March 31st – April 5th Update

March 31st

Beauty getting her acupuncture treatment today. She’s no worse. We are still icing her feet.

I said I’d never ride a horse again with an English saddle but I couldn’t resist. I’m an incomplete quadriplegic and can’t feel anything below my neck – I’m just not comfortable in an English saddle. Well, yesterday Kylie had just finished riding Romeo and the saddle was calling me – I couldn’t resist! And I needed a little break – it was wonderful.

We do have someone coming to meet Romeo tomorrow – he’s so sweet. Please pray that she will be the right one for him – he deserves his own home where he’ll get lots of one on one attention!

April 3rd

I should have known when I got to the barn this am and found one of Betsy Rose’s friends floating in her water bucket that the day may not be a normal one. Freckles stayed with her until help arrived.

Amber Cream looks a little silly in this mask – it’s too big for her. But I wanted to show you all how beautiful she is – look at those dapples!

Amber is a Tennessee Walking Horse looking for a forever home. She’s young, smart, and willing.

Beauty gave us quite a scare today when she experienced choke for the very first time in her life. Thankfully, we were able to clear the choke before the vet arrived.

Her choke, coupled with her feet issues, really shook us up here today. I’m waiting for the vet to get back to me upon reading the x-rays but there is more rotation. Please continue to keep Beauty in your prayers.

April 4th

Beauty today. Makes me feel better.

Willow is the mare whose owner recently passed away. This sweet girl is our Easter save and I can’t wait to get her to the rescue – she needs a total makeover, but she’s a diamond in the rough!

We have enough funds to cover her initial vetting, dental, and farrier needs but she needs sponsors to help with her monthly care. You can sign up for a recurring monthly donation through our website, over the phone, etc. Or, snail mail works too! Donations are tax deductible and no amount is too small.

/by

Beauty Needs Prayers – March 29th

I need to ask everyone for prayers for Beauty. She’s my heart horse and I love her dearly. It’s because of her that Beauty’s Haven came to be. If you are unfamiliar with her story, a short version can be found on the "About Us" page of our website at www.bhfer.org.

Beauty foundered a couple of years ago – it was bad, very bad – she rotated a few degrees. But thankfully, she recovered and just recently, I got on her for the first time since she foundered. I only rode her for a few minutes and it felt so good to be upon her back once again and she truly seemed to enjoy it too!

Beauty has been living at the barn with Betsy Rose these last few days. She’s in Soft Rides and we are doing ice wraps, Essential Oils, massage, etc. Beauty will be having lab work done and I’d like to get Dr. Julia to do acupuncture on her. I’ve been a worried wreck. I do believe in the power of prayer and there’s strength in numbers – so I’d appreciate all the good thoughts and prayers possible. Thank you.

/by

March 24 – 27th Update

March 24th

JoJo had lost his mask. Again.

Donovan is doing well. No more abscesses. Now, if only he would sweat!

Matilda’s eye is much better.

Presley is doing better.

Daisy loves running and playing with the boys. They are so fun to watch! She was having such a good time she wiped out and got her left side filthy! She got up, shook off, and kept going.

The masses around Daisy’s eyes continue to shrink – you can see her left eye now!

March 25th

“It’s my birthday! My wish is that I can do anything I want today! I haven’t told mommy Theresa that yet but I’m sure she’ll find out soon."

Happy dance!!!!! Thanks to our village the tractor is back from the repair shop!!

No sooner did the tractor get back to the rescue today Bob put it right to work! It’s such an important tool here – thank you to our Village for helping to get it fixed and back to the rescue!

Not sure what CaryLou was trying to talk Lily in to this morning but – I think he was trying to get her to go up the stairs to the office.

Like 3 peas in a pod.

Baby Ray is stunning! He’s so sweet with such a kind soul.

Ruby – she’s one of the kindest mares you could ever meet. Just don’t stand in between her and another horse that may pass by her stall or you could get nipped.

Sisco is another handsome horse that is looking for a forever home.

LouAnn and Joshua did a great job today getting quite a few feet got cleaned – it’s great because my back needs a break!

