Tula Vida Foundation

01/25/2025

Our volunteers still braved the wet and windy weather to come and brush and chat to horses today. Everyone is inside with hay drying out and it’s better with company and cookies! We appreciate this kind of support and love.

It’s a challenging period with extra time, hay and other costs if anyone is able to support with a donation it is very much appreciated.

Roncador and Imperio in particular are feeling the weather & Cosmo and Brida are lame, and we have all 14 horses in the barn eating hay all day, when the country is struggling to cut hay (in the wet) so the price keeps going up.

See our website in comment below to donate - or buy a shirt with our beautiful logo on our online store (link also below) and support us that way. We appreciate it!

11/26/2024

Please join us for more horses and reiki! Register below…

Meet some VERY special horses and receive Reiki too!

Join us on Zoom next week — we will be sending Reiki to the herd of rescue horses at the Tula Vida foundation in Costa Rica, and to you and your animals too!

Any size donation will help keep the horses healthy, happy and thriving — what a perfect way to give during the holidays! 🎄🌟

You’ll see how the horses respond as they receive the Reiki, and you’ll benefit from their magical energy too!

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/horse-reiki-fundraising-event-for-tula-vida-foundation-registration-1061141435599?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0HASkv2-ENYGJ8SYSXBj32Nct_cl8PXs2DpzIrWe38otCMET3GVrJk_bc_aem_jx0VocDPnVviN8gERPuoHg

Can’t wait to see you there 💚

10/27/2024

Another fun horse spa day where local volunteers come and pamper these rescue horses who just had 2 weeks “working” in some amazing Horse and Soul retreats with Don’t they look fab!

09/18/2024

Join us this Thursday!!
Tula Vida

Join us this Thursday to help some very special horses!

Receive Reiki along with the Tula Vida Foundation herd of rescue horses in Costa Rica! (Your animals will receive the Reiki too!) 😊✨

The Tula Vida horses are incredibly special souls— any donation you can make will help them to thrive, live happy lives and supply the meds and treatments they need. 💜

You’ll be able to see the herd on Zoom throughout the session as we share the yummy energy 🥰

Please register (link below) -- we'd love to see you there.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/horse-reiki-fundraising-event-for-tula-vida-foundation-registration-931631684447?aff=oddtdtcreator

Tula Vida Foundation Jen's Universe

09/13/2024

Join us online next week!!
Tula Vida

Counting down the days to next week's event!

Please join us on Zoom and receive Reiki along with the Tula Vida Foundation herd of rescue horses in Costa Rica! (Your animals will receive the Reiki too!) 😊✨

The Tula Vida horses are incredibly special souls, and we're so looking forward to sharing the healing with them. 💜

Please register (link below) -- we'd love to see you there. Any donation will help the horses to thrive and live happy lives:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/horse-reiki-fundraising-event-for-tula-vida-foundation-registration-931631684447?aff=oddtdtcreator

Jen's Universe

09/07/2024

We do love our volunteer horse spa day - everyone gets involved and today we even had some hair trimming.
Receiving this care and attention is such an important part of these rescue horses feeling good - and giving it is a joy for all involved. Thanks to .kenney and others not on Instagram for another beautiful day with the herd.

09/04/2024

Some wonderful friends of the Tula Vida herd have organized this event to support the foundation, and to share some positive energy with you and your animals.

If you know the magic of reiki then please join and share with us! If you haven’t yet experienced reiki this will be a great taster, and you can see how the horses react.

The link is in the bio of or write a note (or a yes) below and we will send you the link by messenger.

We are excited to experience this for the first time at Tula Vida!

st .kenney

08/01/2024

Never a dull moment - Miela cut herself out in the field and it was deep. Luckily we saw it early and Eric stitched it straight back up! This is just one of the parts of having horses, a horse rescue & making sure we can take care of them well. Eric is amazing at the medical emergency needs and very brave at diving straight in to whatever needs handling - which is lucky as our vet is 3 hours away and of course more expensive. When you support the Foundation you help is buy medicine and - for example - the hay that Miela needs to eat while she is recuperating in a stall!

07/13/2024

He healed and now he heals others. Looking and doing soooo well 2 years on, Imperio!

07/13/2024

Look at Imperio now!!

Look at this picture & imagine this connection. It’s hard to explain in words what we do but this feeling is some of it.
Hard to believe this horse was starving in a field just 2 years ago, now he brings joy to so many. Thanks herd.

06/16/2024

Thanks to all our volunteers for another great horse spa day! The horses enjoyed their pampering and time with friends.

05/18/2024

Everyone got their feet trimmed last week!

When Roncador first came to us his overgrown hooves were part of his pain walking. Imagine toenails so overgrown that mean you have to walk everywhere on your heels!

It’s an important part of horse care to have feet trimmed and balanced every 4-6 weeks and we are grateful for donations that enable it to happen.

We are also very happy to have a new trimmer, known as Chocolito (everyone has a nickname in Costa Rica!) who is very calm and soft with the horses. And who can walk right under Kiki’s belly to get to the other side 😆

04/03/2024

RONCADOR UPDATE

Our new little friend is doing great! He is eating so much better and - as you might see from the photos - is already putting on some weight.

He had a slight set-back when he was lame in his back foot, the same side as the bad knee, so standing was a bit wobbly but it was an abscess (for those who don't know horses, this is an infection inside the hoof that is very painful while pressure builds up but once it bursts out, it heals quickly - it is not serious and we were happy it was that!) You can see the hole where it burst out, it was a big one - but healing really well in the lovely dry weather.

He has been making new friends, both horse and human, and enjoying the Tenorio volcano views (well, probably!) and sunsets in his new field.

