November 26th, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving from all of the Hytyme crew! We couldn't be more thankful for our long-time and our new supporters. There's been an amazing outpouring of support and donations these last few weeks. We definitely couldn't do it without all of your help.

A couple of long-time friends came out to the barns to bring blankets for Granny, Sue, Spendy, Shannon, and Chino. Debbie and Bonnie have been helping horses for many years, and they help all the horses and people they can. Plus, they work very closely with Scott Hanson at Sound Equine Options.

What great presents for our horses! Here are some pictures of everyone tucked snugly into their new blankets:

Spendy and Chino model their new looks

As usual, Peanut Butter Boy wants to be in on the activity

Spendy and Chino (with Buddy and Olivia lurking nearby).

Debbie, Bonnie, and Granny

Debbie and Bonnie, plus Rose, Spendy, and Smarty.

Shannon and her fashionable new winter coat

Thanks again, Debbie and Bonnie! What great gifts, and what warm and dry horses!

Thanks again, too, to all our horse sponsors. Expect some mail from your sponsored horse very soon!

We hope you all had wonderful Thanksgivings! More to come soon!

November 20th, 2011

Winter is definitely here! The last few days have been cold and wet, with snow levels dipping into the lowest elevations of the year! Luckily, all our horses have been moved into their winter housing. The big field has been blocked off, and this year feels much different than previous winters at Hytyme. There are only a few horses left in the big field! Some of the older horses have been moved indoors, and everyone is getting plenty of hay or senior feed as necessary.

We've had the most amazing outpouring of support in the past few weeks! Thank you so much to our donors who have stepped up to sponsor our permanent residents! For only $10 a month, you can sponsor one of our older and distinguished residents. You'll recieve updates, photos, and videos. You can also arrange a time to meet your newest equine friend!

So, thank you Karla, Teri, Debra, Patricia, Mary, Katharina, Claire, Dawn, Stephanie, Maureen, Michelle, and Madeline! Thank you as well to Nike, for your generous donation matching program! Thank you to the annonymous donors as well! This is a difficult time for our rescue, and we wouldn't be able to do what we do without your help and support. Our horses will be healthy and happy this winter because of all of you. Thank you again!

Here are some pictures of our sponsorable or available horses. If you are interested in sponsoring, please email Jim at mailto:Jhytymejim@gmail.com or Jodene at hytymejodene@gmail.com.

Coal, adorable older pony gentleman:

Shannon, lovely thouroughbred mare

Olivia, our shetland mule:

Vanilla Bean, a very sturdy appy pony:

Natasha, a black Arab mare (her mother played the Black Stallion in the movie!):

Boss and Delilah:

Boss is the chestnut, and Delilah is the very, very light palomino:

Spendy, another lovely thoroughbred:

Chino (who seems more interested in eating!), a wonderful older Quarter Horse:

Last but not least, Lyric, our invaluable lesson horse:

One more update: we'd like to introduce some of our new supporters to our horses, and we'd like to meet some new potential volunteers. So, we're going to plan a day in December where we'll have a Hytyme Open House, and our friends new and old can come out and meet some horses, participate in some type of clean-up project around the barn, and enjoy their time out here in Eagle Creek. We will keep you posted for this upcoming event and more like it in the future! Thanks again from the horses and humans of Hytyme for all your continued support!

A quick update!

More to come, but here's a neat fundraising opportunity:

Chase Community Giving is dividing up $3,000,000 between nonprofit organizations. We're in the running a bit late, but it can't hurt to try! Check this link on Facebook. You'll need to type in 'Hytyme Equine Rescue' to find our page and vote:


http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/


Every vote can help! Even if we get into the top 20 nonprofits, we can still win some money towards the rescue and its continued success. There are ten days left to vote!

Expect another update very soon--we've had an amazing outpouring of support in the last few days, and we have lots of exciting developments to share. Thank you all so much!

November 2nd, 2011

Here's what's been going on out at the barn this week:

First, Braveheart is doing better, although he will be on glucosamine supplements for the rest of his life. He's been feeling very stiff and sore, but with his own stall and rest, he has been improving. Jim ordered a gallon of glucosamine supplements, so that should do Braveheart some good.

Katie has been working on her rock path almost every day. It's sure going to make a difference when it's all finished! The whole front of the barn will have a very different look come spring. Katie had to go to California for a family emergency, so please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. We'll all keep an eye on her horses for her while she's gone.

Alex has been coming out and working with Spendy and Peanut Butter Boy two or three times a week. All are doing well! They get better each time.

Jodene has been out quite frequently and working with Abby, mucking stalls, and taking pictures. You can see a lot of her handiwork on the Hytyme Facebook page! Check out the info there for more on sponsoring one of our permanent residents. We'll update more on our sponsorship program soon!

Michelle has been here often as well, delivering carrots to the horses and mucking stalls. That sure helps! Some of our more standoffish horses have become quite tame with Michelle's help.

This week, some of the horses will move indoors from the big field. Older residents who need shelter will come inside, and everyone else will come off the big pasture. There should only be about ten horses in the main pasture this winter--much less than previous years! Horses in the big field are also getting hay now, too. They are probably very happy with this arrangement.

Sadly, we are having a difficult time with Elvira. She seems to be having a problem with one of her rear legs from the hip down. She's indoors and getting care and supplements as well.

Here are some recent pictures!
Katie Mae and the dump truck (Something went wrong with the carbureator, and it's been in the field since then. Jim tried to fix it with a rebuild kit, but couldn't get it to work. Now Zach is taking a look to see what can be done):

Buddy and Hope had a blast playing in the arena, too:



Hope remembers her racehorse days:

Buddy investigates the camera:

More to come soon!

October 28th, 2011

Today was a really cool day at Hytyme. First, Jim was working on the carbuerator on the dump truck. The carbuerator had gone out while the truck was in the big field, so Jim was standing on one of the mounting blocks, in the pasture, with his head in the engine compartment. During the entire process, Snickers and Peanut Butter Boy were next to him, with their heads near the engine compartment as well, occasionally giving Jim small bites of encouragment. It was a bit like a circus!

Also, we had just about 30 visitors from Sanford Brown College's Vet Tech program. Dr. Andrea Dover brought the veterinary technology students out to the barn. Dr. David from Eagle Fern was there, too. Our horses helped students practice bandaging, giving shots, and worming.

Playing the parts of injured horses who required bandaging and wrapping were Braveheart, Coal, Juliet, Tempest, Appa, Devon, Jaqueline, Marquis, Mary, Snickers, Hobbit, Katie Mae, Peanut Butter Boy, and Athena.

Everyone did amazingly well! Jim was very proud of the horses, and all the students seemed surprised that the horses were as polite and as accomodating as possible. The only horse who felt a little out of sorts was Tempest, probably because she wasn't used to the arena. The whole time, Rosa was he-hawing for Coal. The vet tech students thought that was pretty neat. Also at the same time, Katie was having her dressage lesson with Cynthia. Everyone thought that was pretty cool, too.

Says, Jim, "You know what? We have the happiest horses in the world. We should all be proud, making them like that."

After bandaging and practice dressing wounds, the vet students gave shots and wormer to our horses. Everyone was remarkably good! Even Apollo and Gideon got their shots and wormer, and they were perfect, too.

Here are some pictures of the day:

Thank you again to the Sanford-Brown College Vet Tech students for your time and help! We hope it was a valuable learning experience, too, and that working with the Hytyme horses will help you be better equipped for working with horses in the future!