Just got an urgent call from the Shipper. Normally we get a day’s notice? But NOT today. There are 3 orphaned foals sitting at the shipper’s. They have already been pulled off their moms. Moms have shipped and babies are sitting in 100+ degree heat waiting for me to get there. One of them is supposed to be very young.
Time is of the essence and I need to leave now! However, we need some help to get up there and save those babies, get Coggins etc., buy some groceries for them, and bring them home to safety.
Appreciate any help y’all can give. Matt is heading home from CA but I can’t wait to leave.
PLEASE help if you can. Thank you from all the babies, but especially the ones sitting in the pens, scared, alone and crying for their mama’s.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
It’s been awhile, and Matt and I have been running like crazy.We sorted once again this morning and he has 6 of our beautiful horses in the trailer on the way to their new homes at this moment. Last week we placed 6 of the babies and have more folks coming to pick up on Monday. THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS! THANK YOU for making that possible!
DESPERATE NEED – We need to raise funds for gates, panels and a nursery building so we can keep saving the orphaned and injured foals that are currently coming off the range in mass numbers. We need funds for vetting, milk replacer, hay, munchies etc. and to keep purchasing and saving these babies, and we have to do it now!
URGENT SITUATION #1
The “Orphanage” which was operated by another rescue in WA has officially been closed and what equipment was there has been removed. This is the ONLY PLACE where the trappers can drop off severely injured or ill foals so they have a chance for immediate and urgent care. “Mama Mel” is the one who lets us live for months on end in her driveway, and it was her place the babies were dropped at when there were life threatening emergencies”. She is the one who received the orphaned foals day or night and would take care of the ones needing critical care until we could get up there. Chilly Pepper has always taken the severely injured, critically ill and newborn foals, but as of now there is no place for them to be cared for in the meantime. I received a call that there are babies coming in and we need to have a place for them now!
These babies are run up to 100 miles in 100+ degree weather, often time left in the traps for 48 hours with no food or water, can have life threatening injuries and are then left by the other rescue for up to 2 days or more before they are picked up and driven 4? hours. They are then put into a large round pen where it takes additional time (days or more) to be caught and sorted. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
We need to set up at Mel’s again, and her place will be a satellite of Chilly Pepper as we already spend months out of the year their rescuing these orphans anyway. We have more babies waiting for us (and adults too) at this moment.
MANY OF THE INJURIES ARE FROM THE BARB WIRE TRAPS. I was horrified to find out that they are not pens using barb wire fencing, it is barb wire strung through the trees and bushes where the horses cannot see it and run straight into or through it. We saw many of these injuries and they need IMMEDIATE TREATMENT! Tetanus can set in quickly, and it can be life threatening.
Thankfully MOST OF THE TRAPPERS DO NOT USE this method, but unfortunately a few do, and we saw many injuries with these last foals.
URGENT SITUATION #2
This is personal, and difficult to share, but it directly affects our rescue. It is not for pity, but just the plain truth so we can continue with our rescue. We need to raise at least $2500 for gates etc. for our place and for doing the foals in WA. I went to the Doc and found out some really horrible news about my leg. Instead of doing my 4th knee replacement and 45th plus?? something surgery, I was told there is basically no hope.
Doc said he can’t believe I am even walking on it, albeit it only sometimes. I use my crutches and my wheelchair as little as possible, but I have been ordered to wear a brace and use a cane every single day, if I want to have a chance of staying mobile. (I have seen specialists from one end of the country to the other, but I did have a tiny bit of hope that there might be some help.)
My leg feels like it will break again, just like it did before I took that fateful step and my femur snapped in half. Basically my knee and entire leg is on beyond borrowed time, so that means I need to make sure I am as safe as possible. That means putting in gates as I am not allowed to climb over panels anymore. Mama Mel was also badly injured this spring when she was climbing over a panel due to a lack of gates. If we are going to continue doing this work, we HAVE to make sure we are as careful as humanly possible.
What is really scary is that one wrong step could be the end of my leg, or it would be much worse, and with my nerve disease it could mean no prosthetic. I do this work on crutches a lot of the time, but the Doc is extremely worried about what is going to happen and would like it if I stopped doing what I have to do every day to take care of these kids.
I told him I want to ride my horse and he basically said I have nothing to lose. Apparently the danger of me getting “broken” walking is no less than falling off my horse. Of course I was feeling all sorry for myself (now I have to cut my boots because of my dumb brace), and immediately saw people who made me so ashamed. So I am going to put on my Big Girl Panties and do what we do, although very carefully, and appreciate all the blessings that God has given us.
So the choice is to stop rescuing these horses, or do it better in a much safer manner as long as I can. Something as simple as having enough money to buy gates can literally make the difference between our rescue surviving and saving more lives, or for me to end up in the hospital and my wheel chair permanently.
Sorry for the long post, but we absolutely HAVE to get the new nursery up and running immediately, and I had to be honest about the possibility of things changing at our rescue. (And y’all know I would be out there in my wheel chair LOL, but it would so not be as effective as what we do now.)
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Although it looks like the same horses, look at the fencing and you can tell it is not the same kids. * *
Wow, This is one of the craziest rescues we have ever been on. Please remember, the Chilly Pepper “organization” consists of just myself and Matt assisting. One of the reasons why my Thank You notes are always late. :(
We are really struggling on this rescue, as there has been a great deal of loss and we are literally sitting on so many horses.
We do this because God puts it in front of us, and for the folks who can’t do it themselves, and who are always asking us to save the horses. BUT WE SIMPLY CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOUR HELP. We will do the work if we have the funds.
