Hoof & Heart of Southern Michigan

02/13/2025

Ali, our handsome Arabian gelding and member of our "over 30 y/o" herd is especially grateful for those Valentines who donate hay to us, contribute toward our purchase hay, and probably most important of all, the wonderful volunteers who help unload and DELIVER the hay to horses like Ali.

Will you be a Valentine to an sanctuary horse like Ali?

02/12/2025

Red Star and Elinor would love your help this Valentines month! You can sign up to help with feeding or mucking chores during the winter months when volunteer support wanes. Even one day a month is a huge help! Or sign up to be on our fundraising team and help us plan ways to support the horses. Or if you're an experienced horse person, sign up to work with refreshing or rehabbing some of the older horses, or former race horses to help them find a forever home. Or you can donate hay, feed or funds toward our operating expenses at [email protected] or venmo

This Valentines Day, send some love to a horse in need.

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

02/02/2025

NOW FOR THE FEET

Only a week after having her eye removed, our recent arrival Honey and her BFF Oreo were off to the vet's for xrays and corrective trimming. Their feet are long and will require continued specialized farrier work, but we got a good start and are hopeful they can be kept comfortable. Honey has some abnormal bone growth that will require some follow up, but the girls were as cooperative as could be expected and we are grateful to be on track to getting their hoofcare managed. We are hopeful that at some point they will be able to be placed in an experienced home.

Big thank you to Tuff Wireman and Dr. Quinter at Countryside Veterinary Services .

If you'd like to help with the costs of rehabbing special needs horses like Honey and Oreo, please consider a donation toward our vet and farrier expenses. Our paypal is [email protected] and our venmo is Our regular mailing address is HHSMI, 2932 Eaton Rapids Rd, Albion, MI 49224

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

02/01/2025

Here's the thing...and somehow it's a hard thing for many people to understand.

There is a shortage of veterinarians.

There is a shortage of large animal vets. There is a shortage of small animal vets.

Soooo

If you do not have a relationship with a veterinarian chances are when you have a midnight emergency none will agree to come out for your horse. (Or your small critter)

Not because they are unfeeling or lazy. Read that again.

It is Because they are working themselves to death trying to keep up with the need.

Owners should be established with a vet practice. Puppies need lots of visits and vaccines.

And a neuter or spay

Cats also.

Donkeys as well.

Your horse Will have an emergency at some point. When it does, it should have current vaccinations and a dental.

And no dangly man bits.

And be HANDLEABLE.

If you have a relationship with the vet most of the time they will be there for you as soon as humanly possible.

We (society) gotta do better. We do.

We have a Huge shortage of qualified veterinarians and a huge surplus of animals in all varieties.

And only "we" can fix this

02/01/2025

Thank you to the kind soul who donated a blanket and supplies from our Chewy wish list! So timely! We appreciate the support.

01/25/2025

HONEY'S HOME

Our sweet little mini had her eye removed today. It had ulcerated and was recurrently infected, and so enuchleation was recommended. Dr. Hilary and the whole Beadle Lake team was fantastic and I enjoyed taking a break from work to welcome Honey home.

It made it up to 20 degrees today, so we are slowly trending upward even though we will be in the single digits tonight. Frost free pump is still frozen and Randy is having to haul about 200 gallons of water in 5 gallon buckets with the truck every day to the back pens. Will be so grateful when it is above freezing and we get a little thaw. It has been a hard week. Had to take several days off work to be sure we could cover everything in the bitter cold. We're both physically drained from the early morning checks along with all the hours out in the cold doing chores. . But all the horses, even all of the 30 something gang seem to be doing well, and Honey had a successful eye surgery. So, we are grateful.

