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DOUBLE B NEWS PAGE
We have been busy getting the 2 run ins up near the big barn. We are going to be redoing them and adding a roof over to the to the barn with hopes to have all the horses up there for the winter.
We will be holding a bake sale this coming Wednesday at the Farmington Wal-Mart from 10am to 3 pm so please stop by and get some goodies......
Our hearts go out to everyone at Last Chance Ranch!!!!
Recently Last Chance Ranch contacted us to let us know that due to circumstances beyond their control they have to close their doors. They asked if there was any way we could help. We adopted out 5 horses last month so we were able to go up and bring back 7 of their horses and try to find them homes. That brings us back up to 22 horses. We were very happy to be able to help another rescue out and hopefully we will be successful at finding all the horses their new forever home. All of us at Double B knows what its like to fall on hard times but we want Last Chance Ranch and all affiliated with them to know that we will help in any way we can. Bottom line is about a rescue helping a rescue and all having the ultimate goal. The horses. Their welfare is what we all do this for. The love we all share for these animals.
If anyone has not seen the story please go to www.wabi.tv and type in Double b click Horse Rescues Fall on Hard Times. Read the story and watch the video.
We have gotten a few hay donations which is greatly appreciated. We are trying to fill the barn for the winter so any hay donations would be great. We are also looking for any lumber we can get as we need to replace some floors and we would like to build another barn and attach it to the big one we have .
We would like to thank all our supporters and donors!! Without you, we would not be able to do what we do for the horses.... THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
A GIFT FROM FRANCE
THE END OF JESS' STORY
It has only been a little over a week since Jess has gone back home to France, and she is really missed by all of us here at Double B, including the horses. I heard that it was as equally hard for Jess to say good-bye to Brenda, Lenny and all the horses that she got so close to.
Unfortunately, I was unable to be at the rescue when Jess spent her last day there. But the last day that we did spend together, I was thrilled at how much Jess was able to do with Dreamer. She was able to go in the stall with her, pick up her feet and rub her all over, except by her mane. She always had an issue with her mane being touched. You could tell that Dreamer was still very cautious, but was very trusting of Jess. I remember the first day that I met Jess, and how much time it took her to even get close to Dreamer, let alone touch her all over. Throughout the summer, Jess would say that she was going to ride Dreamer before she went back to France. At this point, that was only a couple of weeks away. I thought that there would be no way that she would be able to ride Dreamer in this short amount of time. The night before Jess was to go back home to France, I got a call from Brenda. She said that Jess had spent the whole day at the rescue, and that she had ridden Dreamer. I was ecstatic. I want to share some of the pictures that were taken of Jess and Dreamer.
What an accomplishment that this young lady has achieved with this beautiful horse that has never been ridden. Jess is planning to come back to visit us next year in July. We can't wait!!! Jess has such a love for horses and it showed by how she handled each and every horse at the rescue. She was able to gain their trust, right from the tamest to the wildest. She is such an awesome person who will be greatly missed by all. As the title says - Jess was truly a Gift From France.
This is what Jess wore on her way to France.
Hay season is here and we need hay !! If anyone has extra hay or wants to clear out last years hay let us know we can always use it. All donations are tax deductible. Donations are down this year.
We have a few new horses that have arrived. They will be up for adoption in the future as they are under weight and we need to get them back where they belong. We got in a x-race horse today and Jess went right over and saddled her up and was riding around the rescue. Jess and Brenda rode a few of the horses today.
This past saturday we had a small going away party for Jess. Here are some photos also see Thank You Jess page that will be up for a month or so.
 
York Harbor Inn in York Maine. We want to thank them for there support !!!
Chaos has been adopted !!! Sparky is pending adoption !!! Cinnamon has been adopted !!
Ron Johnson and Sam have made a major breakthrough !!! Sam is the wild mustang Ron got from Nevada and is training him to compete in the Extreme Mustang Makeover in August in Fort Worth Texas. Ron started training him a few weekends ago. Unfortunately he did not get the turnout he had hope for to help pay to get to Texas, but he's working on the funds. Sam is an amazing, smart horse and has picked up quickly with some commands. I would really like to see Ron, being from Maine, compete at this competion. Here are the update photo's . Sam is now letting anyone come up and pet him.
 
Ron Johnson (trainer) came out Saturday for our Open House and worked with Chaos, who has never been ridden, donating his time and expertise. He made great progress with Chaos as you will see in the photos. Ron uses Natural Horsemanship techniques. If you are interested in getting a horse trained, check out the links page for Ron's info.
 
