This is Tessa taking her first few steps in her Old Mac's. They help her left front lameness a lot. She is now a happy horse. She was licking and chewing like mad. She really doesn't want them off at night but we have to give her feet some air-time. Rain here the last 2 nights. Lower temps too and that is nice. Hope is slowly gaining weight. She is such a love. Roger keeps us laughing daily. I'm so glad we got the donkeys. They each have a different personality and I love each one greatly. Blogger is doing something different today. The picture is at the bottom, hmmmmmm. Oh well, change is good sometimes.

On a more serious note, the round up of the Pryor mustangs has halted. Please visit The Cloud Foundation website and donate if you can.


http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/

Update

The internet. What can I say....before we had it, we didn't know anything about it. Now when the Hughes.net terminal goes down, we feel lost and out of touch. Out of the last 12 days, we have had service for 2. Grrrr But we are up and surfing now so hopefully it will stay that way. Last Thursday, Roger (new baby jack) was gelded. In the course of 4 days, he went from a sweet, loving little boy to a hellion with an attitude and temper. Boy am I glad that is over, LOL. He is doing well now. Still healing but time will take care of that. My sweet baby boy is back. He was trying to help Jim (internet guy) yesterday with fixing the terminal. Taking tools out of the tool belt, Jim got quite a kick out of it. The weather has been wonderful here the last few days. Cool with northeast breezes. I got a lot of painting done on fences and have a bit more to do. The cool weather is a reminder of things to come in a few weeks. We have gotten half of our winter hay in. The rest will come soon. We are going to build on to the barn to make room for the donks to eat inside this winter. Am anxious to get started on the construction. Gary and I love working together on these projects. Such a good feeling to see it done and know the equines will have shelter in the cold. Jake is doing well. He barks at the thunder. Maybe he is trying to scare the thunder monster away from his family, LOL. Click on the pictures to enlarge. Momma Hope needs to put on more weight but these things take time. She is so very sweet. I'm so glad we have her and Roger. I'm glad we have all of them. They make our lives complete.

Dunkey plays with anything!!

Hope and Roger are feeling more at home today. They are free to roam and graze with Belle and BJ. One can see just how thin Hope is in the 2nd picture. She has gained some weight since being saved. I will never understand how someone can starve an animal then just sell it to a broker with no thought to where it will end up. Roger and BJ are having lessons every morning and evening. This morning, Roger stood with the lead rope just hanging from the halter and let me clean his feet. This is a huge improvement in just a few days. He also led pretty darn good this morning. They both are starting to "talk" to us when they see us. Donkeys like hugs and scratches very much. I love watching those ears go upright when you speak to them. Each one has a different personality just like people. Have a great weekend everyone.

HOPE

We made a 3rd trip to Waverly, Ks yesterday. To Winding Road Equine Rescue. Kristin does a great job at her rescue. We brought home a miniture donkey momma and her baby. These two were rescued off the broker lot by the Fans of Barbaro. They came from a preacher. Not my kind of precher because Hope is so very thin and both their hooves were in horrible shape. How can a man of God treat animals that way???? We put them in the round pen and Hope immediately went to eating the grass. There is no shelter in the round pen, last night around 10 pm, the thunder/lightning started to the northwest. We both went out and moved Hope and her baby, Roger Rabbit to the pen on the west side of the barn with access to the alleyway so they could get out of the rain. There were forcasts of hail the size of golfballs, yikes! As soon as we got back into bed, all was quiet! But, this morning we have had 0.4 inches of rain. Beautiful rain that makes the grass grow. Hope is so sweet, loves to be brushed. Roger hasn't had a lot of handling so he is a bit nervous yet but he is coming around. Welcome home Hope and RR.

http://www.windingroadequinerescue.org/

NEW (ER) WHEELS

The "Ram 2500"

It's not new but it's very nice and clean. Everything works. And, it pulls the big Yuba trailer great! It also has a pop-up ball for a 5th wheel. It's 4 wheel drive which will be great this winter since we live in BFE. LOL. Hawk's abscess has drained and he is back to normal. We have had almost 2 inches of much needed rain in the last 24 hours. We have mud!!! Temps are in the lower 70's, it's cloudy and, of course, humid. But, we aren't complaining. Maybe the grass will grow a bit and we won't have to put out the big bales for a while. Life is good!

Baby BJ loves her grandpa! She is growing by leaps and bounds. She is nibbling a little bit of moist feed morning and night. Momma Belle is still the main source of food though. Temps have cooled off a bit here, thank you God! We also got 1.6 inches of rain last Thursday afternoon. Nice, but we are still more than 5 inches behind for the year. We have already put out hay for the horses. Hawk had to go to the vet Friday. He was very lame on the left front. The x-rays were negative for fracture but did show an abscess tract. So we are soaking his foot in red vinegar and water and wrapping it. He is a lot better this a.m. He is good about everything except taking the Bute. That stuff must taste horrible. Such a sweetie. Hope everyone has had a good weekend.