Thank you Lola, Wendy, Nora and Jamye for your help this week. Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/22/2025

HAPPY THREE YEAR GOTCHA DAY TO MUDBOG

We haven't been taking many pictures around here this week due to the weather and workoad. Randy and I have each spent at least 6.5 hours per day (Randy a bit more) on feeding and related outdoor chores the last three days. The frost free pump below is frozen, the RTV is down, and Randy has to haul more than 70 five gallon buckets of water to do the back pasture trough and stalls every day. Fortunately the truck works so he can haul about 15 buckets at a time. It adds a couple hours to the chores every day. The drinking posts are great to about 10 degrees, but we have spent a lot of time "unsticking" them although not quickly enough as there are large glazed ice rinks formed around the posts which is deterring horses from using them as much as they should. We'll be trying to get sand in next time we go to town, but the trailer has a flat tire and that needs to be repaired as soon as chores are done this morning as we need square bales urgently today. Hay usage is almost double our normal rate, which Randy cusses about but is actually very good because it is keeping the horses warm.

I like to go out at 5am to check on horses just be sure everyone is surviving the -25 windchills. I throw a flake of hay in the stalls and pens without round bales and today I added mini versions of the hot mashes about 20 of our horses get twice a day at our regular morning and afternoon feeding times. Fortunately, although the last three days have been brutal, and we have found horses with lighter blankets struggling to where we had to add layers and give warm mashes immediately, overall, the horses have done really pretty well.

This morning after I got in from my 5 am rounds, I found this wonderful picture Laura had sent me of Mud Bog, the former standardbred racer whose "Gotcha" day was three years ago. He looks great! We are grateful to the Jepkema family for giving him a loving home where he is living the good life primarily as a companion to his owner's mustang. He is apparently still his normal sassy self, but that was the great thing about MudBog. He's a sweet boy, but still kept that s***k even after being worked into the ground, half starved, and sent to the killpen. We are so grateful he found his forever home.

The thermometer on the south side of the house says its 6 degrees which is 12 degrees warmer than when I first went out this morning, and the warmest it's been in 2 days. But the winds seem to be picking up and we actually have a lot of horses off the bale right now standing at fencelines with their butts turned into the wind. Fortunately, by tomorrow we will be up to 20 degree temps and we may actually hit freezing next week.

Indoor break is over. Time to head back out and fill buckets for the trough filling. By time we get that done it will be time for mid-day mashes already and hopefully Randy will be able to get the tire of the trailer so we can try get some hay this afternoon.

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/18/2025

HELPING THE HERD DURING THE BRUTAL COLD

As we go out to feed this morning, it will actually seem like a heatwave by recent standards, right around freezing. It's a good temp to work morning chores.

But it is also the warmest it will be for the next six days during which time we will see daytime temps with a high of 5 degrees, overnights of -5 to -10, with significant winds causing the windchill temps to go as low as -33.

As most of our followers know, our herd is older, sanctuary type horses. We have a few youngsters with limb deformities, but if you take those two out, the average age of our herd is over 20. We have 8 horses that are known, or vet estimated to be over age 30 right now, and more than 15 more who are between ages 26 and 30, and most of our herd of about 60 horses is outside with only run in shelters.

We have extra round bales out and will keep them stocked, but we can use the following help. We can use volunteer help today, Jan 18 between 230 and 5, to do mucking, blanketing, and feeding. I can always use extra blanket leg straps or rolls of elastic (any color) wider than 3/4 inch to make leg straps. We can really use vegetable oil as we use it in the mashes for the 22 horses that currently get a soaked grain/forage meal twice a day--it really helps mitigate the colic risk which is so so important as the arctic cold moves in. We also really need to get mineral buckets in at least 4 more pens. We are grateful to those who have donated toward that need already, it helps so much. This weather can be life threatening to the older horses and it just seems there are never enough hours in the day to get as prepared as we'd like to be. Your help with needed supplies and time is so especially appreciated at this critical time.

Tomorrow (Sunday, the 19th), we can use help any time between 230 and 4pm, if any of our regular volunteers are available. Our RTV is down, but we will be using the tractor or a sled to try to get square bale hay hauled out to all the run in shelters so that if it gets too cold/windy to stay on the round bale the horses will still have hay to munch on in the run in shelters.

In addition to oil and mineral buckets, we are also grateful for any blanket donations although unfortunately we don't have resources to do pick ups over the next few days as we focus on getting everything ready here. We are also grateful for donations to our feed and supply fund by paypal at [email protected] or venmo of by mail at HHSMI, 2932 Eaton Rapids Rd., Albion, MI 49224.

