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Spring 2009 Newsletter

This was a really tough winter. The extreme temperature changes were hard on the animals. In March we lost GW our 32 year old palomino Fox trotter. He had Cushing’s disease for years and was on daily medication to control the tumor on his pituitary gland. This prevented him from shedding his winter coat and from properly digesting his food. On the day he coliced, I fed him an apple at 10:00 in the morning and when I returned at 3:00 that afternoon he was in severe colic distress. Our wonderful vet, Dr. Lee Mueller, was here in 1/2 an hour and treated him with pain medication and oil. As the temperature started dropping my daughter Teri Allen and our vet tech Tara Reid decided to transport GW to Teri’s Terolyn Farms facility 13 miles east of here. Teri had a stall with video monitors and heat lamps already set up in anticipation of her mares in foal. Even with the best care, GW could not recover and was euthanized. He is buried at Terolyn Farms on a ridge where he can see Pikes Peak. All the animals are missing GW.

The next week, Max the burro went on a rampage and stomped on Little Joe, our little fainting goat that had just turned a year old. Again Dr. Lee Mueller was on a farm call in the neighborhood and was here in minutes. He determined that the internal injures were severe and Little Joe was euthanized.

A week later at sunrise we found Easy in the pasture unable to get up. Again Dr. Mueller was here within the hour and we determined that Easy was not going to suffer. He and Little Joe are both buried beside GW on the ridge at Terolyn Farms. To honor Easy, Lisa and Kevin Clark, two of our longtime volunteers, bought and planted an apple tree in the field where Easy had loved to eat grass. Mason and Ryann Allen bought and planted a Red bark dogwood in memory of Little Joe because he followed them just like a little puppy. We have planted a flowering crab apple in honor of GW who was not a crab but loved apples and could pick pockets in his search for treats. We have ordered memorial plaques to mark each tree. We fervently hope that spring will bring a respite from all the loss and sadness. The rain has been cleansing and the greenness is welcomed.

Guili Brunner, one of the volunteers wrote a tribute to Easy and pasted it in the frontispiece of a beautiful picture book and presented it to us. The book, “The Forgotten Horses”, has photographs by Tony Stromberg, foreword by Robert Redford. This book is made up entirely of horse pictures at rescues and sanctuaries all over the world.

“This is for you in memory of the very most wonderful, incredible, horse that has graced this planet with his life—Easy. Gentle and kind is how I would humanize him in terms of my experience. The first horse I have ever gotten to know. I wonder if there is another that can ever measure up to the feeling of safety and peace I always felt when I was around him.” ---Guili Brunner

Thanks to all of you wonderful friends, volunteers, and supporters (the terms overlap) who have, so generously, given your time and support.

NEW ANIMALS

We have four new goats from the Denver Zoo. The Zoo is adding a new opportunity “A Night at the Zoo” and therefore is closing the Kraal Exhibit. They will create a camping area for this new, overnight, outdoor program. All of the goats are 7 years old and are neutered males. Since they are from the African farm exhibit their names are reflective of this. There are two Nubian—Akia (has long gray ears) and Suli (with dark brown ears and nose). When they stand up they look like relatives of JarJar Binks from Star Wars. There are two pygmy goats –Ghana (all white) and Togo (gray). They are named for countries in Africa. We had a 4-H group, Pony Pals out here working on leading skills with the goats. Ghana had a strategy of dropping to his front knees and crawling away and Togo loved to nibble on clothes. Some visitors wanted to go home and learn the song about Bill Groggin’s goat that ate the clothes off of the line and then coughed up a shirt and flagged down a train! All are becoming quite polite!

We brought a 32 year old Palomino, Honey Leia, from the Allen’s place where they were keeping her to keep Goldie company.

We have a sweet male Dutch 3 month old bunny named Thumper placed with us. He was placed with us because the owners could no longer care for him.

WISH LIST

• Someone to help us write grants
• Homes for animals needing rehoming, goats, horses,llamas, the current owners have agreed to keep them on their premises until homes can be found. We are full here.
• Volunteers for daily chores
• Continuous repair and maintenance
• Send stories for the next newsletter
Specialized help in Parker:
• Gutters need to be installed on hay barn
• Lightening rods purchased and installed on the hay barn
• Hay room floor cemented
• Painting of porch and re touch barn
• Netting over chicken coop
• Level stall mats
• Weld wire on Max’s pen to keep goats out
• Fence stretching and repair
Specialized help at Terolyn farms:
• fence repair
• Yucca removal

AND ALWAYS DONATIONS $$$$

Dates:
Llama sheer June 6, Saturday @ 9:00
Lynda’s knee replacement July 6th

AGAIN --- THANK YOU ALL—WE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other helpers:

Good Samaritan-Dog/ Cat adoptions
Horse Protection League
Dawn Jacko and the fruit donations from King Soopers
Carol Vogel
Beth Springer
Tara Reid and Neighborhood Pet Care Center
Dr. Lee Mueller DVM
Dr. Roger Grimes DVM-Creekside Animal Hospital, Elizabeth, CO
Dr. Walters DVM
Dr. Kim Allyn DVM, Elizabeth Animal Hospital, Elizabeth, CO
Dr. Leon Anderson DVM, Elizabeth Animal Hospital, Elizabeth, CO
Dr. Marc R. McCall, Cherry Creek Animal Clinic
Dr. Jeri Holland DMV, Neighborhood Pet Care Center
And... all our wonderful Volunteers
Sorry if we have overlooked any one!!