March 26th

Magic – Such a beautiful boy. Calling it a day here. Have a good night everyone.

March 27th

Guard dog. Guard donkey.

STRIDE Dressage of Ocala, FL has most generously designated Beauty’s Haven to be the recipient of one half of each entry fee for their Poker Run Trail Ride on 25 April 2015!

Come to our ASPCA Help a Horse Day event on April 25th and meet Daisy and her awesome care team! Drs. Porter, Mangan, and Simonson will be there! Learn about how to help prevent and recognize tumors and what the various diagnostics and treatments are. It could save a life! Please make sure to RSVP! #bhfer #ASPCA #helpahorse

/by

March 21st – 23rd Update

March 21st

Yesterday, we were blessed with a group of visitors from the Equine Photographers Network! What an awesome group of people! EPN is an international association of 200+ photographers! Betsy Rose was the main attraction and she soaked up the extra attention (and the cameras)! EPN is having their Winter Meet Up in Ocala through this week and we greatly appreciate Carien Schippers including us in the schedule – it’s truly an honor!

Betsy Rose is in front of all of those cameras!

The weather was a bit toasty and we didn’t have any volunteers yesterday so we weren’t as prepared as I would have liked to have been. All the horses did get a good makeover on Thursday by volunteers but we had a very heavy dew early Friday am and, of course, most of the horses decided to roll and get filthy.

It was awesome seeing Carien again, and Darlene. And it was a pleasure to meet so many other wonderful people that are passionate about capturing the beauty that horses offer! Take a few minutes to look at Carien’s website at www.imageequine.com and her ImagEquine Facebook page. If you visit the EPN Facebook page, or website, you can learn more about their great network which is an excellent online resource for equine photographers – it represents photographers worldwide! And, oh my gosh, be careful – you can find yourself looking for hours and hours at the many beautiful photos! If you are looking for an equine photographer, career development through education, portfolio reviews by peers, and so much more in equine photography – EPN is the place to start!

I came across this photo tonight of Princess and Gentleman and wanted to share. I still look out my bedroom window each morning, remembering Gman under his tree and wishing he was still there. I miss them both, very much.

Katherine, one of our wonderful volunteers, on Donovan – a big, comfy, sofa horse.

March 22nd

Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! And the fact that ALL of the horses/donkeys here now have the cost of their spring vaccinations covered is a HUGE worry off my plate! Thank you Jeanne for sharing my wish to make it happen and thank you to those that donated!

So, tomorrow is my birthday. "Tomorrow" really is a good word! But we never really know if tomorrow will come for any of us, do we? I think we always need to make the best of our tomorrows starting in this very moment.

The past year, well, where did it go? There were lots of ups and downs, tears both good and bad, and memories made that can never be taken from me that I’ll cherish forever. We lost so many beloved horses over the past year – it takes a toll on the heart. But most of them come to us in poor condition and the effects of neglect take a toll – we are blessed to have the time we are granted with them – be it an hour, a day, no matter how long.

I’m blessed with a great family – a wonderful husband who has helped me achieve my dream and he continues to work hard beside me to maintain it, and our two wonderful (adult) kids who support my passion and make us so very proud with their accomplishments! I’m blessed by the support of a Village of great people who believe in what we do and help us to continue in our mission to help horses. We have awesome volunteers and I’m surrounded by horses that are happy! What more could I ask for? Well, maybe a few more volunteers; a few more hours in a day and a couple more days in a week; a short family vacation with my family would be nice; and a winning lottery ticket which would enable us to help more horses which would be great!

Thank you all for being part of our Village and thank you for all you do! I know you also make sacrifices to help the horses – we truly appreciate all of you. We’re calling it a day here – have a great night everyone, and thank you for the wonderful birthday wishes!

/by

March 17-20 Update

March 17th

They are following the leader… and guess who is always the leader? Yep, JoJo of course!

March 18th

A beautiful sunrise this morning as we watched the fog roll away. Have a great day everyone!

All three trying to follow me into the storage cabin. The porch just wasn’t big enough.

