Rifle was trimmed for the second time and is walking much better. He was happily licking his new 50 pound salt block. He is improving every day.

My life's philosophy is 'Do Good, and it will come back to you.
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I know it works, I see it every day. It is how the horse rescue is run. We can be down to out last dollar and a horse needs a vet. Someone comes and hands me a check and says, I meant to give this to you a few weeks ago. It is not luck, it is not a coincidence, it is good deeds coming back. Doing good is contagious.

It started out negative. Someone called the Georgia Deportment of Agriculture (GDA) to report a horse in bad condition. The GDA Inspector goes out, talks to Gertrude aka June, and finds out the horse, Rifle, was given to her by someone who couldn't use Rifle for profit since he became lame. Now we know June has a big heart. Rifle wasn't any use for someone who want to ride. June just wants him to feel good and be loved. Rather than confiscating the horse, the GDA Inspector calls and asks SaveTheHorses if we can help. Of course, we said 'yes'. The next morning, my sister and I went out to assess the situation for ourselves. June has 8 pigs, 6 dogs and a few cats and chickens. Every animal is well fed and neutered or spayed. June has lived there since 1981. She told me when her husband was alive, this place looked so good. She was embarrassed by the debris and makeshift repairs she could manage for the animals. June is in her late 70's, just had heart surgery and had been widowed for several years.

Barefoot farrier Jan Hester start the trimming on Rifle's feet, had radio graphs done by Dr Lea Patipa, and this really started good things happening. Jan was so engaged in making Rifle better she took another wonderful farrier, Mele Miller to help with the second trim, much to my surprise. Too good farriers working on Rifle, how good is that! Dr Leah was so involved she asked her boss if she could discount the trip charge to Jasper. I posted on the Internet through Facebook, Yahoo and Blogs to ask people to help us help June clean up her farm. It was so heartwarming to see everyone volunteering to help, to donate fencing, wood, time and financial help plus many prayers and good wishes to help Rifle and his owner. Our group of caring people grew daily.

Saturday February 18th, Lori, Lexi, Rodeo and I left the rescue barn with wheel borrow, rakes, shovels and more to get started out clean up project. When we arrived, Hope and Debbie were already working and had the pig area cleaned of all the debris that had been in the mud for many years. Imagine cinder blocks, old tires, wood, all under half wet mud in a pig pen, literally! Those ladies were hard workers and they aren't afraid of dirt! We raked, picked up, threw away, organized and just had a great time doing good. Our burn pile stayed under control but we had the hose on hand at all times, just in case the wind decided to get aggressive. June had a huge dumpster which we pretty much filled to the top. Hours passed and everyone was still smiling. Doing good is good for your soul. Hope and Debbie called it a day, a long hard day, believe me. Cindy Rodeo Steedle, ( in case you don't know her..She has been on many TV shows: Rock of Love, Charm School and more) well, she is pushing the lawn mower and picking up whatever needs to be done. Everyone is equal here at the rescue or helping with horses, no one stays clean! We worked a few hours longer picking up around the house. Our last chore was catching a few chickens. Lexi took two roosters and a hen home in a crate. That lightened June's daily duties a bit. I was thinking how nice it was that this all grew into such a good cause. Such good hearted people getting together to help someone who was a stranger a few hours ago. I was smiling, feeling really good, we all felt good. It couldn't have been better. June paid us with some beautiful colored eggs. Sweet!

We were ready to leave when a nicely dressed couple stopped to talk. We weren't in clean attire but they smiled and asked if we were with the horse rescue. They said they were with the Bent Tree Saddle Club. David and Rosemary lived about 10 miles away. They read about Rifle and June and came to see for themselves. They were excited to go back and speak with their President about the club getting June and Rifle as a project. David talked to June about bush hogging the pasture. He was going to go back and check on getting more hay. he said he had some post he could donate and more. The Saddle Club can help with fencing, too. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, it got much better. What a wonderful world of people coming together to help. Good is contagious, pass it on!