Ron and Chaos first thing in the morning Chaos not liking the saddle !!!!
 
Ron and Chaos mid day - first, with the saddle which Chaos did not like at all, then a little later with Ron standing on Chaos.
 
Getting ready Time for Chaos' first ride
Alright, 4 pm Saturday afternoon - Chaos' first RIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All in 7 hours !
THANKS RON GREAT JOB !!!
Yard sale was a big success. Thanks to all who donated items. We received so many items that we will have a yard sale again this weekend (Memorial Weekend). So please come on out and browse. We are still receiving new items.
Improvements to Double B
The hay barn is getting a new look, out with the tarps yea ha . Lenny and Brenda have been very busy. First is the hay barn - someone donated some wood and Lenny decided to enclose the hay barn which was covered in tarp. This is a good thing as over the winter, we lost some hay from the rain and snow. Good Job Lenny. Unfortunatly we had just enough wood for the front. Now we need wood for the other three sides.
We have also had some fill brought in to fill the low spots ( I should say the mud holes, that seem to never go away all year long ) to keep the horses out of the mud.
Brenda has been trying to spruce up the place with flowers and plants and tending to all the mowing.
Brenda and Lenny have been busy getting the whole field fenced off so the whole field can be utilized. It has been a dream of mine to see the whole area be used and they have done that. It's great to stand there and look down as far as you can see and see all the horses enjoying the running space. The horses love it as they run, play and lay down to relax.
New photo's of all the horses coming soon !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We would like to thank the YORK HARBOR INN for doing a fund raiser for us a couple of weekends ago. They also had us down for lunch last thursday. What a wounderfull place with great food and people. Check Them out @ www.yorkharborinn.com. Thanks to all that donated !!
A follow up on a Gift from France !!!!
I want to thank everyone for the big response to Jess' story "A GIFT FROM FRANCE" and everyone that wanted a follow-up story as to her progress with the horses.
I was at the rescue all day yesterday and I was really excited to see Jess and meet her friend, Shen, when I arrived. They were both pretty tired from attending the prom the night before but they would not miss out on being at the rescue to help Brenda and Lennie out and to work with the horses on their days off from school.
I asked Jess how far she had gotten with Dreamer. She replied that she is able to touch her all over and brush her, but she has difficulty with Dreamer when it comes to touching her mane but she quickly added that she can brush her tail out. She said that Dreamer is still very nervous but is a lot more trusting toward her.
Most of the morning Jess worked with Drifter in the round pen. She stated that she was having difficulty with him but from what I could see, she was able to put him through his paces and Drifter was responding quite nicely to her commands.
During the afternoon, we got Sparky back - a beautiful black race horse. We put him down in the pasture with the larger horses, hoping he would be accepted. With a few squeals and feet flying, he seemed to be accepted very quickly. After a few minutes, all of them went back to grazing. After about 15 minutes, Chaos decided that he was going to go over and let Sparky know that he was on top of the "pecking order". After a few more squeals and kicks between the both of them, Jess decided to go and get Chaos and work with him. She has always said that Chaos was a little too much for her - but this did not stop her. She got Chaos in his stall to change his halter over. Every time Jess would touch Chaos, he would stomp his foot but with much patients and a little more co-operation on Chaos' part, she was able to switch halters and brought Chaos out of his stall. This horse towered over Jess and he did a lot of prancing around but Jess was determined that she was going to settle Chaos down.
After about 15 minutes of Jess talking softly to Chaos and touching him all over while making him stand, he seemed to be more receptive to Jess.
 
Roux and Grandpa looking on
With the help of Jess' friend Shen, Jess cleaned Chaos' hooves.
 
