FOR SOUTHWEST GEORGIA BOOMERS & BEYOND

VINTAGEVintageLIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

Holidays Remembered 18 23Vintage Cooks

Volume III Issue 12December 2008

Christmas on the Cheap 10

A Home for the

Holidays?

Vintage Lifestyle Magazine...December 200814

There are few creatures on this planet more beautiful than horses — which may be why there are few sights more repulsive than those of abused or severely neglected horses. Anita and Dan Meisen felt the call several years ago to help these majestic mammals when they cannot help themselves. Today, that help is called Dancing Cloud Farm Horse Rescue, 220 acres of pastures and stables in northern Thomas County, near Ochlocknee, Ga. While the Meisens attempted to launch a horse rescue farm seven years ago, the effort was curtailed until this past July – after Dan retired and Anita went on sabbatical from her teaching job. Now the couple devotes their energies full-time to the non-profit

organization, aided by a faithful group of volunteers. “This is Princess Ann,” says Anita, stroking the neck of a precocious filly in a neon pink halter. “I named her after Ann Campbell, [a volunteer] who does our Web site design and most of the email and computer stuff. She’s terrific.” Princess (for short) is one of two foals currently at the farm – others have been placed into homes and two more are on the way for 2009. “This one woman kept a stallion in the pasture with all

of her mares, and when we got them they were all pregnant. Imagine that. “We call [the foals] our ‘green bananas’ because they need ripening before being placed.” There are exceptions, of course, for owners equipped to raise an adorable bouncing baby that will grow to be a thousand pounds of muscle and flesh with an independent – and oftentimes willful – mind attached. It’s not for everyone. Then there are the old codgers. “This is our Geriatric Ward,” Anita says, pointing to one row of stalls separated by a fence from the mares and babies. “The new Maternity Ward will be over here.” As you might expect at a new facility, the stables are in varying degrees of expansion and construction. “In July we made our ninth rescue,” says Anita. “We took in 13 Thoroughbreds whose owners had lost their jobs and could no longer afford to care for them. If you could have seen the look in [the owners’] eyes … just knowing their horses were going to a good home meant so much to them.” Of the 29 horses the Meisens have rescued since July, 16 have been adopted out. “One man called and said, ‘Got any Tennessee Walking Horses?’ I said, ‘Well, we have one,’ and he came out in the pouring rain to see him. He’s picking up Phantom at the end of the week,” she says pointing to a 9-year-old handsome, gray gelding casually looking on as if his future were never in question. “Patches came to us several hundred pounds underweight,” says Anita. “She was one of the ones who had been left with the stallion, so we received her 2007 foal, her 2008 foal by her side, and she is pregnant with the 2009 foal. She was allergic to bahia grass so we had to keep her on a dirt lot until her foal was weaned. The ’08 foal was adopted

A Home for the Holidays?

This page, counterclockwise from upper left:Patches came to the farm pregnant and with two foals;

Patches with her 2008 foal, Pistol, who was adopted by a Leesburg couple; Miracle, a 3-year-old mare, could only stand up for a few minutes at a time when she arrived;

Dan and Anita Meisen, founders of Dancing Cloud Farm.Opposite page, clockwise from upper left: Volunteer Dee

Menger enjoys a quiet moment with Phantom, now adopted;Bella, a thoroughbred mare donated to the Farm for sale

(she’s trained in dressage and jumping); Anita with Princess Ann; Spring and Pistol, lovable despite their tough beginnings.

By Kate DeLoach

...because some things get better with age! December 2008 15

by a couple in Lee County, the ’07 baby by a couple in Brooksville, Fla., and Patches now lives in northeastern Tennessee with a man who wanted a companion horse for his old gelding. She is in a pasture with orchard grass and is expecting another foal in March 2009.” Then there was Miracle. “When she arrived at Dancing Cloud, she was deathly ill with a respiratory infection in addition to being a body conditioning score (BCS) of 1, if not 0 because of her sickness,” says Anita. “She was literally at death’s door. Her chest measured 7 inches across! No lie. We could see her shoulder blade, clearly see her heartbeat, then the breastbone, then the other shoulder blade — all in 7 inches. Incredible.” “We didn’t expect her to make it,” says Ann Campbell (Princess’s namesake). “She could only stand for a few minutes at a time. She was literally bones covered with rain-rotted skin and lesions where the sharp bones protruded. Her condition was very fragile but her spirit to survive was rekindled once she came to people who cared.” “I took a photo of her lying down,” Anita adds, “because I didn’t think she’d ever stand up again. We kept her in the hospital pen, which is near the house, and I checked on her several times each night. Every morning when I would go outside at daybreak to check on her, I would pray, ‘God, please help me accept whatever I find,’ hoping that she wouldn’t be dead. She was so weak she was lying down constantly, so sick she didn’t want to eat. On the third morning, a Sunday, I went out to the pen. Miracle was standing up, nickered a welcome to me, and I knew she was going to make it. “I heard a dozen times, ‘Who did this to these horses?’ during that rescue,” Anita says, “and there was nothing to say back to the persons asking the question because it was all I could do not to cry. I saw grown men unable to speak when they saw those horses. Volunteers who came to help would just stand, slack jawed, trying to comprehend the sight because all the volunteers are horse lovers whose own animals are fat, happy, cared for; most of the volunteers who have joined us since July had never seen horses in this condition. They were shocked and would just stand, staring, trying to grasp the sight of these walking skeletons, and then the anger and compassion would come and fuel the volunteers into action. “The emotional stress had to be dealt with as did the physical stress caring for these animals. We were exhausted when these animals finally stabilized after several days of careful feeding and hourly care.” Anita goes on to explain the dangers of feeding a horse near starvation. You have to practice “refeeding” – starting with water, electrolytes and small amounts of hay then grain. The

See Home, Page 22.

