I had hoped this 3-6-5 would be full of good news about the horses that we were able to save today at the auction thanks to all of you. And while the lives saved today is the most wonderful news out there, the day itself, has been far from wonderful.

The day began with an issue with the parking brake lever in my car and we were forced to listen to the alarm dinging at us constantly for what seemed like hours on end. The parking brake is not connected in my vehicle, so we did not expect any further issues other than the annoying sound. However, as we got within a few miles of the auction, the brake pedal started to feel a bit spongy. And by the time we rolled into the parking lot at the auction, it was all I could do to push the pedal hard enough to stop the vehicle. A quick phone call to Nate confirmed what I suspected, we blew a brake line. We limped the vehicle to an out of the way spot and by that point, the brakes were completely gone and I had to slam it into park to get it to fully stop.

We spent the next close to an hour locating a shop in the area that could work on them and get them fixed today before we were ready to head back home. We found a shop able to work on it today and even come and pick it up, but the earliest he thought he could get it done was 5pm. That’s ok. We’ll wait. The horses were given the ok to stay as long as they needed and we went to get something to eat.

When we returned, we went to see how the horses were doing. We were horrified to find that one of them had suffered severe injuries and was bleeding out of a puncture wound on her left front shoulder and her left hind leg looked broken. We asked others in the area if they knew what happened, but no one did. We called the area vet to come out and take a look at her as she still has the journey home to make. He could not say for sure that her leg was broken and felt that some pain killers would help her on the trip until she could be further evaluated. While her prognosis does not look good, we are hopeful and in the end, we with to offer her at least a peaceful end surrounded by love. Please keep her in your prayers.

So, we continued to wait and wait and wait to hear that our vehicle was ready to get back on the road, hook the trailer back up, load up the horses and head on home. But, as 5pm came and went with no word, our already weary minds were beginning to think about other options. Is there even anywhere to stay around here? Can the horses stay overnight? It is raining. It is dark. And our already weary eyes were not sure they could handle a drive in the dark now…

At just about 6pm, the phone finally rang and we suddenly felt a burst of energy to get heading home, but…it was not to be. The mechanic had worked and worked and worked, well past quitting time trying to get us back on the road today, but every time he tried to bleed the brakes, another line would blow. He was tired. He was frustrated. And while he had really hoped to be our hero today, he had to throw in the towel. We understood and he arranged to get us our things out of the car and get us to a hotel and he promises to get working on it first thing in the morning and is hoping that, with any luck, he will be able to get us on our way by lunchtime. We are hopeful as well, but honestly, this may be the best way this should have played out anyway today as I can barely keep my eyes open already.

So, as soon as able tomorrow, we will be on our way home with the 5 beautiful souls that you all helped us save today. We will give you all updates as soon as possible, but just a fair warning, the injured mare is not the only one in need of tlc. It was a pretty rough crowd there today and we will do what we can to help them all, but thanks to all of you, we have already been able to help them avoid slaughter. And that is the thought that I will take to sleep with me tonight as everything else swirls around in my exhausted brain.

In closing, thank you all so much for your support today. We could not do this without you and these 5 amazing creatures would currently be on their way to the border. I will hope to see you all again tomorrow with much better news to share, but until then, please keep the fabulous 5 in your thoughts and please also hope that our vehicle will pull through. Right now…I just want to go home…