Chiwi is doing really well, too. You remember I told you she is very reserved. I've just been hoping that she's happy. Her eyes seem soft and she seems relaxed --that's the most I could tell. Well, lately she has been showing some more personality and affection. I keep my horses on the side of my property near my neighbor so they can socialize with her horses, and she and I will stand and chat over the fence when we're both down there. Recently Chiwi has come up a couple times to just stick her head in. For her this is a huge thing. She never showed curiosity or went out of her way to be sociable with people (unless food was involved). But lately she's been coming up and just sort of hanging out. I've been so pleased. And the other day I went to pet her and she was just all over me! Nibbling my neck, thrusting her head into my arms... wow! She's never been so demonstrative. Hopefully this is the start of a trend!

Recently the old cowboy that trims their feet for me looked at her teeth and says she is surely 30, and could be as much as 32. So she's been around for a while, and only with us for a year, so I don't blame her for taking her time before she unwinds with us a little bit. :) She looks so good for her age, though, and the vet was really making a big deal over her the other day, saying how good her condition is, and all. So she's doing great, we love her, Teddy REALLY loves her, and now I think she's starting to be happy. :)

I saw the collage posted on the TIER site around the holidays, and I read your comments. I know the rescue is so much hard work that I can't believe you don't feel overwhelmed more often than you do, or at least than you admit that you do. You are a person of incredible energy and resilience, and people like me, and horses and other critters in need are inexpressibly grateful for people like you.

Your comment that seeing horses go to good homes and seeing them happy in their new homes is your reward reminded me that I haven't updated you on Chiwi, whom my husband and I adopted last August. I've been wanting to get some good pictures to send you, and I'm rotten with the camera, but here are some I'm attaching to this email. They're in a ZIP file to make them easier to send and receive. If you're not familiar with this, just click on the file, say "yes" to their agreement and then choose "extract". Then you can view the files. If you need any help just let me know.

Just to remind you, #294 was the little old sorrel mare with the blown-out knee from the feedlot in Chino Hills . Vic and I adopted her August 21 (our anniversary!) and Vic named her Wachiwi, which is Sioux for "dancer". Dr. McNeel says she's AT LEAST 25, and he said it with such conviction that I think he thinks she's much closer to 30. We've put some weight on her (probably too much) and she's living in pasture with my 21-yr-old TB, Teddy. She tends to be reserved, but she lets you know when she wants a little love, then she lets you know when she's finished. :) She's just as cute and sweet and funny as can be. Teddy is madly in love with her, and she loves him, too, though she's not as demonstrative about it as he is. She looks like a little woolly mammoth right now. Whenever you see her, you just get this big urge to hug her. As my best pal would say, "I just want to hug 'er 'til she pops, she's so cute!"

Chiwi's having a happily ever after, all thanks to you. Oh, and Teddy says "thanks" too!

We hope your holidays were happy! :)

Susan and Vic

We named her -- well, my husband did -- Wachiwi, which is a Native American word for "Dancer". We call her Chiwi for short.

She seems to be adapting to her new home very well. She showed some tension during the first couple days, a little pacing, etc., but only a little, and I don't see it now. She would really like to be nearer the other horses, but we are waiting out the requisite 3 weeks. The other horses would like to meet her more "up close and personal" too. But we walk her near them so they can all see each other.

She's really stiff and seems to tire quickly, though she also seems to be improving. We hand walk her every day, and the terrain here is rolling. At first she got tired so fast she couldn't go far. But now she can walk around the whole 5 acres. She's much much better going uphill, but she is still very cautious and careful going downhill. We've had her on the Corta-Flx and B-L solution since the second day, and yesterday was the last day of her double-dose of Corta-Flx. We mix it with double handful of the Evergreen Revive. She thinks this is a VERY good idea. She's been all for it from the start. In fact, she's strongly in favor of food in general. I've never had a horse put so much energy into directing my attention to his or her empty feeder.

She is also enthused about carrots, but is not interested in apples or pears, both of which we have growing here on the property. My husband, Vic, is working on changing her mind, though.

She thinks I'm okay, but she just loves Vic. On the third day, which was the first day that she really seemed to start feeling at home and show us her personality, she politely tolerated my scratching her face, and then when Vic came into the gate, she went right over to him and thrust her face into his arms! Well, fine!

Besides her obviously bad right knee, she also doesn't seem to like to stand square on her left hind, and we can't really tell where that's coming from. I haven't had the vet out yet, though. I haven't done anything yet except work on getting her acclimated. But I'm calling the vet and the farrier this week. Her feet are truly awful, so maybe hopefully a trim will do some good. Not sure how that'll go because she's not comfortable bending that knee very far and only wants to do it for a minute or less at a time. Also she doesn't like to stand on any 3 legs for long, and I don't know whether that's because of pain or nervousness or what, but we pick her feet out every day, so we're working on that. I also just started (yesterday) trying a little Tellington-Jones stuff on her, in hopes maybe a little stretching, etc., will help. Naturally, she thinks I'm insane, but she attempts to cooperate.

The cute picture is of her giving us a huge yawn, so I guess she's reasonably relaxed!