Miss Jodie 1-24-2013
THE LAST, LAST HORSE
We posted on our Facebook page earlier today that we would be
making an important announcement this afternoon. We've decided to publicly say
uncle and wanted you to hear that from us directly and not through the
grapevine. We always wondered when we'd have to draw the line. Even though we
discussed the issue, we never were able to set an exact number of horses that
we'd allow to live at the Triple O. I can tell you now, that number is
THIRTY-FOUR. We always said that we would care for as many needy horses as
possible....we've reached that number.
Miss #34 arrived today. Her name is Jodie. She's
approximately 30 yrs. She's our last, last horse.
Many factors come together which affect how well things go
at any given time and many of those factors are variable. Some days have good
weather, some don't. Sometimes we have people who want to volunteer their time
to help with barn chores, sometimes we don't. Sometimes, we have donations to
help pay for the sanctuary's expenses, sometimes we don't. Sometimes horses get
sick or injured and we need service of a vet, sometimes we don't. There is no
way of knowing what impending issues will come up but we have to be as prepared
as possible for what ever comes up. I should tell you that our original
intention was to be a true sanctuary, a place for the old, the infirm, the
blind, a place for them to live out their days in peace. We didn't originally
intend to become so involved in the rescue aspect until the phone calls from law
enforcement came requesting assistance on equine neglect cases. During 2010 and 2011 we took in several needy horses. On 12-28-2011, we took four more neglected horses (two severely emaciated) for the Sheriff's Department. By then we already knew we had to slow down. In 2012 we only took in a total of five horses. Two of those were from a neglect case of law enforcement from another county, which were a starved mare and four month old colt. The colt, Chase, died four days after they arrived despite our best efforts, proper care and vet care. The mare has made a full recovery.
At this point, we spend all of our time, energy and money to
support the horses in our care and we don't mind. This new horse that came in
today is our last, last horse. At least for now. We can not and will not allow
any of them to receive anything less than the best care. Her owner contacted us
a few months ago and asked us to take her because she's to the point that she
need specialized care. At thirty years old, she's past the stage of being able
to live as a pasture horse. Her back teeth are gone and she requires a special
diet to maintain her weight and her health. Jodie's eye sight is failing. She is going blind. Like I said, she's beyond the stage of living as a pastur horse. She needs specialized care. Her owner has physical limitations
that won't allow for being able to provide the care she needs. However her owner
is willing to remain financially responsible for her care and is donating to
meet her needs while she is in our care. Her name is Jodie and she arrived
today. She is our last, last horse, at least for now.
It is time for us to work on evaluating the skills of some of
the horses we have rescued to get our adoption program up and running. It is
time for us to work on expanding our presence in the community to develop a
strong and consistent volunteer program to attain help to ease our massive work
load and get more interested local people involved in our mission. It is time
for us to work on increasing our ability to do fund raising and acquire more
donations as well as corporate sponsors. It is time for us to spend time
researching and applying for grants for equine organizations to be able to
expand our facilities by adding more cross fencing and stalls for the special
needs horses. It is time to squeeze out more time to dedicate to the behind the
scenes tasks such as answering phone calls, written correspondence, record
keeping and accounting issues.
There are only so many hours in the day and we can only do so much. While we
know that there are many horses that need help, we are also aware of the fact
that we can not help all of them. We wish we could and it breaks our hearts to
say no to those in need but that is the reality of the situation. Sad but true.
We still want to help where we can and are attempting to rally support from
local citizens to help network needy horses into good permanent homes or
temporary foster care that would be able to provide care until good permanent
homes can be found. We still want to help local citizens that are temporarily
down on their luck but need some help to be able to keep their horses and avoid
horses becoming displaced in the first place. We still want to investigate and
advocate for neglected equine that are reported to us by local concerned
citizens. We still want to help in anyway possible but at this point we can't
take in any more horses. Hopefully as we grow as an organization, get more boots
on the ground, get quality adopters, get a consistent volunteer program and
increase the number of donors we will be able to offer sanctuary to more needy
horses but for now Jodie, is our last, last horse. She arrived today and we
welcome her with open arms and a loving heart.
