Holiday celebration - Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful - no snow in the forecast, not too cold to be outside, and best of all, no rain.

The previously postponed holiday gathering began as promised at noon when Katherine and Michael arrived, followed shortly by Alex, Sam and Greg. Laura (our new volunteer) and Natasha had almost finished cleaning the barn, Serge had the hay wagon hitched to the tractor, and I had a fire started in the freshly dug out fire pit.


After a bit of play with kittens and dogs and ponies, we all piled on the hay wagon for a trip around the track. Serge drove the tractor past the barn and the winter paddocks.


Jasper ran alongside the hay wagon in the deep snow, loving every minute. About halfway around the track, we stopped to pick up sticks for the fire (remnants of the last freezing rain storm) and put them on the hay wagon.



Once we'd loaded a bunch of branches, including a large log that Michael found and Serge and I dug up, we headed back the house. Daisy ran alongside the wagon, Jasper ran ahead of the tractor, and Tinkerbelle rode on the hay wagon with Mom and all the kids.













I had everyone pose for a picture at the end of the wagon ride, then after they unloaded the sticks and log, we had hot chocolate, milk, tea, cookies and treats in the house to warm up.

Katherine and Michael had to leave as they had another commitment that afternoon, but the others saddled up the ponies and went for a ride around the track.

Sam and Serge rode Grandma Reba partway around the track, then Serge led Reba the rest of the way.

Natasha rode Dash, Alex rode Sneakers, Laura rode Otis, and Serge led Sam on Grandma Reba. Everyone came back with big smiles!

Alex, Sneakers, and Jasper.

Laura and Otis.

Serge took Reba around the track again after everyone else was back at the barn - she wanted to go faster than was safe with the whole gang.

I know that we enjoyed the company of our boarders, sponsors and volunteers on Sunday - I hope you all had fun, too!

Thank you to all of you for your help in the past year; the horses, ponies, chickens, cows, kittens, and dogs all appreciate your visits!

Thank you!

Belated thank yous to John R. for all his help with the electrical in the barn (and the wonderful lights in the riding ring) in 2008, and to Ray M. for his help early in the summer in the barn and in the garden.

Thank you to Joanne for the shredded paper - and the promise of more! We use it to supplement the shavings in the stalls.

Thank you to Jennifer S. for donating a bridle, reins and a bit to the farm.

Thank you to Andre L. for his help with the shelter in Grandma Reba's field - it was a lot easier to put up with two people!

Thank you to Sam for sponsoring the chickens. They got a bunch of live crickets from the pet store as a holiday treat. The chickens give us an egg or two almost every day now.

Welcome a new volunteer!

Please welcome Laura to the farm. Laura volunteers one day each weekend (work permitting) and helps with barn chores.

Roosters available for adoption

We have four roosters available for adoption as pets. They're not ever going to be big enough to be meat birds. All four are friendly and fairly well handled, but they're starting to peck each other in the close quarters of the coop in winter.

If you know of anyone who has room for a new rooster or who would like one as a pet, please let us know.

School volunteer hours

You can volunteer at Dreamscape Acres for your volunteer hours for high school. We have lots of different chores that can be done, from grooming horses to repairing fencing to building shelters. Call or email to arrange a volunteer position!

New Years Eve

Just a short post to wish all a very happy new year!

Best wishes for a safe, happy, healthy, horsey, and prosperous New Year! We look forward to seeing everyone in 2009.

Eleanor, Serge and Natasha
Daisy and Jasper
Whisper and Stripe
and all of the horses, cows and chickens!

Holiday gathering postponed

The weather is balmy and warm, but after yesterday's freezing rain, followed by more rain, the fields are full of ice and snowmelt (water).

We've decided to postpone the holiday gathering for two weeks to January 11, 2009. Hopefully the weather will be better and we'll have some fresh snow on the ground to make walking or riding about a bit easier.

If you do come out today, bring your rubber boots!

Christmas Eve 2008

December is almost over - and Santa comes tonight!

Thank you to Lisa M. for donating about 25 bales of straw and old hay. We're using it to bed the shelters for the winter.

Thank you to Jennifer (from Full Circles - a Yahoo group for free stuff) for saving all the shredded paper from her office for us - mom picked up ten bags of shredded paper on Monday. Cross-cut shredded paper makes wonderful absorbant bedding for the stalls - and you can bet no one will ever put your VISA bill back together again after it's been in a stall!! It composts really quickly, too.


We've had snowy days, cold days, and apparently we're going to have some warm weather this weekend. Finnigan and Cinder are out of quarantine now and are turned out with Reba's herd.