We do not have enough funds right now to keep buying this much feed and save the new kids that we were called about yesterday. There are more to be paid for, vetted and gotten to safety as I type this.
The horses would have all been moved within the next couple of days if things had gone according to our plan. However, although I don’t always understand God’s plans, I do ALWAYS TRUST that there is a reason. (Boy would I like to know what it is lol). Because our plans to have them all out of here and be back home went right out the window due to a paperwork issue.
Out of the 46 horses, there are 30+ orphaned babies who were still nursing and need milk. Luckily some of them will be transitioning over to pellets which are not quite as expensive. These kids are in rough shape, and full of parasites and just exhausted. They NEED GOOD GROCERIES to get them back to where they should be.
We have been dealing with a lot of injuries, and sadly have seen more loss of life than anyone should ever see. The heartbreak just keeps on coming. We have 4 in the “hospital pen” who are in extremely rough shape at this point and who require expensive medication and constant care.
Milk for ONE BABY is about $300 per month. We are currently going through that much EVERY SINGLE DAY – , and this is not including the additional milk pellets, grain, hay or supplements etc. There are MORE BABIES needing a commitment today, and not all of the babies here have been paid for, so the “floaters” in all reality still belong to the catcher.
It is heartbreaking and overwhelming. Everyone here is exhausted and there is no choice but to just “git ‘er done”. How do you look in their eyes and not help? This is why we are their voice and ask you for help to save their lives.
We never could have guessed we would be stuck here with so many horses to feed, and these babies need your help today. It is simply out of our control. We have not gotten “clean paperwork” so we are simply stuck. Hopefully the issue will be resolved tomorrow, but for now we have to feed everyone that has been saved. (We still have to have someone feeding and caring for the horses at home every single day we are here.)
Out of the 46, 14 are heading to Texas, 3 mares & foals are headed to CA, 2 or 3 should be going to Wyoming and 2 are tentatively scheduled for Utah. Thankfully the other 5 mares and 2 of the yearlings are headed to southern Idaho. We have so many amazing folks willing to help place them, ONCE we have paid for all the initial costs. So again, we are not ‘hoarding”, but saving their lives and getting them to safety. The stallion and 15? orphans will be coming to Chilly Pepper until we find them a good home.
Please keep these babies safe.Step one was getting them here. But now we have to actually feed and take care of them. Thank you for taking a quick minute and sending whatever you can. These kids have been through heck. They were run for 100 +/- miles, left in the trap with no feed or water for 24-48 hours, and then they were stripped away from their families. It is heartbreaking listening to them cry for their mama’s. We need to AT LEAST be able to provide proper feed for them.
So the babies are counting on you once again. Thank you for your help!
Taking a nap after filling up their bellies.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
ANOTHER DAY – ANOTHER URGENT 911.It sounds so dramatic, but when you are on the front lines and the only thing standing between these babies and a horrific death, or worse yet, a future as a “tripping horse“, it is ALWAYS an immediate need and the choice is life or death.
I hate to use the word DESPERATE,but this situation is just that. We had over 50 babies between the other rescue and Chilly Pepper, and we took on 35 of those babies. Unfortunately, we are still going through nearly $300 per day of milk for the ones we still have between the 2 rescues. We did get 21 placed in Idaho, so that helped tremendously.
THERE ARE MORE BABIES WE NEED TO SAVE TODAY!! Not all of the babies already here have been paid for, and I am picking up at the Shipper’s today and possibly from another catcher.
We are in ORPHAN FOAL CRISIS and these babies NEED MONEY TO SAVE THEM, VET THEM AND FEED THEM or we simply will not be able to save them.
Many of them have serious injuries, and we have already had some tragic losses. This is heartbreaking, but we will keep saving as many as we can, as long as we have the funding. So it is up to y’all, do we keep saving more? We are still in WA and they just keep coming….
So far we have spent $2,731 to get Coggins and health Certs on the 35, plus do some needed medical procedures. There are additional vet costs too.
We spent approx $3000 to save the 35 and another mare and the stallion,
We spent $700 (so far) on medical supplies we are using to treat these babies.
We spent another $900 on milk which will only last a few days as we are feeding close to $300 worth of milk each day between the remaining 30+ babies here. (That includes the babies that have not been paid for and are “floating”). (One bag of Foal Lac Powder lasts approx. 2 weeks for 1 baby).
So over $7300 just in those couple items. This does not include fuel, hay, supplements etc. the list goes on, BUT I WANTED Y’ALL TO SEE WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES!
WE SIMPLY DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO SAVE THE REST OF THESE BABIES THAT ARE BEING SORTED TODAY!
IF ya’ll want their lives saved, it is up to you. Again, Matt and I will continue the 24/7 care and keep on keepin’ on, but it is going to take some serious funds. Y’all DID IT FOR THE LAST 35, so let’s DO IT AGAIN!!
PLEASE HELP RIGHT NOW!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Update on the orphans – THANK YOU everyone who donated for the first group of kids. Y’all came through and we were able to pick up all the babies yesterday. Some of them are camera shy lol…. Only showing a few here.
THE PHONE RANG YET AGAIN….. WHILE we were getting these kids settled in, we received word that one of the catchers has another 80 horses he caught yesterday.
At this time we have been put on standby to share 30 ADDITIONAL FOALS, unless the catcher allows some of the mare/foal pairs to be adopted together.
WE HAVE A PLACE FOR 30+ ORPHANS, BUT ANOTHER 20 WILL TAKE AN ADDITIONAL $4,000.
We have been working with Dannielle Dustin for a couple of years and she is amazing. All her babies are halter trained etc. before being adopted and one of her adopters is now also working with us. They can each comfortably handle 10 orphans, and we can take as many as we need to. So that is the good news.
