North Coast Equine

08/06/2024

free but you must register

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1046666853522796&id=100045384742980

On Aug. 8, join AAEP member veterinarians Dr. Elizabeth Gorrell and Dr. Chelsea Folmar for a one-hour webinar discussing the essentials of disaster preparation. Whether it's tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, or wildfires, learn to plan with confidence and ensure you and your animals are ready for any emergency.

Registration is FREE but required; AAEP members will receive an email with a Zoom registration link on 8/1, so be sure to check your inbox if you missed it.

Attendees are also encouraged to submit their questions in advance through the registration form. A recording of the webinar will be available if you miss the live event.

This informative session is brought to you by the AAEP Horse Owner Education Committee.

Register here: https://aaep-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OjyrhJK7RrOsV5LFljMxxg #/registration

08/05/2024

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/musculoskeletal-system/myopathies-in-horses/exertional-myopathies-in-horses?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid-social&utm_campaign=brado_mvm_exertionalmyopathies&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0BMAABHST6zfk73hijYFyrAz7OzU1OyB9qZTjZpG9TOo365gG6tD1EiCSh-34o6A_aem_g_CcJMtVlkldRYPqCTIXOQ&utm_id=6582882320800&utm_content=6582882320400&utm_term=6582882320600

07/24/2024

Are you a first year UC Davis undergraduate (including transfers) student or do you know one? We are once again offering our First Year Aggie Connection: Horsin' Around this fall to introduce new students to all of the ways they can become involved in the Aggie equine community.

Highlights will include tours of campus horse facilities, learning about internship and career opportunities with horses, gaining insights into veterinary research, and meeting faculty, staff and students with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and jobs with horses!

Learn more and register at the UC Davis First-Year Aggie Connections website: https://opportunity.ucdavis.edu/programs/aggie-connect/connections/horsin-around.

07/23/2024

never gets old

Explanation of the video: I LIKE THE WAY YOU MOVE. . . THE COMPLEXITY OF MOVEMENT IN THE HORSE (A partial/superficial explanation of what is going on inside ...

07/12/2024

this saturday!

Join Park Rangers and volunteers in celebrating the 54th Anniversary of the Morgan Horse Ranch on Saturday, July 13th! Drop in any time from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The event will include riding and roping demonstrations, games, activities and crafts for kids, community partners, and much more! This event is free and open to the public.

The Morgan Horse Ranch was established at Point Reyes National Seashore in 1970 as a breeding program for the National Park Service. At its height, park rangers from throughout the service would come to Point Reyes for horsemanship classes, and the ranch maintained a herd of 35 to 40 horses. Morgan horses raised here in the Seashore were used by rangers in parks across for trail patrol, events, Search and Rescue, and packing supplies into the wilderness. Today, the Point Reyes Morgan Horse Ranch has a smaller herd of six horses--all of whom will be making an appearance at the celebration!

06/29/2024

Science is often just common sense with references

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4707819009244040&id=130645510294769

A recent study, conducted in Japan, compared various methods for cooling horses after exercise in hot and humid conditions. Thoroughbreds were exercised until their pulmonary artery temperature reached 108°F. The time until the pulmonary artery temperature returned to

06/26/2024

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1005139431617636&id=100063647647207

04/07/2024

Solar eclipse may trigger night time activities in animals,
otherwise, it’s our own angst, actions, and anxiety that really are to be concerned about.

A look at the behavior of zoo and companion species and how veterinary professionals and their clients can keep pets safe and calm during this rare meteorological event

03/22/2024

7 nights for up to 4 guests in County Cork Seven nights for up to four guests At the Luxury Castlemartyr Resort in County Cork, Ireland Luxury 2-bedroom condo Only ONE available!  Offered by Sunrise

03/12/2024

Thank you for all that you have done… SAFER and Kate Sullivan!

March 1, 2024

Dear SAFER community:

After 17 years SAFER will be drawing to a close at the end of March. I have much to report, and many allies and supporters to thank. This last newsletter will be a summary of our work, the state of horse auctions and slaughter, and a personal note from me.

