Horse Sense

"A cowboy is a man with guts and a horse."
-Will James

Winter Random

I, like many of you, am stuck inside. Cold. Rain. Ice. No ride the horse. No walk the dog.
Cabin fever can certainly cause some odd preoccupations.
For example...
Observation #1
Did you know they make the DQ Blizzard in mini size?!
Holy Moly, how come I didn't know this sooner?
I feel downright good about myself for eating anything with the "mini" moniker!
How could anything "mini" be unhealthy? Everything in moderation.
Yes, it's cold out. Yes, ice cream is cold too. Yes, I'm suffering from moderate hypothermia.
But it's "mini!"

Observation #2
Raylan Givens might possibly be the hottest thing since individual pudding cups.
(Or "mini" Blizzards?)
I love the show "Justified" and that stinkin' Timothy Olyphant (aka Rayland "Hotter Than a Mini" Givens) is my new celebrity crush. Yes, I'm married but he (my husband Wayne) understands... celebrity crushes are unavoidable.

Observation #3
Thomas Johnathon "Stonewall" Jackson's horse, "Little Sorrel" is stuffed and "living" in a museum on the campus of VMI!
What tha?!
This one will keep me up on these long winter nights if I sit and think on it too long...
Let's just drop it like it's hot... hot like Raylan Givens...

What winter pontifications are ruminating in your brain?

Wordy Wednesdays

"In order to really train a dog, one doesn't merely try to train him to be semi-human. The point of it is to open oneself to the possibility of becoming part dog."
- Edward Hoagland

Difficult Days

OH my gravy, it's been a tough day to be a horse lover today! And I guess, a tough day to be a horse.
First, I'm a little blue because I am finding it difficult to find someone to ride with. My son is 13 and just too cool to ride with his Mom. My husband just doesn't feel the love the way I do. Friends are busy. Family is too far away.
Then I awake to the news that the State of Virginia is now requiring you carry a proof of negative Coggins if you are riding in a State park. Seems okay on the surface. BUT, here's where I have a problem with it...
If a horse contracts Equine Viral Anemia AND manages to survive it, that horse will be a carrier of the virus forever right? A Coggins test is good for a year. If someone is so irresponsible as to try and bring an infected horse in contact with other horses then a requirement like this, won't keep them in the confines of the law. Your horse could have a negative Coggins, contract the disease AND still be in contact with other horses within a year, still being within the law. Meanwhile, if a responsible horse owner goes for a ride, maybe through a State park adjoining private property, and they don't have their Coggins paperwork on them... they could be fined and charged with a misdemeanor. As with most laws, the law itself cannot force good behavior or responsible ownership... instead it punishes those who ARE responsible and causes more trouble and heartache for those like me who are being limited more and more in my ability to easily access public land with my horse! :( BY the way, the State of Virginia recently opened up hunting on Sundays. This thrills my husband but for me, it's the one day I could ride in hunting season... gone. Sure, the responsible hunter wouldn't shoot a horse but the drunk redneck hunter (who can't tell if that's a horse or a deer through his beer-goggles,) just might!
Now for my personal little riding saga.
Some people in my neighborhood have been real jerks about me riding through.
One neighbor asked that I not ride through a corner of her property to access the road.
Why?
Because she didn't want me to "crush the plants" (read weeds here) on the (already beat down) game trail.
Okay. It is her property and she can do whatever she wants. And we won't even mention that her free roaming dog has destroyed the carpet on my screened porch and ripped the door off the hinges...
Then I had a neighbor call and pitch a fit because my horse pooped in the (public) road, in front of, her house. hmmmm?
So, I have moved my horses into a barn and pasture that I'm renting away from my neighborhood.
I have been asking neighbors around the barn for permission to ride through their property.
No.
All are afraid of lawsuits (even though I have said I would sign a liability waiver) or that I might crush some newly planted trees. (Certainly I am capable of riding around the saplings.)
Again I understand that they have the right to handle their property however they see fit.
It just makes me sad that open spaces are disappearing, neighborly behavior is obsolete and distrust remains supreme in this day and time. Am I alone in these seemingly insurmountable obstacles facing horsemanship?
My little rant is over now. I think I'm gonna go read about horses, while it's still legal and no one seems to find it too offensive. :)

Cowboy Wisdom and Choking

"Most of the stuff people worry about, never happens."
Cowboy Truism

Truer words. Truer words...
Yesterday, after feeding, Rosie started acting very peculiar.
Clyde gets beet pulp. Rosie doesn't. Rosie is a food thief. She managed to get a piece of un-soaked beet pulp. Can you see where I'm going with this?

Again, ya'll know my experience in this great big horse world is not that vast.
I never saw a horse choke.
Rosie started to paw and roll and make the most pathetic little noise. She wouldn't get up and that's not at all like her. Then the frothing of the mouth, the copious amounts of stuff coming out of the nose. Have you ever seen it?
It's frightening.

