Some of my collaborators already know about all the emergencies and drama last month and my regular readers may have noticed I mention horses once in a while.
Today I am going to do something I have never done before – ask for your help.
Truth truly is stranger than fiction and if I wrote a novel about what happened to my closest friend in the offline world last month it would not be believable enough to get published.
If you have the time, you can read all about it in the saga of 11 missing horses and an ambulance? WHAT in the world?
Here’s the short version. My friend who works full time as a nurse in a hospital and does home health care too is part of an official non-profit pet rescue, but also rescues horses on her own because she can’t bear to see pregnant mares and foals end up at killer plants.
She can’t save them all, but she saves some of them – and during a drought when hay prices are 4 times normal and hay is hard to find – is not the best time to be supporting a lot of horses.
Few realize that horses are like puppies and kittens. There are about 138,000 more born each year in the U.S. than there are homes for them. They die a horrible death because horse sites and magazines rarely cover the grizzly truth about horse slaughter.
Some know that last week 11 of the horses went missing and between her having to make two trips from Texas to Indiana to bury both of her parents, the horses disappearing while she was gone, and what it cost to bail them back out again there just isn’t any cushion left.
The horses need hay and grain TODAY which is why I am resorting to what I have never done before. I’m asking for help. Almost every day for the past three years I have given away most of my time to do what needs doing and to help others.
I am counting on some being able to help at least a little so I created a Chipin to feed the horses.
If each of my 22,646 followers could spare just 10 cents –
the horses would be doing great and my friend would be back on track
in spite of everything that has happened to her in the past month.
(No she doesn’t know I’m doing this so I hope she will forgive me if she doesn’t like it.)
For those that sweat the small stuff, the Chipin donations go directly to her PayPal account and the Chipin account is in my email address. The post with the long version includes links to the official non-profit’s site and Facebook page so you can check it out.
I have the receipt for the $795 the county charged to bail the horses out and can provide documentation and references or you could even call the county for any who question why I am doing this.
We all know there is no way for me to actually reach all of my followers and even if I could only some would be willing to do what they could. So this is to those who can lend a helping hand and spare a few bills or even a few coins.
I just hope that SOME of the people I have encouraged, mentored,
assisted, retweeted or linked to might have a few spare bills
or even some spare change – you will have our eternal gratitude
and I will assist you in any way I can as I always have –
but that is not a tax-deductible donation.
- If you want to donate to the official PawsPatrol animal rescue they accept donations – but only apparently by snail mail – and can provide tax deductible receipts.
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Do you know anyone
who could adopt a horse?
Young, healthy horses here could use a loving home with someone who can afford to care for them. There would be a small adoption fee to ensure that adoptees do not send them to the killer plants.
Maybe I should launch an adopt-a-horse program where you “pick” a horse and contribute to that horse’s expenses but it stays here for people who always wanted a horse but don’t have a place to keep one?
Finally, the purpose of the new horse blog I just launched includes:
- My intention to offer to post photos and details of horses that need homes
- Wanted requests from those who are seeking a horse to adopt,
- To connect those who so desperately need hay with those who have hay to spare here on this blog.
Anyone have other suggestions? The drought is predicted to continue and horse owners are in desperate straights. They are giving horses away to anyone who will take them.
One horse trader tells me he went to look at fifty plus free horses expecting a rescue situation. They were fat and healthy and the owner just wanted to find them homes before he ran out of money to keep importing hay.
Thank you to the generous people who have donated already!
For those who understood the reference in the title of this post (and no I’m not THAT old – even my parents weren’t born when this was recorded – but I do remember hearing it):
Gail Gardner
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Awww thanks for your work. This is a great article.Home Care service agencies around us work with great pet lovers..
From : Dallas/Lewisville Texas
I adore animals! I can say I have a little farm too as I have horses and dogs, and cats:))Loved your article!
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Hi Oana,
Thanks for taking the time to comment and for sharing. Those are popular images.
