I was looking on "tracktrace" this morning to see where the package was that Karen sent from Holland, on the 2nd ...it "arrived in destination country" on the 8 / 1. Then I went to "correos.es" to have another squeak ... but here they did not recognise the number... So I closed down that line ... And then the mobile phone started ringing straight after : MRW has a package to deliver ......
Just wait another hour and then we 'll know whether the box is for me or for the foals
Marlies, in the name of the horses and myself, we say... "Thank You"! Thank you, thank you for your friendship, your help and thank you for the package that you sent for the foals ....
It is incredible that you've invested so much into horses you've never even met ...
But we do hope that in future you'll find the time to come and visit them!
So ... what about this ... get up when it's icy cold, ice on the water and an hour later it's already 16 degrees and at lunch 26 degrees .... nice ... finally the wind & storm ended ...
The "GetTogether" of this morning did not take place ... My neighbour Tony was the only neighbor to come so instead we sorted the tomatoes out together
All the horses were happy to be able to eat lunch outside
Tasty green mouths
And .... test ... test of new vegetables: chicory, paprika, beans ... and the rest we know already And .... what do you think of "moeke" "Mam". Doesn 't she look great ?
It was a little cold here this morning .... and the storm winds that rushed through the night, have left their mark
And the horses were happy that I broke the ice in their water bowls.
The places where there were puddles with water from the last rainy day ... had become skating areas ...
Oh yes ... did I mention that I live in Spain?Hahahaha what a joke...
After giving them their breakfast, I left to do some shopping and came home with a car filled up`with food for the dogs, cats & horses: foalchunk 80 kg, 25 kg of natural saltstones for the foals, 40 kg for the dogs & 5 kg for the cats .. .. voila everyone is served for a while.
The bag contained however only 2 salt blocks, the one in this picture weighs 18 kg ...
Meanwhile all the horses were outside in the sun so that I could do some repairs in the stable of the little ones.
And after dinner it was time to go to the market again ... but today I was apparently too early and had to wait another half an hour before I could take the remains.
Just a few cabbage leaves, a lot of lettuce and many vegetables of which I do not even really know whether horses can eat them (no I do not believe just anybody ... I prefer to look it up on the internet ... just to be safe... I'm not taking any risk with their health ...
I was back home at 4 pm. and some time remained to continue to temporarily repair the doors so the foals would be protected during the night ... Yes the storm is still active
The rescue cats Maxime & Baloo have already sought refuge in warm places for tonight
I haven't got much to tell about what happened today or I should talk about the weather again...archhhhhhhh ... Yes, even the horses are tired of this lousy weather...... storm&winds, rain, snow, freezing conditions ... they've all seen it now and would now like to get some warmth and sun on their bodies...
I even got some snowflakes on me when I went to the pharmacist in Jijona to buy some medicine for the horses to have some stock at home in case something should happen...
The icy wind has also ensured that the 3 littlens had to stay inside..... The yearlings were also inside most of the day ...
An ideal time to upload some pictures on the website.
But today I have not taken any picture of the foals ...
But still a picture of the rescuecat Maxime with Pineau together in their chair, ...inside, not far from the stove.
No, today you would not believe me if I say that we live in sunny Spain .... in the last 20 hours it has rained for more than 18 hours ... I' ve been living here for more than 6 years and have never experienced this .... I am repeating myself..... What's happening to our world?
This morning the ground was already saturated and there were puddles here and there ...
The horses rarely came outside but I left the kids and Filly inside... I really did not want to take any risk that one of them would get a cold again because they still are weaker than the big guys. Moreover, the wind started to blow again and so it was no weather to be outside :
I saw the big ones only run once today... when they were scared by big white monsters who were running on the road above them....but it appeared that only my rescue dogs had scared them ... the bad weather had apparently clouded their minds ...
Sorry that the pictures are so dark but the weather was just bad
and we had to turn the generator on to fill the batteries and provide us with electricity because of the lack of solar radiation ...
