Friday, November 15, 2013

We won!

As most of you that follow Horse Haven on Facebook already know,  Horse Haven won a van in Toyota's annual "100 cars for good" car give away!  It will be several weeks before we'll take delivery of the "Twinkie Mobile" which gives us time to reflect and be grateful.

We applied for this van months ago.  Once we were accepted into the contest, we had to follow the instructions provided to us from Toyota.  We had to create an online profile for our organization, tell our story and tell voters why we needed this vehicle.  And then we had to wait for our voting date.  We only had one day to vote.  All of our prep work came down to 13 hours of open online polls.  So we rallied the troops.  And they responded.  Boy, did they respond!  I saw people online, begging their friends to vote until late into that evening.  Our supporters were exchanging ideas amongst each other on how to best get people to vote for us.  It was a sight to behold and it sure paid off.  I shouldn't be surprised.  Our volunteers, supporters, members of the board and our staff always pull together for Horse Haven.  It's what makes Horse Haven great.  It's a team effort.  What we can't accomplish as individuals, we can make happen if we combine our efforts to help the horses.  And for that I am grateful.







                                                                                    

Friday, November 1, 2013

Hay!

I love this time of year!  Temperatures are down and the humidity levels are tolerable. Working outside is a pleasure on those bright sunny fall days.

And it's time to stock up on hay.  Hay is a major staple in an equine's diet.  Before grains and concentrates, a horse, donkey, pony or mule must have long stem forage.  In the fall and winter we rely on hay to provide this dietary requirement. Horse hay must be clean, stored in the dry, free of mold or dust.  A horse should consume about 2% of it's body weight in hay each day.  For the average 1000 pound horse, that's about 20 pounds a day.  If the temperatures drop, that number is likely to go up because burning the hay in the intestine creates internal body heat.  If the horse is in poor condition, as many of Horse Haven's horses are when they arrive here, the animal will need to be fed additional hay.

We currently go through about 12 large round bales a week.  The horses have free access to the hay while turned out in our pastures.  They also receive square baled hay and horse feed while they're in their stalls.

We feed a lot of hay.  Thankfully, we now have a place to store round bales on the property.



     

It brings me joy to see this giant pile of hay because I know that this hay will keep our horses fed and warm in the cold winter months to come.  For some of the horses in our care, those that arrived this spring and summer, this will be the first winter in a long time without worries about feed. 

We're glad to be able to provide.