***Elderly Appy in Santa Rosa: Quickie update***

[watermarkfarm]

Hi all,

My neighbor and acquaintance, Lisa, has hit very hard times over the last year (loss of job, not able to find a new one, and is beyond over her head financially and facing foreclosure).

She has placed her 2 other horses (one listed here, a Lippizzan) but has managed to hang on to her last horse, a very very very elderly Appaloosa gelding, probably age 31 or so.

Now Lisa is really in dire straits and can hardly afford to feed herself. Her situation sounds very grim and she is asking for help. She is asking for someone to adopt her old guy, Spiker, and give him his last year or so of life.

She is very willing to euthanize him, but he is quite healthy, just very old and partially blind with some mild neurological issues. He has a major sway back. The vet has examined him regularly and says he is not in pain, just looks bad! Spiker has received good care and is in pretty decent condition. He eats mostly pellets and needs senior care (blanket, shelter, etc.)

Do you know anyone in the Sonoma County area who would take this guy on for his last year or so?

Alternately, Lisa may be able to continue keeping him at home (as long as she is not completely foreclosed upon) if the costs of his feed (about $100/month) can be covered.

I have pledged to cover 1/2 of euthanasia and disposal costs if someone adopts Spiker, and will also provide transport to a new home.

If you can help, please call me at 707-544-7584 or email me at [e-mail]

[watermarkfarm]

I spoke with Lisa, who owns Spiker, today.

Lisa is very touched that people might be willing to help her hang on to Spiker. She sounds very desperate. She just needs help with feeding Spiker. Spiker eats grass hay and Equine Senior. I have told Lisa that I will help her with vet costs for Spiker.

This is a great chance to help a horse stay in his home and also support someone who is really trying to do right by him. Lisa's place is very simple, but her horse is well cared for and she has put his needs first. Lisa is currently feeding herself with food from the local food bank. She lost her job a year ago and has recently found a new one, but got badly behind in her mortgage and maxed out credit cards to survive. She is trying to stave off foreclosure right now. It sounds like a house of cards --- kind of collapsing all around her. Lisa is a bit of an odd bird and has very few friends and no living family to help her.

If you care to donate a very small amount of $5 or $10, it would be appreciated and will go far in feeding just one horse. You could send a check to me, which I will take and purchase feed to deliver to Lisa. I am doing this to give Spiker more time. Please PM me for details.

Thanks, Katie

[bridgetah]

I'll come up with $10 shortly. I'll try to make regular small donations to help out. I'd hate to see her lose that old boy.

[watermarkfarm]

Thank you, Anne. This really will come together with just teensy donations here and there.

I am going to meet with Lisa and really figure out how much it will cost to keep Spiker in oats. I have a source for $9/bale hay and may run down with a flatbed and buy a load that will get her thru winter.

I will get a photo of Spiker and post it shortly.

Katie

[NanciK]

Katie - Can I send some money to the local feed store to purchase Equine Senior, or arrange to have some delivered?

Please advise logistics. I would like to help.

[watermarkfarm]

NanciK, Lisa lives just down the road from me, and she is right down the street from Friendly Feed. Next time you come over for your "Pay Day fix," we could run down and buy some and deliver it to her.

Alternately, you can send a check to me. I am going to act as point person for donations. I have been asking people to make their checks out to Friendly Feed if that makes them more comfortable. I will simply purchase feed and drop it off in Lisa's barn as donations come in.

I think that if we can buy Lisa another 3-4 months with Spiker, that it will help both of them a great deal.

Katie

[watermarkfarm]

An update:

I met with Lisa, Spiker's owner, yesterday. She came over to pick up 4 bales of grass hay and some beet pulp.

A $50 donation allowed Lisa to stock up a bit on Senior. She is going to stretch out the Senior using beet pulp, rice bran, hay pellets.

Lisa feels that Spiker's time is short. He is perky but is not laying down regularly because he has a hard time getting up. Lisa is very responsive with him and is keeping a super close eye on that. She times how long he lays down, and how long it takes him to rise.

We talked about euthanasia and how to handle it. Lisa feels that Spiker may have another few months.

At this point Lisa has enough feed to last her for 4 weeks. As donations come in, I will go and purchase feed and put it in Lisa's feed room (feed store and Lisa are both only 1 mile from my farm). So we have a "plan" and will be keeping in contact weekly.

Any donation is welcome, and I will purchase feed with it and deliver to Lisa. We are figuring that Spiker eats 5-6 bales of hay per month, plus 50 lbs of pelleted feed every 4 days.