Mom came over and baked gingerbread and shortbread cookies.


Natasha and I decorated the gingerbread - I did the fancy icing with mom's decorating set.



Stripe and Whisper spend lots of time napping on the dryer and looking adorable. Although they're officially barn cats, they get to come in the house to eat and sleep.

Finnigan and Cinder both need blankets when they're outside. They're outside for longer now than when they came.

Finnigan likes to be brushed and fussed over. He's such a good boy! We're looking for a good home for him. Finnigan fell asleep when Yvan came to trim his feet - he's definitely an old pro.

Cinder was unsure, but behaved wonderfully considering she'd probably never had a farrier touch her feet before.

Both Cinder and Finnigan still come in at night since they don't have good coats.

Thank you to all of you for all your support this year!

2008 Sponsors

Jennifer G. - Delilah

Alex - Grandma Reba

Sam - Kittens and chickens

Natalie - Nikki

Lynn - Otis

There's a small gift for each of you in the house. Please stop in when you come to visit your sponsored horse.

2008 Adoptions

Grace and family - Princess

Susan - Beauty, Fire, Spot

Lisa - Levi

Elisha - Squish

Leisa - Finn

Elmer - Gypsy, Queenie

Natasha - Dash

Jenidy - Julie

2008 Volunteers

Kirsten

Natasha

Susan

Don't forget the boarder, sponsor and volunteer holiday celebration on Sunday, December 28, 2008 starting at noon. Please let us know if you can make it out for a cup of hot chocolate (or coffee, if you prefer) and a cookie or two.

Merry Christmas!

December news

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. Mom's employer laid her off, so she had to send the fast laptop back to them. She bought a new one, so the blog can now be updated.

Big news!!
Autumn was adopted by S.K. and family. Autumn left on Saturday, November 29 and went to Dr. Butler's Ottawa Valley Large Animal Clinic to be evaluated. Her new owners want to be sure that she has the best of everything -- and we're very happy for Autumn. They promise to stay in touch so we can see how she grows up. The latest update is that Autumn is eating well and gaining weight.

Dreamer doesn't seem to miss Autumn at all.

All of the fluffy kittens have new homes! Hurray!

The last one left on Friday afternoon. I miss the entertaining "kitten TV" that happened in Jasper's cage every day, but Jasper is happy to have his cage back.

New sponsors
Thank you to Sam for sponsoring the barn kittens and the chickens! Sam shaved her head as part of her campaign to raise money to fund cancer research and donated her hair to Locks of Love, an organization that creates wigs for children with cancer. Sam is Alexandria's sister - these are amazing kids who do more for their community than many adults. We're proud that we know them - and thrilled that they chose to support our horse rescue, barn kittens and chickens. Thanks!

Nikki has a sponsor! Thank you to Natalie Munro for sponsoring Nikki! Natalie is a real estate agent and mom's friend. She's helping mom look for a house closer to here.the farm.

Reminder
Barn hours are from 7:30 am to 10 pm. Please respect our privacy outside those hours. We have to get up early every day. We can't go to bed until all the horses are tucked in for the night and the barn closed up (especially in the winter).

New horses on the farm
I picked up two new horses at the Galetta auction on Saturday. Both would have gone to the meat man if I hadn't bought them.

Finnigan (Dream's Nice and Easy) is an 8 year old grey gelding. He's well broke and was a family horse. He's just 14 2 hh on the nose, steel grey with a silver mane and tail. He has excellent ground manners. Natasha and I rode him yesterday in the riding ring and out on the race track - he's well behaved and has wonderful gaits. He's for adoption for $800 to a good home only - no dealers.

Cinderella (Cinder for short) is a 13 hh chestnut pony mare, 3 years old, in foal to a Paint stallion (chestnut and white tobiano) (due in July - should be a foal with colour with all that colour in its background!). Her mom was apparently a pinto pony and her father another Paint stallion (tobiano). She's missing her right eye as her mom kicked her when she was a foal and then abandoned her. She's not started yet, but now that she's in a calmer environment than the sale barn, she leads well, loves to be groomed, and picks up all her feet. You can adopt Cinder for $300 - Absolutely NO DEALERS!!!

Both Finnegan and Cinder are in quarantine at the moment, so please do not use brushes not specifically labelled for them or mix up their water buckets. If you want to pat Cinder, make sure you talk to her so you don't startle her - and approach her on her left side where she can see you.

Seasonal gathering
We'd like to celebrate the holiday season with you, our friends, boarders, sponsors and volunteers!

We're holding a Seasonal Gathering between Christmas and New Year's on Sunday, December 28 starting at noon. Come down to the farm for some hot chocolate, cookies and fun with horses. Please let us know if you can make it - we'd love to see you!