We were thrilled this week when he willingly approached us with ears forward as soon as he saw us - trust and connection are building and growing!

His coat is still in bad shape (despite 3 baths) which could be nutrition, so we are giving him extra supplements and natural remedies for that.

Thanks so much for the continued good wishes and support!
If you want to donate to his cause, the link is in our earlier post.

ps he is still somewhat suspicious of the tasty fruit we are offering him, but he loooooves his horse food. He is such a sweet personality - can't wait for you all to meet him!

03/17/2024

RONCADOR UPDATE - very happy to report that he is now eating really well (he can actually chew and swallow!) after his teeth were fixed, ⁠
he is now standing better after his feet were trimmed (they were totally uneven, like wearing different height shoes!). ⁠
Getting them really good will take some time and a few more trims, but as you can see they look much better already.⁠
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He is a calm and quiet character, seems happy to be here - and we are planning to introduce him to some new herd members today so he has some friends. Space, freedom, forage, friends - priorities for mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of horses. ⁠
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An interesting note: From the horse's mouth:⁠
An intuitive friend of ours was visiting him and she received the message that he "reeeeally liked the red stuff." We were a little confused at first, their feed is more green & brown, the shot of vitamin C was red but doubt it was that!, we didn't remember giving him watermelon yet....and then it hit us. The Dunafat! He is on a supplement that is amazing to help horses gain weight - it is reddy/pink and is basically a mix of coconut, oils, molasses and other good natural stuff. It smells amazing and we've tried it ourselves and it is indeed delicious! Good to know that he likes it! 😉⁠
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Check out our stories to see some video of him taking a nap with Sally in the field...⁠
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See below for the link to support if you would like or are able to do so.⁠
Thank you so much for all your continued help and support! ⁠
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paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4556719 ⁠
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03/13/2024

RONCADOR UPDATE - good and bad news!!

He is safely at Tula Vida Ranch! We were able to bring him yesterday and do a good assessment of his condition.
The bad news is- his coat and teeth and feet are BAD (let alone the knee).
The good news is- we have started already in all his care and healing treatments. Details below.

Thanks so much for your help so far - and costs are still mounting up so if you are able to help Roncador would appreciate it:

https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4556719

DETAILS
When he first arrived our Foundation friend Matt gave him a good bath to kill fungus and other nasty bugs. He had a drink and meal, and went out for grass…BUT we noticed he really didn’t eat much and was spitting his grass and hay out…

TEETH
A quick look in his mouth confirmed our fears. His teeth were in bad shape!
In the wild, horses graze on good and varied forage that keeps their teeth smooth and ground down. Living with humans, horses don’t get the same forage as it’s typically much softer, so they get sharp points or other issues on their teeth that can cut into their gums, cheeks and tongue.

Luckily our vet dentist Andres could come urgently today and we found poor Roncador had THREE FRACTURED TEETH!
Sharp shards of tooth were cutting into his mouth every time he chewed (we are sparing you the gross pics but it was pretty bloody). He probably couldn’t chew properly for months!
Eric and Andres did some serious dental work as you can see (Roncador is sedated for this).
Now he will be feeling much much better and is out eating grass already (final pic).

HOOVES
The farrier comes tomorrow to start his feet trimming (which should be done every 6 weeks but his are so overgrown and uneven, who knows when they were last done). Imagine walking for months in shoes of different height and what that does to your muscles and body…

EYE & NOURISHMENT
His eye infection got a flush and is looking better already, he got more minerals and vitamins and his personality is starting to show - what a curious, intelligent sweetie he is!

These are just some of the fundamental aspects of care that make a huge different in a horse’s life and we are happy to be able to offer them to Roncador - THANK YOU for helping us make this happen.

We are working on getting these urgent issues and his nutrition improved, while we create a plan for his very arthritic knee too.

COSTS MOUNTING…
While our vet kindly helped out with a reasonable bill (given all the extra work there was removing teeth), we do need to over all these bills and there are more costs to come so it’s still adding up - and any help you can give is really appreciated.

Here is a link to donate:

https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4556719

We will keep you posted and introduce properly by video soon!

03/08/2024

This horse needs our help!
Otherwise he will be left to die in the field or taken to the slaughterhouse.

Watch our YouTube video to meet him (and brief story below): https://youtu.be/0raDvHSD3qE

HIS STORY

Friends led to us Roncador, who was apparently a great cattle horse but was abandoned in his field due to increasing lameness.

As you can see he is skinny, full of ticks, miserable, with little grass and a long, steep climb down to water that he can barely do with his giant, swollen knee.

Tula Vida Foundation is not currently in a position to support more horses, but this case was urgent so we went to see him and had our vet Andres do an x-ray of his knee.

HIS CHANCE...

His leg isn't broken - but he has chronic arthritis which is manageable, so we did some treatments to make him more comfortable and we believe he deserves a chance to enjoy the rest of his life.

We are getting a blood test for anaemia (which would contagious for the rest of the herd) and then we want to move him to a comfortable, safe place to fill his life with love and care.

HELP NEEDED

To be able to do this, we urgently need your help.
- The owners are willing to let us take him if we buy him for the meat price (buying the horse is really the only way to help them here without any repercussions),
- We already have a vet bill of $2,000 outstanding,
- Roncador will need lots of extra nourishing and treatment to get him back into a healthy weight and state.

Anything you can give to support this brave little guy to get back into the glossy, big quarter horse he is meant to be would be very much appreciated

And some day perhaps you can come and meet him and see the shine back in his eyes.

TO SUPPORT...

To donate please use this PayPal link: paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/4556719

Or visit our website (www.tulavida.com/support)

Thank you. So much.