Quinton (Quint) Weldon, M.D.

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Balance Your Life

This Holiday Season

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Vintage Lifestyle Magazine...December 200822

How You Can Make a Difference...Adopt a HorseRequirements for adoption:1.) A letter of reference from your veterinarian2.) A personal recommendation from someone other than a family member (usually a farrier, pastor or supervisor at work)3.) A site visit and interview by Dancing Cloud Farm staff to make sure the pasture/facilities are adequate and you are capable of caring for a horse4.) A $150 fee, which pays for a Coggins test (required by law), veterinary care, deworming, vaccinations and farrier care.

Satellite facilities are also in demand — places that can take in a rescued horse for a few days until the Dancing Cloud Farm volunteers can come get it. Foster homes are needed as well — places where horses may be kept for longer periods while waiting to be adopted out. These horses may need special attention/have special needs.

Donate Money, Items or TimeFinancial resources are always greatly appreciated and go toward the operation of the Farm. Contributions are tax deductible. Call (229) 378-5088 or email dancingcloudfarm@gmail.com for more information.

Other “Wish List” items include the following:• Hay, feed, lead ropes, dewormer, red mineral salt blocks, soft grooming brushes and other grooming supplies, veterinarian services, farrier services, farm and stable supplies from gates to buckets to blankets • Dancing Cloud Farm has accounts at Golden Brothers Feed Company and Summit Feed (Thomas County) where you can donate directly into the account and the money will be used as needed to buy feed.• Purchase gift cards to Tractor Supply Co. and Jeffers Equine.• Call Sealy Hay Farms and buy bales of hay or rolls of hay; staff will pick it up there.

Volunteers make the Farm’s mission a reality. To learn about volunteer opportunities visit www.dcfhr.com or call (229) 378-5088. Or sponsor a horse — call for details.

Identify & Report Horses in Need of Help

Ask the person with a starving horse, “I am concerned about your horse(s). He looks thin. Can I help you?” Many times the person cannot afford to keep the horse, the horse belongs to someone else who keeps it on that person’s property, and the owner is glad to get rid of the horse. There are times, however, when law enforcement is needed and required, and the horses have to be seized. (Georgia law supports this.) Horse rescue staff are trained to handle this.

Report incidences of equine neglect or abuse to one of the following organizations:Dancing Cloud Farm Horse Rescue, 229-378-5088, www.dcfhr.orgThe Horse Rescue, Rehabilitation and Retirement Fund, (770) 886-5419, www.SavetheHorses.org Georgia Equine Rescue League, (800) 282-5852, www.gerlltd.orgHidden Springs Horse Rescue, www.floridahorserescue.com

horses are given a handful, literally, of food every couple of hours. Feeding a large amount to a horse with such a low BCS would kill him. This process of feeding a starving animal is very labor intensive, but the rewards are thrilling, says Anita. “When we see horses go from sad, defeated skeletons to holding their heads up and nickering to us, that is our pay right there.” “Diamond was the most standoffish of the herd,” says Ann. “Her mother had kicked her away when the new foal was born and people had not been kind to her. It was several months before anyone could even touch her. Finally, she is getting the love and attention she needed to make that bond with humans. She is in her forever home here.” Diamond arrived at Dancing Cloud Farm with a body score of 1, says Anita. “She didn’t drink from the water trough for a whole day even in the July heat, and horses typically drink 4 gallons of water a day. I was talking to some volunteers about what needed to get done next, wasn’t paying attention to the water as I filled up the trough, and the water spilled over onto the ground, filling up the hoof-print indentations around the trough. With this look in her eyes that I would call desperation, Diamond locked her eyes on the water in the hoof-prints and began to drink out of the hoof-prints even though the trough was right there with fresh, cool water. Diamond didn’t have a trough where she came from and had to get water wherever she could to stay alive, and drinking out of hoof-prints had been her water source. “She is the second horse we have had like that. The first one, Chili, was discovered by a real estate appraiser walking the farm of an older couple who had died the previous year. Out of the dog fennel, broomsedge and briars in a field walked this skeleton of a horse. It scared the bejeezies out of the real estate appraiser who immediately called a horse friend for help. Chili was so weak she was not expected to live, and it took her an entire year to get the weight back on.” It is the Meisens’ goal to adopt out as many of the horses as possible, but they recognize that some will call Dancing Cloud Farm their “forever home.” For instance, some of the old ones on special feed and who need separate pastures from the more aggressive horses. The Meisens intend to establish a horse sanctuary – pastures where horses can live out their days enjoying safety, quality feed and fresh air. “We have no children, no heirs,” says Anita. “Our goal is to develop a long-term rescue facility that will continue after we can no longer do this work; it will be a forever place … a sanctuary where people can come enjoy peace, quiet and time helping animals.” Standing in the middle of the 33-acre front pasture, Anita points to the cerulean sky scattered with cotton-ball clouds and says, “I call this pasture Big Sky Pasture. There are always the most spectacular clouds in the sky.” And from that view came the name Dancing Cloud Farm. And how many stars on those clear Big Sky nights are wished upon … by a farmer for rain … by a little girl for a pony … by a horse owner for a home for the animals he can no longer feed.

Home, continued from page 15.

At right: Anita’s personal

horse, Jubal E (for Confederate Gen.

Jubal Early) stands at attention in Big Sky

Pasture;

Below (l-r): Anita with Daisy;

Ginger and her foal, Taffy.