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We are now back home at the LOPE Ranch! The flood damage to the house has been repaired (after nearly six months). We still have some fencing and driveway repairs to do, but two nice pastures are ready for horses again (and full of grass). Two of LOPE’s retirees, Zuper and Tulsa, are home at [...]
Well, it was bound to happen. After months of drought and rock-hard ground, the rains finally came. And so did the mud — and the hoof abscesses. Pogo, Catalissa and Trouble Now all promptly developed abscesses shortly after our first big storms. Catalissa was especially of concern, given his previous bout with laminitis. However, Austin [...]
Catalissa is our most serious rehab case here at LOPE. Read more about his history and injuries. Recently, I received a call from Laura, a local exercise rider at Texas tracks. She had heard about Catalissa’s injuries and wanted to see how he was doing. Her voice was emotional as she described working with him [...]
A couple of weeks ago, a group of Texas Wrangler Darlins came out to the LOPE Ranch for a volunteer day. They came early, worked hard and left behind a clean barn, swept tack room and well-groomed horses. Zuper especially enjoyed all of the attention. Thank you Texas Wrangler Darlins!
Wow, the barn is finished! The Tri-County Barn crew did a fantastic job. Today, after they installed all the final pieces, they spent hours power washing the roof, the exterior walls and the stalls. And the barn even came with a wash rack! They installed it on the front porch — that will definitely come [...]
The Tri-County Barns crew put in a busy day here installing the roof — now it really feels like a barn. Tomorrow is the final day of construction, and will include some big pieces — such as installing all the stall doors and the barn doors, and some smaller pieces — such as the wash [...]
On the second day, the Tri-County Barns crew put up the framing for the roof. It’s fun to see the raised center aisle now. And the side lean-to has its roof framed now — we think this will be an excellent place to store hay.
This morning, a crew from Tri-County Barns came to start installing our barn! Several trucks drove up our driveway, with flatbeds full of stall partitions, roof panels and support beams. Within a few hours, the stall and the tack room walls were in place. It was fun to watch! After the crew left for the [...]
I’ve learned much more about barn foundations than I ever expected. After our dirt pad was installed, the next phase was to frame and pour the concrete. Our donated five-stall barn will come with a center aisle, tack room and a front porch. My biggest decision was whether to put concrete in just the tack [...]
A 2003 Barnmaster barn has been donated to LOPE! We are really excited about this gift and want to thank the Malone family for their tremendous generosity. LOPE can now start the Homestretch Heroes Rehabilitation Program. With the new rehab barn, LOPE can take in more seriously injured racehorses that need stall rest and longer [...]
A LOPE celebrity is coming out of retirement to help with our warhorse program! Tulsa Mambo was the first warhorse to ever come to LOPE, way back in the day. He helped launch LOPE and was one of our most trusted herd babysitters. His current family has had some massive life changes -- and LOPE had a job opening for a companion horse/herd den mom. Tulsa earned his VIP status by having an entire CHAPTER devoted to him in my book (Beyond the Homestretch). The book hit the Dallas and Austin bestseller lists -- and Tulsa likes to take credit for that (because of course he thinks his chapter was the best). Stay tuned for more updates about Tulsa soon!
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