We posted on our Facebook page earlier today that we would be
making an important announcement this afternoon. We've decided to publicly say
uncle and wanted you to hear that from us directly and not through the
grapevine. We always wondered when we'd have to draw the line. Even though we
discussed the issue, we never were able to set an exact number of horses that
we'd allow to live at the Triple O. I can tell you now, that number is
THIRTY-FOUR. We always said that we would care for as many needy horses as
possible....we've reached that number.
Miss #34 arrived today. Her name is Jodie. She's
approximately 30 yrs. She's our last, last horse.
Many factors come together which affect how well things go
at any given time and many of those factors are variable. Some days have good
weather, some don't. Sometimes we have people who want to volunteer their time
to help with barn chores, sometimes we don't. Sometimes, we have donations to
help pay for the sanctuary's expenses, sometimes we don't. Sometimes horses get
sick or injured and we need service of a vet, sometimes we don't. There is no
way of knowing what impending issues will come up but we have to be as prepared
as possible for what ever comes up. I should tell you that our original
intention was to be a true sanctuary, a place for the old, the infirm, the
blind, a place for them to live out their days in peace. We didn't originally
intend to become so involved in the rescue aspect until the phone calls from law
enforcement came requesting assistance on equine neglect cases. During 2010 and 2011 we took in several needy horses. On 12-28-2011, we took four more neglected horses (two severely emaciated) for the Sheriff's Department. By then we already knew we had to slow down. In 2012 we only took in a total of five horses. Two of those were from a neglect case of law enforcement from another county, which were a starved mare and four month old colt. The colt, Chase, died four days after they arrived despite our best efforts, proper care and vet care. The mare has made a full recovery.
At this point, we spend all of our time, energy and money to
support the horses in our care and we don't mind. This new horse that came in
today is our last, last horse. At least for now. We can not and will not allow
any of them to receive anything less than the best care. Her owner contacted us
a few months ago and asked us to take her because she's to the point that she
need specialized care. At thirty years old, she's past the stage of being able
to live as a pasture horse. Her back teeth are gone and she requires a special
diet to maintain her weight and her health. Jodie's eye sight is failing. She is going blind. Like I said, she's beyond the stage of living as a pastur horse. She needs specialized care. Her owner has physical limitations
that won't allow for being able to provide the care she needs. However her owner
is willing to remain financially responsible for her care and is donating to
meet her needs while she is in our care. Her name is Jodie and she arrived
today. She is our last, last horse, at least for now.
It is time for us to work on evaluating the skills of some of
the horses we have rescued to get our adoption program up and running. It is
time for us to work on expanding our presence in the community to develop a
strong and consistent volunteer program to attain help to ease our massive work
load and get more interested local people involved in our mission. It is time
for us to work on increasing our ability to do fund raising and acquire more
donations as well as corporate sponsors. It is time for us to spend time
researching and applying for grants for equine organizations to be able to
expand our facilities by adding more cross fencing and stalls for the special
needs horses. It is time to squeeze out more time to dedicate to the behind the
scenes tasks such as answering phone calls, written correspondence, record
keeping and accounting issues.
There are only so many hours in the day and we can only do so much. While we
know that there are many horses that need help, we are also aware of the fact
that we can not help all of them. We wish we could and it breaks our hearts to
say no to those in need but that is the reality of the situation. Sad but true.
We still want to help where we can and are attempting to rally support from
local citizens to help network needy horses into good permanent homes or
temporary foster care that would be able to provide care until good permanent
homes can be found. We still want to help local citizens that are temporarily
down on their luck but need some help to be able to keep their horses and avoid
horses becoming displaced in the first place. We still want to investigate and
advocate for neglected equine that are reported to us by local concerned
citizens. We still want to help in anyway possible but at this point we can't
take in any more horses. Hopefully as we grow as an organization, get more boots
on the ground, get quality adopters, get a consistent volunteer program and
increase the number of donors we will be able to offer sanctuary to more needy
horses but for now Jodie, is our last, last horse. She arrived today and we
welcome her with open arms and a loving heart.
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