This is not the sunny country anymore to which I emigrated to
The weather was ok and it was a holiday .... and so I spontaneously grabbed my mobile at 2 pm and wrote the following message: "The horses need you & they need hugs: Today at 16h30, 1st 30'neighbourly therapygettogether...Good 4 u, good 4 the foals !I hope you all come.C u " and then sent it to my 3 neighbours ...
And at 16.30, the first neighbour Tony arrived... at first he still felt a little awkward among those big 4-legged friends.
And a bit later my neighbours Brenda and Michael arrived ... and the 4 of us went to work ...
A good therapy for all. The foals had a great time and the neighbours had a good experience.
Going to the market to get the greenstuff for the horses .... is not simply pick the greenstuff up and go home to give it to the foals .
As you could already read on the blog yesterday, I went to the market again...20 minutes driving down, over one hour looking, searching, picking up and shifting and then driving home again.
My car was full to the roof and that looks like this .
But then the work is not done yet
Back home everything is unloaded and placed in separate vegetable bins so everything can be washed. And you have to separate the bad from the good and also have to separate fruits from vegetables
Then you wash it all and then bring it down ...
At the end, this is what remains of the lot.
Overall, you are busy for 4-5 hours ...
And of course half an hour every day to clean and cut vegetables for their daily portions...
But the kids are super happy... and so that's why we do it ...for them ...
Opening your door and seeing horses in front of your house .... is a dream of many To hear a horse whinnying to you, saying you good morning (or rather "hey I'm hungry") ... is just fantastic
I fed the horses this morning, made some order in the feed room and at 10 am. I got prepared to go out to do some shopping because I was out of dogfood and I also had to look for some foal food.
And then it went wrong again ... I had to step over the threshold of the window and my left leg did not get high enough again so ..... ... straight forwards on the gravel again and landed right on the bad knee . This time I knew it felt really wrong ... and so I strumbled inside after a few minutes to get to my crutches.
I'm beginning to wonder whether the surgeon maybe has cut just one too many nerves during the last OP? It is clear that my brain thinks I've lifted my leg high enough when it's really not the case ... or is it the tiredness and am I careless
The other ranch owner has been so nice to go to the store for me and come back here with the dogfood and a few bottles of red wine
And this afternoon he has given the horses their lunch ... while I watched and gave instructions. . So he knows what the animals need if something suddenly had to happen to me ... like when I broke my back in October 2008 after a fall of my horse Chikiboy on a rock in the hills ... then all the work fell suddenly on him and the neighbours ... I do not want to think what would have happened if Paco and the neighbours had not been there for them ... I am eternally grateful to all of them.
Only difference ? Now we have 11 horses here instead of 2 and therefor much more work, especially with those who are still sick and need to have their injections ...and nobody else can do that for me .... so I must not get sick
And now they tell me that the market in El Campello will not take place tomorrow because it is a holiday .... the 3 kings ... the biggest partyday for children here in Spain ... and so the market is today ... The foals need fresh greens tomorrow ... so I have no other choice than to put myself together, get dressed again and to leave for Campello in half an hour on my crutch and with my metal backframe to collect the greens... Yes I know...that I am crazy ....
Psst: Don't tell Paco ... otherwise he might be a bit angry...first he comes over to help me .... and then I do go out.
Locked up... locked up .... yes I've locked myself up in the house .... then nothing can go wrong for the rest of today ... hopefully.
I don't dare to go out the way I look now .... a cap on my nose, a small cut of 2 cm on my jaw, blue legs and swollen knees, aching muscles in the arms (from the falls), scraped elbows and since tonight a slice-cap on my head .... others will propably say "clumsy mie"
So after I had given the horses their dinner and opened my head, I locked myself inside behind this computer to continue to work on the website about the foals ... it takes a lot of work because the mobile internet here in the hills is slow .... very slow and everything takes much longer to upload ... but then if you want to live surrounded by nature without a regular phone line, without a connection to public electricity or potable water, well .... they live a life that most people do not know anymore....and they can not imagine it .
