Everything’s Peachy….

posted in FSHR Horses, Horses, Rescue Horses | Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Angel in the Snow.

Winnie in the snow.

Chickens in the snow.

The snow, the endless snow.

The strangest things can happen on the Internet. Case in point: while throughout the last several weeks I had been innocently and doggedly shoveling paths to pens, corrals, feed shed, dog houses, my home and my car over and over again in and out of the parade of Heinous Snow Storms, rumors were floating far and wide like errant snowflakes, making their own parade. The result was that, night before last, I got a call from a friend and fellow rescuer, who said she got a call from a friend who got a dire e-mail from South Carolina or someplace asking if she had heard anything about those Fresh Start Horse Rescue people because “the lady” was in the hospital, dying, or “all the horses were dying” and so on and so forth…my friend was checking up in response to this, wondering how the paint mare we got from her, Ruffles, was doing.

Well, Ruffles is FINE, FAT and BORED just like the rest of the horses here.

Here she is with a volunteer, in August, when she first arrived (and was NOT bored OR fat because she had just weaned a foal that day). She is healthy now and up for adoption. She seems to be a one-person horse, and will latch onto the right person like a puppy. They say she’s rideable, but you have to pay attention to the trail because she doesn’t always! I haven’t gotten on her yet because I only train three horses at a time and I was busy with Wiz, Brandy and Winnie. So we’ll see how she does as soon as it thaws out a little more here.

Anyhoo, yes, I was in the hospital, and yes, the doctors insisted we get rid of all the horses before I was discharged because the job was too stressful for me, and well, maybe I mentioned something to somebody in an e-mail about needing to downsize and find homes quick for reasons of my health. You know, during the time of lost mojo. Well, I learned my lesson. You’ve got to be awfully careful what you say. I’ve had a lot of hysterical-sounding e-mail messages blow my way from all the infinite directions of the wind about other rescues in dire straits, and often wondered how credible they were.

Yes, there is no question that the economy has thrown its worst at all of us who labor hip-deep in rescue horse poop, and it is heartening and inspiring to see people from different walks of life come together to help horses–and rescuers–in need…although during this hospitalization and recuperation period of mine, no one actually came to our aid. We did not “get rid of” one horse as a result of that “disaster.” This could be related to the fact that we did not put out an all-points plea for help. Ironically, that was because I wanted to avoid the potential humiliation of escalating cross-posts over months and hundreds of miles!

Some of these e-messages are credible and some aren’t. Some of the crises are real. Some are just blown out of all proportion. But the truth seems to be, once you get into horse rescue, it’s darn near impossible to get out of it gracefully.