In 2007, using the foster homes approach, we took in our first rescues. Three mini’s a vet had been called to put down (he called us instead) because Animal Control was after the owners for neglect. They were adopted all together and – at last report – are still with us! The following year I obtained non-profit status; thank you to Joan Rasmussen! My main concern was always the slaughter outcome for horses. I would be surprised as I began auction work how many well-intentioned owners thought their lame or old horses would be finding homes as pets or therapy horses. Some thought there was a local “glue factory” that would humanely shoot the horses for dog food. I did a lot of tactful educating over the years. I also found out why they were taking them there. So I designed programs I hoped would offer these owners alternatives. Thus were our programs of Feed Assistance, Safe Transitions (helping folks in hard times to safely rehome), and Phone Counseling created.

SAFER is first and foremost greatly indebted to those whose financial support– year after year - made all the SAFER work possible. Your gifts were a constant inspiration. Thank you so very much.

Our Feed Assistance program began by inviting the feed stores in Sonoma, Lake County and Mendocino to participate with SAFER via coupons. These feed stores made feed available to folks according to what each horse needed - without SAFER needing to store and distribute the feed. The advantage to participating feed stores was they would make money through our program as SAFER paid retail for their products. It was a win win for all and worked very well!

My profound thanks go out to Jim Mayfield and his crew at Rainbow Ag in both Mendocino and Lake County. Their participation would feature hugely - especially during the fire crises that struck both counties. In Sonoma County Don Benson was first to offer his participation at Rivertown and The Feed Store (before its fire and subsequent change of ownership). His crew dispatched a lot of feed and grain! At Western Farm, Trevor Frampton and Dana Gondola have worked with us from the beginning; distributing lots of products! In fact I had originally met with Lou Bertolini, founder of Western Farm, who gave us the go ahead for our program so long ago!

There were several smaller outfits that also participated on and off throughout the years and I thank them all! These wonderful companies have served their communities with the Feed Assistance program – some for over a decade and a half!

There are several outstanding SAFER Board members that I am deeply grateful to. Michelle Benedetti has been with us from the beginning. She handled the bookkeeping, tax prep, and was a wonderful foster and adopter. Michelle and Mark could always be counted on to take in fire rescues and orphans of all kinds - including myself+cats during fire evac. Fun times. Lisa McElroy was a very hard worker and did a huge amount of fostering, transporting, envelope stuffing and hay baling. Many rescue adventures were undertaken with her help! Carleene Cady has been with us over a decade. She ran the Fire Depot in Lake County for over 8 months during the horrific 2015 fire season there. She distributed over $280,000 in donated feed and supplies to Lake County feeding every kind of critter; including camels. We were very grateful to Adobe Creek Packing for loaning the space; and we cleaned it up nicely at the end. This would serve us well! We had an excellent reference when we needed space in Mendocino for our Fire supply depot in 2017! Thank you Mary Snyder! In addition SAFER donated thousands through a Tractor Supply coupon program during the fires in all three counties.

I also did a LOT of phone counseling. In the end that took up the most of my time. However it would keep me aware of new issues so the SAFER programs could evolve to meet those needs.

SAFER is deeply grateful to all our volunteer fosters large and small – so many!! Some took in one or two and others fostered whole auction runs! They were the backbone of our Auction work which I think was the favorite program of our supporters. The auction runs also contributed the most stress. Not fun times – a lot of work for everybody - but so very satisfying in the end. Thank you to the volunteers who throughout the years answered the call for help when a batch of horses came in. You rocked!

