I'm sorry, I still didn't get around to uploading pics and I don't think I will this week, unless I really push myself. The funeral will be held on Thursday and I have to clean the house a bit.
Anyways, I was going over my old pictures and found some nice ones that may take you back to warmer days... this was in the fall and it was super nice that day. Warm and sunny, just the way I like fall days!
This was taken on Thanksgiving (Canadian Thanksgiving). We were going up to my uncle's place for dinner and I decided to snap a few shots on the way. The fall colours weren't in full swing, but close enough!
These are wild turkeys in a freshly cut oat field. Wild turkeys were introduced a few years ago to our region and seem to be doing really well... in fact... they are everywhere! Hunter are allowed to take one bird per year, in the Spring. The hunt is only opened for 2 half days per year. Hopefully, they will let hunters take more since turkeys are really taking over EVERYTHING! Our indigenous partridges are starting to regress in numbers because wild turkeys destroy partridge nests and are big competition for the food. In fact, there are some many turkeys, that they had to capture and rehome about 200 of them because they were destructive to crops! We have also seen an increase in coyote population and wolves.
I took the following pictures from the truck as we were moving along the gravel road, so they may not be perfect.
These are the fall trees (with adjacent power lines... sorry!).
This is the road we are going up to get to my uncle's place, he lives about 15 minutes up this road on a lake shore.
That is a small lake we have to go by to get to my uncle's it is vry pretty when the leaves are in full swing!
Same little lake, different angle. There is definately some stuff that I would've removed from the picture if I had been on foot (Wires, red thing at the bottom!?!)... but this as taken from a moving truck!
This is a little farm near the little lake!
Same little farm, I think that this picture is very cute! Don't you all feel like running an rolling on that grass?! Maybe it's just me!?!? I think I need to get outside NOW!
On a sadder note, one of the horses that we boarded for the summer, King, has passed. I am very sad, but not shocked from these news. King was a percheron cross gelding and was 17 years old. The owners got King and another gelding for free if they could catch them. King was in good shape last year at this time, but kept loosing weight over a year's time. Last Summer / Fall King was only skin and bones. The guy brought his horses over for pasture boarding in hopes to get some weight on King. I put King as a 1 - 0.5 on the scale, he was litteraly skin and bones. Unfortunately, that summer / fall would happen to be the most frustrating one for me. These people knew nothing about proper care to a horse. When King came home he had SADDLE SORES!!!! on his spine (yes... spine), one was deep enough. Bone was sticking out everywhere on King and they would still ride him!?!?!?!? I honnestly felt like crying, raging, screaming... I was a real B**** for the rest of the time. I told the owner several (if not 20) times to have King's teeth done, that would help solve the problem. King ate painfully, spitting out 3/4 of his food. King was also fed Fat Fiber whenever the owners felt like it. King obviously had a tooth problem the size of Texas! The owners never took King to a vet and continued riding him throughout the summer / fall. I'm surprised that the poor thing didn't collapse before that!
I finally told the owner to file the teeth or King wouldn't make it through winter. He was surprised, but still did nothing. I decided to let it go, because I already had lived enough in the past months (losing the foal to an actual good reason!). He would've never took his horses back home if we hadn't taken the liberty to bring them over and drop them on his front lawn. This man had 4 horses, one of which was in obvious bad shape, one of which got injured on our property but received no vet care at all, for a cut that was about 2-3 inches deep on her back pastern, I think that she had kicked in a fence, she was crazy! One of which was lame and ridden VERY hard by a 12 year old girl (the horse was 2!!!!!) and the other had serious psychological problems that would've been easily dealt with by a trainer. All this to say that any kid was allowed on any horse (thin or injured or lame), without helmets or proper attire... I'm talking about kids from 4 to 16 years old. Tack was in bad condition and it is basically an accident waiting to happen. Now, a good horse has died for absolutely no reason other than neglect. I wish I would've done something at the time, but there is no resources for things like that in my neck of the woods... we have an SPCA, but they probably wouldn't have done anything! I knew something had happened to poor King because I drove by twice and never saw him. He was supposed to keep him inside and blanketed for the winter, but I am sure there is no blanket on this man's property and the horses don't have a good shelter to begin with, so there is certainly no stable to put him in. I'm sorry if I'm going on about this, but I feel partly responsible for not doing more, but financially, I had just taken on my rescues and had no spare cash to take another, but today, I could've taken him, but it's too late, plus, they would've never let him go.
I had vowed that if that horse made it through winter, that I would call SPCA and take him on, but it's too late now and I feel very sorry. I guess we can't save them all, but I just feel like smacking EVERYONE upside the head for that. I'm so upset! That poor horse died frozen in the cold winter. It was obvious to me that he wouldn't make it, why is it that they couldn't see it. Now the kids must be traumatized, or don't care at all... I now hate these people, I can't stand them! I feel like the next time I see him, a fight will break... IF YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO CARE FOR YOUR HORSES, DON'T KEEP 4 OF THEM ON HALF AN ACRE!! THAT IS NEGLECT... NOT PROVIDING VET CARE IS NEGLECT... floating teeth costs what... 50$, for all I know, he could've trailered the horse to a vet and pay for it... would've saved them a lot of psychological scars! I even feel responsible because the horse was boarded for free on our property and that no work was done in exchange for board, like it was supposed to happen. Sorry, but I am enraged. I don't think I can face these people again because the minute he will tell me that King passed, I will blow up! I don't have a picture of King, because I didn't want criminal charges against me... I was only trying the help by giving pasture and my best advice, which was obviously ignored. Did I do the right thing? I know I should've called SPCA but they probably would've taken into account that all other horses are nice and fat and that it is not a neglect case. Still I should've tried.
Gorgeous pictures!
ReplyDeleteBut that is absolutely horrible about King. It's so frustrating when you see that sort of situation occurring and there seems to be nothing you can do about it. When will people learn that there is more to owning a horse than tossing it a flake of hay every once in awhile!?
The only thing is next time, call the SPCA…if there's nothing they can do, then fine (and I understand, because it's the same way if not worse where I live), but there is always the off chance they can do something (maybe jut a warning, but at least that is something) and every little effort helps!
Kudos to you for caring so much about that horse - at least someone did.