Did you need some good news this week? Because I sure as heck did.
So, now that our wonderful Patreon is getting over $50 per month, we can put that money towards sponsoring an individual horse at Redwings Horse Sanctuary!

What this means is that, every month, a real live horse will get our money for whatever they may need, be it food, medical care, or upkeep. The donation will be dedicated to the Barcast, and so that horse will be our official charity recipient. What WE get out of this is that, if we're ever in town, we can go see our horse and say hello to it (not ride it or anything, Barcast Horse just gets pets and love). We'll also get a letter written "from" the horse, as well as a commemorative photo of the animal. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, except for one important detail....

WE GET TO PICK THE HORSE WE SPONSOR!

Given that it is YOUR money going towards this wonderful animal, we're going to let you guys vote on which horse gets the donation and becomes the Official Barcast Horse! All you have to do it vote in the poll below. You can read about the different candidates at the Redwings Horse Sanctruary Website, or read about the individual horses below as well.

POLL YOU NEED TO VOTE ON RIGHT FUCKING NOW:
http://www.strawpoll.me/13918167

The Horses to pick from:

Swimaj, Geronimo’s dam, only raced once before she retired due to intermittent lameness caused by bucked shins. At three years old she was bred and sent to a large thoroughbred auction in southern California. Redwings was at the auction that day and Swimaj was purchased and brought to the sanctuary along with another mare that was purchased that day, Alisage.
Geronimo was born on April 5, 1994. He was born perfectly healthy and full of energy and life. Geronimo grew up playing with Alisage’s foal Dodger, the two were inseparable. Geronimo has enjoyed life at Redwings for his entire life. Unfortunately, Swimaj had to be humanely euthanized at only 5 years old, due chronic lameness that gave her an unacceptable quality of life. Her spirit lives on in Geronimo who lives each day to the fullest.

In July of 1998, the Humane Society of Santa Clara County asked Redwings to help them determine the condition of over 100 ponies running wild on 160 acres in the east hills of San Jose. Their owner (who lost the land to the bank) made an effort to keep the ponies by moving them to a neighbor’s property. The neighbor, afraid to get stuck with a herd of ponies, contacted authorities and had them rounded up and sent to a local auction. This meant the slaughter buyers would be able to bid on them. After several attempts to stop the auction, the local horse community was mobilized and came to the auction to buy the ponies, and almost the entire herd was adopted. Horse Power Projects purchased Etta Mae and her colt. Her foal, Penelope was born shortly after. However, Etta Mae was so wild Horse Power Projects felt she would never become adoptable and asked Redwings to take her and her young foal. We were happy to oblige.
Etta Mae has slowly learned to trust humans and will sometimes come up to the fence to be petted. Penelope (Etta Mae’s foal), on the other hand, loves to be petted and will push all the others out of the way to get attention.

This pretty Appaloosa gelding was one of the six horses rescued by Santa Barbara County Animal Services. All six horses were malnourished and starving. He was only four years old at the time, and would be adopted quickly, with his beautiful coloring and sweet temperament, but when he was younger, he severed a nerve in his head making the left side of his face partially paralyzed. We don’t know if he received any kind of medical treatment, or when he did this, however, but the damage is permanent.
He has an ear pointed sideways, rather than up. He seems to see well, but his left eyelid does not blink, and his nostrils and mouth are more to the right of his face.
As the Santa Barbara Animal control has no permanent quarters for equines, they contacted Redwings to see if we might be able to give him a permanent home. He is a very beautiful and friendly horse. His different face only makes him more loveable. Here, he has time to eat his food and can still be with other horses to live a normal life.

We don’t know where Topaz originally came from. We do know she was dumped off to be sold at a Los Angeles livestock auction when she was only a yearling. Sold by the pound to a killer buyer, she was refused a space on the cattle truck bound for a Texas slaughterhouse because she was too thin.
Christine Lund, ABC-TV nightly news reporter, was at the auction working on a story about slaughter-bound horses and rescued the starving filly. After Topaz gained weight, she was placed into what appeared to be a good home. Months later, much to her horror, Christine saw Topaz at a Charro Rodeo being used for “horse tripping.” The filly had open wounds on all four legs, hips, and her face had lacerations.
Christine, again, pulled the filly out of a bad situation and took her home to recover. Months passed, her wounds slowly healed, and she was again ready for a good, permanent home. This time Christine contacted Redwings, and with your support, we were able to take Topaz in and welcome her to the Redwings family where she will be safe forever.
In spite of all her abuse, Topaz is a loveable, people friendly mare.

Melissa is an offspring of a Premarin mare. These Draft and Draft cross horses were rescued from the Premarin auction sales held in Canada. Premarin is a hormone replacement drug, made from the urine of pregnant mares. Thus the name Pre(pregnant) mar(mare) in(urine). From the time the mares became pregnant until the foals are born, they are cross-tied in 4”x 8” standing stalls in which they cannot lie down or turn around. Urine bags are attached to the mares, which constantly collect all their urine. They are given minimal amounts of water in order to concentrate the urine.
When the foals are born, they are with their mothers only for 3-4 months, are then taken and sent to auctions. Many of these young foals are still nursing.
Although there are now alternative and generic versions of hormone replacements on the market, a few still prescribe Premarin. Redwings focus is to urge women to ask their physicians for a generic hormone or ask about alternatives. For more information on this subject, please stop by our Education Center.

