Great timing: Volunteers work at Starry Skies ‘nursery’

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Kajsa Kajander, Sophie Celeste, and Morgan McCleese groom one of the horses at Starry Skies.

They may need to rename it Starry Skies Equine Daycare Center.

At least for a short time.

When Starry Skies Equine Rescue and Sanctuary director Tricia Terry agreed to take 28 neglected horses that were seized in Lenawee County in January, among them were 9 pregnant mares.

Forsythe Middle School sixth grader Heather Hale treats the horses to a cookie.

And so, when Anna’s Kindness volunteers arrived at Starry Skies to work at the ranch Saturday afternoon, the volunteers were immediately introduced to the newest residents: More than a half-dozen foals. There were so many newborn horses that Starry Skies renamed their rear barn the ‘baby barn,’ and moved in all the moms and their children.

Welcome to the nursery.

And so the timing of Anna’s Kindness’ visit couldn’t be better for the volunteers who, as you may expect, were thrilled to visit with the newly born horses — Spike, Chex Mix, and the others — were a huge hit with the students. After spending time being introduced to the new horse families, the students helped clean out the baby barn so that the foals had a fresh floor to rest on. The students raked up the hay and horse manure, dropped it into buckets, and then poured the buckets into the back of a John Deere Gator to be driven to the compost area. And all the while, moms and children stood in the barn to oversee the students’ work.

The volunteers then made their way back to the larger main barn, just in time to escape the forecasted rainstorm. But there was still plenty to do inside.

Forsythe seventh grader Alex LeFort and sixth grader Rylan Kahle dump manure into the back of a tractor.

Some of the volunteers helped collect eggs (the barn is filled with chickens and where there’s chickens, there’s eggs). The older students carried bales of hay and fed them to the horses. Others helped sweep the aisles in the barn, or arrange the halters by size, or pour out grain for the animals. But Bridget Long, who was coordinating the volunteers Saturday, saved two favorite jobs for last.

There was a big bucket of cookies that students shared with the horses, stall by stall. In fact, there were so many cookies, that horses received seconds. And thirds. And fourths.

Following the dessert treat, Bridget pointed out the horses that enjoyed being groomed. The volunteers then grabbed a grooming tray and headed into the stalls to brush and freshen up the barn residents.

Thank you to Bridget for coordinating the work for the volunteers Saturday, and thanks to Tricia for not only allowing Anna’s Kindness to help out, but for all that you and your family, friends, and volunteers do for these beautiful animals.

If you’d like to be added to the Anna’s Kindness volunteer mailing list, email annaskindness@yahoo.com. To follow Anna’s Kindness news, you can ‘like’ the Facebook page or follow on Instagram.

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Hayley Marchand (left) and her sister Samantha carry bales of hay for the horses to eat.

The Starry Skies volunteers (front left) Zack Hildebrandt, Rylan Kahle, Charlotte Hildebrandt, Gabby Crowe-Slater, Kajsa Kajander, Sadie Ault, (back left) Hayley Marchand, Samantha Marchand, Heather Hale, Morgan McCleese, Alex LeFort, and Sophie Celeste.