Celebrate the Beauty

tonight, they say, will be 12 below, without figuring in wind chill. yes the horses are all in their stalls for the night. Saturday was a nicer day though. and I took advantage of it with my camera. I took 160 some photos until the battery died. here are some of my faves of Prince. Prince is the one with severe arthritis in his back right hock. as you can see, though, he enjoys life immensely. He is only 7 years old. he may make a trip to Iowa State next spring, where they have more advanced equipment, just to see if there is anything else that can be done for his hock. besides the injections that don't work as well as they used to. and some experimental type pills that I have not experimented with yet. anyway, as you can see, he is not moping around yet. He limps but I don't think he knows there is anything wrong with him. questions or comments, email Darci, Shelter Manager, doublehphorses@alliancecom.net

make sure you click on the pictures to see them bigger!

'Tis the Season for Hope

This is an early Christmas gift from Kelli Bultena at http://www.lennoxnews.com/.

it's going to run in the Eastern South Dakota Peach in late November. a PSA. Full Page! Thank you so much Kelli and The Peach.

Here's some info. about the Peach that you will find on the lennoxnews.com website.
Are you looking for an affordable way to reach thousands of potential customers? The Eastern SD Peach is the answer. Established by a group of neighboring newspaper publishers, The Eastern SD Peach provides a great market for any advertiser. It is an all advertising tabloid that is inserted into 11 different newspapers.

Place your ad today! Email kelli@lennoxnews.com or call 605-647-2284 for more information.

• Our publication is second in paid circulation in the immediate metro area to the Argus Leader with a readership of 30,000 and a circulation in excess of 12,500.

• It is very affordable advertising and will not stress your advertising budget.

• We have excellent demographics that target a wide variety of social audiences.

Participating newspapers (phone numbers) and coverage area include:

1. The Alcester Union/Hudsonite (605) 934-2640 Alcester/Hudson

2. Canistota Clipper (605) 296-3181 Canistota

3. Hartford Area News (605) 296-3181 Hartford

4. Hawarden Independent (712) 551-1051 Hawarden, IA

5. Humboldt Journal (605) 296-3181 Humboldt

6. Leader-Courier (605) 356-2632 Elk Point/Jefferson

7. Lennox Independent (605) 647-2284 Lennox/ Chancellor/Worthing/Tea

8. Madison Daily Leader (605) 256-4555 Madison

9. The Marion Record (605) 648-3821 Marion

10. The Montrose Herald (605) 363-5038 Montrose

11. Parker New Era (605) 297-4419 Parker

Well, I better get some sponsor details up on the web.

I think this is just beautiful. Kelli gave us permission to use it however we want to.

Kelli designed it. Isn't she good!

This is a special PSA. Some of you will recognize the children in this PSA. The Antonsens from Hartford SD. Paul is the little boy with the special heart. The family is coming to visit us and their sponsored horse Prince this Saturday. The next day Paul will leave on an adventure. It will most likely involve his fifth open-heart surgery and a pacemaker.

Yes, this PSA is special. Thanks again Kelli.

TSC has made it easy for you to help

this photo is Prince & Princess, about a year and a half old, rescued. They "lived" their first year and a half in a state of starvation. see their ribs? their backbones? this is a body condition score of 2-3. A 2 is emaciated. This was about 5 years ago.
But recently we have taken on the responsibility of helping with some new rescues. We do not have permission yet to say anything about them. But I can tell you that they needed our help very very much.
TSC on North Cliff Avenue in Sioux Falls has set up a stall bedding program for the rescued horses we are helping with. Buy & donate one or more bags of bedding at TSC, they will set it aside for us, we will pick it up and take it to the horses, who will appreciate it very much.

Also, there is a raffle box at TSC. For each bag of bedding you buy & donate, you may enter the raffle. We don't have raffle details yet but there will be several prizes.

so the little kitty will feel better Amen

Today was Christina Antonsen's birthday party. Her birthday was several months ago, right after her family returned from Ann Arbor Michigan where her little brother Paul had not one but two open heart surgeries. He had already had two in previous years. Paul is 5. Christina's little sister Amanda actually had her birthday party in Michigan during Paul's surgeries. Christina wanted to have her party here, with the horses. So we waited until Mom Deb could get it all figured out for the whole family to be here and a cake and stuff.

So today was the day! We got out Prince and Flicka and the kids wanted Prince to be completely clean before we put the saddle on. I told them they better put up a tent with supplies. With this recent rain, well, the horses, have had wonderful mud rolling opportunities and took full advantage of it all. They did a nice job of brushing the horses out though. (okay, so Dad Randy helped a little). And around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around the arena we went. Today was the first day I can remember Gabe wanting to ride. He liked it too! The kids were all very interested in the new kitten Turtle. Turtle is getting stronger every day. She had a good day today. Before we had birthday cake, Paul suggested a prayer. And he delivered. The gist of it, which was entirely clear, was "we pray for the little kitty so it will feel better, Jesus, Amen"

Back in the Saddle Again.

This is Paul and Prince. I wrote a little about them in the previous post. Paul has a Special Heart. And, well, I guess Prince does too.

Prince & Butterscotch back with herd

This is Prince & Butterscotch, with Spirit in the background.

Prince & Butterscotch are very happy to be back out with the herd, after their recent Vet trips and stall rest.