Jess then walked Chaos up and down the driveway. He did a lot of prancing around at first. Of course the wind did not help the situation, but he finally settled in and after about half an hour, Jess had Chaos on a very loose lead line and every time Jess would stop, Chaos would stop along side of her.
After a few trips up and down the driveway with the same results, she turned and looked at me with a big smile and said in her french accent, "I want to ride him!!".
I have no doubt in my mind that before Jess returns to France on June 25th, she will be on Chaos.
Jess will be at the Open House/Yard Sale on Saturday and Sunday working with some of the horses. Stop by and meet Jess and I assure you, you will fall in love with this young lady and will agree with us that she is truly a Gift from France.
A GIFT FROM FRANCE
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of being introduced to Jessica Chillet. Jess is a 15 year old foreign exchange student from France and is a sophmore at Mt. Abraham High School. She lives with her host family, Carla and Thomas Wright of Phillips. She came to the United States on January 22, 2010.
She has been working around and taking care of horses since the age of 4. She worked in a "Pony-Club" where she took care of and worked with some of the young horses. She enjoys dressage, "pony games", horseball, jumping and cross-country competitions and almost all other disciplines relating to "classic riding". She said that she has tried western riding and enjoys that too. She has also worked at the Living Horse Museum (http://www.museevivantducheval.fr/uk/grandesecuries/histoire.html) where she had the responsibility of 7 ponies (2 Welshes, 3 Shetland and 2 minis and one donkey) and rode a Boulonnais work horse daily.
Knowing her love for horses, Carla called the rescue to see if it would be alright for Jess to come out and help Brenda and Lennie with their chores and work with the horses. We are always appreciative of volunteers coming and helping us out.
When I asked her what part of France she was from, she replied that she lived outside of Paris. She went on to say that it was so peaceful here at the rescue, with no cars or buses speeding by and how much she loved the horses at the rescue, especially Quinn. She said he is so cute and tiny and that she loved his blue eyes.
Throughout the day, I watched her mingle with all the horses, bringing them out of the pasture one by one to brush them. When she went into the pasture with the larger horses, I paid special attention because of Flip Flop. You never know what kind of mood Flip is going to be in. She was munching on a large bale of hay, watching Jess' every move. Dreamer was also in this pasture. She is a beautiful 6 year old Morgan-type horse that came to us about 6 months ago. We were told that she was born in the wild and has had very little human contact. Many of us have tried to get close enough to brush her and to interact with her, but she is still in her "flight mode", so it has been difficult. As I watched, Jess sat down on the ground a little ways in front of Dreamer. Dreamer finally stopped munching on her hay and ever so cautiously walked over to Jess and put her head down to her. As Jess was talking quietly to her, you could see the trust and comfort in Dreamers' eyes. As I watched, I could see a definite bond was being formed. After about 15 minutes, Jess stood up, with Dreamer still by her side, letting Jess pat her. Jess turned to me and said that she wanted to try to brush her. So she went to get the brushes, while Dreamer watched her every move. When Jess returned with the brushes, she put them down in front of Dreamer and backed away. Dreamer proceeded to smell the brushes and looked back at Jess. After a few minutes of Dreamer inspecting the brushes and Jess talking softly to her in her French accent, she bent down and picked up the brushes, stepped back and started rubbing the brushes together, to get Dreamer used to the noise. You could tell Dreamer was not especially liking the noise the brushes were making, but she did not run off. It was at this point that Flip Flops' curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to run over to Jess and Dreamer, which of course scared Dreamer away. Throughout the day, every time Jess would go to Dreamer, she would just put her head down to her with trusting eyes. As Jess would say, "the horses talk to you - you just have to listen".
Yesterday, Jess worked with all the horses, including Flip Flop. While Flip was laying down soaking up the sun, Jess went over and laid down beside her. Not too many of us here at the rescue would attempt this with Flip, but Flip was thoroughly enjoying it. Jess also spent many patient hours doing ground work with our spunky POA, Drifter.
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Jess and her techniques and her love for all the horses. Jess will be returning to France on June 25th. She will truly be missed by all of us here at the rescue, and especially by Dreamer.
Story writen by a member, not the editor of the web site. Stay tune as I want to follow this thru june and see if Jess and this writer will do follow up storys with other horse's. Let me know if you want more.. I'm not a writer but I like storys like this and would love to see more storys of the people who come to the rescue and make a differance like the girls from umf and more. Like I said e-mail us if you want more.
Melyssa, Amy, Megan and Heather getting ready to ride Topper.
Working with Buffalo Bill.
Melyssa, Amy, Megan and Heather are from UMF and come regularly and help out with the horses.
A BIG THANK YOU TO GIDDY-UP & GO 4-H !!!!!
On saturday Feb. 20th The GIDDY-UP & GO 4-H Horse Club did a hay drive for us for the third year in a row. We want to send a big thank you to all that helped. It was great seeing everyone running around petting all the horses. Misty was happy to get out and give rides to the kids. Thanks again.
Meanwhile back at the rescue...
Remember to check out "Up for Adoption" pages, as we are trying to get some new photos on there of the horses still here. We are at full capacity at this time and have no more room at the inn. We have horses still looking for forever homes. So, please keep an eye out for their new photos in the website.
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DOUBLE B NEWS
