Friday, February 5th... It rained heavy for 7 straight hours, and Jenny Hartman brought delicious cupcakes made from scratch. Pony Boy stood drenched at our back door, waiting for a taste. The night was long. Dark and gloomy. And now they say lots more rain on the way. Mud up to my 6th chin. Better Homes & Gardens will not be calling for a photo spread.

Horses in trouble at so called rescue ranches. Horses in trouble with private owners. Standing in knee deep mud for days and weeks at a time. No place to rest. No place to eat. Frantic owners begging for help.

There is a town called Winters, just 20 minutes away. Already this morning, I helped pull an old gelding from deep mud. To be truthful, I was no help at all. My tired old back killing me. While others huffed and puffed and pushed, I leaned against a tree and tried to appear useful. More than a dozen friends there to help, including Mike, who has arms the size of a Volkswagen. It only took a few minutes, and the old gelding was standing on a concrete driveway. He dove into his tub of grain like I dive into a chocolate bar from Yummy-Dummy. Tori brought a thermos of Peets coffee. Angela had a box of glazed doughnuts made by Raleys.

We have electricity, a dial tone, cupcakes, and an episode of House on the DVR. Despite storm after storm, things could be worse. Much worse.

Looking forward to spring, our many Tbkids programs, the first fly, bees, wasps, spiders, shedding winter hair, birds building their nests in all the wrong places, putting away mud boots, the first pitch, the first barbecue of 2010, the first customer who wants child proof and sound. Fencing to mend. Weeds to pull.

And congratulations Angela. Tomorrow she is married to Antonio. A new beginning. Party time in Sacramento.

Joe
    Located in Northern California, TB Friends is dedicated to the rescue and placement of horses that have been abandoned or neglected. Usually these horses arrive from the race track. The horses obtained by TB Friends are often saved from a trip to rendering facilities in Mexico or Canada.


    When possible TB Friends takes care to select horses well suited to make the transformation to riding mount or show horse. Our proximity to the bay area race tracks, along with the throwaway nature of the racing industry, unfortunately results in a situation where there are many horses in need of rescue, and therefore many horses from which to choose.


    At TB Friends we manage to rescue about two hundred horses every year. When we place a horse there is no charge for the care that we provide them here at Shelton Farms. We only ask for the cost of a horse's rescue and transportation to the farm. For most horses this amounts to less than $1000 dollars.

    Sadly, we can not save them all. We are limited by the number of horses that we can care for at any one time. However, as we find homes for the horses we have rescued, we replace them by rescuing others. For this reason we ask you to consider purchasing a horse from our farm. Not only are you likely to obtain a beautiful animal, but you will also help us to save more horses.
My cell number is 530-383-2120.

Our mailing address is:
Joe & Cathy Shelton
15891 County Road 92C
Woodland, Ca. 95695

You can send your letters to tbfriends@aol.com