12/01/2025
CAN YOU HELP A HORSE IN NEED THIS GIVING TUESDAY
We got about 8 inches of snow here at the rescue over the weekend. Nobody wanted a blanket Saturday morning–although we used treats to entice a couple horses into accepting one. But by afternoon when the snow was coming down at nearly an inch an hour, we were mobbed when we drove the RTV full of blankets around the pens. Unfortunately, it’s more work when they’re already wet and need to be dried off, but we got about 14 additional blankets placed in the afternoon and now more than half of our 70+ horse herd is blanketed going into a few days that will see us having single digits wind chills in the evening.
The first blast of snow this week caught us without an operating RTV and the pull wagons crud up with snow on the tires making delivering about 30 mashes, and grain to the rest of them more exhausting than usual. We feed horses in 16 pens and only 6 of those have round bales so we were grateful to find a mechanic who could come out and install a new starter in the Kubota, and our Coldwater dealership was able to get the part for us in less than two days even during a holiday week. So we were grateful for that.
The horses are doing better than the people it seems, with Randy and I now on week 3 of this pathetic respiratory infection and head cold type issue we’ve been battling. The horses are doing well, although 35 year old Patches got a nasty impaling-type wound on his left inner thigh after getting his blanket hung up on a t post. He’s in a stall now on antibiotics and pain meds, he’s had his tetanus toxoid boosted, and he gets his wound cleaned and treated daily. It could have been much worse, but at his age, and in this cold we are praying he will avoid infection and recover well. Fortunately, he’s had a great appetite and seems eager to get back to his friends.
We help horses that have no other options. Most are actually aged or unsound owner surrenders although we have a fair number of older standardbreds who were former harness racers before ending up in killpens, and we also have about half a dozen who came through animal control. Although we’ve placed over 20 horses this year, we also had about half a dozen return from previous adoptions. Keeping 70 horses is not cheap, although we do our best on a shoestring budget and work with a number of feed stores to get feed at a discount–especially when it’s near its expiry date. We have long term hay suppliers and have, for the most part, managed to keep our feed and forage budget around $8000/month although increases in forage pellets and senior feed for our aged herd will result in it being difficult to stick to that part of the budget in the new year.
After feed and forage, veterinary expenses are our primary cost although we do most of our vaccinations ourselves to keep our costs down and we try to schedule dentals and other services in large groups to keep our farm call costs down. We try to do haul ins for anything only involving a horse or two unless it’s an emergency where transport would be contraindicated. We work with three separate vet practices, and about half a dozen others on an occasional basis to care for horses that are fostered outside our local service area. But it’s hard to precisely budget vet care and related expenses and our vet fund is frequently empty or in the red. So, this is an area where our donor support is critical to our ability to care for a large herd of sanctuary and rescue equines.
The holiday season, we are blessed to have supporters who are helping us out with the oils and salts we use in our mashes which are amplified with oil and salt in the winter to help prevent impactions colics. We have also had wonderful supporters help us build our blanket inventory so we should be able to cover anyone who needs a rug—from our tiniest minis Honey and Oreo, to our biggest horses Bertha and Mickey.
We are hoping to raise funds this giving Tuesday to rebuild our vet fund going into winter. We have a number of horses on medications now, or occasionally, including antibiotics (uniprim and SMZs), cushings medications, and NSAIDs like bute and banamine. Normally it is only 6 horses–but for now, with Patches needing antibiotics and NSAIDs, we have 7 on daily meds.
If you’d care to help this holiday season, https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/108663 is our direct Paypal fundraiser link. Our venmo is and our mailing address is HHSMI, 2932 Eaton Rapids Rd., Albion, MI 49224
We are always also very grateful for donations of returnable cans and bottles, equine feed or forage of any kind, and supplements or medications that are no longer needed. Our aged cushings horse, Sandman, has gotten by for over a year now on medications donated by supporters who donated medicine no longer needed after their cushings horses passed away. We are so grateful for, and honored by, that type of support because it means that even in their passing, a very beloved horse is essentially helping a less fortunate horse obtain the care he needs.
We hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving and have a safe and joyful holiday season. We thank you for supporting your local horses rescues.