No, really .... we have no official electricity supply, no gas supply, no central heating, no telephone, no TV-TDT connection ... we live surrounded by nature and we are autonomous: we have electricity thanks to the solar and wind installation that I installed, I have a mobile telephone and mobile internet, a satellite TV connection, and a wood stove for when it gets cold ...
YES REALLY this still exist anno 2010 and we are happy that we can do just a little bit to reduce spreading more gases that ruin our world
Pictures of the day:
Foals that snuggle up to sleep after their lunch while a rainbow comes out ...
It was actually pretty quiet today, although it started to rain again last night and the day was often a bit dark and heavely overcast. I went out with the other ranchowner to get more pallets this morning to put the food of the horses on, so the bottem can not get wet.
I also called the supplier of the foal chunk to say he doesn t have to come at the moment. The foals really do not like it and the 2 youngest do not even touch it So I will try a different brand first before buying a large amount.
Lunch tasted good though
This afternoon, my neighbour Michael stopped by again to hold Brownie while I gave him his injection ....
The state of Brownie worries me a bit because he did not eat enough yesterday and so I stayed with him tonight so he would eat enough grains and I will do the same tomorrow ...
And then Michael offered the foals some mints... I never saw that before but he told me that the British Queen gives them to all her horses. The foals found it weird and those who had touched it let it fall afterwards Our horse Negro loved them though....he ' s a left brain introvert and loves any kind of food And while I was mucking out the stables I saw Michael stroking the foals who liked it and it seemed the ideal time to go a bit further and .... so I took some brushes and we went to touch the horses with a brush as if it were our hands ... so they would get a positive experience and learn something at the same time And most of them could not get enough of it ....
Our Filly began to gibber, laugh ...
The gray and the eyeguy did not let me let go ...
Every day I am realising more and more that I have a wonderful group of animals that will become great horses, each with its own personality and character ... and that they will get the best start in 2010 with me
She wrote me yesterday saying that they have sent a box with 11x Equimax, Eraquell, Equiworm P, vitamin paste + 2 halters, 1 pony size, 1 full size and a rope. I told her I only saved 9 and that the others were here from before my rescue action:
Just crazy .... and just like that...without knowing me ... Strange really because I did not even ask ... and I would never ask for such help anyways... that is not "my character" or maybe I am too proud ?
In any case, it's not about me here, but about these foals and they can use everything.
I also received questions from others about how, what , when...about any help
In Holland there ispeterson51 & live.comwho collects everything and will send it over here at their cost. In Belgium the Cherry Tree ranch in Diest will collect anything .
To further clarify ... everything is nicely kept legally and will be declared as gifts ... everything is intended for those foals. Later, when the foals will go to their new families, I'll just try to cover my expenses (and therefore accounts are being kept) ... if anything is left over, which is doubtful given the high costs and care, it will go to another good "horses" target that you will decide or will be used to save other horses. Those who know me a bit, know that I'll do everything for my 4-legged friends .... sometimes even neglecting myself or others... but with just 1 goal...animal welfare ....
A morning without any problems ... The sun is shining and chases the morning chill away .... A bright blue sky with just a few white clouds ... A fence that's working ...
And 9 foals, who are eating their lunch outside ....
The message has been adapted to 12:14 because of additional information:
Is there someone who wants to come and house-dog-horse-sit for a few days, as I need to go Belgium for a few days
You have no expenses, as I 'll pay the ticket and there will be enough food and drinks in the house for those few days.
The co-owner of the ranch will come by every day to feed the animals and the neighbours are there if you need any help. It is more about having someone around and present so the dogs are not so long alone and to keep an eye on the foals. Requirements: an adult person, who knows how to deal with horses and dogs in a natural way, be free for several days.
... I prefer to look it up on the internet ... just to be safe
