Hello y’all. Now, if you’ve been following us on our Facebook page, you have probably seen that here at Step By Step Sanctuary, we’re having a crisis.
The hay rolls we put in each of our 5 fields, had a grass in them called foxtail. Foxtail is a grass that has seeds, and when eaten by horses, they cut and get stuck in their mouths, causing cuts, blisters, and ulcers. We first found a problem with Sugar Baby, our palamino, but thought she had just cut herself on something, However, we found that she had ulcers. When we went to try and find out why… We found foxtail in the hay.
Foxtail (Tory’s pic)
Last weekend, we spent the two days clearing out all of the fields- removing the bales and everything. We had to do that twice, because when we got more rolls, they actually had foxtail in them too. We reached out to people and friends we know that have horses, and it turns out that lots of different hay (from different sources) have foxtail. It is not just us, but it is starting with us, and it seems to be some kind of epidemic. We think it is because of the drought here, and the time of the hay cutting that were late… But you can find more on that on the page…
The thing is, they cannot heal unless all of the barbs are out. The seeds have microscopic barbs, which cut the horses, and the larger barbs can be removed by tweezers. We have been giving all the horses a saline solution as well. I will not be posting photos of what foxtail does to horses, or what it has done to our babies, because its too graphic. However, we have put some pictures out on our Facebook, under the comment section. But it isn’t for the light hearted- it’s truly sickening and awful.
We have 15 horses; 5 fields, and 3 Native American herds. At first, the worst ones were Sugar Baby, Lucy, and Cosmo. Sugar Baby is currently on the mend, we believe, she’s doing better. Cosmo we had to give a tranquilzer: Cosmo was beaten and abused before we got him, so we weren’t able to get in his mouth without making him sleepy. But he still fought the shot, so we will have to pray and try and get him to the vet. At the vet, they’ll put him asleep, so Tory can get his mouth done. Lucy (our sweet domestic mare) has a few bad ulcers, and we only have a little left to clean with her, but she’s doing better. We did Rocky today, and he’s fine now. Skip doesn’t have it bad.
Taloowa (my Chickawsaw/Choctaw girl) had a blister, but we caught it, and now she’s healing up. Migi (our Cherokee pony) we are cleaning, but she’s not bad. Ziibi (our Ojibwe stud) was very bad- and we are not done with him yet. Maybe half way- he’s still got barbs. The stuff got under his tongue, so he’s a mess. But we had to dope him to get him to relax with us.
The curlies don’t seem to have it as bad. We can’t tell if Matoska has the ulcers or anything, but we don’t see obvious signs that alerted us at first- bleeding from the mouth. So we think she is OK. We did Ulu- she has a few small ulcers but stood still enough for us to fix them, and we’ll keep up with her. Ceremony had a few but we got them. The Curly field seemed to know the hay was bad, and so they tried not to eat the stuff.
The Southern field is alright. Their hay was bad but they seemed to avoid it, also. Comanche had it a bit, but we got him. Maddy and Fawn are clean. We can’t tell with Senna because we can’t get a hold of her, but she seems to be OK.
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So, we cleaned all the fields, and have been taking each horse and fixing them. With the saline water and some stuff the vet gave us, and some of Tory’s herbs. It has been a crazy week… Â Really emotionally and physically challenging.
A lot has been going on. We know this is the Dark, Satan and his demons, trying to tear us down and destroy us at our weakest, hitting us on all sides. But we’re strong because we have YESHUA. Yahweh is King, and He is our refuge. We praise Him, through the storm and the sunniest times. Things can be difficult, but Yahweh is our Father, and when we turn our heads to Him, He will guide our steps.
When I am confused and looking everywhere, trying to find some hope, a path to go; I have no reason to doubt. To fear. Because God is a lamp to my feet. That doesn’t mean I have to know where I’m going. I don’t have to know. I can be blind, perfectly blind, and lost- but if I seek Yahweh, I will not be lost. If I follow Him, fully in faith and trust, He will lead me where to go. If the road looks rough, its because I’m looking at it with my own eyes, my fleshly eyes, and not with God’s hope and faith. Sure, life is rough- the past week has kinda pushed me back into that. But we all have faith and prayer and hope. Through all of us, my family and I have pushed on and came together. We’ve reached out to others, and there are good people out there. It gives me some hope to see those folks.
Step By Step Sanctuary is in a mess, but, step by step, we’re following God out of the rocky road and back up. God is healing some of our horses, and He will the others. We will work hard and pray hard.
We love these horses. All of them, each one. They mean so much to me… I am so grateful to Yahweh for them.
Thank you so much for your prayers, every prayer means everything to us and to Yahweh! And we pray for you- that God blesses each of you and brings you joy. 🙂 Yeshua is the Almighty, and we are His! 😀
Also, we updated our ‘About page’ on the Facebook, and I’ve also updated the page on this blog. Go check it out here. 🙂 And I also know that my About page is gone- heh, long story. I am currently remake-overing my about me page so… I’ll tell y’all when it’s done. 🙂 YHVH bless!
-Angela
150Â Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
2Â Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
3Â Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
4Â Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
5Â Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
6Â Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
-Psalms 150:1-6
The Peculiar Messenger 