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You are doing amazing job. keep it up
Many of us didn’t know the reality most horses are encountering. Most people just neglect them, concentrates in caring cats and dogs. Now i’ll ask my friends too to help patronize in caring horses like a pet. All the best for you.
Hi
What a great friendship between horse and cat. I am surprised to see this. Thanks,
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Great info here. Yes loving the animal is a gret thing and helping them its the best. Thanks Growmap for doing this.
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Excellent post, I realley enjoyed reading it. I love animals and I hate any animal cruelty. I’ve got a St Bernard and he is like a child in the house. Thanks for awesome article.
This is for sure pets are more sincere friends than human beings. I have experienced with my cat and dog..both of them have a great bonding.
Nice to see Animal Lovers….B/w I love the photograph
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I have two horses at my farm house from my childhood. It is very loving creature.My horses are too caring and run with care when child ride on them.
If you get attached with any one it dosent matter who they are, you never want to live without them, they became like our family. I really respect this post.
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I’m really liking your recent posts here, Gail. 🙂 We have to save the planet, and saving it only takes one small step at a time. This is one of them. I just wish more people are aware of these things.
I think pets are more sincere friends than human beings. I used to have a dog as pet.It has pure love for me.
Gail I had no idea how many unwanted horses there were. As a kid I used to love riding my cousin’s horses. I’ve Tweeted about this and will also donate now. Good luck!
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Most people always care about cats and dogs because they are small and they look helpless without owners. Now is our chance to reach out to horses who are a huge help and who can also be good companions.
Very inspiring, where I live we have lots of horses, my friend has a couple. I absolutely love them and when I read this post I related, I was very happy to make a small donation, it wasn’t much but every bit counts!
I’m a true animal lover but at the moment my Paypal account is zero. Once i get it refilled i will donate for your friend. I wish that more people like her exists.
Hi Radu,
Thank you for reading. That is the case for so many lately – that finances are really tight for us all. The donations and work that came in so far got us past the immediate crisis and now we just have to keep on going.
I’ll be writing about the saga of the orphan filly over at GrokHorses.com so if you know any horse lovers I hope they will read as I share what happens because my friend rescued her.
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You are doing the great job and your friend as well. It is a good idea to ask for help here and you can also set up raising money offline, asking your neighbours for help. I think people will be eager to help.
That picture of the horse and cat is so cute! It made my day!..
Gail,
I just went over and red the story. I am so sorry that your friend had to go through all of this (losing her dad and mom and dealing with county) in such a short amount of time. She is truly a hero. I wish I lived in Texas so I could at least come over and help with feeding the horses and taking care of them.
About other ideas- I dont know if you have ever thought about this or not. But, CNN has a program called CNN Heroes (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/index.html), where people can nominate anyone they think is a Hero.
The winners gets a lot of money that could help with their charity or organization. Not to mention the publicity their organization gets and that alone could help to keep a non profit organization going.
However, I think this year’s nominations is closed now. But, we can always nominate her for the next year.
I truly think it will be a great way to raise awareness and also hopefully raise more money for her organization.
Gail,
Reading this post brought me to tears. I am an animal lover and I just don’t understand why we human being can be so cruel and selfish. I see this about dogs as well.
I don’t understand why when we already have thousands of homeless dogs about to being out to death, people still go and buy dogs from dog breeders.
Yes, those poor poppies need care too, but if we all stop buying them and just adopt them for shelter, maybe that would deter breeders from breading more and more poppies just for the sake of making money.
Any way, I chipped in a little and I hope that others will chip in as well and I certainly hope your friend will be able to raise enough to keep the horses going.
I do wish I had the means to adopt one, but I just don’t have enough land and other necessities for keeping a horse. I will however keep it in mind and let you know if I find anyone interested.
By the way, thank you and your friend for doing what you are doing. I wish there were more of you guys in this world.
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Fellow animal lover here! I am just launching a blog, and was going to pick up CommentLuv, so I purchased through your affiliate link. I also used the ChipIn button to donate $15.