Thanks for your support,
Katie

[mykingdomforahorse]

Katie!

My envelope (donation) to you came back to me, because my husband mailed it in a hurry and forgot the stamp! It'll be remailed pronto and should arrive this coming week.

Good to hear Spiker has food. I've been worried.

I'm just so glad Spiker can live his remaining months in the home he knows and loves, with the owner he knows and loves. I've said it before, but a natural, peaceful ending for a horse is too rare, and should be the luxury and right of ALL horses.

Please tell Lisa to hang in there, and that she's in our prayers, along with Spiker. Hard times befall all of us, but such times are never permanent. We learn what we can, grow (even against our will) and soldier on to brighter days.

Please give Spiker a scritch-scratch for us, too.

Em

[watermarkfarm]

Thank you so much, Em.

Katie

[watermarkfarm]

Thank you so much to Brigetah, who hit up her friend and sister, and they all sent $10, so that's $30 and that pays for 3 bags hay pellets!

Another gal sent $20, and someone else sent $10.

So $60 arrived today, and that is GREAT! I am off to Friendly Feed tomorrow to buy feed. Lisa will pick it up on Friday. This $60 will be used to buy 3 grass pellets, 2 seniors, total $56+ tax.

Lisa said Spiker is doing well with the transition to a blend of Senior, hay pellets, rice bran and beet pulp.

[watermarkfarm]

I met Lisa this morning at the feed store. Thanks to all the generous people, from here on RO (thanks anne and em) and a couple of other folks, we had a total of $130 in donations ($90 in checks made out to me, $40 in checks made out to the feed store). Lisa looked so pleased and excited when I pulled out all the checks and told her.


With this money, Lisa purchased 5 bags grass hay pellets, 4 bags equine senior, 1 bag beet pulp, and 2 bales of shavings. This came to something like $129.85.

We loaded it into our cars and drove to Lisa's house just down the street. It felt good to stock her tiny feed room. She has about 6 bales of grass hay plus all the bagged feed now. She said that Spiker is really enjoying all the pelleted feeds, and that she thinks he is probably needing to be more 100% on these feeds.

Wow, Spiker looks GREAT. Lisa is doing a super job with him. He has energy and is well cared for. This is definitely not a horse who is ready to die!

The other animals on the property (one dog, 18 cats, most semi-ferals that Lisa has trapped over the years, all spayed, many are well into their teens) look VERY healthy, fat and shiny. They are obviously well cared for. Of the 18 cats, all but 3 come into the house...

Thank you to everyone for your support. I think Lisa has enough feed now to last about 2 months.

I took these photos today. I think they speak volumes about how much Lisa loves Spiker:







.

[cybercat]

aaawww, thanks for following through on these folks-human and furpersons!

[watermarkfarm]

I heard from Lisa. Spiker is doing really well. He loves his pellets. Lisa is interviewing for jobs and seems like she's really hustling.

[gypsy79]

Please let us know as Lisa runs short on stored up feed for Spiker. I would like to help this "old man" and I'm sure others would too.

[mykingdomforahorse]

I'm hoping I can help again this month, after expenses here shake out.

On Saturday I received a card in the mail from Lisa and Spiker! It was a thank you card, and very touching. She was so grateful for "the kindness of strangers". It was very thoughtful of her.

I'm going to mail a card off to her, too. Maybe it'll help her keep up her spirits as she works on turning things around.

Em

[watermarkfarm]

Lisa brought Spiker over to my house on Tuesday. He is lonely at home and she is trying to get him out. He had fun, met Argus (they really liked each other) and rolled in the arena.

I had a chance to see him get up, and it's definitely getting harder for him, but all in all he seems pretty healthy and vibrant. I think what will get him in the end is that he can no longer rise. Lisa watches him closely and is very savvy about these things. He is in good hands.

I will let you know when starts to run short on feed. I am committed to helping Lisa as long as it takes. Spiker is adorable!

Katie

[chrisw]

My horse Bobby had trouble getting up the last year of his life(he was 35) if he laid on the right side. So I had to turn him over to the other side and after resting for a few minutes he could get up on his own.

[bridgetah]

What a magnificent horse! He must have been something in his day.

I also got a nice thank-you note from Lisa.

[watermarkfarm]

Spiker was here again yesterday. Lisa does not have heat in her house, so she has been picking up firewood from my neighbor's property. She turns Spiker out in our yard with the other old timers (our ancient CBER girl one of them), and he wanders around the acre or so around the house while Lisa collects wood. I am really impressed with Lisa's dedication to Spiker's comfort.

