Kids just want to have fun

Kids just want to have fun

It is summer break now and the kids are all looking to have a good time.

No more having to go to bed early , and no more homework at least for now.

Two brothers that volunteer their time to help out here got to have fun with our newest four legged kids.

After getting all their chores done it is time for a treat.

Kids just want to have fun.

It gets hot now,
and after feeding 14 horses and cleaning their piles they left behind to be cleaned up; it was time for the boys and babies to have fun hanging around each other.

Making friends no matter the age is fun here. Look at their faces; it is better than sliced cookie dough.

Soft hands, big smile and a warm heart is what it takes, and these two brothers have that passion.

You can help

If you feed Southern States Feed,

You can help us !

We need your proof of purchase off your Southern States horse feed bags and mail it to us so we can raise money for our Rescue Horses.

The address to send your proof of purchase is:

Harmony Meadows Equine Rescue Inc.

573 Frey Rd.

Dallas, GA.

30132

Thank you for your support!

Eddie and Little Man

We have been the proud owners of Eddie now for a year. Eddie was rescued by The Department Of Ag. Last year from Pike County. We bought Eddie at the auction in June 07. His story is posted on this blog.

I just have to say that Eddie has given our family and volunteers much love and understanding. We have all learned from him. Yes, Eddie is blind but he has much to give and we except his offerings.

He has taught us that being blind isn't a bad thing you just have to do some things different sometimes.

My Dear Eddie,

You have given me such joy in the last year and I pray we have many more years together. We have learned to be patient, to give to your needs only as needed. To stay out of your way when you know what you want and we don't at that moment. We see the love in your heart. You are my morning Eddie, every morning when I walk outside you are what I see. You take that morning and turn it into a smile.

You make me see just how crazy human's can be when they think they know it all when it comes to being blind.

Here it is a year later and I still hide hay for you to find and we know you know it is there. . And when we try to sneak past you only to get busted. Who are we fooling? Well it isn't you , we are only fooling us. You take the little games we play and enjoy them as much as we do. There is just now way to outsmart you.

I truly respect your friendship with Champ next door. I have never seen a friendship as close as yours. Two geldings living on the other side of the fence from each other spending their days together. I see it when ya'll play face games and when Champ pulls your fly mask off and tosses it to the side. Is that just you asking him to do this for you? I think it is my dear friend. You may not know it , but it makes us happy to see you two do the things ya'll do as friends.

Here lately you have been a real trooper in helping us care for little Man. You have been a friend to him and I love you for that. Now it will be time to say good bye to Little Man. He isn't getting any better and it isn't fair to keep him here for our own reasons. We have all given Little man the love that he deserves when his own owners wouldn't. But Eddie, most of all buddy, you have been the real friend to him. You have given your time to him as a friend, you have given up your extra space for him without a complaint. You have spent your time under your shade trees when it gets hot outside with Little Man when you could be spending it with Champ. You allowed Little Man to share your time with your friend Champ. You are the one we owe the thanks to. You gave something that as people we couldn't give. You, your time and your love and understanding in your horse world. Little Man will go being loved by the best and that is you and all of us here at Harmony Meadows.

Eddie, You are what Harmony Meadows is all about.

I am looking forward to a life time with you and your funny ways. You bring a smile to my heart and sunshine for my day. You touch hearts that will never experience that kind of touch in a lifetime. You are a rare experience and it is breathtaking.

Thank you Lord for bring Eddie to us.

Why?

Why is it so important for everyone to see the ugly that someone caused in order to donate?

I find it very offending that this is what everyone wants to see.

God did not put these animals here for someone to starve , abuse or to be used as some status symbol.

I had a visitor several days ago and asked for pictures to publish so we could get donations. No! I will not.

We will not expose the ugly of the hand of a twisted mind that chose to put these animals in this situation. I will not do it and if it means I have to work 5 jobs to care for them I will, but I will not show the ugly. Here it is only the beauty of the horse that is shown here. Yes, every horse here has a story to tell and we will be happy to share that with you; but pity we do not except.

Anyone who reads this I ask you to do me one favor. Please close your eyes and think of a horse. Not one in particular just a horse. Now tell me what you see: Think of every movement, every line on their body, think about them being in a herd of other horses. It is so beautiful to watch a horse in a herd. They have much to teach if you will only watch and listen. Now you tell me what does a horse mean to you?

When I wake up every morning I walk outside onto my front deck and I see what God has created.

It is beauty, freedom, strength, dominance, fear, speed and love. This is what we are about here at Harmony Meadows Equine Rescue. I thank God for giving me such beautiful gifs every day.

What gives me the right to expose the hate of the human that spilled over to a helpless animal? If this is what it takes to get the public to help donate to our cause than no thank you. I am not here to satisfy anyone's curiosity of this kind of treatment.

