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Happy 2022 everyone!   

As most of you know, in late 2020 we expanded our 501(c)(3) non-profit dog rescue organization, Sugar Mutts Rescue, by purchasing a farm in the Pocono Mountains in order to extend our reach to helping farm animals as well.  The last 2+ years have have been pawsitively incredible (yes, pun intended).  It has been extremely challenging and a tremendous learning curve in general, let alone navigating the landscape of this expansion during a pandemic... but hands down, the best decision ever.  The beauty and personalities of these animals who are now also relying on us and are a part of our daily lives, soothes any hardship and tempers any storm.  The lessons they unknowingly teach us are remarkable and just providing for them everyday is a gift.  

Late this past July, a beautiful bay gelding named Charlie who had been boarding with us for less than a year came up lame and was in a lot of pain.  After an exam and xrays, it was clear he had a graveling abcess in his right front hoof that had already started to compromise his coffin (foot) bone.  The only chance he had was to be taken to an equine clinic for surgery, where a hole could be drilled through his hoof wall and the infection be scraped out, cultured, and packed/treated with the appropriate antibiotics.  The estimate was a minimum of $3200, possibly upwards of double that on the high end.  His owner had only bougt him less than a year prior, was completely new to horses, and quickly realized he did not want to pay for the surgery.  

We had been taking care of Charlie everyday for many months now.  We knew him, and loved him... his rebellious side, his playful side, his elegant independent side, his charming side, and his never disappointing preoccupation with food side.  We also knew full well a horse cannot live with any quality of life without all four feet in at least relative working order.  His options were clear... get the surgery, or be put down.  None of us could bare the idea of letting an otherwise perfectly healthy, beautiful boy go down because of a bum foot and bad circumstances.  So, we had his owner relinquish Charlie to us and off to the horsie hospital he went. 

He stayed there a week, surgery was a success (thanks to the incredible staff at Pine Bush Equine), and it totalled out at $3468 (we were able to finance it through Care Credit, thank goodness!).  Follow up care was grueling... flushing the hoof and re-packing it EVERY DAY for over a month, then every other day for another month, etc.  Avoiding the mud, avoiding the rain, going through different boots, keep him in his stall way more than he ever wanted.  Our team, especially our barn manager, Stephanie, was so diligent in making sure his hoof stayed clean and healthy in order to heal.  Now, six months later, his compromised hoof is almost fully grown out and he's out in the pasture with the herd, trying to beat everyone else to the gate at feeding time, as always.  Charlie will live out his years at our sanctuary with no expectations other than looking dashingly handsome and reminding us why we do what we do.                

While we've been paying the monthly minimum for Charlie's surgery, the interest-free finance period is now up and we need to pay off his bill a.s.a.p.  In addition, the fencing on the farm when we aquired it was electrified wire strand fencing, which is absolutely not safe for the animlas and definitely not our style.  Line by line, we have been slowly redoing thousands of feet of fencing throughout the Farm in order to make it as safe as possible for the animals, more durable, and aesthetically pleasing too!  This is necessary as far as we are concerned, but not cheap (have you seen the cost of lumber over the last two years??).       

SO!  We decided to team up here with Ink To The People to bring you some awesome quality Sugar Mutts Rescue/Skymeadow Farm Sanctuary t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, etc. in order to raise the funds we need AND make sure our supporters look terrific this Spring sporting some new threads with our logo.  Please check out the inventory, buy lots of stuff for yourself, your friends, your family... and share this fundraiser if you feel so inclined.  This campaign ends March 8th, so don't wait too long!  Get your Sugar Mutts/Skymeadow swag today!

Charlie's X-ray.

Post-op hoof (the white part is the packing that had to be changed daily).

Charlie sporting a boot (this one didn't last very long...).

The day we brought him home from the hospital.

Charlie being elegantly independent.

Some of the new fencing!