Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays

from all of us at the LCC....

It's freezing.

Seriously, it is really, really, REALLY cold. What is up with that??? I am back in the office and it is 32 degrees in here. Yup. Our house doesn't heat very evenly...

I am a huge idiot and I forgot to PROFUSELY thank Jessica Willis and her crew, who organized the donation of a huge trailer and truck load of hay, AND even helped unload it. Whohoo! That is going above and beyond. Jess answered our call for hay satellites and even went one further with the delivery and unloading. Thank you Jess!!!

Yesterday, for the first time in a few weeks, we were able to go for a little ride in the woods. I rode Dante bareback, and he was a gem. He is a little green and wiggly, and he likes to look at everything, but he wasn't spooky, and when I said go, he went. Leah took Isaac, who tried testing her for the first 15 minutes, but then settled down and was a quiet, lazy boy. Victoria rode Burly, who was of course perfect, and Karen took Otis, who loooved the ride!! Otis was too cute. It was a long ride and the horses were sweaty, but Otis still felt so good he was running around playing with everyone else when we got back. What a goober. It felt good to get out and run around... I feel like I haven't ridden in forever! With how early it gets dark, I just don't have time anymore.

Lacey is now up on the hill, having some time to unwind and be a horse. Triumph was really upset we took his buddy Isaac, and he was running around the field, while Lacey just sort of stood in the corner looking confused. ; ) They settled into each other's company today though.

I also forgot to mention that CC's adopters had him examined by their vet, and they discovered a kidney stone or tumor the size of a basketball. The adopters were having trouble coming up with the money for the expensive surgery, but the donors have graciously offered to help pay! So hopefully, everything will work out wonderfully for Mr. CC. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

Tonight, the LCC Staff is having their Christmas party... always a good time to be had by all. And interesting, of course. ; ) We are a funny crowd, I tell ya.

I am freezing my toes off back in this office, so I'm outta here!!

Never caught up.

It seems we can never quite get two steps ahead of things around here. We finally got some mass mailings done we needed to finish - but now my thank you notes have piled up on the desk!! Isn't that the way it goes..

Isaac has moved up on the hill, but only for a few days. I will be taking Asti to her temporary home at Gypsy Woods Farm, where she'll stay while I groom for them in Florida for a month or two. So, Asti had to go to Pete's to get a current Coggins, and Triumph couldn't be left alone. He was devastated to see her pull away, though. He ran the fence the whole time we pulled out of the driveway... Isaac wasn't much into consolation, he was far more interested in the grass!!

Tomorrow, Isaac will come home and Lacey will go up on the hill. We still haven't gotten a chance to ride her, but her brain is so addled from the training regimen, we're hoping some time off will help her relax. She is wound so tight! There isn't an ounce of fat on her little two year old butt, so 17 acres of grass and just "being a horse" should be a darn good thing for her. It should also be good for Alibi, who is glued to her hip like an appendage.

The rain has been absolutely endless here, so today was the first time all week that everyone got to go play together. It was the first time Bob's been turned out since his arrival. He is a beautiful mover. His trot is so floaty! I was surprised, I think he's a little plain to look at, but he sure can move. He is a total sweetheart and has a wonderful personality. Again, Bob can only go to a walk/trot home. He had a good roll and played with everyone else... Polar was prancing around like a little stud, showing off for the new horse!

A very kind samaritan near Hillsboro, Ohio has found four horses that need homes. All four are mares, and are very gentle. She says they are in good weight and their feet are trimmed, but she doesn't know their ages or if they are broke. Please email me at lastchancecorral@gmail.com for more info, and I'll put you in touch with the woman who has them. These horses were found wandering along the road, and despite many advertisements, no one has claimed them.

Tomorrow, we may all actually get a chance to go for a short ride! How exciting.... it has been weeks since I've been on a horse. Of course, there is no SNOW... what is up with that??

Today four very sweet young ladies came to give treats to the horses for the holidays. What a neat idea! The horses were all about it... ha, ha. They had new best friends..

We have many horses waiting to come in, and no interest in adoptions. If you are interested in any horse we have available, please don't hesitate to contact me or call the LCC for more information.