Our vet bills run about $500.00 plus a month our feed bill is about $2500.00 a month our hay bill runs about $540.00 a month. We only have very few people who are willing to help with the financial part of our rescue. Oh, and no we are not Government funded. We wish it were that easy, but we are funded by donations and what I make from working.

We do not get any discount from our Veterinarians' nor our feed store. We pay full price for everything. It is hard to work for what you believe in when you can't get anyone else to work with you.

I have had to learn to become a farrier , give shots treat wounds, fatten starved horses and teach a miss treated horse to trust again. I love what I do, but it takes more than one to continue that fight.

Are They Here Yet?

Every morning I head out to see if one of the rescue mares have had their baby yet. No, not today. Boy do those words seem to repeat themselves more everyday here. We just took in a new mare a few weeks ago, and yes she is pregnant, underweight and ready to pop. In the last 3 days I have watched Pepper's belly drop and her bags getting bigger.

Now, I have never been a person who drank coffee until I ended up with four pregnant mares . None which I have bred. See, that is something I do not allow here nor will they ever be allowed to be bred. We have 2 of the four babies on the ground having a wonderful life here. These last two are killing me. See, Pepper was fed Fescue hay during most of her pregnancy and we all know what that can spell out. Now, I hear it from people that a mare with fescue poison will not bag. Well, I am here to tell you that that is not true. I have seen two mares lose their babies to fescue poison and bagged up just fine. I have seen mares not wax up, so darn if they do and darn if they don't.

These babies are in my prayers every day. Please Lord let them be born healthy and be blessed with love and a true horse life. They are here for a reason and that question has yet to be answered. We will soon find out. I do believe that God does things for a reason and it is up to us to see his message. So far I have done pretty good. He never gives more than I can handle.

The day Pepper came here was filled with the worse weather. Major storms and tornado warnings. Black clouds, heavy rain, and tornado sirens going off around us.

Meg and I had set out to look at the 3 horses this lady needed to sell because she needed the money. As a rescue I told her that we do not buy horses. Well, if you know me you know that when my calling is heard I go, and so we did. The weather was doing real good at this time. We checked out the 2 young fillies I was going to buy were too skinny and were in a paddock with two other horses. Total of 4 horses in a paddock small enough for only one. I wasn't too worried about their weight cause if was fixable. The smell was very unpleasant to deal with so I stepped aside and looked at Pepper. My jaw hit the ground when I saw how skinny she was and being pregnant to boot. I was able to talk her into letting me buy her as well. I spent a total of $512.00 getting these horses, and this wasn't counting my fuel. I didn't need to spend that kind of money with the high prices of everything. I have never regretted getting Pepper.

I was still worried about the weather so we headed home to get the trailer and by the time we got home and in the house it started to pour, thunder and lighten.

A friend of ours wanted to go with us, so we waited. After he checked out the weather and saw how bad it was getting he backed out. Not me, Meg and I headed out . The crazy thing about the trip was the rain slowed down and the sky cleared except in a distance on each side. You could see how thick and dark the clouds were. My cell phone wouldn't stop ringing! I guess I really needed to hear how crazy I was, going to get Pepper. It wasn't raining bad and I was not about to leave that mare without any shelter and pregnant. She was only two weeks away from being due. I didn't waste any time getting her in the trailer, so we could get home in a hurry. The clouds were looking mighty rough and I didn't want to get caught up in it.

Our trip back home was just as clear as going to get Pepper. Those clouds were still all around us. We made it home safe; got pepper in the barn, and all hell broke loose. It rained so hard.

One thing I know is that God didn't want me to leave her behind, so I had to go get her. Things happen for a reason, he shows us the way and it is up to us to pay attention.

Pepper has made friends and is now getting ready to have her baby. Everyone,

Tonight, when you go to bed; I ask you to please add Pepper and her baby to your prayers. Sometimes I can't walk the path alone. The unknown is the hardest kind of worry and I have it.

I only have enough coffee for tonight, about one and a half pots. I hope it holds up till in the morning.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this blog. It means so much to us and our horses.

I will not be adding Pepper's picture to this story. See, I do not want her to be remembered being seen skinny, with long hoofs with shoes still attached. I know pictures are worth a thousand words, but I respect the true beauty of each of our horses; Healthy and happy. This is why I call our rescue Harmony Meadows and it speaks for its self.

Don’t get attached

Written by Brian B. Associate of H.M.E.R Inc.

“ Don’t get attached ”

Everyone knows how it is to be around an animal and know you cant keep them or know your time with them will be limited to a short while. If you are any part of an organization that works with animals you know even more about getting to know the animal and making a little place in your heart for every one of them . The other thing you try and would like to do more often, is to disassociate your self from them more so you do not have to go through the feeling of loss or emptiness.

