I just got a call for 2 orphan foals. (Pictures just to remind us of how much milk they drink and how much care they need.) I have NO idea what these babies look like, but they will need TLC!
We need money for bail, transport, Foal Lac Powder, Foal Lac Pellets, baby grain, meds, etc. etc.
PLEASE HELP so I can say YES!!! It’s been awhile since Chilly Pepper had a fundraiser. Funds are extremely tight, and in addition to funds for the baby, we currently need hay in NV and WA.
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
This winter roundup season has been relentless. In just four months, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) capture operations have resulted in the deaths of 71 innocent wild horses and the removal of over 7,000 animals from their natural habitats – including more than 1,000 foals.
Among those captured is Thora, a beautiful six-month-old filly from the McCullough Peaks Herd Management Area.
Thora, alongside companions Tabasco, Trinity, and Juniper, was separated from her mother last month. Despite massive public outcry, the agency plowed ahead with the controversial roundup, which has already taken its toll with the death of the filly Kat Ballou. She suffered a fatal head injury last month after she had been separated from her mother and left unattended in a capture pen.
These tragedies are emblematic of the broader, deepening crisis affecting our nation’s wild horse and burro populations. Thora is just one out of thousands of vulnerable foals who have been removed from their homes and are now languishing in holding facilities. Many more are in danger as the BLM presses ahead with its roundups. That’s why AWHC’s observation program is so important.
To document these roundups and ensure no death or abuse goes unrecorded, AWHC has assembled and trained a team of photographers and videographers who are deployed to some of the most remote corners of the West where these operations occur. The evidence they collect helps us establish an irrefutable pattern of cruelty to prove to members of Congress, the media, and the public that change is desperately needed. And it’s working. The public’s awareness of the plight of wild horses and burros has never been greater. In fact, our grassroots army recently mobilized and sent 23,000 letters to Congress calling for a ban on helicopter roundups.
Oftentimes, our representatives are the ONLY ones on site to document any violations taking place. Our observers were present at the East Pershing complex roundup where they documented the capture of 365 foals and the dangerous conditions they faced. They saw firsthand the physical toll on these animals, including injuries and deaths that could have been prevented.
A Foal from the East Pershing Roundup
One of these preventable deaths includes a foal who suffered a dislocated knee during the roundup. After his injury, he was removed from the view of the public and tragically euthanized.
Foals have some of the most inspiring and heartwarming stories from the range. Archer is no different.
Archer’s story starts when he became an orphan after his mother was hit and died on a Nevada highway. AWHC volunteers watched as the family mourned the loss of one of their own, paying close attention to little Archer, who was now all alone.
But he wouldn’t remain so for long — another mare named Legacy quickly brought Archer into the foal-d! Just days after the accident, we were amazed to see Archer nursing alongside Legacy’s own colt, Tatonka, as though he’d been there from the very beginning.
Overnight, the three became a loving family, and we saw Archer’s story come foal circle. They are still together today!
Though we were pleased to see Archer so well-taken care of, not every foal is lucky enough to meet a mare like Legacy. As babies, foals are uniquely vulnerable, and can require rescue. Here at AWHC, we partner with local rescue organizations in Nevada to fuel their work as they care for orphaned or abandoned foals.
Your support enables us to help these organizations fund the veterinary care and shelter they need to make sure no foal is left behind.
13 Orphans (NOT including the 1st 13) & I am standing by for more.
Thank you for all the milk and supplies. Sadly I am blowing through them like crazy.
_Not sure if everyone will survive. Some have bad injuries, many of them internal _
Lots of Prayers n much help needed. Doc is here almost every day. Our vet bills are high with all the sick and injured.
The season is barely starting and I am BEYOND inundated.I need lots more help to care for these and be ready for the next ones if I am going to be able to keep saving them. THANK YOU!!
Harrah Veterinary 509 848-2943 if you’d like to help with vetting.
THANK YOU for everything we have received. I Used the last 2 Foal Responses on my 2 new tinies last night. We are going through milk like crazy!