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February 2009 Newsletter

All the Foundation animals have done well during the winter months. We need lots of volunteers to help with brushing, as the weather warms, they will be shedding, due to the increased hours of sunlight.

We like the snow this winter, it adds moisture to the pastures.  It also helps us track our “invisible” cats, Tom, Ted and Cuddles. When the new concrete floors were poured in the barn, the cats changed their locations.  Cuddles and Tom moved to the hay barn, and Ted moved to the garage.  Sightings of the “invisible” trio are rare.  After a snow fall we can track them in their nightly ventures.

Little Joe has been on a diet and is more agile with the loss of a few pounds.  He still continues to freeze up when he is happy, usually around feeding time.

The llamas have their yearly scheduled beauty sheering appointment on June 6 at 9:00 am.  Volunteers are welcome.  The “beautician”  is Judy Glaser of Rockwood Llamas.  She brings a portable beauty stall.

We are looking for suggestions on how best to use the raw fiber from the sheering.  The Rocky Mountain Weavers Guild meets on the third Saturday of the month.  If any volunteers would like to join, we have further information.

A popular attraction continues to be our mini fair. Young scouts, brownies and school children research their animal from our web sight before their visit. When they arrive they find the project animal they have selected. They then groom, and present their chosen animal to the judges as they parade their animals through an obstacle course. Then they tell the group what they have learned. Lots of picture opportunities for the parents. Exhibitors are usually presented with a certificate or ribbon. Fun for all!

Chuck and Molly, the Zebu's, were moved to an inside stall on cold winter days.  In spite of their luxurious fur, the two African cattle need extra protection from extreme low temperatures. Chuck, the bull, stores winter fat in his hump which has grown to 14 inches in height.

Chores have been much easier this winter with the installation of concrete floors in the aisle way, tack room, and chicken room.

Projects for this spring include leveling the stall mats, enclosing the chicken and guinea yard with a mesh roof, a second coat of paint for the barn, installation of rain gutters and other repairs as they are needed.

Please put on your thinking caps and give us ideas for fund raisers.  With a tough economy the silly animals keep on eating up foundation resources. In the spirit of all the generous donations, Lynda and John have returned to substituting for Cherry Creek Schools.  The Foundation has received some very generous donations from patrons, and some really great items from other contributers, including Tawawa Gardens. Come help us decide how to use the materials.

The foundation always need articles, stories or pictures for future newsletters. Please submit items to ljmedwards@aol.com. You will receive a by line and a certificate of publication.

As always, a big THANK YOU to all our wonderful volunteers who deserve “postman” honors, because neither rain, nor wind, nor sleet, nor snow, nor below freezing temperatures could keep them away!!

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November 2008

Here's a picture of Sissy (black lab) with her new family!

With the help of Carol at Good Samaritan Pet Center in Denver, Sissy was spayed by a vet and ready to go home with her new family. Here she is with Diane and yellow lab Ralphie. Says Diane: "The spay went well. They gave me drugs for her for pain. She is healthy and 82 pounds. We couldn't be happier with her. She is very eager to please, so her training should go very well." Sissy likes to play tug-o-war with her new buddy Ralphie.

Thanks Diane for giving Sissy a wonderful new home!

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October 2008 - SEE UPDATE BELOW

We have recently acquired several animals. We received 10 lamas, 10 goats, and 2 horses. All these animals have been placed. We currently have a 3 yr old black lab mix, Skiba, looking for a home. He is very loving, and loves to take walks. Recently, Cub Scout pack 313 and parents painted the hay shed and barn. Also, Girl Scout troop 297 helped paint the barn. We have also recently acquired two fainting goats, a mama and a baby. We named the mama goat Sarah Plain and Tall, and the little goat Little Joe. Fainting goats don’t actually faint. It’s a muscle disorder in their legs. When the goats are startled or excited, their legs will stiffen up and they fall down. In Europe and Africa they use to use these goats to protect their sheep from wolfs. Since sheep are much more valuable than the goats, the goats would be put in with sheep. When wolves tried to kill the sheep the goat would faint, the wolves would eat the goat instead of the sheep. Sadly the mama goat died and Little Joe is lonely. So the little goat has found a new mama, a mama llama. The llamas protect the goat from harm from the other animals and warn it of coyotes. We would also like to thank all of the volunteers who have helped to get the barn winterized.

UPDATE ON SKIBA:

Skiba has a new home! Here's a letter from his new owners: "I just wanted to drop a note and say how happy Skiba seems to be and how happy we are to have him. He's so well behaved, especially in the house; he loves attention, our kids and their friends love him, and our younger son loves to wrap his arms around him and follows him everywhere. We didn't hear a sound from him his first night here, he's been having a blast in the back yard, playing fetch with us and shaking hands, he already knows which house is his when he comes in from his walks. He's met the dogs of our neighbors and he gets along fine with all of them." It sounds like Skiba is a very lucky dog!

Latest update: the image below is Skiba on Christmas morning with his best friend.

This newsletter was written and composed with photographs
by Kevin Clark

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