The evening we got back from our Minnesota / Wisconsin vacation, August 23, we had visitors. Deb & Randy Antonsen and their children Christina, Amanda, Paul & Gabe came to visit. Paul is a 5-year-old boy who has had 4 open heart surgeries and now has a mechanical valve (as of June 2009) and I believe his status is still "congestive heart failure." Their whole family spent over a month in Ann Arbor Michigan in June-July for Paul's most recent 2 surgeries. And then of course he was not allowed to ride for a while. So, finally, he can ride again! But the kids didn't ride on this day. "Their" horse, Prince, was very sore. He suffers from severe arthritis in his right hock. I took him and Butterscotch to the Vet the following Tuesday. Prince had a total of nine needle pokes, and he was not sedated at all. The theory was to block out certain nerve areas with an injection of some numbing product (sorry can't remember the name). and, if Prince were to trot off with less lameness or no lameness, we would have found the sore area. We had him injected a couple of weeks before we left for vacation, but it did not help. So I knew something else was going on. Xrays show more of the same, severe arthritis in all 4 joints. with some more changes going on. Prince is only 7 or 8 years old. But lived the first year and a half of his little life in a state of starvation. His bones and joints did not have a chance to develop as they should have. other than this hock thing he really does pretty well. Anyway, by the time the Vet was done with the "blocking," he was numb from the top of the hock all the way down into the foot. And he was still as lame as he was when we started. Along with the "blocking" the Vet had injected some other stuff into the joints, hoping to help him feel better somehow. Sadly, however, I took him home just as sore as he was at the start. The Vet gave me some kind of "experimental" pills to try. For dogs. Which I am more than willing to try. But I thought I would give all those injections a couple of days to kick in before I started the pills. And sure enough! In a couple of days, Prince was doing much better. And he still is. He is lame, but at least he is back to where he was a few months ago. He runs so fast I can't believe his leg just doesn't fall off. I have not tried the pills yet. But I will, if he gets more sore again.

The following 2 Wednesday evenings, the Antonsens came to visit Prince again. The first Wednesday Princie was still really sore, it was the day after the trip to the Vet. But the next Wednesday, just last Wednesday, Prince was ready to ride again. Deb and Paul came just the 2 of them that evening. And Paul rode for a long time, out in the front yard. Prince was such a Prince! What a fine pair they are. We have more info. about our Paul's Prince Project on our website http://www.doublehphorses.org/

During one of these visits we also picked apples. Christina and Paul are quite impressed with the holes that Scarlet has been digging.

And while Prince was sore, the kids got to ride Flicka. Deb rode too! Christina told me she felt like she was going to cry because she was so happy to get to be riding again. I told her that was perfectly okay, that's the way the horses make me feel too!

I love this picture. Amanda & Christina with Flicka.

doublehphorses featured in worldwide art gallery

My DoubleHP Horse Shelter gallery and related photographs are featured right now at http://www.imagekind.com/.

I think this only lasts for a day or two (as far as being featured right on the Imagekind home page), so better look fast!

But you can get to my galleries any time. http://doublehphorses.imagekind.com/

I am getting messages and new fans from many different countries. and even a purchase here and there.

WaterColors, featuring DoubleHP Prince, continues to be a favorite.

updates on Star, Prince & Princess

In a previous post, I think in November, anyway, not so long ago, I said that Princess can't go out in the pasture anymore. But now she can! The snow cover makes the ground softer and she can go out and run and play without getting too sore. (she is navicular. the neurectomy surgery helped some but not as much as we had hoped). So she has limited activity. But as long as the ground is kind of softer, I will let her and her half-brother Prince go out and play during the day and keep them in soft stalls at night, so they can lie down and rest their poor bones & joints. These are not old horses! They are only 6 years old. But they lived in a state of starvation and just deplorable conditions with 100 or so other horses of all ages and sizes, for the first year and a half of their poor little lives. Of course their bones and joints did not develop normally! I don't know if Princess is naviulcar because of that. No one knows that. But Prince, who lived just like her as a baby, has severe arthritis already in his hocks. They are only 6. This is not normal. And what are the chances. I think I would bet on malnourishment.

Anyway, they came to live at DoubleHP when they were about a year and a half old. They were skin and bones and full of worms.

But after a year of rehab, they seemed to be doing great. Especially Princess. She grew a lot. She is a really big horse. Prince didn't grow as much. And his mouth/teeth were slow in developing too. He has his teeth floated approx. twice a year. I can always tell when it's time. He'll be standing there looking kind of mopey when everyone else is enjoying their food. He'll start to drop weight. And then we get his teeth floated and everything's good (in his mouth anyway) for another 6 months or so.

Here is Prince. Looking very handsome yesterday as he always does.

When they were 3 (we waited, because they were so far behind in their growing), they were oh so nice and easy to train as riding horses. Prince even started going to shows! But then, little by little, signs of lameness. on and off. both of them. Princess first and then Prince. Xrays showed us what we feared. Princess is navicular, and Prince has arthritis. Really bad arthritis. We keep them as happy and comfortable as can be, and they will have an excellent home here with us for as long as their quality of life is good. They are just a joy to have around. and oh so beautiful. here they are playing yesterday, right before grain time.

UPDATE ON STAR: Star seems improved. She eats everything at night. She ate some straight alfalfa this morning, which she hasn't wanted to do probably because it is a little coarse and probably irritates the owie on her tongue. Normally of course this would be her first choice. But right now her first choice is something softer, so I am feeding her a grass/alfalfa mix which is really soft. She didn't eat everything in her stall this morning, but she ate enough. and drank and pooped. and I didn't see any drool or slime! So I let her go out with the herd for the afternoon. And I'll put her back in her stall tonight so I can observe her some more. I am not going to call the Vet for tongue Xrays so far. I think she is better, not worse. But we'll do some good observation tonight to be sure.