BUT EVERY 10 ORPHANS IS approximately $2000 just for bail, & get health certs on and buy enough milk for a couple of days, SO WE NEED ANOTHER $4,000 to pay for and take on an additional 20. This doesn’t even cover transportation costs or any additional vetting.
The 2nd CATCHER has another 14 babies at his place. Both plan to ship soon, and we are told that up to 30 could be pulled off Mama and need rescued today!!.
So worst case scenario as of this minute – there could be more than 45 ADDITIONAL orphans in need of rescue. Some of these may run through the feedlot and others will be available directly from the catcher once they are stripped off their mamas.
PLEASE HELP IF YOU HAVEN’T HAD A CHANCE TO DO SO YET!
This is Pixie, one of the first 9.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
SHORT UPDATE – 911 – THE NEW BABIES NEED YOUR HELP NOW!
Hi,
We are on the road to WA. We have until 5 o’clock to raise more funds to save these orphans.It will take close to $2,000 JUST to purchase, get the blood work for Coggins with their health certificates, and get enough milk for a couple of days for the 10 orphans that we know of.
The cost for milk averages $300 per baby per month, and that does not include hay and their grain.
From what I have been told, there are other babies in need at the catcher’s, and we need the funds to bring these kids home to safety. Sadly there have been some serious injury and even death due to the large number of horses going in and out of the catcher’s. We need to get any additional orphans out of there asap!
PLEASE HELP NOW IF YOU WANT US TO SAVE THESE 10 BABIES, (plus any others.) Their mom’s and dads will have already shipped to slaughter by the time we get their this afternoon. Let’s AT LEAST save them.
Thank you for helping us save these babies NOW, and thank you for saving all of the lives you have! Each and every single life matters!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
URGENT update from Chilly Pepper. As of this minute there are 3 babies waiting for me in Yakima, NOT counting the many at the shipper’s. (Thankfully our wonderful friend Kari Robi picked them up for me and Mama Mel is currently caring for them as I prepare to head back up.)
The news is NOT GOOD. The trappers just pulled in another 200 horses and I was told there are lots of babies at the shipper’s. As y’all know, it could be 5, it could be 25. I never know until we arrive on scene.
However, Matt is leaving today to deliver horses and within the next two weeks we should have 12 leaving from here.
Matt is also picking up 12 horses in Yakima, after taking 13 to Bend OR, but thankfully most of them will be placed with the folks we work with.
Y’all have saved many lives and y’all have been amazing. However, the funds have dwindled with every horse saved.
To finance the rescue of the upcoming horses we still need your help. Just within the last month or so, we spent OVER $3,740 JUST ON COGGINS AND HEALTH CERTFICATES. This is frustrating beyond belief, but that is what is required to transport these horses to safety. (Coggins is a blood test required by law.) THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE BAIL, FUEL, OR ANY OTHER COSTS.
So PLEASE UNDERSTAND when I say that the funds are dwindling. It is costly to save these precious lives, which makes it even more amazing that we do not have to keep them all on our books. Thanks to the amazing folks we work with, once y’all have saved them, they go to new homes and then we can put new donations to saving more lives.
THE HORSES NEED YOUR HELP TODAY! You decide WHICH TRAILER they will be loaded on. Matt is heading out today and I will be heading out in a couple of days. But we can’t save more if we don’t have funding. The catcher also has 100 horses at his place right now.
WE CAN’T SAVE THEM ALL, BUT LET’S SAVE AS MANY AS WE CAN. EVERY LIFE MATTERS!
The photos at the bottom are some of the ones we just brought home. I am so proud of our Chilly Pepper Family. Y’all are amazing and your love and emotional / financial support is what keeps us going. This is hard and what we see is devastating. Please help if you can (and I am working on Thank You’s as fast as I can.)
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
URGENT update from Chilly Pepper. As of this minute there are 3 babies waiting for me in Yakima, NOT counting the many at the shipper’s. (Thankfully our wonderful friend Kari Robi picked them up for me and Mama Mel is currently caring for them as I prepare to head back up.)
The news is NOT GOOD. The trappers just pulled in another 200 horses and I was told there are lots of babies at the shipper’s. As y’all know, it could be 5, it could be 25. I never know until we arrive on scene.
However, Matt is leaving today to deliver horses and within the next two weeks we should have 12 leaving from here.
Matt is also picking up 12 horses in Yakima, after taking 13 to Bend OR, but thankfully most of them will be placed with the folks we work with.
Y’all have saved many lives and y’all have been amazing. However, the funds have dwindled with every horse saved.
To finance the rescue of the upcoming horses we still need your help. Just within the last month or so, we spent OVER $3,740 JUST ON COGGINS AND HEALTH CERTFICATES. This is frustrating beyond belief, but that is what is required to transport these horses to safety. (Coggins is a blood test required by law.) THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE BAIL, FUEL, OR ANY OTHER COSTS.
So PLEASE UNDERSTAND when I say that the funds are dwindling. It is costly to save these precious lives, which makes it even more amazing that we do not have to keep them all on our books. Thanks to the amazing folks we work with, once y’all have saved them, they go to new homes and then we can put new donations to saving more lives.
THE HORSES NEED YOUR HELP TODAY! You decide WHICH TRAILER they will be loaded on. Matt is heading out today and I will be heading out in a couple of days. But we can’t save more if we don’t have funding. The catcher also has 100 horses at his place right now.
WE CAN’T SAVE THEM ALL, BUT LET’S SAVE AS MANY AS WE CAN. EVERY LIFE MATTERS!