Don’t forget about our ASPCA / Beauty’s Haven Equine Rescue’s Help a Horse Day & Celebration of Life 2015. Please RSVP soon! Daisy and the boys are looking forward to meeting everyone! RSVP to col today! Share too please! #ASPCA #helpahorse #bhfer

March 19th

Mishka and Matilda the mammoth mule. They are enormous!

JoJo’s ears are going to out grow his body! He loves being my assistant.

I think Sophie is feeling a bit better.

Magic is so beautiful.

March 20th

RSVP to our ASPCA / Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Rescue’s Help a Horse Day & Celebration of Life 2015!

You will have the opportunity to meet many of the wonderful horses-donkeys-minis- as well as Matilda, our lovely mammoth mule, that call Beauty’s Haven, home. We will also have special appearances by a few of the cancer survivors and their amazing vets – Dr. Michael Porter, Dr. Brendan Mangan and Dr. Julia Simonson. #bhfer #ASPCA #helpahorse

/by

A Wonderful Weekend March 13th – 15th

March 13th – 15th

It was a beautiful day at the rescue!

Betsy Rose got a hooficure on Friday. This is Dr. Julia holding Betsy for Stephanie while we review Serenity’s lab work. We all seem to always be multi-tasking. LOL

A number of other horses got hooficures over the weekend as well.

This was Suzanne grooming Sophie on Friday. Sophie is so sweet – she gets lots of attention which she truly appreciates. She’s doing better each day.

It was a great weekend for baths! I thought Sophie was going to fall asleep during hers – she loved it!

Mishka manages to get one of his ears out of his mask often – he’s a silly boy. He loves to move his bottom lip like he’s carrying on a conversation. This is Barbara adjusting his flysheet.

All of the PortaCools were cleaned and one is at each stall door now. The temps are just nuts. It was almost freezing a week ago and it has been in the mid 80’s over the past few days. It would be nice to have a few days of spring instead of going straight into summer.

And lo and behold look at this! I’m so excited! The automatic gate system was installed thanks to RC and Ruth Wittmann! It’s wonderful!!! Todd and Bob helped too, as needed. It was a very productive weekend!

Paul washing breakfast tubs. It takes awhile.

The weather is a bit too hot for Donovan, already. He wasn’t sweating today so he came up to the barn and stayed under fans.

Katherine Rivera making sure Donovan has a bag of hay in his stall today. We had to break out the PortaCools to keep him comfy.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued love and support.

/by

March 7 – 10 Update: JoJo, Sophie, CaryLou, and More!

March 7th

"Mommy Theresa whatcha working on? Can I help?"

JoJo is almost getting too big to come and go from the office. Look at that backside! Lol! It’s not as big as it looks – there’s LOTS of hair there.

A big "thank you" to everyone who came out today to help! The new replacement fencing was put up and chores were finished early!

These two little helpers (Jazzy and JoJo) were all over the place! I had to ask Eva to keep JoJo off the stairs long enough for me to get the dog gate closed.

Marie and I even had a special helper in the office!

Sophie had a good day. She seemed very relaxed and content. Dr. Julia had one emergency call after another today (the weather has been nuts which can cause colic) so she rescheduled for Monday morning unless we need her before then. She sounded so tired when she called this afternoon – I hope she gets some rest. Watching Sophie rest made me want to curl up next to her and sleep too.

Sophie would have stood there all day for Ruth to groom and dote on her.

My three shadows. Love these long ears!

March 8th

"Good morning everybody! Do you know time sprung forward last night? Does that mean we lost an hour of sleep?"

March 9th

Sophie has been vetted and Dr. Bess Darrow is taking care of her teeth. Her overgrown feet will be taken care of later in the week.

Sophie was very good for Dr. Julia today. We’re still waiting for her lab work results.

March 10th

Good morning from the gang! How is everybody this morning? It’s going to be 88 degrees here today – going to have to get out the fans! Maybe the Portacool’s too!

And good morning from Mishka and Athena!