We are also having to get blood drawn to check IGG levels on the littles. $$$
These babies will be posted for adoption when they are ready.
This is the link to our Chilly Pepper’s Wild Horse & Orphan Foal Adoption Page,where you can see the progress and new lives of the horses YOU HAVE HELPED SAVED! (I can’t believe I didn’t do this years ago, but it is so fun to see the horses, babies and critters that are enjoying and thriving in their new lives.)
As of right now, Firefly, aka Stella – is still with us and fighting for her life. I can’t even believe she survived the wreck in the first place. Please say a prayer for our precious little girl.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
Wow – the insanity has already begun. Y’all JUST SAVED TEN MORE LIVES since I arrived in WA to pick up the Stallion and the 2 Pregnant mares!
I was getting ready to head back home to NV on Monday when I received another urgent phone call for an orphaned, abandoned foal. Then a call for an abandoned, injured, newborn orphaned lamb. It never stops!
This morning I had Doc come out and pull Coggins on “Nicholas”, (Our most recent Emergency), I was prepping to finally head home and my phone rang again. There are “tinies” at the Shipper’s and I should be getting them tomorrow. So apparently I am not going home anytime soon.
Sadly, NEARLY ALL the funds have been depleted on this last rescue. Every day that I am here, I have to have folks at home taking care of the rescue. Although most of their time is volunteer, it still adds up substantially. (They are amazing!) We also need to get another load of hay for the “special needs” kids at the rescue. Fuel costs are rising and that is a substantial cost for us even before the ridiculous prices we are already starting to see.
I have to get more shelter set up for these critical babies. As the numbers increase, so does the need for safe nursery space to give them what they need.
We spent roughly $2000+ simply to “save” these lives, and spent over $1,000 on vetting for health certs, (and that does not include the latest couple visits). That was just to get the horses to camp and keep them off the slaughter truck. (Just in the last 2 weeks). This DOES NOT include medical care, feed, hauling, etc. It is just a drop in the bucket of the rescue expenses.
I realize folks are struggling. However, I will keep fighting for these lives as long as I have the funding to do so. Sadly I have been warned that they are planning on “hitting it hard” this year because there are so many horses. So I am asking everyone who wants me to keep saving these precious lives to make it happen.
Great news however, these last horses that you saved are nearly all adopted, and yes, we saved the “3 Old Ladies”. They are currently in NV and being assessed. They are approximately 25 years old and sweet as can be.
Sadly we had to let Angel Face leave this world that was nothing but cruel to her. She was in excruciating pain and it was much worse the photos showed. She is running free in Heaven with the Angels and is finally free from the horrific pain. I am still working on the mare with the long feet. However, her owner did get them trimmed (how well I don’t know), and supposedly the vet is going to assess her. I am still on standby. I know it costs a lot to set these souls free, but it is the right thing to do! It is beyond devastating and it feels like you are being torn apart, yet I will always do it if no one else will.
When you see Angel Face below, please know that your love and support ended her horrible suffering. YOU made such a difference for this beautiful soul by alleviating her endless pain. THANK YOU!
This is the link to our Chilly Pepper’s Wild Horse & Orphan Foal Adoption Page,where you can see the progress and new lives of the horses YOU HAVE HELPED SAVED! (I can’t believe I didn’t do this years ago, but it is so fun to see the horses, babies and critters that are enjoying and thriving in their new lives.)
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
URGENT – MORE HORSES NEED YOU TO HELP THEM STAY ALIVE, and as usual, their time has run out.
We have a Mare and Foal Pair, (and Mama is bred back), so that is 3 lives to save!, PLUS…
We have the mare above that I still need to pay for, (I simply couldn’t wait to fund raise and had to commit on faith.) PLUS – MORE BABIES are coming from the trapper and the shipper!
It’s been a super rough week, and as usual we don’t know for sure how many horses need us.
One of the catchers had at least 3, and that is just for today. Shipper has ?
The rescue has been hit all at once with the need for truck tires, (and it was imminent – one was ready to blow), transmission repair and brake work for the truck and wiring on the horse trailer braking system.