The photos at the bottom are some of the ones we just brought home. I am so proud of our Chilly Pepper Family. Y’all are amazing and your love and emotional / financial support is what keeps us going. This is hard and what we see is devastating. Please help if you can (and I am working on Thank You’s as fast as I can.)
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
ONCE AGAIN, we have been given another 48 hour deadline…… The original 8 were saved, and another rescue in WA thought that the 6 who were shipping on Friday had all been adopted. Unfortunately, folks did not come through and there are still 4 at risk to ship in 48 hours. There are also an additional bunch waiting to be loaded in 48 hours.
YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT SAVED 24 LIVES !!!! You paid their bail and allowed us to do what was needed to save their lives. They included 15 foals, 3 mares with their 3 foals, 3 heavily pregnant mares and a badly injured young mare. (Sadly two little ones didn’t make it. One died in WA due to severe injuries and being septic when she came in. The other one died from starvation and dehydration at the vet’s office. We did everything possible to give him every chance. I sat with him in my lap as we helped him pass quietly from this world. He, like Luckee, tried ever so hard to fight to stay with us. He was constantly in my lap or laying with me, and PTL we had a special donor who helped with his vet bills so your funds could save other lives.
Unfortunately I received ANOTHER CALL YESTERDAY – There are 4 babies whose mom’s are shipping on Sunday, and I was told to expect more. We are praying that the two mares who are ready to give birth do so before they are loaded. We have no option to save those two mares, but are praying they have those babies prior to being loaded on the truck. It is a horrific thought either way, but this is our reality and it is brutal. Thankfully we can save many lives with your help, and every single life we save is extremely important to that horse.
We picked up the 4 starving horses, only to have even more heartbreak. The older one who was in the absolute worst shape had to be euthanized yesterday. He went into congestive heart failure and was in agony. So once again we had to do the right thing and clean up someone else’s brutal mess. I simply have nothing left when it comes to my heart.Matt was pretty much ready to just shut this down. We have seen so much death and heartbreak these last few months, and every single one happened because we weren’t able to get to them in time.
We need urgent help immediately to save as many as we can to keep them off the truck. The NEW 48 hour deadline is ticking away as I write this. I realize that we are always having deadlines and emergencies. But that is what the “front line” is. YOU make the difference for these lives, and I am ever so grateful. Please show your love once again.
We so appreciate y’all making it possible to keep them from suffering a horrific death by slaughter.
▪ If you see horses starving, don’t wait. Contact help immediately and feed them in the meantime. It is devastating and heartbreaking to come in too late to help.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
URGENT HELP NEEDED TODAY!!! The above horses ARE SHIPPING ON WEDNESDAY!!! – UNLESS we can raise enough money to save them in the next few days. There are 8 shipping on Wednesday and 6 more scheduled to ship on Friday UNLESS we are able to save them. There are 6 heavily pregnant mares in the bunch, along with some long yearlings and foals.
Unfortunately we have incurred some hefty vet bills in the last couple of weeks that total OVER $ 3,500 which we have not yet covered. There will be more vet bills if we can save these horses and the pregnant mares, with Coggins, health certs etc.
Add to that the fuel expenses, cost of saving the horses and we need help now, or they will die.
We are still standing by for the 25 at risk, miniature horses, and received an update that possibly next week some would be ready to be picked up.
We also need funding to pick up the 4 starving horses shown below.This is a heartbreaking situation where the wife was found deceased and her husband has been unable to function. He is devastated and also in need of care and for us to get these horses to safety and get them healthy again. This also will require extensive vet care and lots of groceries.
We currently have 5 orphans at Chilly Pepper and they are averaging $1500 in milk per month, not including their munchies, hay and the medication that was needed for some of them.
We are looking at huge expenses associated with rescuing these horses. Not only are there the 14 mentioned above, the catcher is bringing in another 6-8 today. ALL of the catchers are trapping as many horses as they can. I realize we cannot save them all, but I am praying folks will step up so we can at least save as many as possible. The four starving kids will come to Chilly Pepper for rehab and we have a place for some pregnant mares and possibly some yearlings if folks want to save them.
PLEASE HELP NOW, and share with anyone who might want to be part of saving these precious lives.
We so appreciate y’all making it possible to keep them from suffering a horrific death by slaughter.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
THE CLOCK IS TICKING on 25 new lives. – 25 Miniatures are at risk of dying, and we need your help to save them…
We came together and saved 25 more mustangs this last week. Thank You for making that possible. Out of those 25, we brought home 4 orphans and a badly injured mare and baby. Thankfully the extended network of folks came together to help.
As always, Chilly Pepper incurred ALL THE COSTS to rescue them, but once again they are OFF OUR BOOKS, and safe and sound until they find their forever homes.**
Unfortunately with those 25 we incurred some hefty vet bills. I just saw one of them this morning. This bill is $1972.85, which is pretty much going to wipe out most of the budget.
We also have another vet bill for emergency care for Valentine. Matt came home to find him in desperate need of vet care, and although the Vet did every thing she could my beautiful boy died. It is heartbreaking to be gone for so long and have a horse get sick and not make it. We saved 25, but my beautiful boy is gone.
I RECEIVED ANOTHER EMERGENCY CALL YESTERDAY – We are on standby for 25? miniature horses, similar to the ones shown above. Their lives are at risk, but unless we raise enough funds we will not be able to answer the call. We spent thousands of dollars to save the last 25, and we are simply tapped out.
We have a few days to a week or so? We are on standby for when the miniatures are all rounded up and we can pick them up. But it will not happen if we do not raise funds to cover the rescue.
