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Happy and Blessed Easter to All, I want to stop my crazy life for a minute to tell you all to have a great Easter holiday and to remember the reason for the season!  The Easter bunny is cute, and the baskets and all, but keep the focus... and have a fun and relaxing day!

We have had a week that was filled with a series of events that were both good and also very scary.  Last Saturday a dear friend of mine, in response to my plea to help the Amish horses in our area find homes before they went to sale, drove from Iowa City, Iowa to Wisconsin and met me at the farm.  The dear couple from the U.P. of Michigan were here loading (or attempting to load) Jazz the Thoroughbred into the stock trailer to take home, so they walked widely around and came to the house. I got my farm clothes on and jumped into Craig's truck and off we drove- another hour and a half to Amish country. When we arrived, the gentleman was pleasantly surprised to see us and went to the barn to call in the horses.  The first horse who came into the barn was a thin mare in less than ideal condition, with a spot on one eye.  She seemed desperate to come in, and tripped around the manure spreader in the aisle, almost got kicked  by four angry Belgians in the process, and made her way to a tie stall for some hay.  Her mane was mangled and she looked, well, like something you really wanted to take home TODAY.

Next came the gelding with the swollen legs, after a lot of coaxing on the Amish gentleman's part!  He came in, and was so tall that the tips of his ears brushed along the beams in the barn ceiling.  He seemed scared.  My friend Lori took one look at him and instantly knew she wanted him, despite the legs.  We all talked for quite some time, then the price came up and thank goodness, the Amish man settled for $200 less than what he was asking for.  It was hard to leave the gelding, knowing that we could not return until the bloodwork and interstate papers had been done.  We settled on Wednesday for a return date.  It was bittersweet!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Sunday and Monday went by peacefully.  Haiaku's splint is on a tension of "7" now, with limited result, but still some positive result. He is so accepting of the splint!  On Tuesday, however, we let him follow Precious from the barn and out into the turnout to eat hay.  Craig watched him lie down to rest in the sun.  Problem was, he laid on his "bad" side, with his big leg underneath him.  He could not get up.  I watched him struggle and struggle and he wore himself into a sweat.  He began tremoring, and I began to panic.  My friend Mollie was here and we both tried bst we could to get him to stand with no success.  After a few hours, I knew I had to get Craig to do something with a little more muscle or Oompf.  Just as we were going to get the skidsteer or try to turn him over onto his good side, our cheerleading attempts paid off, and UP came Haiaku!  I was screaming and clapping and hugging him around the neck!  Poor guy - guess he won't want to lie on that side again for a long time.

Later in the week we had to catch Swifty Swoosh for some bloodwork for a new coggins, and Craig had to help me, since Cut Loose came Shifty thinks he is "all that" and won't let us catch him!  As we made the final catch and led him from the lower turnout, Craig looked up under the apple tree and saw Brittany, his old roping mare who is now 27,  seizuring like mad on the ground.  He said, "Brittany's dying".  My concentration faded and my focus was no longer on Shifty.  Craig walked over and after the seizure tried to get her up.  She was covered in spring mud from one end to the other.  Long story short, it was a blessing that the vet came the same day to draw blood.  She looked at her but did not examine her because Craig chose that he just wanted to do supportive care and not to take extensive bloodwork, etc.  He kept saying, "She's old"... it was beyond my comprehension but I had to respect Craig's wishes.  Brittany is back outside with her horsey friends after kicking down boards in her stall in efforts to get out.  Guess we just cannot keep the old girl down, or away from her buddies.  I'll update you on her progress next week.

Lots of changes coming up - my dear friend Linda Bair in MN was able to place Sweet Billy N so he is adopted!  Sherman went to his new home in MN too, and DT and Santa Fe Freight are leaving within days.  That leaves more to come in. I want to thank Ken K. in Minnesota for paying the money for horse #4, the gelding, to bring him to the farm and hopefully get him adopted out to a good home.  I also want to make sure I thank Mark and Denise Stuber for all of the farrier work they volunteer for us, and especially for coming out to trim Haiaku with his splint on a couple of weeks ago.  They are also fostering several horses for us, and do not ask for monetary compensation.  They are a very very special family and we are grateful for them, as well as Cre Larson for her fostering of Dolly's Delight and Bo Knows Silky Too right now.  Every one of you is precious!

Lots of positive responses on the article about May - now to find her a good home! 

Until next week,

Susan

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