Equamore Foundation is looking forward to a bright future for the horses in our care and for horse owners who take advantage of our new education programs coming this summer. A “Hoof Care for Horse Owners” clinic is scheduled for Saturday, June 2nd, from 1 pm to 4 pm in the afternoon.   It follows the first “Caring for Horses” clinic held this spring and taught by Dr. Gene Koo Kang, DMV.   Four more Jackson County Sherriff’s deputies are now certified to use the Henneke Body Scoring system to judge a horse’s body condition when they respond to reported cases of horse abuse or neglect.  More classes on horse care and health will be scheduled and advertised here as will be other changes the Foundation is making to its programs to raise funds and better to serve Oregon and its needy horses and horse owners.   One such program is the “Weekly Equamore,” a blog written by Equamore volunteer events coordinator, Niki Potter, who also organizes the “Voices for Horses” benefit concerts you see advertised in the right hand column. Subscribing to “Weekly Equamore” and this blog will keep you informed as to the progress of the Foundation and also of the horses we rescue. The Equamore Twitter site also gives short, daily updates on our progress and the progress of rescued horses. And, of course, there’s always Equamor’s Facebook page and You Tube channel to keep up with your equine favorites.

Speaking of rescued horses: many Equamore Friends have asked about Thor, Hoover, Sassy, and Chance, who came into the Foundation during the last two months of 2011. Below is an update in photos and text.  Clicking on a picture enlarges it.

Thor and his sponsor are still getting acquainted. After his “Last Terrible Day,” this black quarter horse is still suspicious of strangers, but he knows his guardian and nickers when she enters the barn. He even gets a little jealous when Ruth pays too much attention to Hoover, his sidekick in the next stall. He’s let me pet him as long as I pay the price of a carrot (“Don’t bother me with those stupid cookies; it’s carrots I want.)

Both Hoover and Sassy, whose feet were in terrible condition when they were rescued, have ventured outside their stalls and even into the fields. You can see Hoover’s “Day Out” on the Updates page.  It will take at least a year for these two to recover the full use of their feet, and the jury is still out on their eventual prognosis. But if our trimmers have anything to say about it, things will continue to improve until Hoover and Sassy have the best feet we and nature can give them.

Chance has recovered as only the young can recover. He is the darling of any child who comes into the barn wanting to pet a horse.  You can see all the horses at Eden Farm by making an appointment to go on a bar tour.  To see more videos, use the links from Niki’s blog below.

An excerpt from a recent blog:

At the horse farm this week many things have been happening.  Lots of healing and bonding with the horses especially.  Pequito’s color has darkened up quite a bit. (Image below.) Most of the horses are shedding and liking a good scratching.  A big thing happened with Hoover and his friend Thor… they went out to pasture for the first time since their last terrible day in November last year.  I’ve posted video footage here and on “Hoover and Thor’s Day Out” on You Tube

Our friend Anarra*, a beautiful Cleveland Bay mare left for Portland to be with her person and we will miss her so. The ponies are doing well and we welcomed a miniature horse named Ranger to the barn.  We had dinner with the caballeros on Friday and have another event in the works… but I won’t say what it is ’til its time.  Bryant is looking FANTASTIC!  No more nose drippings and he’s friendlier than ever!  Eddie had a little accident though.  We think he was grazing and got caught between the sign and a post.  He’s a super friendly big black horse with a white blaze down his nose.  He’s older but not too much.  He poked a hole in his chest and had to get stitched up.  My team is in the pasture across from Eddie and his friends.  They were standing sentinel keeping watch over Eddie while he was figuring himself out.

We had a birthday party for Frankie Hernandez’s daughter earlier on in the week.  She had my favorite Gryffindor tie on.  It was a Harry Potter themed birthday party.  The Sanctuary is a great events grounds with plenty of parking and great acoustics… not to mention we can hold 2500 people here.  We offer the grounds for special events at a fair price AND the proceeds benefit a local Ashland based non-profit that rescues horses… what a way to go!

Paquito
Paquito: “Cookie, lend me your comb**

*Anarra was boarded at Eden farm by her owner, who wanted the expert training for her horse and herself that Executive Director Linda Davis provides for a fee.

**Paquito and three other little horses were taken in when their owner entered a care facility. Equamore volunteers have been able to place all the ponies and their mini friend new owners.