October 2, 2014: Star's first Autumn here; at home

Star's First Autumn here!
and she is really feeling at home!  Enough so, to try jumping fences (successfully!) to explore the other pastures!
Below I will include pics of fencing at night- everyone's favorite past time! ha!  and more great pics of Star and Gingy!  Star is feeling so well now that she has discovered her love of jumping!  She will even make her own jumping courses to run continuously!   Star has also had her hooves trimmed again and the difference is just amazing!

Three Months!

Three Months!  Star was rescued and brought to Island Lake on May 14, 2014- Three months ago today.  Beautiful Strong Star Shine; Thank you for sharing your life with us; we are forever grateful

Three Months Ago; May 2014

Now; August 2014

August with Star

August with Star

Star is now a blossoming filly.  It has been a wild summer full of discovery.  Some days have wonderful overcomings- some are just hard work and set backs- which we have now come to realize are just a part of every life.  Star has a lot of fear that she is overcoming day by day.  Sometimes she runs crazy ; bucking; turning circles at me because I may be a bit late with feed and she has become filled with fear and anxiety over food.  Patience comes in.  We need to enter the paddock each day as if we have all day to spend with Star; all the time she needs.  That we can make each day for her.  That is hard to do when we homeschool and have many chores in a day, but then she is another soul here at Island Lake that needs safety, security, and unconditional love.  We have that.  Safety, Security, and Unconditional Love.  The main goal in Star's recovery is for her to know that she is safe and her food and home are secure, and no matter what; we will be there tomorrow and still love her.  No matter the tantrum- we will work to calm it down and teach manners around people.  

Star began rolling and would get herself caught in the extremely safe vinyl fence.  Her legs would go under and through planks and she could not get up.  She would panick and I would go out and help her get out.  Yes, this happened daily for about two weeks this summer.  We had to cancel all outings and stay home to make sure she would not get under the fence and stuck while we were away.  and Yes,  a few fingers have broken in the process as Star and I worked together to figure out how to get out of this fence.  Happily I say that Star has now learned to roll far from the fence and my hand is less purple, ha!  

We have many wonderful "Star Shows" for watching her run in the sunshine and are also making great strides in halter training!  Yay! 

Some pictures below taken by Micah!

Ginger visiting the garden for carrots!  She loves an organic fresh carrot!

Star coming in from pasture to visit the garden for a fresh carrot top green from the children

 Time for Star and Ginger's back rubs!

July 20, 2014: Photo Update

July 20, 2014: Photo Update
New photos to see!  Also- Star has now had her vaccinations!

Hooves trimmed!

Star's hooves have been trimmed!  I will save the details, however I was able to sedate her and our ferrier did an amazing job trimming her hooves and guiding her as she became more alert! He really was amazing and we are so grateful to have a farrier that is so knowledgeable and capable.  Below you will see before and after pictures of her hooves.  She is loving running now and has started jumping tree stumps in what the children call the "Star Show"!  Who knew she loves to jump!  Bet her legs feel great now!  Sweet Star!

before

cracking and splitting

before

before

waiting and getting lots of favorite rubs

Gingy waiting patiently and falling asleep- sweet gingerbread pony!

After!

After!

June 29, 2014: Huge Updates!

June 29, 2014: Huge Updates!
It has been two weeks since our last post and Star has been busy!  She will now lift her hooves for me! and today she wore her rope halter for the first time!  We spend time each day bonding and working with her on new things.  We practice Natural Horsemanship and you will see many pics of us greeting Star and Ginger by breathing into faces.  Each new change to Star takes patience and introduction over an average of four days before she is comfortable with it, but patience has truly paid off.  She comes running to see us and loves grooming time.  She is beginning to feel safe.  This is the best we could hope for.
Ginger is finally eating grass with the muzzle on so she is loving being in pasture all day too!  As you will see below: we put down Diatomaceous earth and they began rolling in it to rid of the flies!  Smart girls!
"I know everyone really wants to see pics"- (says Micah) so here they are! Pics below:

Beautiful Star Shine 

June 15, 2014 Busy Star!

June 15, 2014 Busy Star
Star and Gingy have been very busy!  We have been spending many hours each day hand grooming Star and developing our relationship with her.  We are also working on getting her use to a rope halter and ropes in general.  Many discoveries are made each day.  Some days are hard- she may get spooked and take off- she rounded a corner and luckily Star baled out when she knew she was going to run me over and slid out onto her side.  It hurt us terribly to see her take such a fall and we were so glad when she was nuzzling us again soon after.  Also now days later I can see how amazing it was that she baled before running me over.  She knew she has little control when she runs and she did not want to run me over.  This is incredible progress.  We also know the importance of practicing safety on our farm.  Star is still very unpredictable in many ways and we have children to keep safe.  The children are learning a great respect for animals and it is wonderful to see.  We will never know what Star has experienced, but she is moving past all of it one day at a time.  It is an incredible journey and recovery.
Today she also showed us great happiness and playfulness!  We saw Ginger bucking and running in the paddock and Star tearing around running and bucking excited!  What was going on?!  Upon arrival we noticed that Ginger had managed to get off her grazing muzzle and hang it on the fence for us!  They were both celebrating!  Very funny girls!
Ginger also managed to get a weekend Vet Farm call by poking her eye with something sharp.  She will recover with medicine and Star was able to socialize and be there for Ginger's eye exam.  All good practice!