After getting the transmission fixed, thanks to some amazing people out there, the hauler was on the way when the brakes started to malfunction.
After checking both the truck and trailer, we are looking at another bill (not including tires or transmission) that will be anywhere from an expected bill of $1500 to $2000?? or more. (It was internal, brake pads are fine, but we still have to get the necessary repairs to actually have working brakes, and the stock trailer has some wiring that is old and sketchy ie. dangerous.
I still can’t get back to NV until we get the 2nd truck and trailer fixed. However, instead of being gone back to NV, I was here to treat one of the colts that came in with an injury. He is beautiful, but it took all of us to safely treat him without causing him unnecessary stress. He has certainly been through enough. I know there is a reason for the delays, and the babies and emergencies have not stopped.
ONCE AGAIN, THE HORSES NEED YOU!HOWEVER, the transmission AND the new tires were covered by some amazing angels who donated specifically for that! THANK YOU ANGELS! That means we need another $1500 plus ? just to finish the brakes, front end repairs and wiring on the trailer. THEN, we still need funds to save these new kids and vet them, get them home etc. etc.
IF YOU CAN HELP me save these babies and the mares, PLEASE DO SO! This has been a crazy 3 weeks and I am going to have to turn around and come back, but I know we can save these horses, IF you help make it happen!
BELOW – The injured “Slide” stares longingly at what used to be the path to his home.
It is so traumatic for these babies to be ripped away and stuffed into what must feel like prison. Help me save him, (and the rest of them), and give them the best life we can!
Thank you as always for the love and support, and THANK YOU to my Angels who covered the cost of fixing the transmission and getting the much needed tires!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
WIN (WILD HORSES IN NEED) is a 501c3 IRS EIN 55-0882407_
If there are ever funds left over from the cost of the rescue itself, the monies are used to feed, vet, care for and provide shelter and proper fencing for the animals once they are saved.
Another 911 call. Literally just got off the phone a minute ago. We have 15 MORE Yakama foals who need help RIGHT NOW.
I so wish it would snow about 20 feet so all the catchers would stop catching horses.But wishes won’t save lives, so once again we are asking YOU to help us save these innocent babies. Their families have already shipped to slaughter, so time is of the essence.
Let’s make it a Merry Christmas for these babies! They have already lost their families, and they deserve every happiness there is. If you have that special someone who has everything, why not donate to save one of these foals and do it in their name? Give them the best Christmas ever, give them the gift of saving a life!
As always, we will need to get to WA, purchase and pick up the foals, get them vetted, their health certs and then transport them to where they are going.With so much heartbreak out there, we know that folks have been donating like crazy to the fire victims. But we still have to ask for the babies. Will you save them? We simply cannot do it without funding. These babies need your help!
As far as I know there are 15 for sure?, and maybe 16. We will save as many as we can, but we have to base that on the funds we can raise for this effort. We simply cannot save babies that we cannot care for and find homes for.
So PLEASE, help these foals today! ALL OF THEIR LIVES MATTER!
An update on BELLA’S LEGACY – GOT HAY. Thanks to your beautiful hearts, we were able to raise ($3219.62 via paypal, $30 check, $430 via gofundme) for a total of $3669.62 for purchasing hay and getting it to CA. We will be delivering half of the hay to the Camp Fire victims in the next week or so, (but will have to work around these new babies and the weather). We are still working on getting the most bang for your buck and getting the most hay possible to the critters that survived the fire. The horses that are still here with us at Chilly Pepper, also send their thanks and appreciation for their hay.
The photo’s shown are some of the lives y’all have already saved. The new babies are a bit bigger, and often not as quickly adopted out. But they are anxiously awaiting their new homes. LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
THANK YOU as always for making sure these babies have a chance. God bless!
Photo of a full trap……….
if you would like to help these horses.
->You can donate via check at:
Chilly Pepper – Miracle Mustang,
PO Box # 190
Golconda, NV 89414
You can also donate via credit card by calling Palomino at 530-339-1458.
NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL – WE SAVE THEM ALL!
