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Rain, Rain, Go Away!
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Red doing better; Malika over her cold
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Donations Low; E-bay store not active yet; feed prices up.
So, who wants more rain? Not TGC, for sure! Although my memory of the
drought years is not completely gone, it is definitely a faded memory - washed away by the torrents
of water that have fallen here in Anza.
Mud is the problem - it's slick, thick, and impossible to avoid.
Although TGC horses have stalls to go into in the worst of the weather, drainage has contributed to
wet footing even under their roofs. About 5 horses have swamps in their houses - and the only hope
we have is for enough dry weather for them to begin to dry. The weathermen are predicting yet
another 2-3 day storm with 1-4 inches of rain in just a few days. Arrrgggh. The slick mud makes
walking around in it dangerous, even for these 4WD animals; the thickness of the mud makes pushing
a loaded wheelbarrow almost impossible for me, and pulling the hay and bucket carts, weighing an
average of 150 pounds each, is a such a strain that my arms and back are in constant pain. I have
developed a lot of appreciation for sled dogs (Remember
The Call of the Wild?) and cart horses (Black Beauty?) The paddock where the horses spend most of their time is split by two fast
moving streams, and the rest of it is so slick that if we can drag to smooth it at all, it will
only be with the tractor. O, how I dream of summer!
The horses bear the rain with the stoicism you’d expect, standing head
down in the squalls, rolling in the mud, and rushing under the roofs of their stalls when the
downpour is too much. I've let them out of their stalls as often as possible, but they’ve been
patient with the forced house-arrest. My heart is in my throat every time I let them out after 24
hours in their stalls - they run and buck and scamper around without any concern for the slick
going, and now and again I see one skid like Tom Cruise in his underwear. Oddly enough, with snow
on the hillsides and night temps in the 20s, they are all shedding out their winter coats. This is
causing some maintenance problems with them rubbing on the stall posts and knocking the stalls out
of true, and the roof supports loose.
Even preparing the feed is difficult; we've tarped the hay to keep it
dry and rooting around under uncontrollable tarps to fill the hay carts usually means dust and hay
in my eyes, nose, ears and down my shirt collar. Even a drop of water on a bale of grass hay means
"goodbye hay" as it rots almost as you watch. Storage for the bagged feed is better, but still
moisture gets into the shed and wets the bags. This weekend, I have to find a source of hay, haul
it in, stack and tarp it, without letting it get wet. This is hard work at best, and slipping and
sliding in the mud, and hoping for the weather to hold off, just makes it more difficult. Moisture
problems in So California are new - how in the world do people in northern climates do it, year
after year?
RED DOING BETTER; MALIKA OVER HER COLD
As I reported in January, Red badly injured his left knee slipping and sliding in
the storms at the first of the year. On top of his tooth problems, his recovery from this injury
was slow and I’m not sure how much I had to do with it. I did use the magnets donated by Sue Friley
of NaturVet, and believe that they had something to do with it; as soon as I began that therapy,
the swelling which had resisted Bute and cold water began to subside. He is still thin, but his
appetite is better. Although eating all the hay I gave him at every meal, he was first fussy about
his senior feed; then about what hay pellets I gave him; then resistant to the rice bran; but
today, he eats everything I give him. He's still thin - much too thin for a horse his age - but
beginning to perk up a lot. He still avoids the herd situation, but the swelling is out of his leg
and there doesn’t seem to be any more infection in his partially removed tooth.
Malika had another period of 'depression' - accompanied with an upper
respiratory infection producing cough and mucus. Just like with us, a cold just has to be endured;
I made her comfortable with warm bran mashes, fresh garlic, and ground up Vitamin C; as well as
wiping her nose out periodically. It took 2 weeks, but she seems over it now. As always, Malika is
hard to handle, and just wiping out her nose was a battle each time - she’s a survivor, and
suspicious of anything new - and from one day to the next, having someone wipe her nose is
"new."
Otherwise, the herd is fine, if soggy from rain and itchy with falling
hair. It's a motley crew out there - covered with mud, crazy bald patches and dreadlocks - but
pretty much what you can expect at this time of year.
MISCELLANEOUS
The E-bay store is not on line yet - I'll send a notice as soon as it is.
Hay prices, and other feed prices, have all increased by a minimum of
$1 per bag or bale (I use 90 bales a month; and approximately 70 bags of feed per month) and so you
can see expenses have increased. That's partly the difficulty of finding feed at this time of the
growing season; and also the increased fuel prices trucking it in from the growing areas.
At the same time, donations are down; sponsors have been erratic; some
people have chosen other charities to receive their time and money. And since everyone also suffers
from Christmas Spending Shock at this time of year, little charities like TGC suffer as
well.
Even little donations make a difference to a small charity - $10 will
purchase a bale of hay. $20 will pay for one horse's feet to be trimmed. $100 will purchase lunch
for all the horses for a week. It all adds up, so please keep us in mind. Come summertime and
better weather, these horses will be happy to see visitors, and give rides, to show their
appreciation of your support.
Thanks for thinking of the Golden Carrot horses - and stay dry!
Casey O'Connor
TGC
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