Just working on figuring out how to do this!

Hello all! I'm seriously trying to get back on this blog! It's time! As previously mentioned, we've moved to a wonderful new home! All our buildings are built to order and everyone has a clean, dry, sturdy and NEW place of their own. We have three ponies and three horses, one piggy, Blaze, alas Hamish died this spring at 21 years old! Almost a record, I think! He died peacefully in his sleep. We have five beautiful neutered bunnies that need new homes, and 8 hens. We are still small as we are needing  to finish our buildings so we will be able to accommodate more. The horses we have will be here for life. Beautiful baby Faith is still with us, as is Gabriel. Faith is totally blind and is currently having another episode with her left eye. I'm praying we will not have to remove it, but it looks pretty awful. She is 24. Gorgeous Gabriel is 31. He is blind in his right eye, but is still exquisitely beautiful. We have Coco, Moon, Thursday and Zephyr. They all have their own issues and need to stay with us.
    We had to move from our old place because it was sold. It was huge and had 20 stalls. There was an accumulation of 20 years worth of stuff we had to move! We found a new place immediately but there were no buildings. Somehow we pulled it all together and with the help of our wonderful volunteers, we succeeded! We fostered out those that could be safely moved to my wonderful "Hydrabud" Jessica who was basically raised at EOTS and has started her own rescue in Maine. Sadly both Bianca and Rose died on the same day just before we were ready to move.
    The old building was falling apart and as traumatic as it all was it was the best thing that could have happened to us! No more shoveling snow off a 120' long barn roof. No more fishing dead animals out of the well. No mor unpleasant neighbors.
    So here we are! 25 years of EOTS and still hanging in there! I'm going to try to put up some pictures now! Let's see if I can!

Hello! I'm back!

Learning how to do this now! Stay tuned for updates! Lots of new things have happened since you heard from us last! We have moved to a new location and we have all new barns. It's so much better.

Moon: A Pony in Search of a Job

For eight years I have known Moon. He had always been "the bad boy" of the barn not just in title, but in his actions. He's always been a very mouthy pony who gets joy out of seeing us humans get all mad at him for it. I've learned to walk past him and bend so my back is just out of his reach.

He isn't really a bad pony though, he's just bored. Moon has found his entertainment in bothering us as we go about our daily business, but he is not really a bad pony. I've had a few rare moments where he's been nothing but butter, where he has sought out my affections as I try to clean his stall.

Now, as I sit outside his paddock, I have a new opinion of this little pony. He's built like a tank, a solid mass of palomino "tough man" (He's actually quite a chicken for his bad boy attitude). I get a sense of loneliness from him. He doesn't really have friends. His few human friends aren't able to come every day and he can only have pony friends through the fence. Moon is bored. He's been in search of something to do for so long.

I've decided that I'm going to give him what he had been looking for-- a job.

Moon is an incredibly smart pony (aren't they all) and has been clicker trained before. Currently he has no one that can clicker train him and so I've decided that it's my turn to play with the barns resident "bad boy." I went in ready for him to be pushy, ready for him to be in my space, ready to lose a few fingers. But I was pleasantly surprised by how respectful and how gentle he was. He was excited, but he was also very in tune with what I was doing, how I was moving.

We were working on a circle, the start for shaping a free lunge. He was eager to walk along next to me, following his target, from cone to cone. He was very good, even offering a back up if he realized he was close to me while I was getting his treat from my pocket.

Today I was also teaching a new volunteer about clicker training and as I was going through things with Moon, I was explaining them. At one point while I was explaining things to the new volunteer, not really giving Moon any directions, Moon began backing up and kept backing up till I clicked and told him to come back over! At another point, while we were going around the circle, Moon was spooked by one of our little chickens. Big tough pony, huh? Moon jumped forward and his foot hit my leg in his attempt to launch away from the scary chicken. I stood still, didn't yell at him for bumping me while he spooked, I stood still and watched him. Moon turned right around and was in front of me, still a bit frazzled from the ordeal. He then stated to back up until he was about a pony length from me and when he stopped I clicked and treated. As Moon backed up, I saw the cogs turning in his head as he regained his composure. And then we went on like it never even happened! He is so smart. He not only gathered himself, but also realized how very close he was to me and fixed it without any direction from me!

Now as I sit here outside his paddock I get to watch him wander around, think through the game we played, trace the circle we made even though the cones are gone. He's by himself right now as his stall is being reinforced, all the others are in. Moon isn't alone though. I've decided that he not only needs a friend again, but he needs a job. And so, for the pony in search of a job, I will give him one.

-Aly

Goodbyes

Some days love is not enough. Love can heal hearts, but some days it cannot fix broken bodies. Love cannot stop when it is time to let go. Today we said goodbye to two of our beautiful mares. Bianca had been battling abscesses and laminitis and today she was ready, it was her time. It was something that we saw coming and we did all we could to keep her comfortable and we hoped that she would get better, but she was ready. She walked for the last time today, guided by our loving hands, and was surrounded by our hugs and tears as she was laid to rest. We found Rose down in her stall this morning and it was clear that she was ready to go, that she had laid down for the last time. We did all we could to get her up, to figure out what was wrong, but Rose was not scared, she was ready to go. With loving arms, we held her too as she was laid to rest. The two of these mares had not been friends for very long, but they had formed a bond. And with all the love that we could give them, it was not enough to fix them, but it was enough to guide them to sleep. Rest easy beautiful mares, it's just a blink of an eye till the next time we meet.

Smitten With the Kitten

The Kitten

I am smitten-

Smitten with a kitten

While kitten sittin’

Sweetest little pansy face

Butterfly ears

With curling lace

Put a band-aid on my pain

Gave me laughter

Once again

How did you learn

A life so new,

To make me fall in love with you

Little face with kitten smile

Made me forget

For a little while

Thank you Ollie

From your Auntie Nina

One Last Sad Story about Pip; Acceptance

Looking back now, I know my dear golden cat Pip was never really well. I am comforted in knowing that I gave him a great life, that my love for him will never fade away, that it was enough to keep him going for 12 years. I remember he would have “anxiety attacks” that would send him careening around the house as he desperately tried to escape his fear. When it passed he would lay exhausted panting, his gums blueish lavender. I knew this and tried to never let him be stressed. He would jump on my bed and I would tap him on the bum just above his tail. For some reason that made him feel better. His X-Rays showed that he had only one lung and it was full of tumors. His kidneys, in a matter of days, were huge. He was just too fragile to live in this toxic world. Even if I knew earlier, he could not have been saved. Dear Father Jehovah, how I miss this cat, I am so blessed to have loved him so much, but it is so difficult to live without him. I am truly broken this time. Nina