The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive
Golden Carrot Newsletter
May 2013
Well, almost three months without a newsletter! Forgive me please, it’s been busy!
The biggest deal has been medical issues - like I’ve never seen before. These pictures are kinda icky, but I wanted you to know how bad it's actually been! Think about how hard it is to keep wounds clean in a setting like this .... so they can heal and not re-infect. It's been very very hard...
As you know, Sara had a huge bout with abscesses which continued for some time, requiring soaking of her feet and daily bandaging.
EWWWW! Believe me, this is NOT as bad as it got for her!
Then, Gio’s right hind leg developed cellulitis from a small wound (this is BAD - infection running UP the leg!). By the time all was said and done (and he IS recovered now), he had TWO wounds as a second spot opened to fully drain the infection! He was on heavy injectable and oral antibiotics and pain killers for almost three weeks; daily cleaning and rewrapping of the wounds (so hard to do on a joint!); and eventually the second wound developed some proudflesh that Dr. Z had to excise (making ANOTHER wound), requiring another two weeks of medicating and rewrapping! My 58-year old knees were protesting, but my poor Gio was such a sweet patient, and with his right front already practically useless from his racing, it’s been hard for such a big boy to be two legged! All of that is healed now, but he continues to have issues on and off with his right bad front fetlock.. He did get some TLC from new equine chiro Dawn Fletcher, and a floating...
She STILL has crud caked on from her time down in the mud, struggling.
This was bad enough, and went on forever, costing a ton in medications, bandages, etc. But then after our last storm, we found Queenie cast in her stall, and she’d clearly been down for a while. With help from the tractor and dismantling of her stall, we got her out to a place and orientation where, with our help, we could help her get up. Poor little Queenie, so frail, was so shaky and numb on her left side, and we had a time convincing Jeepers to stay off her! He was so distressed about her! Luckily, only a few days later, I had Dawn Fletcher, a local equine chiropractor, coming out anyway, so Queenie was top of the list. Imagine my horror when, during her initial assessment, Dawn stops suddenly and says, I have some bad news! Queenie had broken one of her neck vertebrae! Dr. Z wanted her on pain meds, and apparently, there’s not much else to do about it. A horse’s neck vertebrae are huge and apparently not likely to move and sever the cord so .... manage the pain and give her time to heal. Due to the sensitivity of her other injuries there wasn’t much Dawn could do that time, but a week later, she came again and was able to do some body work for Queenie that clearly helped her a lot. With pain meds, and her own Appy strength, she’s doing well.
Then, although this was a quickie, Dominic hurt his eye - I went to feed him and his right eye was swollen huge and dripping guck! Don’t know when or how this happened (he was fine the night before when I fed), but I will say, with only cleaning, three hot poultice soaks, and neosporin on the wound (and he was smart - struggled to avoid the poultice the first time, but quickly realized it felt great and cooperated for the others) he was fine. Healed completely in 3 days, and the eye was never at risk, it was a booboo on his eyelid - but it looked HORRID!
And the medical disasters are not done! Not to be outdone, Hershey then injured himself, including another eye injury!
Dear Hershey was found cast. And he’d been down a while! Again, the stall gets dismantled, but he was so exhausted it took several efforts for him to get up, and each time he went back down, he hammered his head and right leg on the hard ground. Once on his feet, he was so numb on his right side that he could barely walk. He needed to move though, so we kept him moving until he pooped and peed and was willing to stop for a drink. A very wet bran mash with lots of carrots and he was showing a little more strength.
Once again, pain medications; hot poultices for his eye twice a day; topical stuff for his booboos ... and time. Laurie was there the day he went down, and was able to adjust two thoracic vertebrae that were probably out from his strain trying to get up but couldn’t do a lot more due to the sensitivity and swelling; and once again, a few days later Dawn was there for other horses and was able to give him a little more help as well.
Laurie came out in late February and was able to really help Victor and Corazon. Between her visits, and Dawn’s visits for Queenie, Hershey, Laddie, Victor, Lester and others, and Dr. Z’s visits for Gio’s leg, Shelby’s wellness check, Gio’s floating; Gio’s proudflesh excisement; and Shelby’s floating; our medical costs have been extensive.