Cookie is doing so well. Her surgical site is, well, it looks great! We check and clean both eyes daily. She has no tear duct in her left eye and wears a mask most all of the time.

Mishka got a good bath today – it was 86 degrees! When Mishka moves, so does everything around him! He’s better, but still has quite a bit of muscling left to do, so the exercise is good for him. He still has problems holding up his back legs for very long.

Poor Mishka has no tail. Not even enough to put an extension on. But he’s covered.

CaryLou is a hoot when Dr. Bess comes. He always wants to be the first in her dental office on wheels! He pulls the rugs off and stomps them – he’s hilariouis! He walks right in and makes himself at home! Little E seems to be thinking, "He’s not mine!"

“Lily look! That should be me up there in that picture! We need to tell Dr. Bess Darrow that I’m the best little mascot there is! I could go everywhere with her and show the big horses not to be afraid to climb right up in her dental office – whatcha think?"

CaryLou knows no fear. Lol

Crista and Tracey visited this afternoon – they got to know the mini’s really well. Thanks for visiting ladies!

CaryLou has always been a very sweet and "innocent" boy. Oh my gosh he’s a hoot! He was coughing some today during a romp around the house with Lily. His trachea still collapses now and then. Here’s a "baby" picture.

TRACTOR WOES!! A tractor is one of the most important tools on an 18 acre working horse rescue farm! There’s a lot to be maintained at Beauty’s Haven Farm & Equine Rescue to ensure safety for both horses and humans. The farm tractor broke and had to go into the repair shop – the hydraulic lines, seals, and a few other things need to be replaced. The total amount needed to fix the tractor to a point where it safely works (hydraulics, brakes, etc.) is $2259. If you can help with these much needed tractor repairs, please click on the ‘Donate’ button below or visit our Crowdrise fundraiser at: https://www.crowdrise.com/TractorEquineRescueBH/fundraiser/BeautysHaven. And if you can’t donate, it’s ok you can still help by sharing this with family and friends! Perhaps they could help or even share it out!

/by

Emaciated Mare, Matilda, Daisy, Betsy March 3 -6 Update

March 3rd

The vet bills have arrived. Betsy Rose’s bill is $579 which is for x-rays, exams, nerve blocks, various lab work, etc. She is IR and she does have Cushings. The good news is that she is better. The bad news is that we need to get her vet bills paid. Donations can be made to our PayPal address: bhfer or various ways through our website at www.bhfer.org. No amount is too small. Please mark you donation for "Betsy’s Vet Bills." We really need help with this. Thank you!

Please put my mask back on Auntie Barb – I don’t want to get in trouble!"

All of the little ones will be getting clipped soon. CaryLou will be getting his bad boy style. It’s supposed to be 80 degrees tomorrow!

Dr. Mangan was here this past Friday to check on, and treat, Daisy. We are seeing positive changes! The tumor near the left eye is quite a bit smaller as is the one on the right. She had another BCG injection and we are still treating her with a topical and giving her supplements. Keep believing!

JoJo and Matilda – slightly different in size. lol

This photo was taken when we were on our big adventure in the main paddock collecting feed tubs.

"It’s all mine?"

They all love the hay wagon!

March 4th

Handsome is rather, well, handsome! He got a hooficure today. He’s got a visitor coming tomorrow.

March 6th

The vet feels the mare is not up for much of a transport and the weather has taken a dive. Coggins is done. She is only about 5 miles from us. We have a horse leaving on Monday – Handsome has been adopted! So, we are bringing the mare to the rescue today. She will be fully vetted and evaluated and her rehab started. If anyone would like to help it would be very much appreciated. There is a possible home for her in the works, if the application is approved, once she is strong enough and the vet gives an ok for her to make a two hour trip. If anyone would like to help, it would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone would like to help us to help Sophie, donations can be made to our PayPal address: bhfer or various ways through our website at www.bhfer.org. No amount is too small. We even take donations over the phone by credit card now. Please mark you donation for "Sophie." Thank you!

Welcome to Beauty’s Haven Farm and Equine Rescue Sophie!