We pray all of you, and your animals, stay as safe and warm as possible over this extended cold snap, and we thank you so very much for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/15/2025

MORNING WITH THE HERD

The herd has done well through the last cold snap. Temps were just 16 degrees this morning when we headed out to feed in the crisp hazy morning with just a little snow coming down. I was kind of dreading heading out, but we were actually a bit warm in our coveralls and overcoats by time we got the grains and mashes all done.

We are expecting it to be about 10 degrees colder next week with bitter winds and we have about the next 3 days where temps will be near 30 to get ready for a week where night time temps will go below zero before windchills and daytime highs will be lucky to hit the mid teens.

You can help the herd several ways. We will be seeking volunteer help this Saturday afternoon, Jan 18, where the temperatures may actually be up to freezing. We have a horse to deliver to her new home, but there will be volunteers at the farm and we could use help with blanketing, mucking and feeding chores between 2 and 5pm. We're asking for help on Saturday this weekend because Sunday will be almost 20 degrees colder.

We could also use your help buying protein buckets or mineral blocks for our 10 pens. All are out right now, although I hope to be able to get three or four pens covered out of my pay this weekend without taking funds from what I need to put toward my feed budget. We really would like to get our minerals and protein back in place before the next critical cold snap. I've attached pictures of the green mineral/protein bucket you can get at Blain's for about $75, and the blue buckets are available at Family Farm and Home or TSC for between $40 and $45. Or, if you'd like to donate toward our mineral and protein block shopping this weekend, our paypal is [email protected] and our venmo is

Next week is going to be the most difficult of the winter. We have two minis, including one blind mini, coming in from Sunshine Farm, and our lovely Shadow is finally going to her adoptive home. We are so grateful to have our truck back--more on that in a future post, but we are short on time to be ready for the next arctic blast. As always, your donations toward supplies like mineral and protein blocks/tubs, vegetable oil and epsom salt (for mashes) are greatly appreciated as we try to meet the needs of our senior herd through the winter.

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/12/2025

GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT ARCTIC BLAST

After a two day reprieve in our wintry weather (which just means high temps where the first digit is at least a 2) we are expected to get our next cold blast this coming week, so we put out the word asking for volunteer help getting ready. We had a great turnout and got at least a half dozen stalls mucked, 9 horses got blankets or blanket upgrades, all the troughs got topped off, stalls watered and everyone got fed their hay, mashes or grain. Miss Vanity, our little killpen mare with dropped suspensories got a nice room in a stall next to Toby and Shadow, and Randy got three loads of round bales in so we can keep all the pens stocked to make it through the bitter cold nights.

Thank you Kristyn, Lola, Wendy, Nora and Jamye for all your help today. You got so much done and we are so grateful for the support. It really helps to have the stalls ready and our blanketing upgraded before the single digit temps hit.

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/11/2025

HONEY THE MINI

We actually have two mares named Honey on the farm, one a TB mare and a little mini who arrived shortly before Christmas. Honey the mini has been battling an eye infection for several weeks now. The pictures are actually from her second appointment with the vet to treat the eye--she's had three so far, and we'll visit again next week. After a week of trying to do several antibiotics into the eye, the infection was not improving so they shaved and cleaned the eye and installed a port into her eye with the tube being woven into a braid in her mane.

So now we give her antibiotics and a serum from her blood three times a day in the hopes of preventing the eye from rupturing. So far we are not seeing a lot of improvement, but we want to keep at it a few more weeks before we consider enucleation.

She also has the most crippled looking little sideways feet, but she has lots of s***k and a good spirit, so she will have a sanctuary home here where we can get her feet as comfortable as possible and hopefully save that eye.

Keep a good thought for Honey. She is eating well, and gets around pretty well although we've put her and Oreo in a stall while we go through this cold snap.

Thanks for supporting your local horse rescues.

01/09/2025

THE DIGITAL THERMOMETER SAID SIX DEGREES FAHRENHEIT

When we headed out to feed this morning. But I think it got all the way up to 9 dor 10 egrees by the time the sun came up and Randy was hauling hot water to the stalls so I decided to take a few snaps. Angel and Hope had the best frigid faces giving me "looks" as they expressed their discontent that they had only gotten regular, not warm mash grain like so many of the other seniors. .

