Happy Spring

According to the calender, Spring starts on March 20th. In Oakham, MA it certainly doesn't feel like Spring. The morning temperature has been in the 20's, there is still snow on the ground, and ice on the water buckets if I don't keep them plugged into the water heaters. Worcester, which is 15 miles from us, was even declared "the snowiest city in the US for the 2012/2013 season. We had a warm spell a couple of weeks ago, at which time I was able to get a great photo of our current herd with some family members. So, in spite of the cold weather--HAPPY SPRING

"A" is for ?

" The Wrong Horse" by William Murray is an odyssey through the American horse racing scene. It is part observation, and part memoir. In the chapter entitled '"Venus on Horseback", Mr Murray describes his experience with his horse crazy daughter. He writes: " It took me a while to warm up to it, mainly because, like most love affairs, the romance proved to be expensive. Horses eat almost all of the time and not only hay, which is relatively cheap. They munch on grains and guzzle noxious elixirs guaranteed to make their coats shine and keep them frisky. And they need equipment--bedding, boots, breeches, bridles, brooms, buckets, bits, and endless items from other letters of the alphabet, none of them cheap"  I had some fun coming up with my own silly lists of horse related words using letters in the alphabet. A horse health alphabet might start with "A is for ailments, arthritis, abscess, allergy and ascarids. From a horse crazy girl, or horse crazy adult like myself, I think of words like "A" is for awesome; "B" is for beautiful; "C" is for cute; "D" is for dreamy; "E" is for exciting or elegant; "F" is for freedom; "G" is for gorgeous; "H" is for handsome; "I" is for intelligent; "J" is for joy; "K" is for kind; ect, ect.   Notice the difference? What is your horse alphabet? What does it say about you and your special relationship with your equine companion? 

Hot Stuff

It had come to my attention that someone with 4 legs has been chewing on the fencing in one of the paddocks. After watching carefully for a couple of days I saw that it was C'est Bonne. She is not chewing her stall down, but is limiting the behavior to the fencing. I had just picked up grain and supplies from the feed store, and did not want to drive there again just to buy something to paint on the fence boards to deter the chewing. What tastes awful??? Hot sauce--there was an unopened bottle in my kitchen cabinet. This was splashed on the tops of the chewed boards. It looks like something has been bleeding, especially on the snow below the boards, but it has worked. So for 99 cents I have saved the fencing--at least what I can easily see.

Huggable Equines

One of the things I love about New England is the change of the seasons. Following a very busy Spring, Summer and Fall, its nice to have some time-off. It also gives me a chance to catch-up on chores that have been put aside during what I would like to refer to as "Playing With the Horses" months. I have a chance to catch-up on reading, writing, cleaning, decluttering, ect. It is also a somewhat dangerous time, as all this free time lets me be on the computer looking at dangerous websites like Equine.com, Camelot Feedlot Horses, AC4H Broker Owned Horses, and the most dangerous site of all---Craigslist. I am without a loveable horse of my own, following the euthanasia of Fancy. There was the short length of time when I owned Rosa the Rearing Mare. Since my ERA (Equine Related Accident) I have become very fearful of horses and riding. Char-Lee has definately been a joy but for obvious reasons (he's 34" tall) I won't be riding him anytime soon !! In addition to my fear, my injured ankle does not bend, and is often very painfull. This makes it hard to mount and dismount a horse even with my 3 step mounting block. After careful soul searching, and talking to several people that have experience with driving horses/ponies, I have decided to give-up riding and learn to drive. I feel that a miniature horse that drives and is huggable would be perfect for my 57 year old body, mind and soul. What kind of description of a horse/pony is "huggable", and why? I need an equine companion that I can just spend time with brushing, grooming, and loving. Is this crazy? I think any of my readers that truely love horses; not just the riding, will understand what I am trying to say. So the search is on for the perfect mini or pony. Age is not important, and I can deal with some health issues, but he/she MUST BE HUGGABLE.

Happy Thanksgiving

WOW ! Thats a Lot of Pink!

I'm Back !!!

Wow, has it really been 5 months since I last journaled? So much has happened around here that it would take me 5 months to catch-up! Needlesss to say, horses have been coming and going. The mare I got in January had a problem with rearing. It was associated with being herd bound, but it was even happening in her stall if she couldn't see the other horses. Fortunately her previous owners took her back. They had told me I could sell her or give her away, but there was no way I would give her to someone and not tell the interested person about the rearing. Would you knowingly take a horse that rears? I think not !!Mark arrived back from SC with 5 horses. He had not made any summer arrangements for himself or his horses so they were all living here for a couple of weeks. This brought my "herd" up to 7. One of his new horses was a starvation case that he rescued-body score of 1. She also had the worse case of rainrot I had seen in over 40 years of dealing with horses. A sweet little 2 year old mare. When Mark left for his new housing and employment location, the mare stayed here with me for some rehabilitation. As I've said before, it never ceases to amaze me that people can have a horse that looks this bad, and not think there is a problem. Here are pictures of her upon arrival, and then 6 weeks later.