I've received calls for over a week about this mare. The owners have begged us to come get her. Going against everything in my heart, I asked them to try contacting other rescues first.

Before you get upset, let me explain why - there's a huge number of people who are voicing their frustration with us taking these cases amidst our closure. My head knows that people who oppose something are usually louder than the group who supports it -You can log on to any Facebook group and mention our name and watch the results fly. But to hear them out and try to keep the peace, I obliged.

I was hoping someone else would help; that an alternative would reveal itself.

But it didn't....

Sadly, I've now got a list of horses and owners who need assistance that continues to grow. I gave the callers a number of rescues near them that they could contact. Even more sad, the owners continue to report back that no one answers, they don't speak Spanish, or they won't help with euthanasia.

They have no choice now but to look at auction, (unknowingly the) kill buyers, or worse...

Desperate, the owner of this horse called a friend of a friend of a friend who claims the horse still has a quality of life (I don't know about you, but when I can't poop, I'm miserable). How anyone thinks this to be true is insane to me...but they convinced the owner and gave him $250 dollars for the horse. They bought her to put into "charreada" - the Mexican rodeo. Dancing, tripping, sliding...who knows.

The buyer picks her up tomorrow morning for a fate I cannot even let my mind venture to. I'm fighting the urge to get in my truck and drive up to get her...but I can't without financial backing.

If we want to keep helping these cases, even after HiCaliber is gone, we've got to come together and ensure that horses like her are supported. There's always going to be someone else waiting to fill a truck load. While a horse like her usually won't go for inspection slaughter with cancer, there are santarias, illegal slaughter camps and the worst kind of Mexican Rodeos: tripping. If you don't believe me, just look up the recent cases in Florida.

You can be the difference for her.

I'm hoping to raise the funds to buy her back from the rodeo man, have our vet see her, and if as I suspect she will need euthanasia, we will need to cover removal and associated costs...Around $700 with hauling. Any extra funds will be applied to the next horse who needs a compassionate end.

To TEXT A DONATION: When using this feature for the first time: Send a text message to 1-760-389-1633, your name is fine, and then follow the instructions that you recieve. One of the Villagers was kind enough to check it out for us and make a donation and they said it was super easy and took less than a minute.

(If you want to take advantage of one of the special offers we have, please be sure to select it before making your donation! We don't want you to lose out on a great opportunity!)

The other way to donate is directly through this fundraiser. We are no longer using Paypal. The new processor will accept debit cards, foreign credit cards and all Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express cards. ALL donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.

I'm struggling to find a way to continue to help these horses without pissing everyone off. While I generally don't care what people think, we have to at least keep people happy enough to continue bringing donations in until every horse is adopted.

The problem is that our visceral response as humans is causing horses to further suffer.

We've not attended auction in weeks. I can't fathom to think what happens to the horses without us there...but even worse, when I see the skinnies like the last two we brought in, I feel compelled to help. Yet, I know I can't continue to do that as the funding to afford hay until another placement is found has left with our announced departure from rescue.

Let me be clear - we aren't being forced by any entity to close. We are choosing to close due to a lack of financial sustainability. Sure, we would love to exist as a smaller version of ourselves, but it doesn't matter how small you become - rent, insurance, feeding vehicle payments - they don't change. Our property owner is selling, we aren't in a position to buy and the cost to relocate is just too much. We have chosen to close out of necessity.

But with your help, we can still help a mare like her who needs a kind release from the cancer that has clearly taken over her body. In our experience, if it's visible outside, it's rampant inside.

Please. Help us help her.