Hershey’s injuries have resulted in an odd readjustment in the herd. As you may recall, Hershey is Brave’s seeing-eye horse. But when he was so frail and unsteady due to his injuries, he couldn’t handle the constant physical contact Brave requires, and Brave knew it. In stepped Spencer, who has been trying to protect both Brave and Hershey ever since Shine passed months ago. When that started, Brave was protective of Hershey, lunging at Spencer as he seemed unaware of Spencer’s intentions and after all, for Hershey's services as a seeing-eye horse, Brave acts as a protector for Hershey. But now, when Brave’s only solution to Hershey’s pain was to stay back in the stall line alone, Spencer stayed with HIM. And a new friendship has developed. Now, Hershey joins them whenever he wants to ... and Brave continues to call for him until he reaches their adjoining stalls each night. But as often as not, Hershey ambles around alone, and Spence and Brave linger together in the stall line.
New Farriers:
Now, when all this is going on, and I’m exhausted by anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes of extra work every day, my farrier tells me he’s going to leave for New Jersey on some weird new job. He swears that for me and a couple of other favored customers, he’s going to return every two months to keep all the horses on a schedule. I knew it wasn’t really possible. So suddenly, I’m in the market for a farrier, after 7 years. Ugh. But with some good references, I have a new young man, Travis, who has been terrific. He and his helper are quick, savvy horsemen, and Travis has already made a big difference in Jasper’s feet. What luck!
In addition, due to a new horse who came in in very bad condition, a local lady farrier was willing, despite having no real time in her schedule, to come and work on his terrible front feet. She took a fancy to him, and has returned just for him, and thinks in another couple of trims 5 weeks apart, she may really be able to make a big difference for him. She even came back to cast his front feet and refused to charge for that visit, despite also casting Medina’s bad foot for me while she was here! Dani doesn’t have time to do more horses for us, but she’s a local resource that may, in future, be more involved. Meantime, she’s been great for Shelby.
New resident, Shelby!
I received an email about a paint gelding who needed help. As I sometimes do when things are overwhelming me, I just ignored it. A month or so later, I got another, about the same horse. Well. Dang it, he looked bad. The stall next to Corazon was open. So, Shelby arrives. We didn’t realize he’s just a pony. One blue eye, one brown.
All bones, and feet really messed up after a very long time neglected. He was much worse than this picture shows - he had a quite thick haircoat that disguised just how bony he was. But his biggest problem was his teeth. We were told he was 24, but Dr. Z says more likely 30. He’s missing a lot of teeth, and like our Buddy, had one so long it impinged on the opposing jaw, literally making it impossible for him to close his mouth. What torment for the boy, to be so hungry, food offered, and simply be unable to eat it! An extreme floating session, and the smallest pellets I can find for him, and he’s really starting to do much better. His winter coat is finally starting to shed; he has a butt now; his feet are getting a little better, and he adores Corazon. Life is looking up for our little man..... Shelby would love to have a part or full sponsor.... Please click on his name to read his story and see his initial pictures. Below is Shelby yesterday, two months in.
Still a little caved in along his back, but at least he has a butt now!
And PS here’s Corazon, his love - looking pretty good 3 months after arrival, yes? She's still hoping for sponsors! Click on her name to see her pictures 3 months ago.... It turns out she was given the awful name of Cousin Wanda (per the Jockey Club), but her breeding includes the father, and grandfather of Secretariat!! I think she simply refused to run with such a dorky name!
New chiro Dawn Fletcher!
I’ve had so much fun watching Dawn work with these old horses, and a couple of the younger ones too! She makes me laugh when she settles them by telling them "it’s all groovy"..... She does more bodywork/massage type stuff than Laurie does, but they have very similar techniques when it comes to the actual adjusting. I’m glad to have another option too, because I just can’t ask Laurie to drive here from Montclair as often as I would like! I guess with the routes, the time of travel is about the same for Dawn, but this way, I can bug each of them a little less! Thank you Dawn, and Laurie, for being willing to come give these oldsters some relief from the aches and pains that beset us all with age and injuries... Now, if I could get an adjustment myself! :-D
Had the pleasure of seeing DeeAnn Bradley, our unofficial photographer. Just look at this fabulous picture of Boo and Jeepers playing! I could NEVER get a shot like this! It’s literally been years since DeeAnn could visit, and many horses came and went without ever getting their picture taken by her, but she got about 35 of the horses on this visit. I will slowly but surely put these new lovely shots up on their pages on the website, so check in now and then. And I’m fingers-crossed that she’ll visit again very soon, now that everyone is shed out and shiny, and get the 9 she missed, as well as everyone else again. Thanks DeeAnn!
