously endured. I am honored that she chooses to accept my presence and my good intentions despite what humans have done to her in the past. She was living wild and free then she was captured, freeze branded, adopted out and sold off and put out to pasture. With Lakota's experience with human beings, it amazes me that she could trust people again. For sure, she is more forgiving than a lot of people that I've known in my lifetime.

Update: Lakota has made fantastic progress since she came to live with us in 2007. Lakota proves daily how little we humans know about trust, patience and life's struggles. She and Grace live together in our Blind Horse Habitat. The new Habitat Barn was completed in September 2010.

We call him GUS. This foto was taken the afternoon he arrived on September 17, 2010. He is tall, long and lanky. His story is a bit hard to follow but we were told that he came off the racetracks. Gus, who's former name we shall never speak again, is a grey five year old Throughbred gelding. He is a great-great grandson of Secretariat. He has lived in at least two horse rescues before coming to the Triple O. How he ended up like this, is an all too familiar scenario. Let's call it....HUMAN ERROR and leave it at that.  He deserved so much more than he received. I'm certain of it.  He is amazingly laid back for being Throughbred.   His personality is that of Agustus McCrae of Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove fame. Our Gus is very definately a smooth talker and charming gentleman. Gus is a hungry boy indeed. He hasn't stopped eating since he got here, over a month ago. He "attacks" his food instead of just eating it. He aggressively grabs big mouthfuls of the feed. We decided to feed him in a giant container with a good sized rock in it so he has to work at gathering up his food and eats more slowly. The rock serves as an obstacle as well as a weight, since he paws at the feed container and spills it. I've known animals (and people) that have gone "too hungry"  for far "too long" and their hunger lingers sometimes for a lifetime. Even after they receive adequate nutrition, sometimes years later, they are always hungry. I can't stand to see anyone go hungry, human or animal. I can't understand why anyone would let this happen to Gus. But he no longer has any worries. Gus has a forever home here at the Triple O.   

Welcome to Triple O Ranch Equine Santuary Blog. We are doing the paperwork to become classified as a non-profit organization. I've been told that it is a long and drawn-out process, but we are patient. That classification will open many doors for us. It will enable us to accept donations such as cash, hay, feed, supplies and equipment from individuals as well as corporations. We have been doing this work for years but have come to the point to make it official. YOU, are welcome to make comments, share ideas, suggestions and opinions on this site. As we progress we will be looking for people to help spread the word about our organization as well as offer ideas on fund-raising projects. YOUR input will be appreciated. Currently, the number of abused and neglected horses, ponies and donkeys continues to increase due to factors such as the struggling economy and low selling prices. The "killer market" seems to thrive on these factors. Horses are being shipped all over the country to slaughter houses outside of the United States borders in Canada and Mexico. I do believe that "some people" are unaware of what it takes, physically, financially and emotionally to properly care for horses 24/7/365 and become "overwhelmed" by the responsibility of the task. Maybe some are in denial of the fact that their horses are neglected. And there are "the others", which do not care that their horses are suffering, as they consider them their property. Outright abuse, makes NO sense to me. How anyone abuses the defenseless is beyond whatever benefit-of-doubt, I could possibly come up with to understand how they justify their actions. No matter what part of the country you live in, there are people who have horses which they are not able to give adequate care to or people who "don't" or "won't" provide adequate food, water and shelter for their horses. If you have horses which you can not care for....please find someone else than can.  We, as a nation, provide food, water and shelter to the worst of the worst of the criminals in our society. How can we allow for horses to be locked up without their basic needs being met ????