When Magic and Bambi came to Redwings, we were told Bambi might be in foal. The staff waited and waited, but Bambi did not look pregnant! Finally, by the end of September 2000, she started showing. Because miniature horses have been bred to become smaller and smaller, there was concern that the foal might be deformed, or she would have a hard birth. The staff took turns watching over her as much as possible. On October 7, Brian, the staff member watching her, left for dinner, was gone only a short time, but when he returned was he in for a surprise when he checked Bambi. Little Bit had arrived with no problems! He was born a perfect mini pony with fluffy baby hair and black raccoon circles around his eyes (baby features). He inherited the pinto spots of his dad and the coloring of his mom. The circles are now gone, his coat is a normal horse coat and he is as tall as his parents.
The minis are always popular with visitors, but you can imagine how much attention a baby mini got. It became apparent that this colt would be one of the most spoiled foals in Redwings history! In fact, the staff has lovingly nicknamed him “Little Brat.”
He is now fully grown and pretty much has become the spoiled – but lovable “star” we thought he would be.

No provided info. Only photo. Adult, full-sized horse.

No provided info. Only photo. Adult, full-sized horse.

No provided info. Only photo. Adult, full-sized horse.

In April of 1996 two burros were in desperate need of a home. Both burros were pregnant and very close to delivering. These burros, who we named Jenny and Brownie, were rescued by Wild Burro Rescue after being removed from Death Valley by the National Park Service. Redwings happily accepted them and 3 weeks later Jenny gave birth to a healthy baby that we named Sage, and two weeks later Brownie gave birth to Coyote. All four of these burros are healthy and happily living at the sanctuary today.

Mack, who we fondly call “Big Mack”, worked for years as a carriage horse in Santa Cruz, California. We can only imagine how impressive he must have looked as he pulled his carriage full of happy tourists through the town. After many years of service it was time for Mack to retire from his duties as a carriage horse, live a more laid back life style out in the country. A non-profit agreed to take Mack and retire him with two other horses in a grassy pasture in San Luis Obispo County.
What was supposed to be a happy ending for Mack was not the fairy tale it was made out to be. Mack and his two new companions only had the nice green grass in their pasture for a few months and once it dried up and was grazed down to the dirt, there was no more feed for them. The woman who ran the small non-profit came into hard times and could not afford the rent on the now bare pasture or hay for the horses. The three once vibrant horses were now starving.
A local woman who loves draft horses offered to give Mack a home when she heard that Mack’s owner had fallen on hard times. His owner refused the offer and said that she had found a way to feed the horses for a few more months. But the hay that she purchased was not good quality and the quantity of hay was not even enough to sustain the horses for one month.
Finally the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s office was contacted and they gave the woman a notice to comply. This meant she had a certain amount of time to get appropriate feed for the horses and arrange for any necessary medical treatment due to their poor condition. After the owner failed to comply she finally agreed to relinquish ownership of Mack.
Redwings was contacted and we agreed to bring Mack to our sanctuary. We determined that Mack was a body score of 2, on a scale of 1 – 10, a normal body score for a healthy horse is 5. This meant Mack was severely underweight. To bring Mack back to full health we needed to do a lot more than just feed him. His hooves were in bad need of farrier care, his teeth required extensive care, and he needed all his immunizations.
Now three years later Mack has gained an estimated 500 pounds! He has become a favorite among the staff and volunteers at Redwings and Mack is known for his gentle nature and big heart. He has overcome the neglect he suffered and is now thriving.

No provided info. Only photo. Adult, full-sized horse.

Feel free to plead your case below as to who you think deserves to be the Barcast horse or just talk about the candidates! Just remember to vote in the strawpoll as well! The poll will close on Sept 17th, 2017.

I mean, while I'd love to vote for Jenny, you gotta go with Big Mac(k)

For the memes, y'see.

6110166
Be sure to use the strawpoll link! :D

The only correct answer is to pick all the horses.

6110170
Also this, but I DID say please plead your case as well. ;)

6110166

Traitor!

Donkeys are life.

Sammy
No provided info. Only photo. Adult, full-sized horse.

Based on this description, I really want to put one of these stickers on Sammy.

Edit: Oh I scrolled too fast, there are a bunch of no-info, adult-full-size horses. Stickers all around!

6110173
This. But as I don't think we can, I pick...

Big Mack.

Topaz because she is a mystery and has been through a lot.

One barcast-one horse

How can we choose if you don't provide photos of their genitals?

I really like Takoda as he seems to be the embodiment of the Barcast.
A bit goofy looking but you love 'em all the same.

Please pick Takoda.
Big Mack might be meme-worthy but the Bio says that he's already a favorite amongst the caregivers.

Plus "gelding" so Takoda is basically Priest on a Pencil Rag day....or any other day really...or was that Enigma?

Gotta be Dakoda because c'mon, who doesn't love a goofy stroke horse?

Little Bit because emotional reasons.

OKAY folks, it looks like our winner is BIG MACK!!!!
I will make a formal announcement about it tomorrow, but I wanted to let you all know. This big sweet guy I know will appreciate every cent we send his way.