The rescue work we do is very expensive, but Y’ALL ARE DIRECTLY SAVING LIVES! Matt and I are willing to keep doing the work, but as of right now the budget is tapped.We have been getting lots of kids placed, and that also makes a huge difference in the feed bill. We definitely DO NOT hoard horses, and most all of your donations go to saving more lives, as opposed to feeding “stored horses”.
PLEASE HELP if you can. We will ONLY BE ABLE TO SAVE THE MINI’S if folks open their hearts. We are ALSO STANDING BY for more babies. The roundups are happening as I type this and that means lots more orphans. As we sit right now, there are simply not enough funds to save more lives.
We are driving thousands of miles while we save and place these horses. Our rescue spent over $8000 just in fuel last year, but YOU SAVED hundreds of lives. So I am asking folks to help us keep saving more lives if you can.
Below meet our little Bear. She is a yearling, and the size of the 3 week old babies. She is one of the 25 you just saved.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
WOW, it never seems to slow down. The last trip up here y’all saved 18 lives.This time we have 23 on our books on this rescue, and that is just the beginning…..BUT WE NEED MORE HELP TO PULL THIS OFF! We have 14 babies, and each baby averages $300 per month JUST for milk, not including all the rest of the expenses. So we are looking at about three thousand, three hundred dollars ($3,300) just for a month’s worth of milk. That doesn’t include any of the other numerous expenses. Luckily two of the babies came in with mom and the other one we were able to match up with a mare today.
It cost over $1500 just to get the horses to where they are right now, for sorting etc.It is amazing how many expenses there are behind the scenes. Every time anything is done, there is a charge. As Matt and I are not allowed to sort, there is a sorting fee also, every time horses are sorted out for pick up etc. Thankfully there is another rescue working on this as well, and some of these expenses are shared.
However, they have their own horses to pay for and vet etc, as we do. We are looking at a couple thousand in vet bills easily as we have two horses with pretty serious injuries, and we have to get Coggins etc. on all these horses. As these horses are extremely reactive, most likely it will take a maximum of drugs to sedate them to the point where we can treat them properly. As always, the injured and needy are kind of our specialty, so we picked up both of the injured horses so they could get the care they need asap.
RED HEAT, the only surviving stallion out of the 80 plus horses, is one of the ones we are saving. There don’t seem to be many folks out there who can take on a wild stallion and then get them vetted, etc. So since he had the moxy to escape that slaughter truck when 39 others shipped, I believe he deserves a chance to live. Right now the words used to describe his attitude are not complimentary, but once gelded he should settle down nicely.
Of course when we went to pick up horses today, another stallion magically appeared. As he was about to be shipped, we simply had to step up for him also. Stallions are kind of a big deal when you don’t have the right set up on the road, but once gelded, after a time they are simply “geldings”.
We so appreciate all the funds y’all have donated to save all the horses we JUST SAVED, but we have already spent thousands on this rescue and are looking at thousands more to get the 23 that we are already committing to safe and ready to begin their new lives. We can only do it IF WE GET the much needed financial support. Thankfully, once again we are working with folks who will help us place them, so they do not remain on our books. However, as usual we incur all the expenses to save, purchase, sort, vet, transport etc. these horses to start their new lives.
YOU can help us save them. Please donate and share with folks who might not know what an amazing thing you are part of.
I am stuck in WA with the 14 babies and injured horses while Matt will be delivering two mare and foal pairs, 4 geldings and taking one of the stallions to Chilly Pepper. It is going to be a long and exhausting road, and we really really need more milk, as the babies are playing “catch up”.
Thank you as always for coming through for these horses and keeping them from shipping directly to slaughter.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
WE DID IT! We saved another 9 orphans, 3 stallions, a mare and foal and 5 pregnant mares about to pop. In the last month, your donations have saved 40+/- lives!!!
I ALREADY HAVE 5 NEW BABIES WAITING IN WA TO BE PICKED UP AS I WRITE THIS, AND MOMENTS AGO I RECEIVED AN EMERGENCY CALL.The trapper has 80, YES 80, horses in his trap. We have been told to expect anywhere from 25-30 orphans between another rescue and myself, and we are being offered the chance to possibly save some very heavily pregnant mares who are about to drop their babies.
Yesterday Matt and I picked up 4 bags of Foal Lac Powder, 4 bags of Foal Lac Pellet, 6 bags of goat’s milk and about 9? bags of grain. The total was $1460. This much milk would possibly feed 4 babies for a month? It is excruciatingly expensive to properly care for newborn, days to week old babies and even older ones who need milk. The milk is just the start. We spent over $1300 this last trip to get Coggins and Health Certificates etc. and we already had them on a couple of the horses. The Brand Inspection was $116. There are SO MANY HIDDEN EXPENSES… Rescue is expensive.
We are scheduled to get the majority of the orphans, and I have a couple places that can take on up to a total of 9 heavily pregnant mares. But it will take a village. We desperately need help to pull something of this magnitude off. Last year y’all saved 100+ horses in two pick ups. But babies are WAY MORE EXPENSIVE, and we want to at least save as many of the pregnant mares as we can.
IT IS GO TIME, and these 80 horses are standing in a pen, exhausted and confused as to why their world has turned upside down. They have no idea, thankfully, as to the horrors that await them. PLEASE, PLEASE help us save as many as we can.
We only have one of the orphans left, and he gets to hang out with Suzie Q, until we pick up the 5 plus ??????? The only kids we brought home who will be staying on our books right now are the stallions and Timothy. Luckily, we still have folks in our network who are taking on a couple or so and finding them their forever homes. We simply don’t have the time if we are going to keep saving lives.
