Friday, February 3rd... At least once a week I get a letter asking how do I decide what to write about? It’s not easy. There were over 400 adoptions in 2010, which is over 400 stories. From our ranch in 2011, we had 132 adoptions. But the big story from 2011 is the 206 horses from other places we found new homes for. Horses right off the race track, from private owners, or farms out of business. Each horse with a new home is a new story. I often remind myself to write about a particular horse or person. Sometimes I do, sometimes not.

Like yesterday for example. I wrote about Lee and his gelding Ford because Wednesday afternoon Lee stopped to say hi. Lee is incredibly funny, and our conversation was still in my head when I began writing Thursday morning.

Since Christmas holidays I have been wanting to write about 15 year old Aubrey, and all she does for other horse loving kids who come from poor families. These kids have little chance of owning a horse. The next best thing is horsey stuff. Aubrey made sure each kid received horsey stuff for Christmas. Aubrey asked if she could use our small storage shed for a couple of weeks. There were over 60 still in the box Breyer horses. Halters, shoes worn by famous race horses, and 21 boxes of horse books. When you’re a kid, and you love horses, all of these things are important. Aubrey is making a huge difference in the lives of others.

But Aubrey doesn’t want me writing about her, because she says I’ll make it sound sappy. I probably would.

Inspiration for this website comes from horses, and the people who love horses. Daily there are a whole bunch of new stories to share.

Like the family in Vacaville who took their adopted thoroughbred mare Christmas caroling with them. Or the student at University of Pacific who charged colic surgery on her credit card, and her adopted gelding was saved. The family in Grass Valley who brings hay and grain to an unemployed horse owner. The high school student in Loomis currently working two part time jobs to pay board on her horse. The Auburn ranch owner who buys a one day insurance policy so kids can come ride. An exercise rider at the race track who spent over two thousand dollars rehabbing a severely injured filly.

Not a bad gig really. Writing about horses and the people who love horses. Have a happy weekend. Nights are cold but days are perfect...

Joe

Top Left: This is Moose, adopted by Corey
    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