The above are some of the lives you just saved. As you can see, some are barely alive and others are looking ok.
ANOTHER PHONE CALL – The mini’s we have been on standby for, since a couple of months ago, will be ready for us in the coming weeks. However, we need funds as always to get these kids to safety and vetted etc. Do you want to save these little cuties? See photos below.
In the meantime, Matt picked up a 20+ mare yesterday. It seems like they are coming out of the woodwork. She is beautiful, but definitely a grandma, and needs TLC and her lil hoofers done.
The other days was a really rough day. In the midst of all that is going on, we lost one of our most recently rescued donkeys. So now as we get ready to head to WA to pick up the babies, we are filled with so many emotions. Two days ago we lost our beautiful “Long Ears”. He had been adopted and was about to be loaded for his new home, when Matt told me he “was not feeling it – as far as driving that day”. We have both learned to listen to that little voice because over and over God has kept us safe when we listen.
Hours later I would be calling the vet to come out. Long Ears had went down and . did not get up. At first he was not concerned. He was in good spirits and just lay there reaching out and grabbing bites of hay. We spent most of the day with him, giving him a chance to rest and trying to help him when he wanted to get up. I spoke with the vet and even before she arrived, Long Ears let me know without a doubt that he was done. Thankfully it was a quick change, and he did not lay suffering for hours. The vet said he was a very old man, and due to the starvation he went through, who knows what damage was done internally.
Long Ears came in skin and bones, with basically no muscle in his back end. From the second Matt picked him up to the last few minutes we spent with him, this wonderful and amazing donkey was surrounded by love. He was happy and very vocal when it was time for dinner, and just LOVED to be loved on.
Although once again, my heart was in pieces, I was thanking God for not letting that little girl lose her new donkey. Sadly for me, but luckily for the little girl waiting for her forever donkey, I had one other little mini donk that we were planning on using for the Sunshine & Smiles program. So unbeknownst to that little girl, we sent him instead. Today, they are together and it is a match made in heaven.
So now we are getting ready to pick up the babies in Yakima. Matt delivered 3 of the kids to their new homes yesterday and our friend in Idaho took 3 of the babies from the last rescue, to help us place them.
The good news is that out of 9 horses y’all just saved, 5 have been adopted, and 3 are staying here for some much needed TLC! As always, we have been running non-stop and want to THANK Y’ALL from the bottom of our hearts for helping save these beautiful souls. Obviously several of them would have not even had a chance at survival if y’all had not stepped up!
We appreciate the love and support and are confident that we can once again “git ‘er done”, and save the 10 minis that we are once again on stand by for.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
More babies are coming in. IN ADDITION to the 4 that we just saved, there are SIX MORE, including Lil Cash (shown above) who is only a month or two old. Due to the loss of life last winter, many of the mares are foaling out of the normal foal season. So we will need LOTS of Foal Lac and milk pellets etc.
The new nursery is NOT set up, and there are only a few panels and no shelteras the other rescue took everything when they shut down the “orphanage”. The normal trapping season is beyond over, but much like last year they just continue to round up these beautiful souls, non-stop. The new nursery was not supposed to be open, but babies do not come at our convenience, and this is an emergency situation.(There are times when I wish we were not always on the front line having to deal with immediate life saving issues. Thankfully y’all are amazing!)
Right now the winds are blowing 40 miles an hour and we need to get up there, save the rest of the babies and start setting up the nursery NOW!!These babies have been through more horror than any horse should see in it’s entire life, and some of them are only a month or two old. We had hoped to be able to slowly raise funds and get it set up before trapping started again next spring. However, as always, that is obviously not happening.
This is so overwhelming. It sounds whiny, but I just had surgery 2 weeks ago and Matt is not even home yet with the 9 y’all just saved. So we are a tiny bit exhausted but once again, I need to ask folks to step up! (ok – crying over.)
I have been told “you can just say no”. Well, I cannot look at a baby who is not only innocent, but terrified, hungry and most often in very poor shape and say let it die because it is inconvenient , especially knowing that their moms are literally on the truck on the way to a horrific and painful death.