The horses were all doing well despite the frigid cold, but, as happens so often, when you have almost 60 horses and are trying to stick to a schedule, something comes up to add a little excitement or divert you from your plans. On my last photos in the far back pen with four mares, I noticed Robin had her neck way stretched out and then was bearing her teeth, which can happen when horses need to stretch or elongate and can be an early symptom of colic or choke. I stopped taking pictures and 30 seconds later she was pawing and then dropped and laid on her side. I called for Randy and he indicated she'd come to a bowl and had eaten grain just 30 or 40 minutes earlier so it probably wasn't colic and by time we got to her she had a pretty good roar going on and by time we got to the front of the pen, the food she was choking on began to roll out along with a lot of phlegm-like secretions. .

We massaged her neck for a bit, offered water (no way!!!!) and put her in the front pen to watch for a bit so we could finish chores and, after waiting about another half hour to see if it would resolve, we called the vet. They asked if we could be there in an hour, and we finished watering and got ready to unhook the hay trailer and hook the onehorse trailer up to Vicki's truck, which we'd borrowed to get hay.

Then Henry, our charming stud who has been in a stall since he had to undergo his three week course of antibiotics earlier this winter decided I was too darn slow dropping the hot water to melt the ice in his bucket and out he went with his jaunty jog. "Hey lady," he said to Robin (the horse now in the front pen, not me) before he started jogging around the farm to see what other ladies he could amuse. Next thing we knew Robin was whinnying and calling back and we soon realized that horses in choke don't do that. So we went and checked, offered hay, and by time we finally caught the unhaltered Henry and ended his rounds to visit ladies (and fight with geldings), our mare with choke had cleared.

So we were all grateful as it was after 10am at this point, the temp was all the way up to about 12 degrees and we had wanted to go watch President Carter's funeral and get out of the cold until it was time to go get hay and do mid-day chores..

So, all is well. Our little Honey, the mini goes back to the vet's tomorrow. She has a port in her eye as we continue to give her meds three times a day in that eye in hopes of saving it. But the infection is bad and I am worried about tomorrow's visit. But she has s***k, and I suspect she will do ok even if she ends up losing the eye. Her feet are her bigger concern. We had to reschedule her xrays and corrective farrier work due to truck issues, but she will be seen in a couple of weeks when hopefully it will be warmer. (The corrective farrier works out of a different vet practice than we are taking her to tomorrow for her eye issues.)

Thank you for supporting your local horse rescues.

12/31/2024

A big thank you to Davis Towing in Charlotte for taking our truck to have the transmission replaced and giving us a big "rescue" discount!!! https://www.facebook.com/DavisAutoMart/

We are the First to call when you need a tow, repair or body work. Our towing division is the large

12/30/2024

AS WE END THE YEAR

We want to thank all who have supported our rescue and sanctuary this year. None of what we do is possible without our incredible supporters. We also want to remember the herd members we’ve lost. In 2023, we said goodbye to only one resident, Blackjack, as his navicular got beyond where we could keep him comfortable. This year has been more difficult because though we provided services to more than 80 horses, we said goodbye to 7 residents, and 3 alumni or horses that had been placed.

We said goodbye to Barney, who reigned as the most handsome horse on the farm for the almost 8 years he was here; Betty an old very arthritic pony from the Shipshewana auction who only had a little over a year with us before her arthritis progressed to where she could not cross the driveway to get to her turnout; Riva had about a year and a half with us and gained almost 400 lbs back after arriving from the killpen more than 500 lbs underweight. Unfortunately, her canker returned and spread to all 4 hooves and recovery was not possible so she crossed over with Barney and Betty.

We also said goodbye to Cruiser who had been with us for several years and bravely fought progressively worse heaves until later this summer when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor that made him neurologic. Splash arrived in the summer and replaced our Barney as the most colorful and handsome horse on the farm, but within 4 or 5 months of his arrival he experienced colic symptoms and the vet determined he had a hard tumor the size of a soccer ball in his hindgut, and so euthanasia was the only kind option. Then there was Autumn who we met this fall. She had the most overgrown hooves we had ever seen. She was so beautiful and sweet and patient through all her vet and farrier appointments, but we were too late and the damage could not be reversed and her pain and laminitic flareups meant the only kindness we could offer was to help her cross peacefully. Then finally, our Pineview Gerry, who had been part of our herd for more than 8 years experienced colic like and neurologic symptoms as his brain tumor progressed and he was euthanized December 27.

