Save the Horses

I am a volunteer with Save the Horses, a rescue organization housing horses, miniature horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, chickens and roosters, goats and peacocks.

I put in at least one shift per week at the main barn, and the work is very physical and exhausting, depending on the weather (i.e. dry and warm vs. cold, wet and muddy). Its very simple work: checking the troughs for water, putting grain feed together and passing it out, giving out bales of hay, turning horses out to pasture or bringing them in, mucking stalls and taking care of misc. issues (donkey kicking in part of a fence, horse rushing the gate and getting loose).

This all happens on a farm with a large barnyard, in Georgia sunlight and smooth breezes, birds signing and roosters crowing. It is muddy when it rains, chilled in winter and boiling hot in the summer.

It is heaven. I am spent (as in, can hardly walk to my car to go home) after 5 hours, but its a good type of spent. And in between the tasks at hand, we get to hang with the animals and get a horse fix.

“Sparrow” is pictured here. She stuck her nose between the fence and was all nuzzly, wanting pets. Of course I accommodated. But I turned my back on her to deal with a task, and she reached out and bit me good!

Sparrow, the culprit.

I said a bad word, and we weren’t speaking for awhile, but we have made up since.

The 4th of July fundraiser was fun. Pony rides for the kids.

A UNICORN!