We’ve been mostly off social media but we felt we needed to post the A Flicker of Light story (Flicka) so it made me think about the last six months in general. Doesn’t it seem like a lifetime ago?
Even though Covid essentially took us out, and we are certainly not alone in this, we still managed some small victories.
We are actively sponsoring horses at Baja Horses in a small town south of Mexicali, Mexico. They provide therapy to a disabled children’s school in town and are mostly rescues from different at risk situations, particularly old rental string horses that are cast off and/or injured. You know, the pretty horses you see in all the ads, where equally attractive people are riding along a serene beach enjoying themselves….but there’s always a downside and then Baja Horses steps in. I live in Mexico part of the year so am personally familiar with the facility and it’s operator. All programs and donations dried up with Covid but the horses still have to eat. Baja Horses hopes to be back on schedule come October.
We started off in January fully sponsoring two racetrack warriors that had been found in a feedlot, bound for slaughter. Both were still racing at 9 and 10 years old and had combined starts of 117 between the two of them. Pointsettia Park & Thames Valley.
We then went on to assist Peyton’s Path who came from an ill fated barn where his bills were no longer paid.
On top of that we sponsored Twirling Irish, who through no fault of his own with no actual legal racing starts, was injured through illegal match racing as he was spirited off the track and then returned again. We are happy to report that he has recovered and is now in training.
We then retired Batti Man, who was still racing at the age of 12 and had 59 starts. We retired him directly off track from Turf Paradise in Phoenix, AZ and shipped him to California. Batti Man became the ninth Racetrack Warrior we have retired in the last 18 months. All of these horses were racing at 10 years or older. These nine horses have combined starts of 632!! That means on average each horse left the starting gate 70 times!!!!!
Then we finally found a permanent retirement home for Spinelessstarfish (Star) who was in program and kicking around for over three years! Star was one of the most problematic horses we ever had and we shared that burden with another one of our sister rescues. We also featured her on Facebook. Our only two posts in 6 months.
Lastly, we found an amazing permanent retirement home for another off track with a long time supporter of Neigh Savers that had injuries that rendered him to pasture puff status only, Indy’s Dynamo (Indy).
And, of course, on the heels of Indy’s placement, we sent A Flicker of Light, another horse that is only serviceably sound, to a beautiful retirement in Oregon with another of our very long time supporters.
So, we are still active, on a smaller scale but then, it’s a tough time and donations are few and far between. We understand that and will try to hang in there as long as we can. There is no getting round it. Without funding we couldn’t have done any of the above. So, we are once again taking a break as the above mentioned saves and maintenance are expensive. We took 90% from our reserves with only 10% coming back in. We’ll just sit tight. We hope things turn around for us, for our valued donors and for the nation as a whole. It’s a bit like living in the matrix these days. I hope we all come out of it being better people and reassessing our values and what is actually important in our lives.
With peace & love, Karin & the Team at Neigh Savers