This is a NOW ISSUE, SORTING IS SCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW! (and they are charging $800 – $10 per head to sort them out)
IT’S UP TO Y’ALL – DO WE KEEP ON SAVING MORE LIVES? I HOPE AND PRAY YOU WILL!!. IF WE HAVE THE FUNDING, MATT AND I WILL KEEP ON KEEPING ON…..
You have saved so many lives, , 40 in a month’s time? That is amazing and it is all because of the love and support you have shown for these horses. Let’s save even more. These beautiful animals have only hours for their future to be decided.
On a sad note, my beautiful boy Luckee passed away after a week. I am thankful we spent the time with him, as for a short week his life was pretty darn good for a weak little munchkin. For the first time in his life he had everything he needed. He had little baby horses to love and play with. He was never alone, not even for a second, and he was not cold or hungry or thirsty. He really enjoyed his short time, and when I spoke to the vet, she said she would not change a thing, because he finally got to have everything he needed and have great quality of life for a short time. Of course my heart is still broken, but I am grateful that he DID NOT suffer when he passed.
Let’s honor LUCKEE’S SHORT LIFE by saving his families and relatives from a fate worse than death.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
While waiting to pick up the orphans, and of course the number is now 7 or 8 instead of 4, we picked up a foal named Luckee.
Luckily is literally (and barely) standing in death’s doorway. He needs help to get up and down, and I have attached part of the paperwork the vet’s gave me. He reminds me of Honeybandit, and may be in as critical shape or worse than Honeybandit. IF he lives, it will be by the Grace of God and the amazing folks at WSU equine veterinary hospital. _Luckily for Luckee, Thunder Mountain made the decision to admit him last week, and covered his expenses up til now A t this point all expenses are ours, and the vet said to get ready for a long and costly recovery, IF we see a miracle. Luckee arrived at WSU with no response to his pupil test. That is a pretty dead baby……
He is touch and go, and the easiest thing to do was to let you see what the vets gave me. One vet wanted to let him go, as his prognosis is so poor, but the other two recognized his amazing will to live and as I promise each and every one of the critters we save:
“AS LONG AS THEY ARE TRYING AND WANT TO FIGHT, WE WILL FIGHT WITH THEM UNTIL THEY ARE DONE. IF THIS BEAUTIFUL BOY LET’S ME KNOW HE IS DONE, I WILL DO THE RIGHT THING AND LET HIM GO. BUT IF HE WANTS TO FIGHT, I WILL FIGHT WITH HIM UNTIL THE VERY END.”
On top of all the horses and pregnant mares and stallions and increasing number of orphans coming our way, we had to put one of the trucks in the shop and the repair bill will be just shy of $2000 at a minimum.We are running 16 year old trucks, and there are simply things that HAVE to be done so we can safely pull these horses and get the job done. We, have pulled over 8,000 miles in the last two weeks alone, but lives are saved!
Of course that was not an expected expense, so it is putting a real hurt on the finances. With 8 babies, WE WILL NEED AT LEAST $300 PER MONTH PER BABY, JUST FOR THEIR LIQUID MILK. That will be $2,400 and that is just a drop in the bucket. First we have to pay for them and then we need Coggins etc, not to mention medicine etc. etc. as we never seem to get robust happy babies who need little care.
Thank you to those who have already donated. Unfortunately the truck repairs and additional babies were not covered. However, we really need more help ASAP to purchase, vet and transport additional horses, and provide LUCKEE with every possible advantage to give him a chance for a life. The vet describes below what we will be looking at and how expensive it is IF we can save this beautiful soul.
The catcher was out today so the probabilities are endless.
So please help us if you can, and PLEASE SAY EXTRA PRAYERS FOR THIS SWEET BABY WHO IS FIGHTING SO HARD TO STAY HERE FOR AWHILE!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Quick update!The ALABAMA 5 are the horses we picked up in Alabama, shown above. As is clear, they need a lot of special care. They will be coming to Chilly Pepper for some TLC, and I am so happy to report it will not be on our dime.
ONGOING NEWS…..
We appreciate everyone who has donated to help save the Mares & Foals and the Stallions and the 4 orphans. We are getting close to where we need to be for those kids. We will be picking up the orphans, mares and foals and stallions on Monday.
Again, most all of them will have places to go which will keep them off our long term books. For now they will be expensive, but only for a short time PTL!
HOWEVER, I received another call, THIS TIME from my primary contact in Yakima. Once again WE ARE IN EMERGENCY MODE. There will be more horses, and there could be A LOT MORE! to save when we are up there picking up the group we just started fundraising for.
What will happen is we will get called after they bring in the horses. I will have to stand in front of all the horses and decide WHICH LIVES WE SAVE. ALL THE OTHERS will SHIP STRAIGHT TO SLAUGHTER.
This situation is beyond tough. It is so far out of our control. The only thing we will be able to do is save as many orphans as we can, depending on if we can keep raising more funds. Then there will be weanlings, and it is pretty much guaranteed that there will be a bunch of very pregnant mares.
I wish I had the answer to this. All I know is that we will do every single thing we can to save as many lives as we can, but it will simply come down to how much money we can raise to save these lives. It is not just purchasing them, it is vetting and feeding and transporting and delivering them to their new homes.
I know we cannot save them all, but we need a miracle, and we will save as many as we can.
It’s not fair that I have to look in the eyes of these beautiful horses and basically say “you have to die, because I do not have enough money to save you.” Yet God is putting this in front of us, so we simply will do our best. Please pray hard for this situation and donate if you can.
I WILL POST PHOTOS AS SOON AS I SEE THE HORSES.