Tell me this is not the greatest Christmas card ever? From Charmer's adopter... the interior reads: Merry Christmas from me and my Bee Charmer!! What a happy adoption!!


Adios for tonight...

LCC Graduate in need of a new home

Granite, the bay paint purchased at Sugarcreek this summer, is in need of a new home. Due to some unfortunate circumstances, her adopter needs to sell her as soon as possible. Granite is an 8-9 year old Paint mare, bay and white, about 15.1 hands. Her adopter has had her in training at Findley for a semester, and the students say she is so easy to work around! She is very quiet, they have taught her showmanship, and she has a consistent walk/trot/lope. She loads, bathes, clips, stands for the farrier... all the goodies. Her adoption fee is $1500, but her adopter would be willing to negotiate to the right home.

Please contact me if interested, I can give you her owner's contact info.

These are old pics - her owner says she is a different horse now, she is filled out and her color is absolutely beautiful. Her owner will deliver within 100 miles.




(Note: I won't typically post ads like this, but the owner is in a desperate situation and we're full...)

Bob is so cute!

This new boy is SO darling! He will be available for adoption as a walk/trot horse only, no jumping. He is quiet as they come, and sweet as sugar! Hopefully we can find the perfect home for this boy.. He is a special soul.

Another road trip

There is another little horse at the LieWay Hunt Club in Toledo that will be coming to the LCC tomorrow. Robert Wayner and the Hunt Club have been very big supporters and donors of the LCC, and we are happy to be able to help them out. More about the horse when he arrives - he is a small TB, extremely quiet, but will be a walk/trot horse only.

So far, the girls have settled in very well. Allie is very attached to Lacey, we can't decide yet if Lacey returns the sentiment! Lacey is a ball of wild energy - she is fit as a fiddle, there isn't an ounce of fat on her, and she is looooving being turned out with someone else. She is as quick and agile as they come - a superb reining prospect. Allie is a cute mover and she is a very nice size. I look forward to getting on them both and seeing how they go under saddle.

The boys have finally gotten to go back out in their big paddock! No more saving the footing for parking. They were SO EXCITED to be back out where they have room to run and harrass each other to no end. Whoohoo for them!! They were playing the halter game like nobody's business. Otis is so cute, he was in yesterday and after a day in his stall, that old Thoroughbred is the rowdiest of them all. He will run around and back up to everyone, trying to get them to chase him. Plus he LOOOOVES the mud. What goobers!!!!

Isaac came back to us yesterday. Isaac was purchased at Sugarcreek for $10 last December. We didn't exactly realize he was a stud when we purchased him, but man, he has been the million dollar horse! He is in his late teens, and quiet as a kitten. He was a school horse for a few months, but he got too lazy for that, so he was returned a month or two ago. Our vet's wife adopted him as a trail horse, but they have two very old, frail horses and they were concerned that he was pushing them around too much. So he's back! And we're happy to welcome him. He would be SUCH a cute little Christmas gift for a kid. When we purchased him, he was very skinny. Seeing him now, it is hard to believe that he was ever skinny - and even harder to imagine what the heck people must have done to him to MAKE him so skinny! He is TUBBY, and he hasn't even been getting any grain. Time for an exercise program... ha, ha. He is 14.3, built like a little tank, and has the kyoot-est face ever....

Tracy's wedding was absolutely beautiful. Much more relaxed for us LCC folks than the Xmas party last week! It was a very casual affair, Leah and Stacy's boyfriend Tucker played guitar and banjo, and sang. The altar was our lit foal gate. Victoria wrote a beautiful sermon, best friends offered toasts, and there was delicious food everywhere you looked! And I decorated my first cake EVER, and it looked pretty darn respectable, if I may say so myself. ; ) We had a ball, and Tracy and Roger were a wonderful, happy couple. Laura Woolf even came to photograph - pics to come soon!

Photos of Allie and Lacey

Miss Cute-can-be Lacey:

Feelin' good!


