Update: March 23rd

Hi everyone!
A few odds and ends before I dash out of the office:

• Like the Horse Park, we are now open for visitors again! The Center is open to the public Monday-Saturday, 9-3 with interactive demonstrations on Saturday at 12. If you'd like to see a specific horse we ask that you call us to make an appointment: 859-246-3080.
• J's Dream has been adopted! He will be leaving with Becky on Saturday for his new home in Ohio. That makes three total adoptions for the year, and only a week after our official opening!
• Code Forty, Invincible Vince and He's A Hoot are still with us. Hootie might have an adoption pending but Code Forty and Vincie are very available. In fact, Code Forty jumped for the first time this last weekend and did beautifully! The higher we raised the bar, the better she went and had excellent form. Check out her page at http://www.thoroughbredadoption.com/ for pictures. She's going to be a star hunter one day!
• We are shipping in several horses in the next week--Guidance Up (TRF) will be coming to us from Florida tomorrow, and Testament (Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption) should be arriving in the next couple of weeks. We are trying to work out a way to get a couple of horses from Mid-Atlantic and Angel Acres also, they have some really nice ones available.
• The interns continue to keep hard at work. Hayley is preparing to show Code Forty in the next few weeks and will be making a picturebook of her show experience with our horses for the Center. Brittany and I are working on the March enewsletter and our halter fundraiser (next on the list is this blog...heh heh). Travers has been working on the arena surface with Jerry and has taken his very first MMSC riding lesson.
• As to the aforementioned halter fundraiser--we are in the process of getting halters donated from the local farms belonging to famous stallions or racehorses (we're expecting to get at least ten, maybe fifteen!) to auction off on eBay next month. We already have Serena's Song, Point Given, Distorted Humor and Bluegrass Cat and there are more good ones coming our way! We'll also be listing some of the many extra blankets, bits and grooming odds and ends we have had donated to us--we always appreciate donations, but we don't have enough room or enough horses to use all the equipment or salves that have been given to us over the winter. Plus we need the space in our garage for feed! Stay tuned on that one....details about the items and opening times are coming soon!
• If you'd like to start recieving our monthly enewsletter, please send me an e-mail (ncvoss2@yahoo.com) and I'll be happy to add you to the list
• We are still trying to raise funds for Corey's surgery! We have gotten $71 donated via Facebook as of this afternoon, but the vet says it wil be about $1k (at cost), so we need your support, whether via the Facebook or MySpace Causes (titled 'Save A Horse's Career!'), iGive.com, GoodSearch.com or a few dollars in our donation bowl here at the office. Every little bit counts! Corey himself will be coming back to us this Wednesday and will be happy to recieve donations (of money or peppermints) in person.

~Natalie

Call For Support!!

All you Facebookers--we have now started a FB Cause called 'Save A Horse's Career!', designed to raise money for Core Sample's surgery. Please please join, and invite your frieneds. If everyone donates $5 or even $1 to the Cause, we could have him at Rood and Riddle by April. The link is here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/236099?m=ea7cabe2&_fb_fromhash=53d30b6a80849374

Need more info first?

Core Sample came to us a little lame in his right front ankle; when we x-rayed we found he had several chips, most of which are removable and all of which will probably cause the early onset of arthritis if not removed. At the moment he is stiff in that leg but not lame. If we could get the chips out, he would not only live a more comfortable life but would also probably find an adoptive home. Leah, one of our training interns from the fall, has been fostering him and says he is a very sweet, smart fellow who could find a great home if only he were sound. We just don't have the funds to pay for a $1000 surgery, so we really need your help. Please check out the Facebook Cause, anything you could give would be a step towards getting him sound. Thanks all!
~Natalie

Update: March 2nd

Hi all,

MMSC is expanding our web presence--we now have a MySpace and are listed on MySpace IMPACT. I am putting together our own widget for donations towards Corey's ankle surgery (hence the picture above). The vet has quoted us $1,000 to remove his chips (and that's with our discount, eeech) and he's a really nice horse so we would love to get those out so he could be adopted. Please donate all you can!

We're working away on the March enewsletter...look for it on thoroughbredadoption.com in the coming week.

Also scouting out new horses to bring in, as three of ours already have contracts open and the Center hasn't even opened to the public again yet! We're hoping Mid-Atlantic Horse Rescue, Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program or Angel Acres Horse Haven will be good enough to send us one of their trainees to fill our barn. Stay tuned!

That's all for now!

~Natalie