Again, THANK YOU to all of you who donated to save the orphans etc.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
As usual we are on a DEADLINE.I HAVE 4 ORPHAN FOALS WHO NEED PAID FOR BY TOMORROW! We have ANOTHER STALLION to save, 9 NINE VERY PREGNANT MARES, (Most of them emaciated), AND THREE? MORE mares with foals at their sides who desperately need out of their current situation.
The baby shown above NEEDS HELP IMMEDIATELY. I NEED FUNDS TO SEND OUT THE VET, and we all know that is never cheap. BUT HE DESERVES A CHANCE. He was born in the rain and cold, and was cold and wet for 3 solid days in the pouring rain and cold winds. There is NO SHELTER WHATSOEVER, and of course now he is having health issues. Can you imagine how dirty it was for his umbilical area when he could only lay down in mud and feces? UMBILICAL infections are often deadly, and he had absolutely no where to lay down where he wasn’t in wet, dirty mud. He is now having SERIOUS health issues, and we need money to try and save him, along with his mother who is emaciated and struggling to even stay warm herself.
There are 9 more mares who are so skinny you wouldn’t think they were about to give birth, but they are. THEY NEED OUT OF THERE NOW! There are 40 HORSES in two small pens. I am sure you can imagine what will happen to a newborn baby with that many hoofers running around. Unfortunately the horses have been confined for awhile and they are getting snotty and fighting a bit. We need to step up and buy these mares and get them to safety.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT MOST OF THEM WILL ALREADY HAVE A PLACE TO GO, BUT WE NEED ALOT OF MONEY TO PURCHASE THEM, PAY THE FEED BILL AND GET THEM VETTED AND TRANSPORTED!
(Although the conditions have become less than perfect, the reason the horses are there is so they have a chance. If they were not there, they would have already shipped to slaughter. )
Matt and I were working with another rescue and had to do an emergency run to Alabama. Matt was going to go alone, but the deadline made it necessary to have 2 drivers. We picked up 5 kids who will be staying with us for some TLC. Thankfully we will only be providing the actual care, and the folks we are working with will support those 5. PTL!! They need medical care and most folks simply cannot do that for wild horses.
As soon as we get back we will be heading up to get the orphans and whomever else we can save. Thankfully Matt will be delivering quite a number of the kids at Chilly Pepper to their new homes. Our feed bill has been horrendous, about $1400 in hay per month, and hundreds and hundreds of dollars in special feed for the babies we just rescued and the special needs horse kids. We also spent close to $5,000 on tires, breaks etc for the truck and trailers. We are running the rubber right off the tires. We have also incurred higher than normal vet bills and we really, really need help so we can make this happen. We also have to pay the folks who run the place while we are gone and make all of this possible.
We are really limited right now as far as available funds for this rescue. All I can ask is that any one who wants these kids safe will do whatever they can. Thank you!
Thank you as always for being part of the Chilly Pepper Family and for making it possible to save so many lives.
Sadly, I need to share that we had to release SUPERMAN from this world. He came in with an injured hip and Saturday he shattered it. We made an emergency call to the vet but nothing could be done. So much heart break, and although it hurts too much and makes me think I just can’t keep going through this yet again, all we can do is wipe away the tears again and again, and HONOR HIS LITTLE LIFE BY SAVING OTHERS.
I LOVE YOU LITTLE MAN. OUR BELOVED SUPERMAN WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY HEART!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
SUCCESS for the group of 6. Working with the folks up in WA at Thunder Mountain and the Yakima Foal Rescue, we are happy to say that all these horse kids are now safe.
We also were able to save another stallion headed straight to slaughter.We are on the way back to WA, where Matt will be picking up 2 stallions and the emaciated mare and her baby.
We will also be picking up two mares with their foals and an unknown number of Yakima orphans as well. I still do not have an exact pick up date, but we will be ready and waiting.
In the meantime, we had an unexpected rescue of 3 miniatures. I received a phone call and the woman said she needed help as she could not care for them. The above photo shows the horrifying condition of their hoofers upon arrival.
Superman, who was literally walking on the sides of his legs, was in agonizing pain and could barely move. Based on his condition and the lack of movement and the horrible pain even when on high doses of pain meds, there was much to indicate that he might not be able to recover from the damage. We were advised to euthanize, but wanted to make sure. He would not even walk to food with high doses of pain meds on board. Every step was agony, and we knew we had to do something immediately.
The x-ray was shocking. His lil coffin bones were not nearly as rotated or damaged as first thought. Even after the x ray, the vet was not sure if we could save him. A plan was made and a specialized farrier was called in. She said we should try one trim and see how it went.
Upon arrival, the farrier looked in the trailer. Sadly he shook his head and said “there is nothing I can do for this guy. There is way too much damage”.
The vet told him to look at the xray, and so began Superman’s transformation.
Superman is truly a miracle. His life is a gift from God, as it is simply a miracle there was not more damage to his bones and joints. He is a lucky little man. When we used “miracle” in our rescue name, we had no idea that we would see so many.
The other two will be trimmed very soon, as soon as this urgent emergency rescue is done. We needed to make sure we get only the best trimmer to help these kids and need to schedule more x-rays. They are doing very well and the vet and trimmer are getting the timing set up to give them their pedicures.
So once again we are hiring ranch help, driving two rigs and looking at picking up possibly 3 newborn orphans in the next few days, as well as the mares and foals. Superman’s care was not cheap, but he is definitely worth it.
Please help us save the additional mares and their babies (the ones we have not had access to yet), and the additional newborns and older babies. As usual, we have no idea what the final count will be, but I already have too many to fit in one trailer so Matt will have to come back again. As always, the numbers that are saved will be dependent on the funds available to rescue them.