By the time I had called and recalled the vet, ending in a panicked plea to come right away...
she suddenly seemed better. She popped right up, started eating hay. Apparently, despite the swollen beet pulp, she managed to work it down or out somehow. The vet showed. We tubed her and I got to hold the huge nutcracker looking thingies on her lip and everything was fine. Thank heavens!

My worry, that she would certainly die... never realized.
Perhaps I should have worried about my own mortality. I may or may not have had a mild heart attack/stroke/anurism... But she was fine.

What a Beautiful Day for Some Girl Bonding

Finally! A lovely day, weather wise, snow gone... sun shining. Time for a ride. BUT, what happens when the sun shines and the snow melts? Mud.
Look at little Ms. Pigpen! First heavy-duty grooming then a ride.

All clean. We need a photo to document our girls day.

Can we get the whole face in here?

No seriously... get your WHOLE face in here.

Better. Helmets on.

Rosie's ready. No more paparazzi please.
Get on the horse already!

Ahh. The Rosie eye view... or should I say, "Pigpen"?

A Note on Being Brave

Do you have a moment you are facing now that is forcing bravery upon you?
OR
Are you choosing to press your comfort, and stand against that which frightens you but you refuse to let win?
Flower Patch Farmgirl recently posed these questions and the response was, well, overwhelming.
So many of us struggle with burdens great and small. All a part of mortality. But God doesn't put fear in our hearts, instead fear is a tool of evil that forces doubt and incapacity on us all.
God puts peace, rest, wisdom on us. Surrounds us in it.

Today the Flower Patch Farmgirl presents a brilliant idea, an event really, and calls it A National... neigh an International... Day of Bravery. Of those who responded to her post on bravery, she is asking us to pray for one another. Specifically, she suggested we pray for the person who commented just before us.

My sister, I've read, is wrestling with the fears from divorce, raising children as a single Mom, and opening a business she desperately longs to succeed. Sister, I'm praying for you.

Here's what I am being brave about right now... at the age of 38, I am entering the world of horsemanship for the first time.
I've wanted it as long as I can remember.
I want to be brave and confident and loving with my horses, while always doing good and never doing harm.
Sounds easy but I struggle mightily at times.

What are you being brave about today?

Leave me a comment and I will pray for your needs too!
It's a day to be brave after all... "The International Day of Bravery!"

Just One Day

If I could imagine a perfect day,
one without worry or fear.
I would ride thunderously from hill to hill.
While weaving myself through warm, smooth withers.

I would sleep the blissful slumber of a child.
Unfettered and pure.
Curled around the little heartbeats of God's creation.

I would embrace those I love,
And say I love you.
Simply.
Without expectation.

I would unpeel my mortal coil and laugh,
the whole, deep laughter that sits in the bottom of your belly waiting for a chance to be free.

I would breath and eat and drink with the purpose of pleasure and just be.

What would you do with just one day?

In the Kiitchen

Do you ever feel as though you are being watched... like a hawk?
No?
Maybe it's my incessant paranoia...
Or maybe it's Oliver.

If loving you is wrong... I don't wanna be right!

Oliver is pretty much EVERYWHERE I am.
The jelly to my peanut butter.
The pea to my carrot.
The Sonny to my Cher.
So naturally he was in the kitchen with me as I prepared a little lunch.

Look at how that crazy cake went volcanic on me, right in the middle of baking!
Oh well, it was yummy none-the-less.
Gluten Free Yellow Cake with Lemon Glaze.
I'll be seeing that later, over coffee...
and possible after everyone else is in bed.
My son is going to a homeschool teen party tonight and we had to make dessert. I am making cupcakes for him to take but, I had a little batter left and only 1 cupcake pan.

And, do ya'll like a little salsa with your cilantro like I do?
We had tacos for lunch.
Unfortunately all the salsa from the past summer's garden is GONE!
Terrible planning.
So, when I want good fresh salsa I always turn to this recipe. It's the best.

Aunt Lynn's Salsa
1 large can Rotel
1 small can tomato sauce
1 stalk of celery, finely diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 chopped bunch of cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

So good dear friends, so good.

(image courtesy Golden Girl of the West)

Confessions.

Do you ever dream of riding the range?
Poking the cows?
Tumblin' like a lonesome tumblin' weed?
Do you ever think of yourself, riding your valiant steed while the sunset frames your pincurls like a halo?
Trusty cowboy by your side?
Sidearm cradled by your perfectly manicured, crimson nailed, hand?
Loyal dog "Hank" scarin' up varmints on the trail?
Coffee on an open fire... enjoyed while wrapped in the thickest Navajo blanket?

I do.