MTA: per Lisa, Spiker used to be a dressage horse. He has had only 2 owners in his life, and he is 29ish.

Katie

[agilitygal]

He sounds like one of those "special ones" that come along once in a lifetime.

[watermarkfarm]

For anyone who would like to help again...

Lisa brought Spiker over to visit our horses today. She is down to 1 bag hay pellets and 1 bag Equine Senior and 1 bale hay.

If anyone would like to contribute toward the cost of a bag of pellets ($5 or $10 goes a long way), you can send a check made payable to FRIENDLY FEED to me and I will purchase feed with it and deliver to Spiker and Lisa.

Katie Moore
Watermark Farm
2855 Fulton Road
Fulton, CA 95439
707 544 7584

Spiker looks good and is doing really well. Lisa brings him to my house once a week to visit and eat grass (he lives alone). His troubles getting up are about the same ---- not horrible but worth watching closely.

Lisa's situation is about the same. She is working half-time and scraping by but she is managing to cover most of her bills and has not gone into foreclosure!. I am going to purchase 4 bags of hay pellets and also pay for a hoof trim this week as my contribution this time around.

Katie

[keldco]

I'll send something this week.
Kelly

[bridgetah]

Katie -

I'll send something this week.

[jenm]

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread. I will absolutely send some money this week. This story has touched me.

Thank you, Katie for coordinating this and for being such a good friend to these two. You are an angel.

[keldco]

Katie, checks in the mail for Spiker. And, I sent the same amount for Argus too.
Kelly

[watermarkfarm]

OK, I have to stop crying at my computer!! You are all so amazing.

And Kelly.....Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Argus is a tax deduction, so I will have a receipt sent to you.

Katie

[calgal982]

Do you have a paypal account?

[watermarkfarm]

Yes, it's [e-mail]

And Tash, I DID figure out how to move funds from PayPal to my acct!! So sad that I never knew how....because they never went IN, only OUT!

[watermarkfarm]

Hi guys,

Between donations from Tash, Vicki (calgal), Kelly and Nancik, I will have approx. $200 to buy Spiker's next round of hay pellets and senior, plus I am donating 4 bags hay pellets and a trim and a few bales of hay. I think this should get Lisa thru another 8 weeks?

So we are good until the next round. I will post exact dollar amts. of feed purchased when I go to the feed store and let you know dollar amts.

Thank you so much for your continued support of Spiker. I will get more photos next time I see him.

Katie

[watermarkfarm]

Hi!

I went to Friendly Feed on 3/20 to purchase feed. Lisa and I decided to wait until she was almost completely out of feed so that we could see how long the last batch lasted Spiker. So as of 3/20, Lisa was down to half a bag of grass pellets and a bale of my teff hay.

Donations from Tash, Vicki (calgal), Kelly, NanciK, Brigetah and her sister Janet totaled $217.

3/20 at Friendly Feed: 8 bags grass hay pellets @ $9.59/bag and 3 bags Equine Senior @ 15.99/bag = $128.41

3/22 at Friendly Feed: 4 bags Equine Senior was about $64, plus I purchased a bale of Timothy h ay at $18

3/22 Katie donated 4 bales hay --- I will donate 4 bags grass pellets but am holding off due to storage issues at Lisa's.

So total purchased around 3/22 is 8 bags grass pellets and 6 bags Equine Senior. This alone with the 4 bales hay and my 4 bags grass pellets should get Lisa through the end of JUNE or beyond. She is working 6 days/week at a local state park for P/T hours and is still looking for permanent employment. She is managing a bit better now.

We are short a babysitter, so I am going to hire Lisa to do some babysitting for me. This would be great as Lisa is a former case worker with foster care youth in a group home (Valley of the Moon for those who are locals).

Spiker looks great! He even looked a bit fat to me, so I suggested to Lisa that she cut back on his feed. He greeted me at the gate when I drove in (he roams the yard much like my elderly horses do) and nickered the whole time I was unloading bags of feed. He is really cute. He can't see well, so he sort of looks in your general direction, listening intently.

Lisa has continued to trailer Spiker over here about once a week for visits on the farm. He will be spending a few days with us in April when she has to go out of town.

Thank you to everyone for your help. Lisa is grateful and wants to send thank you notes.

TashGaia and CalGal, would you please PM me your mailing address so that I can give it to Lisa? I have everyone else's.

Thanks for making life so sweet for an elderly horse and his mom. I so appreciate your generous donations. I know you all have your own horses to support. If you are ever in the Santa Rosa are, I will take you to see Spiker (brigetah has seen him!)

Katie