startin' up

I DID NOT expect to be absent from the animal rescue world for so long.

For those of you who don't know the sordid details, we took our months-long North American road trip and it was great. We did not adopt a Mexican street-mutt, probably because we mostly stayed in rural areas and only encountered Mexican dogs twice. The first time, I think it was near Mexicali, we saw a large mange-ridden dog that was not anywhere near us and ran away when we called to it. The second time, we made friends with two friendly and healthy-looking dogs that seemed to be owned by the people who owned the parking lot we were camping in. That was in Guerrero Negro on the Baja Peninsula.

We did not make it to Guanajuato, as we had planned, because the Mexican roads kept getting into fights with our truck and travel trailer, and the roads won, every time. I would have loved to have seen the sister-group for the Mex-Can Pet Partnership but honestly there was no way our truck would have made it. We retreated in defeat back to the Southern United States and eventually continued our trip north.

Once we reached New England we stayed on a farm owned by a fellow animal lover. She had three dogs and two horses - all rescues - and I made a very special connection with one of the horses. Beau is a very haunted and fragile boy, but very sweet. This is him:


Beau was sold at an auction a few years ago and was destined to become glue until his current owner was called by a frantic friend who was at the auction and saw him. An agreement was reached and Beau retired to our friend's quiet farm in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Beau is quite a challenge. He is young but not able to be ridden. He's very skitzy and nervous of most people. The big problem, though, is that he puts up a serious fight whenever it's time to have his hooves trimmed, to the point where his owner now requires a visit from the vet so he can be sedated to get his hooves done. This has to happen about every six weeks, so it's not ideal and is stressful for both him and his owner. Farriers won't touch him and it's a two-to-three person job to get his hooves trimmed even when he's sedated. I was there for one hoof-trimming session, and this upset boy kicked out the wall of his stall while sedated.

I worry about him. He's lucky enough to have a great home and another horse companion whom he adores, but he is so troubled. Ah well, we all do what we can do. I don't know what Beau's path in life will be but I hope he will find some peace.

Anyway, after our road trip, we had some long, painful, drawn-out house purchasing adventures. We finally moved into our own house in mid-November and we have started to familiarize ourselves with the nearby animal rescue groups.

S.H.A.I.D. Animal Shelter is a small but mighty shelter located about an hour and a half from where we live. It's in Mark's old hometown where his mother and grandmother still live, so we will be there now and again and may have some contact with these folks.

The Companion Animal Rescue Society is the only animal rescue group in our area, from what I can tell. They have no shelter facility but have a whopping 116 cats and 3 dogs in foster homes at the moment. We have submitted a foster application. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything - wish us luck!!