The NorCal auctions were the focus of much of our work – and that situation has changed. A synopsis: Petaluma Livestock Auction ran horses once a week. SAFER took many from the Petaluma auction between 2009 to 2015. They stopped running horses in 2015 and folks had to drive out to the valley to dump horses. (I caught a few.) Escalon Livestock ran horses on Friday nights. Down the road in Turlock, Cowtown auction ran once a month. I would go out Fri and bid at Escalon and then the next night at Cowtown. Sunday our volunteer transporters would come out and, along with the SAFER 3 horse, take them all home. Special thanks to Hilary Hansen! In 2020 Escalon stopped running horses – just before Covid hit. Cowtown was then shut down by Covid and never reopened. Horses then began to be sold by B + B Livestock in Madera, run by the only guy in CA ever to be tried and convicted of horse export for slaughter. We took 3 hauls out of that one and then it closed in 2023. Property sold and the guy moved to Oregon. Now there is another outlet an hour or more south of Madera in Denuba that started running horses; I’m sure at the behest of the primary trader/kill buyer. I have many stories … but they won’t go here. Anyway, that takes us pretty much into SoCal territory. At this time there are no more horse auctions in NorCal. Plus the number of horses going to slaughter from CA has drastically dropped. Such great news!

As required by law the remainder of the SAFER supplies and money will to go to another 501©3. SAFER resources will be divided between Lost Hearts and Souls Horse Rescue and Sadies Haven Horse Sanctuary. I have much respect for the work of these two organizations.

On a very personal note:
SAFER has greatly enriched my life in so very many ways. I treasure the friends I have made along the way! I have fallen in love with every one of the horses and that has brought me great joy as well as much sorrow. However by now the physical toll has been substantial. When I started SAFER I was experiencing a recent Lyme infection. By 2015 I had learned to subdue the Lyme with herbs, diet and acupuncture. However by then both hips had dissolved from the physical stresses of my work to the point of needing total replacements. It took several years to get them both resolved. Many were the times I needed to be somewhere and was unable to get out of my chair – and things did not go well. There were decisions I made for expediency due to pain that were not the best. Also my favorite horse broke (by accident) my nose in three places. (Drove myself to the ER.) All in all I did the best I could. I am proud of what SAFER has accomplished.

As I write this letter, I am just out of hospital recuperating from my third joint replacement – my right shoulder. Baling hay and setting up/tearing down panels, and loading and unloading equipment at fosters is apparently in my past. I asked my surgeon if I could at least carry a 50 lb bag. He looked at me with a grimace and said, “Kate. You are in your 70’s”. So .… the writing is on the wall …

With no more auctions our work there is done. Also the end of the drought has lessened the need for Feed Assistance. It feels like this is a good time for me to hang up the sword - and the phone - and pass the baton. My deepest thanks to everyone that joined up to make hundreds of horses and their people safe, well and happy.

I am leaving the FaceBook page open and allowing anyone to post for a period of time. I would love to hear about the adopted horses and any other feedback!

See you around!
Kate Sullivan
President - SAFER

02/22/2024

The United States has recently been declared free of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). Biosecurity restrictions related to the 2023-2024 outbreak have been lifted. The CDFA reported that the last VSV quarantines in California were lifted on January 18.

More information about VSV is available in our equine health topics database: https://ceh.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/health-topics/vesicular-stomatitis

02/22/2024

https://www.thenaep.com/events/californiaregionalwetlab?fbclid=IwAR3a95fPCONy1SOLXCx4TSPjNHzHjZdi1tv_p9NGdQ2-wzD8XpLEfpKyzhE_aem_AdXpLo4NMkF9S3tT6VX-WeP2kdPMmWiOzjwrFTl68qVst_GniZIImkXFy28BRqzQJI7FDPEQN1Ru0VYU0QjdrMYx

Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School Welcomes the NAEP

02/17/2024

Attention all horse owners! 🐴

Are you curious about equine dentistry and how it impacts your horse's health and well-being?
🦷 Join Dr. Molly Rice DAVDC-Eq for a special online educational event: "What Every Horse Owner Should Know About Dentistry." this Wednesday, February 21st at 7pm!

Whether you're a seasoned equestrian or new to horse ownership, this event is for you! Don't miss out on this valuable opportunity to expand your knowledge and provide the best care for your equine companion.

Reserve your spot today:
https://form.jotform.com/240473502454148