Dr. Mangan checked up on Daisy and Matilda today. I’m happy to report that both have improved. Daisy has a way to go, but we are making progress. Come to our ASPCA Help a Horse Day / 6th Annual Celebration of Life on April 26th and meet Daisy’s care team! It will be a great day to learn and ask questions about equine cancer from Dr.’s Mangan, Porter, and Simonson!

Don’t forget to RSVP today to col. You do not want to miss this event!! Parking is limited.

The Nutrena Photo Contest started February 1st and runs through March 31st when the Top 10 will be determined. This is a big one – $10,000 from SmarkPak would help tremendously! So please click on the link below and vote for the photo of “Theresa + Morriston!” Please vote for us every day through March 31st and ask family and friends to vote too. We can make it to the Top 10 with help from all of you, your family, and your friends. Once the Top 10 is determined, there will be another round of voting. The horses need this! Thank you so much! Please click here: http://bit.ly/1DISii1

/by

Mare In Need Mar 5th, 2015

I’ve been working on trying to find a good place for this mare but I am not having any luck. Her current owner took her in from a bad situation but doesn’t have the resources needed to rehab and care for her – the mare needs help.

She needs complete vetting, dental, and farrier work and she likely has ulcers. She’s thought to be in her 20’s. We’ve seen her and she’s a very sweet girl – I’m very concerned about her. We just don’t have the resources and we have an obligation to the ones here first. If anyone can help please PM me but please don’t step up if you don’t have the resources for a serious rehab project or if you intend to rehab and sell her. She needs a home where she will be loved and cared for – she deserves it.

No matter where she goes, a current coggins is needed – I’d like to at least get that done for her today. Would anyone like to help with that? Trip charge/coggins $50. Update: Coggins is covered

/by

BH February 11th – 16th

February 11th

Good morning from the gang! Happy horses!

Little E in the morning sun.

Mishka – he’s so cute. He moves his lips when you talk to him and if anyone were watching, they’d think he was really having a conversation.

Love, love, love these kids! Thank you Ruth and RC for giving them such a wonderful home and spoiled life! Love you all!

I went out to groom Beauty today and decided I’d play with her a little bit on the lunge line. She did so well and seemed to have such a good time, I just had to put the saddle on her. Then, well, I just could not resist. This was the first time I’ve been on her since she foundered/rotated a few years ago. Some said she’d never be able to be ridden again. Good things come to those that wait. Prayers do get answered – BELIEVE!

Athena’s x-rays were not good. She’s got quite a bit of arthritis in her left hock which we recently found swollen – there’s also a bone chip. She must have gotten kicked by one of the other horses (she has since been moved to another paddock where there is less activity). There’s not much we can do but try to keep her comfortable. Athena does need a sponsor(s) to help with her supplements ($40 per month). Her vetting, including x-rays, this past week came to about $300. I wish it were better news, but we’ll make her as happy and as comfortable as we can as a pasture pal.

Our son, Joshua, came for a surprise visit today which made the day even better. And Bob got some help replacing a broken gate. There’s so many things around here that Bob could use help fixing.

These boys – they’re always into everything. Never a dull moment!

February 13th

Little E and CaryLou playing gelding games this am.

February 14th

Betsy Rose is looking forward to her acupuncture treatment later today.

Today is Princess and Nick’s birthday. I’m sure they run and play and celebrate with others of our herd at the Bridge.

February 15th

Mini donks lined up for attention. JoJo, Jazzy, and Daisy.

We don’t have many left so order yours today! It runs from February 2015 through January 2016 and features many of our horses this year. Of course, Betsy Rose made the cover. Each calendar is $20 + $5 shipping for up to 2 calendars. Buy 3 or 4 calendars and shipping is $10. Buy 5 or 6 and shippin…g is $15. Prices are on the storefront – see link below. Shipping costs for outside of the continental US will have to be determined on a case by case basis. If you are picking your order up from the rescue there will be no shipping charges. Calendars can start being shipped on Friday. To purchase go to http://bhfer.bigcartel.com/.

Lullaby and goodnight…

/by