We just posted the Montana Quarterly article on the sanctuary that appeared in the magazine’s winter issue.  It is the best piece we’ve seen written that captures the real spirit of the animals here.  And the photos are stunning.  The editor of the Montana Quarterly graciously gave us permission to post the article and also…

While I was with our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown, this afternoon (see post below), Alayne was on her way to Helena to pick up Widget and bring her back to the ranch.  Widget’s vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, had called this morning to say Widget was recovering from her eye surgery just fine and could…

Our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown of Missoula, recently learned about a new way to treat lymphoma in horses from an internal medicine specialist at Ohio State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.  This was very important news to us, because blind Chance and our little old mule, Lonesome George, are battling this form of cancer.…

Dr. Brenda Culver, our primary care vet in Helena who is also our resident eye expert, performed surgery on blind Widget’s glaucoma eye this afternoon.  She removed the internal part of Widget’s left eye — the cornea, lens, iris, etc. — and implanted a prosthesis inside the globe of her eye.  This will give Widget…

This is our second employee, Kathryn S., who just started work at the sanctuary today.  She joins our first hire, Beth, who came on board last September.  Beth’s reaction to having a new colleague to help with the workload: "Awesome!" Before coming to the sanctuary, Kathryn was working as a biological researcher in a joint…

Here’s blind Callie, again pretending she can’t hear us calling her to go outside before bedtime.  This is actually one of her better "I’m dead" poses.  She was absolutely still.  Even the usual tell-tail (yep, that’s a pun) sign of life stirring in the otherwise motionless body … her little tail wagging back-and-forth … wasn’t…

Our Saturday started early with the arrival of Hanna, a blind Appaloosa mare from North Carolina.  We had agreed to take her a few weeks ago after getting a call from her owner, a riding instructor named Annette S.  Hanna had been one of Annette’s lesson mares for many years, and was a real favorite…

We had several incredible volunteers help out today, and we got tons done.  Literally.  On the trailer is our ace hay-moving crew … Nate, Amy, Juana and Chris.  We moved 11 tons of hay from our neighbor’s hay barn over to Scout’s Barn, then stacked it clear to the rafters.  I took the photo after…

Cody, the puppy from Wyoming who survived parvo, has a new Mom … our employee Beth!  After Cody came back from the hospital, it took only a few days for Beth to fall in love with this wonderful little boy.  We realized she was quietly developing a powerful bond with him, and when Beth asked…

Dr. Bostwick called today to say Widget’s bloodwork looked great, which ruled out other possible explanations for the odd episodes we’ve seen in her recently.  So this morning I talked with Dr. Brenda Culver, our primary care vet in Helena who’s also our go-to person for eye issues, about Dr. Bostwick’s evaluation of Widget.  I…