Now, in my own personal opinion I think it is easier to do with some species that you are not around all the time, or do not have a special little place in your heart for. This particular animal for me is the Horse! I have had animals

come and go in my life and yes it bothered me to loose them . But I never had the same feeling as I did when I lost or worse had to put down A horse that I really cared for and had a bond with. Her name was Sarah. When we put her down it

was not an easy decision but for the medical reasons that plagued her at the time we did not have much of a choice. Sarah did leave us with her 2 week old filly named Ariel. So with a new baby , I had little time to reflect on the passing of another quiet companion.

Since then horses have come and gone in my life . some having to be put down and others being adopted out to friends that never could quite get the push to buy a horse.

Now that we operate a rescue I have to see them come and go more often than ever. We recently acquired a Beautiful paint named ROCKET that was about 3 years old and had a bad injury on her left front leg. When I went to go get Rocket she was in a small 8 x 10 make shift stall made with 2 strips of 2x8's under a second story deck. She was very alert & seemed to be agitated and extremely touchy. I say this cause the very first touch from me , She kicked at me like a 10 year old healthy stallion. We finally managed to coax her in the trailer and got her home. She stayed in the trailer with the door wide open for about 2 days. Now off the trailer we fixed her a stall in the barn with lots of woody pet type bedding and loads of shavings so she had plenty of cushion for her leg. The last thing that was said to me after we put her in the stall was "She will probably not be here long, They believe the leg will never heal. DON'T GET ATTACHED." So I am like yea, Why would I get attached? I don't care for paints, Mares are messy in stalls, and I don’t have time to spend with her anyway.

Well , I learned each day that this little filly was a challenge. She hated everyone . Nobody was aloud in the barn but a select few. Those few did not like her too much because of her aggressiveness and each time I heard them say she will kick your brains in I was thinking . " hmmm . Why is it she is pretty calm when I am in the stall with her. Days led to weeks and weeks to months. I could walk in Rockets stall and she would hobble up and put her head on my shoulder. I would rub the eye boogers off her eyes. She would buck in place while I cleaned her stall and she would slobber on me when she was eating. This little paint had a personality like no other I have encountered. So in February Im thinking this girl will heal and I think I will keep her. Yes that is what I will do. So I pondered a few days and figured out how to talk to the Boss "Debbie" about keeping her. The next day before I even thought about bringing it up, She dropped the Bomb. " We are putting Rocket down." My heart fell to the dirt. Why? She is doing great!!!!! ( only in my eyes ) I saw what I wanted and believed or wanted to so bad that I swore that she could be better. The vet agreed and they set a day for the passing of Rocket. That Tuesday I took off work to be there and take care of things after she was gone. Ill tell you , When I looked out the front door of the house that morning and saw her looking out her stall . The only thing I could do was stand and stare at the barn and watch this Beautiful animal swing her head back and forth and play with her hanging apple ball. While tears just started rolling down my cheeks . The pain in my throat was almost as unbearable as the pain in my heart. Yes I got attached . She was not usable as anything we know horses can be used for. But what people don't realize is that even broken, they are, and do help us in ways that almost everyone take for granted.

They raise our spirits and show us almost all the same emotions as we show each other. They are therapeutic for the soul and make life even more fun than you think it would be. I could not watch or be around for that moment of passing but I stood in my driveway and froze while I prayed and talked to her as she went to her special place with our maker. Don’t ever think your beyond a bond. It happens when you least want it or expect it.

Thank you Rocket for the extra little smiles I got out of life that I would not have gotten If you had not come in our lives.

The title was just a quote! Get every minute you can steal from life and enjoy your companion. Human and Equine.

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Falling in Love by Caitlin A.K.A. SKITTLES

Falling In Love

By: Caitlin

When I was very little, before I could ride by myself I met a horse at a horse show. She was a short little dark bay mustang named Lexie. My nana (grandma) was already friends with the owner Mrs. Debbie (the owner of what's now Harmony Meadows.) I fell in so much love with Lexie she gave her to us about two years after we met. By the time I could ride by myself I "tried" to ride her. We both gave each other a hard time. She would run into the posts with me, and then I would get off run and cry. Year after year we progressed as well as our love. Now at age 13 we work together as a team still giving each other trouble but that's just love now I can get on at any time and do anything I ask her to do and that's my story of me and my horse Lexie.

My stories facts and my horse Lexie

My story was written to show people everywhere that even if your horse is severely abused you can get your horse over it. And also have a relationship you just have to make it with tons of work and love.

Lexie

Lexie was a rescue. She was one of Mrs. Debbie's first rescues. She belonged to her step daughter Marissa. Then she out grew her and I got her. Lexie and I still love and still learn a little bit about each other every day. And our love grows as well as it will always.