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CHECK
OUT OUR NEW HOME! CWER moved, September 2007.
Come
visit on July 26 2008 at our Annual
Open House!
We're Moved!!
We couldn't be more excited! The
Cross family has purchased a new farm where CWER
can grow! The new facility boasts 41 acres. One of its many amazing
assets is a 35-acre pasture shown in the photos here, with a creek, old
growth trees, rolling hills, and enough grass to have been baled into
approximately 20 TONS worth of round bales each summer! There are also
4 smaller paddocks, two with shelters from the weather, numerous barns
and outbuildings and more...
- 35-acre main pasture with varied terrain for
self-exercising and grazing all day every day!
- less than 30 minutes from Danville
-- cuts the commute in half for our president, AnnMarie Cross
- 4 smaller paddocks for easy
separation, limited activity, etc.
- one barn already houses our indoor
round pen
- a second has 6 stalls which are
usable for feeding time only currently, and require significant rework
(see below)
- a third was a cattle barn and is
currently usable for hay storage but little else
- a fourth includes the leanto
shelter for one of the 4 small paddocks and potential to be a small
indoor riding space with significant work
- multiple garages provide space for
the farm's equipment, horse trailer, etc to safely be stored
- small, classic early 20th century
house provides a place for Mike, AnnMarie and Tory when they're not out
working on the farm(!)
So, what does this mean for CWER? It means
so many things.
-
AnnMarie
has approximately an hour more per weekday to work with the horses.
-
After
this winter, we should not need to purchase hay, unless for special
needs cases. We spent approximately 8% of the 2006 budget on hay!
-
Each
horse can self-exercise more significantly, thus getting fit faster and
in a safer manner.
-
The
indoor round pen means training can be done on a more regular schedule,
year round, thus accelerating our rehabilitation and retraining, and
helping horses be ready to move on to a new home more quickly.
-
We can
increase the number of horses in our care at any one time, and are less
reliant on foster homes. We are NOT bringing in any new horses until
the Cross family sells the Tuscola farm; however, once that sale is
closed, then the board has agreed to increase our max from 12 to 20
horses, IF we have hay sufficient to feed them. We already have
a waiting list.
-
There
will be less pressure to find foster or permanent homes to house
rescued babies until they are old enough for riding training, so that
we can ensure they are trained as we feel is best and are eased into
the most suiting jobs for their skills and personalities.
-
The
added space and indoor work areas will allow us to expand our programs
with special needs students and other public education or awareness
events.
NOTE: Our Fall 2007
newsletter also includes photos of our new farm! (More photos
below.)
What do you need? There's lots of materials and items we'll need to
continue to improve CWER's new home. Here are some examples:
- Gold/Silver
stall sponsors (click for details)
- lumber of varied sorts to build
the new stalls, replace missing fence rails, etc.
- stall hardware (latches, door
rails, etc) for the new stalls
- gates and round pen panels
(standard horse sized gates in usable condition, please)
- high tensile wire & tools (for
repairs, fixing our south fenceline, etc)
- fence posts for replacements and
the holding area between the paddocks and the pasture
- water tanks
- rain gutters, to add to most of
the buildings for better water management
- sand to base the indoor round pen
(its up and usable!!! see photos below.)
- full size farm tractor (ARRIVED!
A special thanks to David Cross of NY for this donation! At a later
time, we'll be looking to acquire hay baling equipment to for it.)
- wiring, safety lights, breakers
and breaker boxes, and other electrical supplies. Several buildings
require either a complete rework or significant improvements for
safety. Thank you, yet again, to Kelly & Brent, Town &
Country Electric, for helping us with wiring items needed so far.
What's it going to cost? The list is ever-growing, but at least for now we're
going to try to keep a running tally listed here of expenses incurred
so far related to updating the new property. There will be some big
projects in the years ahead, but for now we're just working to make
things safe and manageable, and to allow us to expand CWER's herd
safely as rapidly as possible. If you can help with any of these areas,
whether financially, by donating supplies, or by offering labor, we'd
sure appreciate it!
Please visit our donations page to make an instant
donation via paypal, or to mail a donation, if you would like to help
us reach this critical goal!
Expenses so far: We've
incurred approximately $2800 in expenses so far for the new farm --
including vaccinations, fencing materials, water supplies, transporting
the donated tractor, and more. Generous donors have covered
approximately $700. Even $25 will help us cover these expenses. Please,
won't you help us to help the horses?
*Note: The Cross family purchased this farm, personally,
specifically to give CWER a larger home. They've paid all the expenses
relating to the purchase and closing and everything related to their
move. CWER pays no salaries whatsoever -- not even to Mike when he is
performing training or farrier work -- and CWER did not incur any costs
related to this move other than the actual fuel costs to transport the
12 horses to the new facility, and any materials needed to make the
property safe for the horses.
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