So many things!

So many things!

We’ve got so much going on at the rescue that this little blog post might jump all over a bit so bear with me!

Firstly we want to thank EVERYONE for making our Gala such a huge success. So many people made this possible, from volunteers to community partners. The thank you list is a long one and I’m going to attempt to get everyone on here but if I miss you please know that if you contributed in any way big or small to the gala we appreciate you more than you can possibly know!

This was such a fun evening and we loved seeing everyone decked out in their finest. The music was on point and the room looked fantastic! We had incredible silent auction items and we are excited to announce that we made $10,000 for Toni’s Ponies. This will help us through this winter so much!

At the end of this post please, please, please, take the time to look at our list of thank yous. These are the people in our community who have taken the time and the resources to help make this nonprofit what it is and we are incredibly humbled and so very grateful for their contribution!

Now onto what’s been going on in the last month since the gala! We have been battling the mud for one… only a couple of muddy knee casualties so far! During these winter months it’s pretty mucky here at the farm. We live for the summers and we work HARD in the winters pretty much to stay upright. If you plan on visiting and think you are coming to some pristine barn you might be a little disappointed. We work with what we have and we try to make everything as safe and comfortable as possible for our equine friends. This last week we were able to put stall mats in place that help cut down on mud, we change out shavings as often as we can afford and we make sure everyone’s eating spaces are clean and accessible. This also includes making sure water doesn’t freeze over and the hay stays dry! No visions of grandeur here but everyone is warm and safe!

On November 23 we finally got to meet our new mare in person! The passes had been to rough to get over and so it took a little longer for her to arrive. We are in LOVE. Sugar (because she’s so sweet) was picked up in the Walmart parking lot… you really can get anything there. This is not a sponsored ad… She had such a long journey to get to us but was just as sweet and chill as could be. She had quite the welcoming party that night and got brushed and blanketed and put in her new area. She was great with the people and the dogs that ran around and under her feet. Nothing seemed to phase her. This girl was exposed at the feedlot which means she could possibly be pregnant. We had the vet out on December 2 and found out she is NOT pregnant… which is probably for the best as the vet told us that she’s probably in her early 20’s. Other than being a little on the light side she looks great and we can’t wait to get to know her more. Just this last week she was moved into a new pasture with our long-time resident Jessie. We hope these two will get a long and become fast friends!

Now let’s talk about Hellno… You’ve probably seen the videos of our new furry friend. Hellno is a baby goat that needed a home. When Toni told Andy that she would be bringing this precious baby home I bet you can guess what he said… “Hell No!” But here we are chasing a three week goat between a couple of houses. Hellno… when at my house is called “Heckno” or by my toddler just “NoNo” He’s a lot of work but such an incredible little ball of joy. We’ve been sharing him a couple days at a time

between the two houses and everyone is in love… but also happy to see him go to the other house when the time comes! Eventually he will move outside when he doesn’t need to be bottle fed every few hours and when he wont freeze in this weather! He’ll join the sheep and maybe the growing donkey herd!

Now let's talk donkeys! This last week we brought three new donkeys to the rescue. Eeyore, Buddy, and Missy were owner surrenders and we are so very happy to have them. This last volunteer day we introduced them to Gin and Tonic and things went… as well as can be expected really. They weren’t fast friends or anything but given time we think we’ll have quite the little herd. These guys need a little TLC but they are as sweet as can be. Many of you have seen the feet on the little girl and we are excited to have Casey out this week to see what getting those under control look like. Vet will also be out this week and we’ll see if this little girl might be carrying a special surprise!

As this blog post winds down we have one more animal to introduce. Our newest addition is Bam Bam the Turkey! See I told you we were going to be all over the place. Galas, and horses, and goats, and donkeys, and a turkey oh my! Bam Bam lost his feather family to predators and so was rehomed to Toni's Ponies. He'll be joining the chickens soon but for now has parked himself right outside the window above the fire wood. He's friendly and really quite magnificent! Welcome to the family!

Ok last piece of business here! We just got in an order of Hoodies! These are super soft and warm and fit great! For those local these would make really great Christmas gifts! You can purchase online and pick up at the farm! We’ve got all the sizes and colors listed on our FB page and I’ll add those here as well. This round we have mostly larger sizes… Large – XXLarge. I will say, my husband tried all of them on and while he usually wears a large and the large fit him nicely the XL looked great on him too and even the XXL while a little roomy looked nice! So if you have any of those last minute people that you need to get gifts for or you are looking for yourself come and get them!