We also learned of the passing of several alumni including Jake, an older black standardbred: Irish Soul, an older black standardbred, and PJ’s Flash Gordon, a light bay standardbred with a little chrome. All three were once thrown away and ended up in the killpen, but were blessed to find loving homes for their retired years. We are so grateful for the fosters and adopters who give members of our herd a final loving home.

As we end 2024, we ask for your continued support to care for the nearly five dozen equines at the rescue. At this time, we particularly can use support toward the vet bills for our rescue herd and those in foster homes. Our paypal is [email protected] and our venmor is Our regular mailing address is HHSMI, 2932 Eaton Rapids Rd., Albion, MI 49224

We wish you comfort, peace and many blessings in the new year, and we thank you for your support of local horse rescues.

12/29/2024

A PART OF MY HEART WASHED AWAY WITH THE RAIN

Last Friday we said goodbye to Pineview Gerry, a 21 y/o standardbred gelding born in Dresdent Ontario in 2003. Gerry came to the rescue an underweight 13 y/o former harness horse fresh from the PA killpen with his buddy “I Will Try” back in June 2016, eight and a half years ago. I don’t know much about Gerry’s history before he came here but at his intake exam the vet believed he had an old pelvic injury or fracture that had healed well, and he was pasture sound, but not a riding horse.

Gerry was tall, dark and handsome and a gentle soul seemed who loved people, gave the best hugs, and seemed to understand English. While you can point and tell so many standies where you want them to move to, or what you want them to do, with Gerry you could just say it—especially once he had the routine down.

Being unrideable, Gerry was always overlooked by adopters, but he was blessed to have been fostered for several years and was a companion to a beautiful mare named Indy once, and he came home to the rescue after she died. He went back in a larger standardbred group where he got along well, but he never really seemed to buddy up with any one particular horse. He was friends with Three Socks who also got pulled from the STB pen twice a day for a nice warm mash.

We noticed a thick ridge protruding from his face this spring and in March he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. We started palliative care, steroids mostly as there was not much else that could be done. We pulled him off the steroids just a few weeks ago as the dropped suspensory on his right hind seemed to be painful and so he was started on NSAIDs for that.

Friday was a wet day with the rains already starting, and when Gerry was disinterested in his mash he was pulled into a stall and given banamine and we scheduled a farm call. We had hoped it might just be a treatable impaction colic. But by early afternoon he was laying down and when we got him up, he was neurologic in his hind end. We still pulled him from the stall for the vet to do a re**al exam when she arrived but when we saw how neurologic and agitated he was, we knew it would be cruel to even put him through the stress of the exam and the tubing especially since the vet thought that even if it was just an impaction he wouldn’t likely recover without hospitalization.

And so, we resigned ourselves to what we had to do and led Gerry to the round pen while the vet went to her truck and prepared the euthanasia drugs. Gerry laid down in the mud on his own and moaned a bit. But he didn’t try to bolt up and he passed quickly and peacefully when the drugs were administered.

He had been so alive and seemed well just the day before, sneaking to steal some of Three Sock’s mash when I’d stepped away to go put Shadow in her stall for the night. Then he wanted to see what the hay in the little green shed looked like. Gerry often “stalled” on his way back to the field, and had I known it would be the last time he was put back on the field, I would have stalled too. I had hoped he would make it to spring, or we would have a little “heads up” and could give him a good send off on a sunny day. But instead, we got to love on him for a couple of hours while it rained outside and we waited on the vet fearing, but not knowing, that these really were our last moments together. Although it was a wet, gloomy day, Gerry wasn’t alone. Besides Randy and I, Dave and Marianne came by, and Nora and Jamye were there by the time he flew away. It was raining and gloomy. But Gerry was ready to go, and I couldn’t bear the thought of taking that blanket off him while he waited in the roundpen to be euthanized. So we left it on and he sat down and waited.

