Here are just some of the rescued animals we have at the farm. Every one of them has their own personality and story. They were all unwanted at some time in their lives, but now have a home and family to call their own. You can sponsor any specific animal that we have, just fill out the message box during checkout when you make a donation. We will put your initials in a heart next to that animal's bio below.

Meet Easy, our very first Rescue Showcase celebrity. Easy is 35. He worked for the Forest Service building trails down at Gunnison, so every day he'd have to go about 30 miles, hauling gravel or the forest rangers. When he got too old to work, around 30, they put him on the Government Surplus List and sold him like they'd sell a typewriter. A lady from the Horse Protection League rescued him, she knew me and then we got him. The Forest Service came down to visit him. They had done a journal story on him when he was in his prime. So he's kind of a famous horse. He also has a US brand on his hip.

Easy has cataracts now. We feed him in the barn and then let him come out in the sunlight where he can see what's going on. Easy also gets a special joint formula, Showflex, to keep his old joints healthy.

I took him out to the Scout Ranch in Kiowa and the little blind kids came over and touched and petted him. He just stood there and let them do it.

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This is Goldie. She's about 16. Goldie has a little hunter's lump on her back. She came off of a ranch down south, and cowboys down there used to get on her and run horses on her. She didn't like that very much. She's 15.2, she's solid, she has absolutely no faults because they didn't treat her like a pet, they treated her a piece of equipment. So she didn't even know how to eat apples. It took Goldie a long time to trust people. People would just jump on her and now she just says "wow, do I have a good life!"

Goldie is a registered palomino. To be a registered palomino you need to be within two shades of a newly minted copper penny and the hairs in the mane and tail cannot be more than one dark hair for every white one. And the palomino people do count them.

Horses are herd animals and they rely on each other, but there's a specific pecking order. If they see a coyote coming their nostrals will get real big and they'll snort from deep down in their chest.

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Here's GW. He's around 28. GW belonged to a little girl who didn't want him any more because she wanted a motorcycle. GW is a Fox Trotter, and he's what's called a Blue Paper Fox Trotter because his ancestors can be traced back to Zane Grey, the original Fox Trotter. GW has what's called Cushings; he has a tumor on his pituitary gland so he needs Pergoglyde, and his medication is about $110 a month. It keeps the tumor in check. The evidence of Cushings is he has a little bit of a cresty neck and doesn't shed out in the summer so we have to clip him. He can't have certain foods because he can't digest them. But he is a Fox Trotter and his real name is Golden Wonder. We pay for all the medication.

The man who first owned him when he was a stallion, Alden Duncan, lived in MO and he used to ride up and down steep banks and through rivers, and this was going to be a famous stallion. Then the owner got bit by a tick and got the tick fever. He lost a lot of weight and became so debilited that he gave this horse to a little girl with the promise she would never geld him. The promise didn't last, so she make him into a riding horse. Then she decided she'd rather have a motorcycle.

He loves to play in water. If you ride him across a river he just stands there and splashes.

Here are Elizabeth and Millie.

The little black and white one is named Millie. When Millie was born she had a heart murmur and we had to have the vet come all the way from Burlington and she had to be tube fed.

Next to Millie is Elizabeth. When Elizabeth was born she was so sick she needed a blood transfusion sent in from Minnesota. She had a heart murmur and was very weak. The vet that took care of her started up the Elisabeth Animal Hospital. So we named her Elisabeth in honor of funding a wing for him.

When you talk to llamas, they like to smell your breath. That's how they know who you are.

Llamas are very curious, so when the coyotes come around they run up to look at the coyotes. If they see something scary they yodel.

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This is Jessica. We got Jessica because she has extensive dental problems. She's the one who will really kiss you. She has a real underbite. Llamas do not have top teeth. Llamas are part of the Camelidae family, so they have feet like camels and pads on their feet.

Llamas love to stand up on a hill. They have a chest plate, so if they're going to fuss with each other or just to play around, they slam into each other's chest. When they lay down they tuck their feet down under them and their chest protects them. This is called "cushing."

They get sheared about every two years. I save the fiber and can do felting. I can do wet felting, the dry felting, and I recently learned how to do needle felting. I thought I could show kids crafts made from the llama fiber. You can roll up the fiber and shrink it and make cat balls for the cats to play with. This is very easy.

Vincent Van Goat, Vinny, an alpine goat and his companion NG (New Goat) arrived in June 2008 and are great fun. These mild mannered goats love to be brushed and will follow you anywhere!

Update: Vincent passed away in July 2009.

This is Whiskers, a little black and white pigmy goat. She was given to us because she was bred to a full sized goat, and they thought that it would kill her. But she successfully had those two babies, "Thing 1" and "Thing 2," that were twice as big as her. We gave them to the 4H for kids to raise.

The grey goat is Rosita. She came out of the country where they kept her in a cage and put tennis balls on her horns because they didn't want her to to poke anyone with her horns. She is an alpine goat. They have little twisted ears so they won't get frost bite. She used to jump up on the back of a burro and ride him around when she was a little slimmer. Goats love to jump up on things.

Update: Rosita passed away in August 2009 from old age. We miss you Rosita!

Cocoa, the little brown goat, came out of the Hayman fire. She probably was kept in a cage or something because it took a long time for her feet to straighten out. She was really really wild when we got her.

Even the girls have little beards, so these are all girls. Goats can eat just about anything. So all our table scraps come out here.

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This is Max on the right. Max came from the Krall exhibit at the Zoo and he's an African Burro. On the left is Jenny, and she is an African burro, a little mare. Jenny is sensitive to the light, and I have to brush around her eyes (crusty eyes) and keep her eyes area clean.

Out at Teri's I have another burrow that came out of the China Lakes, and he is a Jerusalem Burrow. They are so named because they have a cross on their backs.

Here are the two Zebus located on my Lynda's daughter's property. Chuck, the male, is on the right and Molly is on the left. They are sacred cattle from India and are from the closed Krall Exhibit at the Denver Zoo. We had to build them a special house to keep them warm in the winter, as they do not grow a warm winter coat.

Also out at Teri's is this burrow, Midnight, that came out of a BLM wild burro roundup in China Lakes, California. He is a Jerusalem Burro. They are so named because they have a cross on their backs. He was born at midnight. His mother was caught in the roundup. The owner put the mother in a field with a buffalo and she was gored to death.

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Honey is a 32 year old mare that was born in Alaska. She had been severely punished by a previous owner. It took her a long time to relax around men.  She was in the process of being purchased by a man who was going to use her to pack into the wilderness and be the bait on a bear hunt. Once we acquired her, both Honey and her companion horse Beau were flown out of Alaska as boxed freight by The Flying Tigers. Up to this time horses were transported in and out of Alaska in cargo ship holds or hauled over the Alcan Highway. Last spring Beau died and now Honey’s best companion is Ryann, Teri and Jim’s four year old daughter. Here Honey is accompanied by Ryann's big brother, Mason.

Vern is a Gotlieb pony. This means he looks like a small horse. He was purchased from an auction house during a snow storm when he was six months. The previous owners had kept him tied up with a halter that had grown into the flesh on his nose. They said he was so wild that they could not catch him if he ever got loose. Today Vern loves to run with the big guys and he comes to eat treats from your hand.

These are some of our Guinea Hens. They're also called African Pheasants. They are champagne color and purple and white. We started out with 28 of them, and the bad thing is that they chase the coyotes, so that's why we're down to two adults and three babies.

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