CAN YOU SAY NO to a tiny innocent orphan? I hope not. We can purchase, insulate and prepare a smaller nursery building similar to the ones we use in NV for our nursery and critical care units for about $3000. That would enable us to set it up exactly how it should be. The weather is changing fast and it is critical that we have the proper facilities so we can provide the care they truly deserve.
I couldn’t believe it when I got called for 2 more today. We have had the vet out twice and it was roughly $445 BOTH TIMES. Now we have to call her to come out again, and it will be about $350 for the 2 new kids. But we have to do things the right way, so I am hoping and praying we can raise enough funds to pay the vet for the last 2 times, the upcoming visit and be able to get a shelter up in the next week. (So for these 10 foals, the vet bill is roughly $1200 – $1300, and this does NOT include the cost of saving them, bringing them home or taking care of them.)
SO WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR HELP FROM THE FRONT LINES ONCE AGAIN.You are the difference for these innocent souls, and we thank each and every one of you who donate, send prayers, share the information and are part of our Chilly Pepper Family. Once again we will do the work if we have the funding.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
ONE MORE LIFE TO SAVE – A YOUNG STALLION WHO IS BLIND IN ONE EYE. HE NEEDS YOUR HELP TONIGHT!, and then our trailer will be full.
We (YOU) SAVED ALL 4 of the Yakima foals. One of them already has a potential adopter and thankfully the other 3 will be heading to one of our favorite “partners”, whom we work with every year and who is not only an angel, but an excellent “foal mama”.So ALL these are safe and will shortly be off of our feed bill as well.(We will be helping out with a small care package, but Dannielle will be saving the rescue a great deal of time and money and find the WA babies their perfect forever home.)
We were able to commit to save 3 horses, 2 donkey stallions, a mini and 1 heavily pregnant donkey mama. (The other 2 we were orginally trying to save were lucky and found other homes.
However, we have ONE MORE we NEED TO SAVE ASAP! He is a stallion, who is blind in one eye and needs to stay out of the slaughter pipeline. We always try to pull a few stallions no matter where we are as they often have so little chance to be saved.
We have most of the kids paid for, but sadly my truck is in the shop to the tune of about $1500. (We have already put over 30,000?? miles on her this year, and she is running strong but needed some new seals and a couple of repairs to avoid a major one). We just paid $443 to the vet in WA to get the health certificates and Coggins test so the 4 can go to their new homes, and we need a bit more funding to pull off saving the stallion and to keep the rescues, new saves and deliveries on the road.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING ALL THESE LIVES. LET’S MAKE SURE WE CAN ADD THIS YOUNG, PARTIALLY BLIND STALLION TO THE HAPPY LIST!
BELOW:
THANK YOU FOR SAVING US!!! OUR LIVES MATTER!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
This beautiful mama and her baby are scheduled to ship in 3 days. WE CAN SAVE THEM WITH YOUR HELP! But once again it is up to you.
(I apologize for the quality of the photos, but they are all I have.)
Matt is still in Texas, as complications have arisen with 7 horses y’all just saved. All of the mares have clear Coggins (the blood test required for transport). However, only 2 of the mares received their Health certificates, so now we have to put the others in quarantine until we can get a Health certificate to bring them safely home.
It will cost up to $1500 to quarantine up to 30 days. Hopefully it won’t take that long to get them healthy enough to get the necessary paperwork. However, once we establish this “quarantine” we will be able to use it in the future at a fraction of the cost.
To complicate matters further, when Matt was heading back to “wait” for the vet to come out again, there were issues with the truck and off to the shop it went. That is the issue with having 16 year old vehicles and working them as hard as we do.Luckily, the truck is being repaired and will be ready to go today. We work really hard to keep them road worthy but they are old and never stop working.
Sadly, we are stuck at this point. We cannot bring the horses home who do not have the proper paperwork.Luckily we have a safe place to quarantine them, but we obviously did not figure for the additional expenses involved.
