December 17th, 2010

Dallas is one of our long-time residents, having been rescued from the feedlot five years ago. Dallas and Dreamer were together on the Yakima feedlot, very closely bonded mares. When Jim and Sherry loaded Dallas into the trailer, they were incredibly saddened to see her so upset at losing her companion. Dreamer limped along the fenceline, also distraught. So, they saved Dreamer as well. Both horses have been enjoying life at Hytyme ever since. Each mare arrived with her own foot problems, but pasture time and farrier care have helped Dallas and Dreamer enjoy their five years at Hytyme.

Dallas has always had foot problems. Farriers and vets have suspected ringbone. However, she has been improving since Chuck started trimming her hooves. Two months ago, she could barely put weight on her front feet. We were giving her bute, but she still seemed very uncomfortable. At about 3:30 today, Jim was feeding the horses in the second barn. He put their hay outside, since it was another sunny day. For the first time in a long while, Dallas was outside waiting for her dinner.

Here's what she did:


It was a really busy day at the barn as well--Kassi, Sam, Katie, Becca, Julie, Lisa, Kim, Brooke and Brooke's friend worked with the horses. A number of horses cycled through the arena. Amigo went home today--after 2 hours of coaxing him into the trailer! In five years, Jim has loaded hundreds of horses. He's able to get them into the trailer without pulling on the leadrope. To get Amigo inside, he used the same trick he used with Shanu, a horse with little handling or trailer experience. He used panels to build smaller and smaller pens behind the doors of the trailer. Some horses are hesitant to walk into a small dark space, so by squeezing them in through a makeshift chute, they are able to walk into the trailer on their own terms.

All in all, it was a beautiful day at the rescue:

Vanilla Bean



Buddy (with Mt. Hood in the background!)






Reba