The girls are synchronized!!! Awesome.
Alibi

New girls

Well, two of the aforementioned horses we were supposed to pick up didn't pan out! When we were on our way there, the guy called and said he had already given them away. Oh well. The two we brought home are Lacey, an absolutely too freakin' cute registered QH, and Alibi, a beautiful little Thoroughbred. Lacey is 2 and a half and Allie is 13. Pics to follow - I just knew ya'll would be on the edge of your seats waiting to see what we got! :)

off to get more horses..

Tracy and I are on our way to the Newark area to pick up four horses. There is a little 3 year old QH mare, a 13 yo TB mare, and two TBs straight off the track - sound but too slow! They sound like nice horses. It is always exciting getting in a few new horses. Stacy is also coming down today, so I'll finally have someone to ride with!

We have been keeping the horses out of the big paddock so it didn't get mauled before we needed to park in it. Just a few more days of not being able to ride - we have to have parking for Tracy's wedding this weekend! With it being hunting season, I am very nervous about riding in ANY woods nearby. People get so gun-happy. That would be just my luck!

Speaking of Tracy's wedding, we are also stopping at Rod's in Columbus to check out her wedding dress... how exciting! COWGIRL wedding dress, that is...

The four TBs in Circleville didn't work out - the starving ones. There are some issues with the paperwork, but hopefully they should be here after the first of the year. One of the TBs, a long yearling, is in foster care with Dede Cole, who does our equine massage. She has made a ton of progress with him in the two weeks since she's taken him in! He will be available for adoption after the new year.

Cool has been making it a point to get out of his stall as often as possible, little turd. He doesn't run away or anything, he doesn't even get into the grain! He just stands by his buddy Burly's staff and eats the whole bale of alfalfa. He has figured out how to open his stall even WITH his halter clipped on it... so now he has to have a bull snap clipped on it. I'm sure it's only a matter of time until he figures that one out too! Bugger.

I love Polar. I am liking him more and more. Chuck trimmed him the other day, and because of the chronic neglect, his feet are now a bit sore from the changes, so I haven't been able to ride him much. I am hoping we can get a set of shoes on him soon. He is a very smart, kind, wonderful horse. He just needs to handled by someone who understands that you can't push him around. He may be the sweetest, most affectionate horse we have. I adore him, can you tell? If I hadn't needed to sell my own farm, I'd keep him until the day he died. I like him that much.

The Columbus Dispatch called! They want to do a Christmas day story. My query for you loyal blog readers is, do you know a hard-working, horse-loving kid in the Columbus area that deserves their own horse, and has the means to care for it? If you do, PLEASE send me a line... lastchancecorral@gmail.com.

The Christmas party was a huge success. Whopping. The weather was unfortunately not very cooperative, and the roads we rather treacherous, but we still had a decent turnout, including some folks who drove quite a long way! All in all, we made over $7500, including an INCREDIBLY generous donation by Stephanie LeVeque. (Thank you Stephanie!) The musician was fantastic and donated his time... he played until almost 2 am. It was an incredibly festive time, and we really enjoyed everyone's company.

Triumph and Asti came back from the hill for the party. They were so glad for the attention! I had one of the most frightening experiences of my LIFE trying to bring them back down. The farm is up a good big hill, and it had started to snow just a little bit. Well, the truck tires were bald. (We replaced them yesterday, thank goodness!) As we started down the hill, everything was fine, but when we came to the biggest down slope, we slid. A lot. My friend Andy was driving, and thankfully, he's a better driver than I am, and we survived!! I won't lie, I'm a big wuss, I was so freaked out I cried a little bit. Ha, ha. It was scary!!! But anyway, Asti and Triumph enjoyed a few days at the big farm... now they are back on the hill.

For those of you looking to adopt horses, I am creating a main database in the computer to keep track of what people want. Victoria keeps them in her book, but I'm thinking something 'searchable' would be awesome. Please don't contact me until you're really seriously ready to adopt - not if you just think that you MIGHT adopt if the 'perfect' horse came along. ; ) Maybe this will be another way to help more horses. If we don't have room to accept a horse, maybe someone on our 'list' will be looking for just the horse that needs to come in, and we can hook people up outside of the LCC. It would be win-win for everyone!

We finally found some decent hay the other day, but we are still in need of more... everyone keep their eyes peeled...

