Welcome to our events page.

I saw Ranger for the first time, almost 8 years ago at a local small horse auction. He was skin and bones, drugged to the hilt and had thse enormous sad, yet wise old eyes. I purposely ignored him, tried not to look at him.....but something kept putting him in my line of view. Local trader wheedled me to cough up $250 to buy him, but I knew he was probably a lost cause. I wasn't there to buy a rescue, was there to buy a lesson horse. This guy was a good 90 days from even being rideable, IF he lvied that long.....

His turn came, no bids.....all the barn kids with me are begging me to buy him. I pass. Don't NEED him, I keep reminding myself....he is a no sale; not one bid on his pathetic old hide. Trader follows me to my truck, 'just $250" he says....about that time, Ranger turns his big, sad face to look at me and in that moment, I was done. I wrote the check, handed him to the squealing girls to load in the trailer and began a journey that will forever leave it's imprint on my life with horse rescues.

Ranger, as my daughter Brittney named him, slowly, but surely gained weight. After spending a small fortune in dental, veterinarian and farrier visits, we found Ranger to be a 1979 AQHA reg gelding named Coke Pac. He had almost no teeth left and would forever ben on a special pellet grain/forage diet. We did trace down an old owner from 11 years prior who had done contesting with him quite a bit.

As Ranger became healthy enough to ride, Brittney and our trainer, Angie, found him to be an amazingly well trained contester. At age 25, he and Brittney won numerous high point awards, cash jackpots and other championships. He also helped her and her other horse, Junior, to win our Fair's all around high point award. Ranger was a wicked fast barrel and pole horse, and honestly, scared me to death every time Britt ran him. But those two just clicked. Others ran him, but he never quite gave the 150% that he always gave to Brittney. They had quite a connection, and for a horse who was not real 'friendly', he was obviously very much attached to Britt.

Over time, his age and severe neglect from before we bought him, started to catch up. I made a promise to Ranger, after we rehabbed him that he would have a forever home and I have stuck by that. But, these last few years have really been harder and harder for him. His arthritis, in full swing, no longer is responding to the supplements and injections we have been giving him. He requres vitamin injections just to maintain his appetite, and now has severe deteriorating joint issues in his spine and neck that will not respond to the large amounts of steriods we have been trying.

I have been putting off the inevitable, but his sad, wise and knowing eyes tell me all I really need to know...It is time. And, because of a promise I made to a brave gelding 7 years ago, I will honor his life, by giving it back to him.

The vet will be here in an hour and although I know in my heart, that this is the right thing to do, I am struggling with the overpowering sadness and pain that Brittney, myself and many others here who will be there today will have to go through. Knowing that it is right, doesn't really make it hurt any less. But knowing that he will be forever pain free and have a forever home, is a promise I am going to keep. He will be buried, here on our property, in the corner by his favorite pasture, next to shade trees and his other passed friends.

Rest peacefully sweet Ranger.....your amazing heart and wise eyes will remain with us forever.

Polly:

It is with great sadness that I annouce the passing of our beloved Miss Polly. Polly came to us through a sad situation that I am not going to make public as the owners did voluntarily turn Polly over to me to see if we could rehab her and give her a good quality of life. Within days of nearly losing her life, Polly fought hard to live. With the wonderful, professional care of Hartzell Vet clinic in Greenville, Ohio, and many volunteers and donations, we found that although Polly was very old, she was a fighter and had a strong will to live. We put her on a strict feeding program designed for her special needs and pretty much gave her free roam of the farm. Plenty of cool summer evenings were spent on our back patio watching Polly turned loose to graze in the yard. She got plenty of TLC from all of the barn kids and became a fast (although grumpy) favorite. She was very spoiled and pampered. However, a few weeks ago, she had a breathing attack and after a veterinarian scope of her airways, we found a small growth obstructing the airway. Hoping it was just allergy related, we started her on meds and she seemed to recover. Unfortunately she had another attack recently and a few more small ones. Afraid she might have one when no one was around to admin her meds or that they may not work if the growth was getting bigger, we elected to allow Polly the dignity of crossing the Rainbow Bridge in peace and comfort rather than in pain and had her humanely euthanized last Fri morning. I gave her one last kiss and a hug, told her I loved her and let her slip away. She will be terribly missed.