I will miss his gentle hugs which have been such a comfort to me in the past year as our family has dealt with so many difficulties. I already miss our little late afternoon routine as we pull him for mash and return him to the field. Gerry was one of those long term sanctuary horses who left his mark on my heart, and his loss is particularly painful. But I am grateful that Gerry will not suffer any more and that he enjoyed just being a horse and living life on his own terms right up to that last sad day. I want to thank Anne Lindsay who sponsored him and helped cover the cost of his palliative care, and everyone who supports the rescue and sanctuary.

Run free in God’s herd my big sweet handsome friend, we loved having you here.

Pineview Gerry, 5/21/2003 to 12/27/2024

12/27/2024

WE NEED YOUR HELP ON THE FINAL FIVE DOLLAR FRIDAY OF 2024

We had a good Giving Tuesday with a little over $1000 raised for our vet expenses. Some of the money was sent direct, some will be coming soon via FB. Almost immediately, Covenant, one of our older standardbred mares experienced a choke requiring an emergency weekend farm call. Fortunately, it cleared, but during feeding last night, Wendy notice Covenant standing in the furthest back corner of the farm just standing there staring downward. I went out to check on her and there on the ground was more than a gallon's worth of the telltale phlegm that must have been flowing out of her for hours. She had choked again for the second time in three weeks.

So now, the horse that was just here for transport (she supposedly had another home when we agreed to transport her) has had three vet visits in the last five months including two emergency vet visits for choke. For now at least, she'll be a masher and kept in a stall instead of going back with a few other gentle mares.

So, our Giving Tuesday fundraising is a wash because with more than 60 horses (and about 15 fosters) the vet bills are unavoidable and continuous Just the cost of medications--prascend, equioxx, and banamine cost the rescue more than $250 a month....and only a few of our old horses have sponsors to help cover the costs of the care they need. If you factor in our annual vaccination and worming costs, our monthly average medication expenses exceed $600 per month even before counting any veterinary care.

Then the week before Christmas the transmission on our truck went out stuck in the uphill driveway to the rescue. This is the second truck we have blown the transmission on just this year. Unfortunately, we have to haul a lot--two loads of round bales or 16 round bales per week, about 100 square bales per week (or 135 every 10 days or so), and four pallets of feed, sometimes done in half pallet loads due to cash flow. So right now, the rescue is dependent on the kindness of our supporters to help even get the feed in that the horses need. In fact, last night it was Vickie's truck that hauled Covenant to Beadle Lake to clear her choke. (Thank you Vickie for your support!)

We don't know yet how much the truck repairs will be--they finally got it in a bay yesterday afternoon and will call us today with the news. But we know it won't be cheap. And we still have outstanding vet bills exceeding $3500 at three vet practices despite making small payments our of every pay check.

So we are asking for help in a couple of ways. Please consider donating to our vet account or transportation funds--if you'd like to pay a vet directly, just message our page and we will get you the account information for one of the three practices we use. Our paypal is [email protected] and venmo is and our mailing is HHSMI, 2932 Eaton Rapids Rd., Albion, MI 49244 Any amount is greatly appreciated.

We can also use help with transport. If you live near Albion, or near a Farm and Home anywhere and are willing to transport a half pallet of feed to us, please message the page. We are trying to arrange support for at least the next several weeks as we don't anticipate we will have our truck back soon. (Thank you, Penny for hauling our forage pellets from the Litchfield elevator!) If you are willing to help come muck a stall or help with a morning or afternoon feeding chore shift, that would be greatly appreciated too. We know being out in the cold or muddy weather in the winter is no fun, but the horses need us now more than ever and we are grateful for anyone who can make the commitment to help on whatever schedule works for them.

Thanks to your help this year, we were able to help more than 80 horses. But we currently have 60+ in our herd and we can use your support with meeting their needs. As this year ends, please consider a donation to help with the veterinary care of the herd--monetary donations or in-kind donations of equine meds and supplements are both appreciated, or to help with transporting the many tons of hay and feed we use every month.

Thanks for supporting your local horses rescues. We wish you many blessings in the new year.