Horses Head to Hoof Horse show
On April 21, 2013, there was a lovely little horse show in Temecula, aimed at bringing Horses - Head to Hoofs to the general, non-horsey public. They were kind enough to invite TGC to have a table there and we did. Now, with all of us, and all our cameras/phones, NO ONE got a picture, but I assure you, when the ladies were done setting up Sue’s tables and Ez-Up, and Jody hung pictures of the horses, and Jan and Katja set out the yummy pastries they’d made to sell, and our T-shirts, ballcaps and snazzy brochures were all set out, along with our donation can, we looked very neat! Lisa and I helped to set up and then dashed back to the ranch to complete chores and Lisa groomed about 8 horses who were eternally grateful to lose the last bits of their winter coats. We then dashed back, with about 45 minutes to spare to the end of the show. Julia was probably the only one who got to visit the other booths and watch the exhibitors, but all in all, the ladies tell me they talked about the horses to every person they could snag, tshirts and caps were purchased; LOTS of pastries were sold, brochures handed out and a great presence for The Golden Carrot was made for the local community. Lisa and Julia Brozek, Jan Heppert, Katja Tootle; Jody Kummer, and Sue Friley - you ladies are WONDERFUL - so patient to sit that booth and repeat our mission over and over to people, and so cheerful and still smiling even after a whole day of that! We went out for pizza afterwards ....
And speaking of that, we still have Tshirts (in white, light gray and black) and caps for sale? Anyone interested? We’re asking a minimum donation of $15 for T-shirts; and $10 for ball caps.... Just contact me and we’ll get one out to you. Donation can be made via Paypal or send a check....
I’m still hoping to find a one or two day a week helper. Imagine with all this going on, and having to re-create two destroyed stalls as well? Ugh! Had a couple of people at different times - but sadly, no one wants to work for more than a day or two. Did get a couple of young men to finish the roofs that were left to be converted and they did a pretty good job. But there are repairs to be done every day. My hammer-wrist is pretty messed up - so if anyone knows of a guy looking for work, please let me know? I’ll do whatever I can to make it a regular gig if someone will work at a reasonable level and be dependable.
And folks, I had occasion to go to the website, to set up Shelby’s page, and realized that I’ve not been keeping that ‘updates’ section up dated! Mostly, that’s because it’s so much easier for me to post on Facebook. I post pictures and updates every day there.... so if you haven’t already, like our page! I will try to do better on the website, and if you or any of your techie friends or kids have any ideas on how I can get more traffic to that site, I would LOVE to hear about it.
With medical expenses so unexpectedly high, it’s been tough. Many of you who have been following our exploits for some years know that right now is when I do everything I can to stockpile hay - hay is readily available, prices are as low as they get; quality is high. But it costs me $1615 for 100 bales. I just bought some, but would love to buy a couple of hundred more bales. And with summer coming, when you all run to the beach, well, I wanted to catch you before you leave. Did that tax refund come in? Can you spare a little? Can you help TGC get through the next few hot summer months?
Other ways to help
If you like what we’re doing here, we would really appreciate it if you could go to
Great Non-Profits and write a review for us. We were top rated for 2012, but need new input to get there for 2013. Doesn’t have to be long - just your thoughts and observations..... Thank you!
Last note - I don’t use this kinda stuff, but Avon has a wide range of decent and affordable products. One of our supporters is trying to sell it as she deals with no job and an ailing mother. If you like it and buy from her, TGC will get a little bite of the price! Just sayin’..... www.youravon.com/teresaknott
As always, if you can donate, any amount, please click on Surely's pretty face, and help us out!
Please remember that we are also hopeful that someone, somewhere, will have 30-40 acres to donate to these horses, and this cause. We are at capacity - 44 horses is all I can handle as well as all I have room for now - but with a bigger property and ownership so that we can apply for grants to improve it, we can do so much more. There is still a huge need out there - so many horses needing help. While I will always concentrate on the older and disabled horses, I can help other rescues rehab, and could even consider a small adoption center, if I had the room. Please don't be afraid to mention this need to anyone and everyone - we MUST be their voice as they cannot speak for themselves. And you might be surprised at how many people out there would help, if they only knew of the need. Thank you!