On October 5th a transport loaded with 2 horses and 2 donkeys headed for Cortez, CO from the Sanctuary's home in Grover, CO. At 1:00 in the morning on Monday while driving down Hwy 285, the engine quit. We coasted to the side of the road and waited more than an hour for a tow truck, cost: $505.00.
We were towed to Alamosa, CO where the trailer was dropped in an empty lot at 3:00 in the morning, just across from the Ford Dealership, where the truck was dropped off and across from our motel room. At the break of dawn, we unloaded horses, packed them with food and water and started making phone calls to find anybody that would allow us to house the horses in Alamosa until the diagnosis would come in on the truck. Thanks to one of our Board Members, Bob Grube, we made contact with Johnie Payne, who kindly hooked up to our horse trailer, helped us load the animals and towed it to his home, where corrals were ready for the horses. That was a huge load off.
The diagnosis on the truck was in: The valve had dropped and destroyed the piston. Our options were to replace the engine for a cost of $5,500.00 or leave it in Alamosa until we could come get it and tow it back to the Sanctuary. We chose to leave it and Johnie gave us a place to store it.
Our Cortez Contact sent her friends to come get the horses and us in Alamosa. They showed up Monday afternoon, we loaded horses and the trailer and headed for Cortez. Wolf Creek Pass was not an option because of Ice and our lack of trailer breaks, so we arrived in Cortez at 3:00 this morning. The Horses are safe and happy, the yearlings will be moved to safety tomorrow until we can find a way to get them back to the Sanctuary in Grover, CO.
Here is how you can help:
Option A: we can raise another $1,000 to hire a transporter to come get these yearlings and bring them to the Sanctuary.
Option B: You can help us to get a truck donated or the use of a reliable truck donated to drive these horses back to Grover, We'll pay fuel costs.
Option C: We have a person willing to transport the yearlings to Saguche in 2 weeks if we can meet somebody with a truck that has a gooseneck hitch and pass off the trailer and our Director with 2 dogs.
www.denkaisanctuary.org
info@denkaisanctuary.org
(970) 217-1457
About Me
- Floss & Volunteers
- Denkai Sanctuary, Colorado, was founded by Floss Blackburn, a lifelong lover of animals and believer in the humane treatment of animals. Floss has over 16 years of experience working with and observing both domestic and wild animals in her native Colorado. This has allowed her to develop strong skills in her own life pertaining to treatment of animals as well as outdoor survival skills and working with at-risk as well as mentally and physically challenged children and adults.