Chilly Pepper Babies are Coming

The following is an excerpt from the latest Chilly Pepper-Miracle Mustang Rescue Newsletter.

Baby season is here, and all around the country mares are giving birth to their new little ones. Meet VELMA, the newest baby in Shirley Allen’s nursery in Dayton NV. The following is her update:

PLEASE Keep Her in your prayers. She’s doing so well it sort of scares me. She came in just a few hours old and the first 3 days to a week are ALWAYS very stressful with watching and monitoring every single little thing she does and move she makes. As always we’re praying that NOTHING unforeseen raises it’s ugly head. We are in the so far, so good mode and SHE is nothing but a TOTAL JOY. She was born in the very early morning and because of the rains and weather we had she was unfortunately born basically in a puddle. She was totally wet and shivering with hypothermia setting in fast. Her Mom, although interested in her didn’t seem to have that motherly instinct and went back to eating. Thank goodness, the girls happened to be out there that morning or we wouldn’t have the little sweetie. We had rain, snow and wind coming in again that morning and she would not have made it much longer in those conditions being wet and no way to get her dry. Mom sort of tried a couple of times to get her up to nurse apparently but basically gave up and went back to eating her breakfast. Velma at that point was unable to get on her feet because her little legs were too cold and wet already to make her muscles work. It took a little while to get her dry and warming slow to get her up so circulation could get to those tiny legs. Now that she’s doing well, she has just started yesterday running and playing a bit. We had a play session this morning at 3am right after her 2:30 feeding. Please send good energy for Velma, we’re holding on and doing our best to get this little kid happy and healthy. Will try to update soon. HUGS ALL !!

THIS IS THE HAPPY SIDE OF FOAL RESCUE. HOWEVER, I LEARNED SOME UTTERLY DEVASTATING NEWS THIS LAST WEEK.

I was talking to my new contact up in WA State (the folks we worked with last work do not have the time or funds to rescue the orphans this year). She told me that babies as young as 3 days old are going to be loaded onto the slaughter bound trailers for “Foal Sushi”. Made me literally sick to picture those tiny little ones struggling to survive transport to the slaughter facility.

The babies not loaded have a fee of $150 at the auction yard to save their lives, or they will be “dispatched”. (which means they will be popped on the head and thrown into a pile) if they are not paid for.

She did say she would most likely be dealing directly with the Tribe prior to them arriving at the auction house, so who knows what ages or how many will need a place to go.

We are the back up for the Nevada orphans, and once Shirley’s nursery is full we get those babies, but we are also on standby for the ones in WA and OR who need the 24/7 critical care. It is expensive to travel and get them, although costs are substantially minimized having the Rolling Foal Hospital, but these babies need our help. There just aren’t enough folks who can stop everything in their lives to take care of a little one. (Wow – never thought being crippled would ever have any benefits lol).

Sometimes it seems so overwhelming, but all we can do is take it one day at a time, and be ready with all the supplies when that call comes. I still can’t even stomach the thought of those teeny tiny little ones being loaded onto the trailers.

So we are on standby, and your heart beats a little bit faster every time you hear that phone ring. I know we cannot save them all, and we still have four babies here who need their forever homes, but we will do whatever God puts in front of us. As always, thank you for the love and support and for making this journey possible.

We STILL have over 40 horses in the group of wild ones we are helping support in NV. Please share far and wide and help us find sanctuary for these horses. As the round ups continue, more and more horses will end up in the slaughter pipeline, and every home, even for one horse is a miracle.