CLICK HERE FOR HOODIES!

Again thank you for all your support! We hope you and your family has great holiday season!

Below is a list of individuals and companies in our community that donated to our gala. A huge thank you to all of our volunteers who planned, decorated, served food, helped with publicity, and made this happen. We could not have done it without you and we can not wait to do it again next year!!!!

A&L Topsoil · Randy and Carla Bynum

Allison Gilman · Land Title

Amy Spray · Makerhaus

Annie Hermiston · Sweet Santosha Yoga

Antoinne and Tania Issa

B&B’s Bitch’n Fish

Blazing Bagels · Tara and Al Iredale

Boehms Chocolates Poulsbo

Breanne Martinez

Brit’s Delish Creations

Cari Trussel

Cannon Peters Photography

Christina Dupee

Clearwater Casino and Resort

D’vine Bistro

Dreambird Candles · Cathy Johnson

Evergreen Home Loans · John Endres

Grubhut

Harbor Hair Designs LLC Heavenly Soap · Patti Gibbons

Hood Canal Brewery · Caitlyn Hatchel

Jim and Kristi Lindsay

Kathy and Duke Burgeois

Kim and Rod McElroy

King Bridge Construction

Kingston Ale House

Kingston Filling Station

Kingston Lumber Holistic Nutrition Naturally · Dr. Kasia Kines

Kitsap Detail

Kitty Dumford Kristen Chandler · Grundens

Marine View Hair Studio

Mescha Manietta

Miles Sand and Gravel

Minder Meats · Sam Swanson

New Leaf Pho

Nicole Peters

Nothing Bunt Cakes

Samantha Miller

San Juan Cruises

SeaWolfe · Shawn Humphries

Sound Bobcat

Stacy Patrick · Lucky Star

Sully’s Bistro and Bar

Sweet life cakery

The Women’s Club of Seabeck

Thistle Floral and Home · Shannon Costillo

Tickled Pink · Anastasia Carlson

Todd and Asha Sanders

Tonya Miller

Town and Country Market

Ulins Concrete Pumping

Valley Supply

Wendy Shipp

West Sound Wildlife · Lisa Horn

Winky Lux

Communication is key!

Toni’s Ponies has exploded over the last 8 months and we are so excited about all the new volunteers that have decided to make the rescue a priority. Our volunteer base has just about quadrupled in size and we’ve been working on the best way to be able to communicate with everyone. We want everyone to know that we truly appreciate the time you spend here on the farm and that every little bit you do helps keep this place running.

Due to the potential dangerous nature of working with large animals and farm life in general we can not have people on the property without a member of the Toni’s Ponies present. All of the people you see here on a regular basis (Toni, Andy, and Alex) work other jobs during the week/weekends. While someday we hope to have a paid staff we are not there yet. Our volunteer workdays are Wednesdays, 9am – 4pm and Saturdays 9am-2pm. In addition we will be looking to train a few teams of people to feed during the week. (If you are interested in this please let us know.)

We don't want anyone to miss out on the latest news and it has been getting a little hard and inefficient to be in contact with everyone on a one on one basis. We would like to put together a weekly newsletter for our volunteers and everyone that would like to keep up to date on the going-ons here at Toni’s Ponies.

This will be the place where we will notify you in any change in the volunteer day schedule, additional volunteer needs, and events that are coming up. As the weather gets bad this will be especially important. We intend to send out only one email a week unless something urgent arises so we promise not to inundate your inbox with tons of mail.

If you would like to receive this weekly newsletter please sign up below! Even if you think we already have your email address it would help us out greatly if you would get it to us again! Thank you!

Click Here to submit email address

FAQ time

It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to post to the blog. That’s largely because it’s summer and we are outside with the horses as often as we can! Since February, Toni’s Ponies has changed and grown dramatically. We went from a few very loyal volunteers on a semiregular basis to a workforce of dedicated people coming twice a week! We’ve been working hard on improvements to the property including new steps to what will soon be a camping area near the lower pasture, an outdoor kitchen/covered teaching space, cleaning and clearing the back trails and of course new shelters for the horses! We’ve also been fundraising like crazy! We had our annual fundraising Yard Sale for feed and hay and we are happy to report that our barn is FULL! The price of hay has gone up dramatically this year and it’s even been a little hard to find. We sighed a breath of relief this week when the last of it was delivered! This week we hosted our Farm Friends Summer Experience for kids! In short we had a blast! The kids got to spend a week around horses, learning about what it looks like to run this place, playing in the woods, doing chores, getting creative and having some horse time as well! We also have a concert here on the farm TODAY! We would love to see you!