Have a good Thursday! I'll update you on the new horses as soon as possible..

LCC Holiday Party Reminder!

OK, I know, I am behind again on the blog. Things are absolutely insane here trying to get everything ready for the party.

SO, quickly, I just wanted to remind everyone that the party is TOMORROW night, December 6th, starting at 7 pm!! It is shaping up to be QUITE the holiday bash, and we hope everyone will be able to attend.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email! lastchancecorral@gmail.com.

A delayed update

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I heard the horses here at the farm enjoyed a day with no interruptions or visitors... just turn out. ; )

First the horse updates:

Dante is settling in nicely. For some SILLY reason, I can't get his pictures to load on the website!! So here are some photos for you. His knee as a weanling: (these photos are courtesy of David Antholz, a very talented photographer.)
Hard to believe any little horse could survive that, huh? But he is sound and literally, there is barely a scar. I didn't get a close up 'after' photo of that knee, but you won't believe how small the scar is! That is some serious rehab time his mom put into him. Anyway, I still haven't had time to take Dante out for a decent ride, but the other day, I figured I better at least climb on his back and see what a good boy he is. I rode him up and down the back driveway, bareback, in a halter with lead ropes. He is quiet as can be. He rides like a little go cart - easy to steer, easy to stop, easy to go!! ; ) He is a forward horse with lots of energy and interest in what comes next, and would be a fantastic partner for anyone to do anything!!Polar went to Pete's on Wednesday of last week. Polar came to us with pretty severe diarrhea. It was obvious he had it for a long time, as his legs were crusty and sore. It has not cleared up as quickly as we hoped, nor was he putting on weight very well. There are days now when it is fairly solid, but others are bad. Anyway, a quick trip to Pete's had both good and bad results. The good news is, there is no cancer or other big issues, as we had feared. Polar had a broken tooth. Who knows how long the tooth has been like that - it could have been several years - perhaps this will cure his nervousness about the bit in his mouth? We hope. The bad news (sort of) is that Polar is actually in his early to mid-20's. He is putting on weight very well now and is a healthy horse besides his little tooth issue, which Pete took care of. I still have high hopes for him to find a wonderful home with someone. He is a good boy and deserves a buddy. He doesn't act his age, except for his wise demeanor!

C.C. was adopted yesterday! Hooray for him. The family who adopted him is very knowledgeable and they have already established a working relationship with their vet to combat his incontinence issues. We couldn't be more pleased.

Triumph has been deemed healthy enough by the almighty Victoria that he was moved to the in town farm today. Asti is still up there, but since C.C. and Yuri were adopted, she was all alone. She seems pleased to have a boy up there! Triumph will hopefully start to build some muscle and learn to use those legs, running up and down hills. I swear he's grown a hand since he came. We will have some update pics in a few days.

Tomorrow or Wednesday, four starving Thoroughbreds will arrive. I have seen them, and all four are very nice, BIG, quiet, sound horses. There are three geldings and a mare. They are all four VERY SKINNY. They will need some serious rehab, but all four are young and seem to be great prospects for someone looking for a project. They are all tatooed, so they were at least track-broke at one point! I can't wait to play with them. There is a fifth, a two year old, who is in foster care.

The foal barn is coming along nicely. Here is a pic from Wednesday afternoon:What do you think? Quite lovely, no?

A big, huge, whopping thank you to Jess W, who not only has stepped up to be a 'hay satellite,' but also got her friends to donate 75 bales, which she is delivering next week, along with many more bales we are purchasing from her local farmer. Whoohoo! We are low, low, low on hay, and we are getting a little nervous about the winter. If you know of good quality grass hay for sale, PLEASE let us know.

Surprisingly, we haven't had a lot in the way of donations for our silent auction. We have high hopes that things will arrive in the mail this week. If you were one of our generous item donors, thank you so much! If not, what are you waiting for? ; )

I am back to the grindstone working on our mailing list. If you would like to be on our mailing list and aren't yet, you can always email me at lastchancecorral@gmail.com. Once you're on it, you will get our newsletters. They are always entertaining... ha, ha.