Thank you as always for helping. We will need more funding to complete the purchase, Coggins and Health Certs as well as all the milk, meds, shavings etc. etc. and all the needs that come along with newly born babies. It is excruciatingly expensive to save them.
Below, Superman feeling much better!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
I have to write this from the heart, as there is no other way for me to share the truth. We had great success and saved 3 moms with their babies. We also saved 7 weanlings, 6 of whom are in horrific shape. They are starving and could easily be called a hot mess. However, the next phase is starting for them. They are being treated and are now enjoying good food and a chance to relax.
Sadly, we lost our beautiful “My Heart’s Desire”. She had a freak accident and snapped her leg, much like my femur did. She ripped her femoral artery and sadly baby passed with her very quickly. We did everything we could, but Mom and Baby left this earth together. It was still so much better for them than slaughter, and mama knew lots of love and tenderness. But that does not help when your heart is in a million pieces.
We are not even home yet, and we received a 911 EMERGENCY CALL. I am sitting in my girlfriend’s living room writing this as I don’t have time to drive the rest of the way home before we send this out.
We got called about a family of six, and we have only hours to say yes, save them or no, we can’t help them and they will ship straight to slaughter.
There is a mom with a teeny tiny new baby, (and if we can’t save the family, we will be heading up to pick up an orphan.) The stallion, who has worked so hard to take care of his family is the most likely to ship. CHILLY PEPPER is literally his ONLY chance to live.There are 3 heavily pregnant mares that finish up this family. Again, I cannot bear to think of these babies being born in a stuffed trailer heading to slaughter. If Mom gives birth during the trip due to the stress, they will be brutally trampled and not have a chance of surviving the trip. IF they make it through the trip, they will be tossed alive on to the slaughter floor.I am sorry this is so brutal, but it is the simple truth.
The trapper is literally at the site loading them in his trailer. We are working with folks in WA to try and find a place for them to land, at least long enough for us to raise enough money to save them. Chilly Pepper cannot take on a bunch of adult horses, but as we are the only ones who can take on a stallion, if we can save them all we will figure that out. He doesn’t deserve to be murdered just because he is a stud.
PHONE JUST RANG AGAIN – IN ADDITION, WE NEED TO pick up 2 mares and foals as well as an undetermined number of orphans this next week, IF we can raise enough funds to purchase, vet and transport this next group. Y’all did awesome this last time and saved 15 horses from facing slaughter.
SO PLEASE HELP US SAVE THESE LIVES IF YOU CAN, AND SHARE FAR AND WIDE SO FOLKS CAN HELP US “GIT ‘ER DONE!
Below, the Family of 6, – who’s fate is still in the air, and that is just the beginning, and during the time it took me to write this, the number has already increased by a minimum of 4 more on top of that and the week is just starting………
WE COULD EASILY HAVE UPWARDS OF 20 BABIES WITH ONLY HOURS NOTICE.
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
Well as usual, we are saving way more horses than we were told about on this trip.
As of right now I am sitting in WA State in Mel’s driveway with 3 mares and their tiny babies. One of them was just born yesterday. We also have 4 weanlings, and unfortunately they are in really rough shape. They are severely unhealthy and so far from healthy it brings a tear.
The first mare that came in with a baby is also underweight and severely lacking in groceries. Her baby (named Jax), had a badly infected puncture wound on his front leg. Thank God we took his temperature as it was extremely high, 104.1. That is really high and much higher could be deadly. So we gave him antibiotics and cleaned and flushed his wound. We have to separate him from mom twice a day to medicate him and clean his leg. It’s a bit hairy because his mom is on the reactive side. But so far everyone is safe and settling into the routine.
We also saved a very pregnant mare who has a severe injury to her hind end.She was in tremendous pain and is having issues with both back legs. She is very thin and it’s so sad to see how weak she is and how very pregnant she is. She is also on pain meds, and we are hoping and praying that she will have her baby before we have to travel.
We pulled 4 weanlings in with mom and baby, but instead of dropping them off at a friend’s to be placed in their new homes as planned, we have to take them back to NV for some much needed TLC. They are simply not healthy enough to place yet. This is not good news because we really are short on room. When we get more shelters and finish fencing the property it will be a bit easier, but for now I have to find shelter for all of them. In addition, we picked up two more mares with tiny little ones. The little black baby was born yesterday.
Today Matt drove to Bend, OR to deliver 15 mares for another rescue. Tomorrow he has to drive back up to Bonners Ferry Idaho. We are picking up our beloved Diesel and bringing him back to NV. In his pictures he looks amazing and I can’t wait to kiss the little dude again.He has been in a wonderful home, but as they feel they cannot give him the attention he deserves, we are picking him up and will eventually find him his forever home.
The next day Matt is picking up even more kids, as there are two we are expecting who are roughly 7 months and are apparently severely tick and worm infested, not to mention extremely malnourished, much like most of these kids coming off the range.
I am beyond frustrated because we need to put up a shelter here in WA at Mel’s so these horses would have cover. It is pouring rain and my day old baby is out in it. Thankfully mom knows what to do, but it makes me crazy. Baby season is just starting so we are going to have to keep dealing with this.
So we are now looking at 14 horses we need to transport back to our rescue.The good news is that most of them will already have a place to go as soon as they are healthy. The less than great news is that our vet bill for Coggins and blood work is going to be exponentially higher and so has the cost of this rescue increased.
We appreciate all the folks who have stepped up to help, and we still need help. We have a serious shortage of shelters and feed, but I know we will find a way to “git ‘er done”.
What’s scary is the “season” is just beginning. So let’s get ready to keep saving lives and keeping horses safe from slaughter.Together we can make a difference!
If you want to help You can go to You Caring – to help us keep saving lives..