More November news

Elisha came today and adopted Squish (Perfekt Song)! She's gone off to her new home in North Gower - we hope that she settles in well and enjoys the "princess" treatment. Squish will have a stall as well as regular turnout there, and hopefully, provide Elisha with a foal in 2010.

Elisha dressed Squish in shipping boots and her winter blanket before walking her into the trailer.

Elisha's friend adopted River, the female kitten, when they came out to see Squish last week. River is now an adored and loved house cat.

Whisper and Stripe are busy chasing bugs and mice in the barn. They're both boys, so they can stay. They'll be neutered as soon as they're old enough so that they don't stray looking for the ladies. They know their job and have already caught a mouse or two even though they're only 10 weeks old. Good kitties!!

Whisper has more black on his head and Stripe has a white bib under his chin. Whisper had a collar on, but managed to lose it within a day.

Many thanks to Jennifer G. for cleaning out her garage and donating all her horse stuff! It is very much appreciated - and all of it will be put to good use. Jennifer was out today and brought Delilah in and groomed her thoroughly - Thanks, Jennifer! I'm sure Delilah enjoyed the brushing, and it's really good for her to be handled regularly.

Kirsten, the lady who leased Gilligan when he was here, was out today and rode Nikki. She brought her dog, Sky, and took all three dogs with her when she went out for a hack. Jasper is tired out after running with Sky and Daisy - he's sound asleep now.

Jennifer N. would like to find someone to part lease Maggie. She's found that money and time don't stretch as far as she'd like now that she has children, hubby and job to squeeze in as well as "horse time". If you, or someone you know, would like to part lease Maggie, please let me know and I'll pass on the information.

If you part lease, that means that you pay part of Maggie's board, farrier and vet expenses in exchange for riding privileges. The cost would be negotiated between you and Jennifer N.

Kittens for adoption

Some inconsiderate, irresponsible pet owner tossed a cardbox box of kittens in the ditch out front earlier this week. The kittens were filthy and encrusted with feces when I caught them walking up the driveway. Six hours later, all four were clean and dry - and I only got one small scratch!

We've named them Eeney, Mini, Miney and Moe for now. Two are male and the other two female. Mini had a dislocated hip, so he's already run up a $90 vet bill and Miney is on antibiotics to clear her eye infection. All have been dewormed and are litter trained.

If you'd like to adopt a cute little kitten, please let me know. They all have long fur, so they're not suitable for barn cats. I'd like to find good homes for all of them - and Jasper would like them to get out of his cage (they're in there so I know where they are).

Bart-allo-Mew is missing
Barty-cat disappeared a couple of weeks ago. He's gone exploring before and been away from home for a day or two, but never this long. We walked all over the property calling and listening for him (he got stuck in a tree once), but didn't find him.

He may have found someone who let him in, fed him and turned him into a full-time house cat. Bart delighted in lounging on the bed and couch, so I hope that's where he's gone.

We miss him, but hope that he's happy wherever he is.

The chickens now have a heat lamp in the coop to keep their water from freezing. Please make sure the big door stays closed so the heat stays in - the chickens come out during the day and go back in at dusk. We still have eleven chickens - Mama hen still protects them from Jasper and any other perceived threat. We haven't found any eggs yet, but they may start laying in the spring since we don't keep them in the coop all the time.

Correction: We new have 10 chickens. Fluffy (black and white with yellow legs) refused to be caught and didn't go in the coop last night. He died of exposure. RIP, Fluffy.

Alexandria, who sponsors Grandma Reba, runs a pet service to help raise her sponsorship money. It's called Pet's Matter, and she offers walking, feeding, and visiting services in her neighbourhood in Orleans. You can see Alex's website here. If you need a responsible pet sitter and you live in Orleans, why not contact Alex?

Sponsors...

We love our sponsors!

They make it possible, through their monthly donations, for us to continue helping horses. It's tough, though, when we get a sponsorship promise, but the sponsor forgets to pay. Should we call and remind them, or just help fewer horses?

The bills for vet, farrier and food don't wait, so while we wait for our sponsors to fulfill their promise, we sometimes have to turn down horses that need help.

If you're one of our sponsors who pays promptly, thank you. If you're one of the sponsors who might be a bit late, please think of the horses and send your cheque now. They need your help.

We ask for a minimum four month commitment so that we can plan ahead when we take on a new rescue. All of our sponsors can choose to continue past the four months, of course.

Sometimes horses are adopted quickly, others spend a long time here. All need to be seen by a vet and the farrier, and some need special supplements or drugs to get better.