Good morning from our LUCKY DUCK rescue group here in VERY COLD Greenville, Texas.
.
The weather outside is horrible right now; really wish we had a huge barn to
bring all in and keep them toasty warm but then I have horses & donkey's that
refuse to go into the barn to keep dry, they don't like the sound of the rain on the tin.
Easter Sunday a pretty little Cremello mare 3 year old came to
live here this past Sunday, she has a cleft palate which will most
probably need surgery, she has some issues (kicking and biting) but all in all
she is not mean just super feisty. We are looking for someone to sponsor her with her
needs surgically and otherwise. Her story will be coming soon, so please watch for it and let us know if you could help us put out flyers and donation jars to help her.
Next week we will bring in Midnight a pretty little 3 year old Appaloosa,
she was rolled by some horses and her owner is afraid she will
get seriously hurt if left there. She has her penned up right now and the
problems she experienced after being rolled and kicked are lessoning, in fact she is running
around now feeling good. She will be going straight to foster care with a good friend of ours Elyssa whom
will evaluate her for us and possibly adopt her herself!
We still have Annie & Jack with us (Annie the Red Bone Coon Hound) and (Jack
the dachsund/beagle mix) both 9 year old and looking for a forever home,
both up to date on shots and worming. If you would like to hear more just
let me know and I'll shoot you over a picture and story.
We have been trying to re-home 2 dogs which are out in the
Mansfield/Venus TX area, these are strays that showed up at a
house and made it there home. Angel is a American Bull Dog very sweet girl,
beautiful colors white with brown spots and Lucy is a little terrier mix SUPER friendly. It is not
known whether or not these girls are fixed or UTD on shots, they
do both appear to be younger in age (not puppies) if you would like to
see pictures of hear more about them just let me know.
Kitty is a TORTOISE Calico kitty, she is in Quinlan TX, adopted
a family out there that can't keep her. She is just beautiful and the
family donated her spaying and shots, so she is recovering while waiting on her
forever home.
Josie is a 9 year old PMU Belgian Draft mare originally from
Canada, fun loving, sweet but needs treats to get her to warm up. She
is food oriented, not broke to ride but could be once the trust issue is settled,
not a kicker either but does love to kick up her heels when food is coming.
Lightning is a coming 3 year old Spotted Draft colt, not gelded
yet but we are not having any issues from that. He was raised by
mares and knows to be respectful. Needs work but will make you a very wide
bodied if not tall horse one day. He is very mild tempered and might run from
you at first but gets bored after a few and lets you work with him.
Smokie is a grey 7 month old kitten, he is neutered and UTD on shots.
Pretty little guy loves to make tunnels under my throw rugs, friendly but
as with any cat, when he wants to be. His mother I found
in the mouth of a dog and brought her home where she promptly graced me with 5 kittens.
GE (Golden Eyes) is a grey Tabby, my husband found up in a tree
across the street, appears to be about 5-6 months old, affectionate and playful. He is not neutered yet but soon.
Rizzle is a 5 year old Maine Coon (super long cat) growls like a
dog one minute then loves on you the next. His owner had to be put
into a nursing home so he came here while looking for his forever home. I have to say he is very unique!
JC is a brown small standard donkey (1 year old birthdate was
12/28/09) He is not yet old enough to castrate but has to be, way to many intact jack
donkey's out there. We have gotten several over the last several months.
Daniel is an older gelded jack standard size donkey, he was
castrated a month ago (and had a rough time after castration but doing much better) ,
he would make a good donkey to guard, he will come for treats but has yet to
really warm up to us)
Sonny is a awesome looking large standard jack donkey,
spotted. First day here we thought he was so gentle but he's a kicker if you don't leave him
alone. Would be excellent in a pasture to guard livestock. Has to be
castrated before leaving here.
POT BELLY PIGLETS - we have 2 - 2 1/2 month old gilts ready for their
forever homes. Pretty little girls black with pink feet,
they weigh about 20# now. We also have 5 - 2 week old piglets (sex
undetermined at this time and 1 of them spoken for) The sows that gave birth were in horrible conditions and I brought them
here, they were both pregnant.
Just wanted to give you an update on who was here and for adoption. We are
still in need of so many items, we have donation jars up at Atwoods,
Molina's Mexican Restaurant in Greenville, Lafayettes Sea food
in Caddo Mills, Tractor Supply in Greenville did have one up, so if you
go into it you might want to request it since the Manager had it removed.
I even have one up at STS in Rockwall where I work!
I copied the following off one of my horse lists (thanks to Linda):
Here are some things to keep in mind to help your horses handle really cold weather.
Be sure to increase the amount of hay being fed. The critical temperature for horses is 45 degrees. Below that they need extra calories to maintain core body temperature. It translates to 1% increase in digestible energy requirements (calories) for every 1 degree temperature drop. For an average 1100 lb horse, that’s about 5 lbs of hay if temp is 22 degrees. If temp is 10 degrees with wind chill, that’s 7 lbs of hay additional. If the coat is wet it becomes an additional 10 lbs of hay! If horses are fed free-choice hay they will regulate themselves so you don’t need to do the math. J
The temptation is there to feed more grain. Grain just makes them colder. It takes energy to process grain. On the other hand hay is digested via fermentation by hind gut bacteria. This actually generates heat and keeps the horse warm. Hay is to a horse as coal is to a furnace.
Be sure your horses are drinking lots of water as well. They will do so if the water is warm (above 60 degrees). Adding a tablespoon of salt directly to their feed will also encourage better drinking. Horses are naturally deficient in sodium anyway so the additional salt helps to provide baseline electrolytes which are important any time of year. Divide the salt into at least two feedings so horses will accept it. They tend to get suspicious about anything new suddenly added to their food. I feed beet pulp and wheat bran which makes a good carrier base for water and salt.
Lastly don’t forget the exercise. Horses need to move to keep their digestive tract functioning properly. If they are stalled during this cold weather make sure they have turn out time or are hand walked to maintain digestive motility.
Horses should not be shivering, if they do then they are not regulating their own body heat (please keep that in mind)
