Three Pines Farm

Sorry for the lack of updates :).  It's just been a 'blah' couple of months.  Work, work, mud, snow, and more work.  But look how well Major's doing!  Thanks to Matt and Alison donating the funds for his new winter blanket, Major is well on his way to being fat & sassy again.  He's already got the 'sass' down, haha!  We're finally getting on top of his rainrot issues (it's just been too cold to put any liquids/oils on to treat); he's got large bald patches on his rump where we've finally got the scabs off so the oxygen can get to the skin and kill the fungus, but the skin is healthy and pink and starting to regrow the hair already.  Yay Major!  Keep it up, buddy!

I was sitting here trying to total up his portion of the feed costs, just for general reference, but I'm not sure I want to know just how many dollars we've put into him :).  Right now he's on a 50/50 of Purina Equine Senior ($15 a bag) and Purina Strategy ($12 a bag).  Until recently, he was 100% Equine Senior.  He goes through a bag about every 5 days (soaked in hot water to make a delicious mash; he's not spoiled at all, lol!).  So, as near as I can figure, he's gone through almost $175 in feed alone the last two months.  Not to mention all the wormers per IHR policy for emaciated horses; a little over $125 so far for that.  Right now he's on round bales but he was getting at least a square a day until about 3 weeks ago, at $3 per square; I don't pay much for the round bales, but they're several counties away and gas for that load is outrageous.  So that's well over $500 so far, not counting water, electricity, sawdust, labor, topical medications, and so forth.  But the look on his face and his excited nicker anytime he sees someone who might be bringing him food is worth way more than all that.  This, ladies and gentleman, is why I have two jobs and my truck runs like crap, lol!  And I'm not the only one; I know of several other equine, canine, and feline shelters that are really feeling the pinch; please consider donating a few bucks to your local animal shelters if you can.  I can provide paypal links to several deserving animal charities if you're looking for one; just email me at ihrpike@yahoo.com.  I can't wait until spring when I can get my home PC service back up so I can really start working on fundraising for the IHR horses.  Anyway, back to it; if we get a single warm day soon, I'd love to get some new pictures for you all.  Have a great day, and hug your animals!