So once again we are asking our Chilly Pepper Family to not only SAVE ANOTHER MOM AND BABY!, but to help us get the funds to cover these unexpected costs, so we can quarantine these mama’s and their babies and get them home to safety as soon as we can.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
Last week, Colorado State University announced that it is withdrawing from participation in the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) mare sterilization research in Oregon. But the BLM is not letting the lack of academic affiliation stop it from proceeding with these barbaric experiments. Instead, the agency is just dropping CSU’s part in the study, which was to assess the harm to the horses from the study! Now the BLM will proceed without regard for or documentation of the pain and complications — including bleeding, infection and abortion — caused by performing the barbaric and risky surgery on wild mares. This is unacceptable, and we need to weigh in AGAIN to oppose the use of our tax dollars to fund these cruel experiments.
We criticize the BLM frequently for its mismanagement and mistreatment of our wild horses and burros, but when the agency is doing something right, we must acknowledge and support it. Such is the case in Colorado where the BLM is partnering with advocate TJ Holmes and a coalition of local groups to humanely manage the spectacular wild horses in the Spring Creek Basin Herd Management Area. Thanks to a robust fertility control program, no removals have taken place in this HMA for a number of years and no removals are planned. Now we need to weigh in to support the BLM’s proposal to prioritize bait trapping over traumatic helicopter roundups should removals be necessary in the future. Please add your name to our comments by clicking below!
The current Administration is promoting rollbacks of legal requirements for environmental review, public participation, and information disclosure that could have severe detrimental impacts on efforts to protect wild horses and burros. As always, we the people are the line that stands between these cherished animals and destruction, and we must continue to let Congress know that Americans oppose this Administration’s dangerous efforts to weaken legal protections for our wild horses and burros and the public lands they inhabit. Learn more by clicking below.
The BLM’s cruel roundup in Wyoming’s Red Desert ended last week, with the permanent removal 1,4444 horses from our public lands. Ten horses died in the roundup, including six foals, four of whom were literally run to death. Currently, the BLM is removing wild horses and burros from several public lands areas via bait trapping in Utah, Nevada and California, but the helicopters will take to the air again soon. See the latest info on the roundups and find out which herds are targeted next by clicking below.
MINUTES LEFT – Shipper is holding the truck. These 3 mares and foals are loading within the next half hour if we can’t raise funds.
We are going on Faith, as Always, and have an extraordinary Angel who is helping save these. But we can’t save all of them without your help!!!
This is an unusual situation for us, but for some reason God put these in front of us and made it clear we need to save them.
PLEASE HELP! Matt will have to drive to Texas and pick them up, and he is willing. So, please help asap if you can, and if you get this a bit later, please help because we are going on Faith!
The bail is approximately $2600 with bail, health and coggins certificates. Then we need to get them home.
Thank you!!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP HELPING US SAVE MORE LIVES, YOU CAN GO TO:
The latest video captured by our observation team in Wyoming shows a mare trying to protect her foal while being rounded up by a helicopter and men on horseback with ropes. Later in the day, our observer photographed the exhausted foal lying lifelessly on the ground in a holding pen. By the next morning, he was dead.
Most Americans have no clue what’s happening on public lands at the hands of our government. The abuse of wild horses is taking a huge toll. Roundups are hardest on young foals, who are pushed too far and too fast in the summer heat. Half of the wild horse deaths so far in the Wyoming roundup have been foals. At least three were literally run to death.
Here’s the math: if everyone of us shares this petition with 5 friends, more than 1 million people will learn about this abuse. And if just 1 of those 5 signs our petition, we’ll double the size of our movement overnight.
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:
This is how the BLM rounded up 30 wild horses last week in Utah:
Our team captured these photos of the helicopter hazing horses, causing some to crash through barbed wire. These photos have already reached 1.4 million people on Facebook alone!
Right now, our observer is in Wyoming’s Red Desert, where the BLM is rounding up 1,400 wild horses from our public lands. At least six horses have died in the first five days of the roundup, including:
Two foals who were run to death. (“capture shock”)
One foal who was euthanized after breaking his leg
A six-year old stallion who was “injured and blinded by another stallion on a trailer”
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..
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..
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..
