UPDATE on weather/pasture conditions, 26 November 2011.

Hi all.  Just today we had someone email us with concerns that the horses aren't being fed enough and may not be properly cared for.  I'm sure this concern was caused by the recent blizzard the day after Thanksgiving, and the apparent lack of feed, near the road.  Here are our replies, which will give you some insight into what we are doing with the horses right now.

[Reply from Colleen, the Director]

Hello,

First I would Like to thank you for your contribution in September.   The monies have gone to pay veterinarian and farrier costs along with buying 50 tons of high quality hay.  Just last week two large bales of dairy quality hay was placed in our east pasture.  This totaled nearly 4000 lbs of hay.  The horses have been eating regularly from this supply and also looking for grasses under the snow, which is a very natural thing for them to do.  In addition the horses are receiving high quality mineral supplements and rolled barley, oats, and senior feed regularly where needed.  We are preparing to move them to a farm in Crowheart where they will have hay and pasture away from the winds and cold of Jackson.  This move will start Tuesday.  Please stop by and see for yourself (and any others who have an interest) up close and personal, that these horses have more than adequate care and are not suffering from hunger or neglect in any manner.  If you are judging what we are doing for our animals from the road as you drive by, this can be very misleading and cause misunderstandings.  I welcome anyone to the ranch and always have.  I assure you my organization is caring for these animals with love and in a responsible manner.  So, if you feel the need, stop by and meet us and see what is really going on. Check the horses and bring a veterinarian. I would like that much better than being accused without you even stopping in.

Colleen Gillings, Executive Director
Jackson Hole Horse Rescue

[Reply from Jonesy]

Hi.
I'm sure Colleen will reply to this soon, if she hasn't already, but I thought I would also reply.  We each get the emails from the Horse Rescue website.  I am Colleen's husband and we are carefully monitoring the horses on a daily basis.

In addition to the 240 acres of pasture, the horses were fed two 1,900 pound square bales of good dairy-quality alfalfa hay within the past 10 days.  They were NOT and are not hungry.  Some of them wandered over and ate a little, then went back out to the pasture to "scrap" for the grass that is under the snow.  Those two bales of hay lasted more than a week, with 28 horses in the pasture.  If they were hungry the hay would have been gone in a couple of days.  In addition to that, we have fed them several small bales of good alfalfa hay, scattered out from time to time. They are all very fat and healthy, some of them too fat.  Seriously, we have three of them that are in danger of foundering they are so fat.  That is not caused by being under-fed.  The obese ones are Shani, Big Mike, and Stormy, which we actually had on a diet last month, confined to a corral with little feed.  A whole host of others are as fat as they have ever been, with a furrow where they should have a backbone.  Come visit them.

We have a trough of water for them available at all times, with a heater in it so it doesn't freeze over.

If you wish to go for a ride with me out through the pasture you will see there is adequate feed.  This past blizzard on the day after Thanksgiving is the first time they have had to work at finding the grass under the snow.  It is actually good for a horse to paw through the snow to get his food, as it builds body temperature and conditions his muscles.  I, and many other horse owners with 50+ years of experience in feeding horses, have learned that.  You can literally kill them with kindness by over-feeding them and they founder. 

If "others have been feeding their horses for weeks now" they are doing it because they have run out of pasture.  The snow is not very deep.  Some places in our pasture are windswept so the snow is only an inch or two deep, while other places are more than a foot deep (after this blizzard) because of drifting.  Prior to this blizzard there were few places where the snow was more than 6 inches deep.   We will admit the parts of the pasture next to the road, where it is most visible and where you, no doubt, were looking at it, do not have much feed.  It didn't have much feed before it snowed and, frankly, it looked bare because it is on the fringes where it doesn't get irrigation from our pivot lines.  I'm sure that is your concern. 

A month ago Colleen was concerned about the apparent lack of feed so I took her out in our Polaris and toured the rest of the pasture, where she saw the abundance of horse feed.  The grass was thick and more than a foot high over much of the pasture.  We've been out there every three days, including today, to check on the availability of grass and how hard it is to get to.  I drove all around the pasture today (Saturday Nov 26) with my Polaris Ranger.  The horses are doing fine.

We have six horses in a corral (in Star Valley) and are feeding those six horses good dairy-quality alfalfa, supplemented with Senior Feed and grain.  Those are the older horses which need extra care.  The rest of them are in good shape, but even then they get some grain on occasion.

We are going to take the horses to Crowheart next week to winter pasture.  You are welcome to help haul them and see how we handle them and to get to know them.  In short, we are very confident that we are taking good care of the horses, as is our veterinarian and our farrier.

We check them daily and are constantly giving them mineral supplement tubs and treats (horse pellets) out of our hands and graining the older ones.  The horses ARE being well cared for.

We recently had a horse-shoer over here, three times in the past month, to trim hooves and to make sure their feet are in good shape before we haul them to winter pasture.  Four of them which are too unruly are being taken to Star Valley on Monday to a tilt-table to get their feet trimmed.  Some of the horses recently went to the vet where their teeth were checked and floated, they were wormed, and their sheath was cleaned.

We appreciate your concern and assure you we love these horses with all our hearts and we have the resources to care for them properly--thanks to your generosity-- which we are doing.  

Thanks again for your concern, and feel free to give us a call to visit about it and to come and see our facility.

Our home phone number is 203-2920 (local Jackson)
Jonesy cell 307-887-3356
Colleen cell 307-887-3355

Thanks again for caring about them.  We do appreciate your concern.

Jonesy