So we’ve been a little busy and we’ve been meeting a lot of new people and fielding a lot of new questions. While Toni has been doing this for quite a while now we are still pretty new as a nonprofit and the amount of growth we’ve gone through in just the last six months is significant. As this has happened our rescue has changed. We’ve discovered needs that our community has and how we can be a part of it in different ways. We wanted to take this time to answer a few questions we get on a regular basis and let you in on what the direction of Toni’s Ponies looks like!

1. How long does it take to “rehabilitate” a horse?

This might be one of our most asked questions. And the answer is tricky. There’s no set time on how long it takes to rehabilitate a horse and get it ready for their new home. Many times we do not know the horses background and it’s a little trial and error as to what is going to work to make them feel safe and loved. What it usually involves is figuring out a feeding regimen that works for them as often the horses that come here need weight put on badly. Also we have to figure out what the best course of action for the horse will be. Many of our older horses will live out the rest of their lives here at Toni’s Ponies as we are also a sanctuary. After we get horses healthy we need to work with them to get them used to having people around them. Sometimes a horse is rescued or has come from a surrender due to the families inability to provide for it and that horse might be ready to find a new home very shortly. Other times it takes years before we feel that a horse is ready to head to their next home and sometimes this is their last home.

2. Do you have any horses for sale or adoption right now?

First things first we do not sell horses. When we adopt out a horse we do ask for a donation to be made directly to our feed store. Right now we do not have any horses up for adoption. In the last year we’ve rehomed five horses. That’s actually quite a bit for us. We will absolutely let folks know when we have one that is ready for adoption.

3. When can I come and meet the horses or help on the farm?

That’s a great question! We have been having regular volunteer days since mid April and they have been awesome. While the rescue is definitely a full time job we are not open to the public 7 days a week. Toni has two other jobs outside of the home and we are completely volunteer run. That said we have volunteer days Wednesdays and most Saturdays. Every once in a while we have an event on Saturday and the rescue will be closed to the public. You can also make an appointment by contacting us via the website, facebook, or phone.

4. What’s next for Toni’s Ponies?

Well this is a big one and it makes my heart skip around a little just thinking about it. Since February we’ve had quite a bit of exposure. People have reached out to us and have started volunteering. We’ve noticed that the farm has become this place where people come to connect. They connect with horses, which in itself is incredibly therapeutic and with others as well. We have such a neat mix of folks that come to work together and spend time with our equine friends here. We really want to lean into that. Toni’s Ponies hopes to be able to connect more people within our community through these horses. There’s something for everyone here. We want to focus on giving these horses the best life they can have and also give people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to interact with horses a place to do so. We want to see families come and enjoy a day working and playing together. One of the things that has been great about our kids program this last week is that the parents seem to enjoy the farm just as much as the kids. They’ve brought treats and have followed their young ones around the field meeting their favorite horses. That’s really the dream. There are always going to be horses in need of rescue and we want to be there for them. We want to provide a place where they can grow and heal and find their forever home and in the meantime we want to be able to have people here who will show them love and who absolutely need them in their lives just as much as they need us.

5. How can we support Toni’s Ponies?

Our community has been incredibly generous and we want to thank everyone! It takes a lot to keep this place running and we have been blessed with volunteers and folks that donate monetarily as well. We are not exaggerating when we say every little bit counts. We’ve set up a new form through our giving platform, Zeffy. This for is a horse sponsorship form. For those that want to make a monthly donation of any amount please head over to this form. You will be prompted to choose a horse from a drop down menu and as a sponsor we want to send you monthly updates and photos of your chosen horse and we will have sponsor events as well! Monthly sponsorship helps us so much! The other ways to support are liking and sharing us on FB. This helps get the word out and we so appreciate this!

Click here for horse sponsorship!

Ok another long post in the books! Thank you readers if you’ve made it this far. We have so many other questions that we will get to at another time! I’m getting ready to head out to our last day of our kids program and also get ready for a concert this evening on the farm. We would love to see you! Music is from 7-9 and we will be selling pulled pork sandwich dinners (sandwich, coleslaw, chips and water) for $10. As always thank you for being our village!