The Beginnings of a Little Story...............Rescues and Afterthoughts....

The Animal Control officer let us know she was not used to coming to a place and being treated graciously. More often than not people are mad and take it out on the officer. I let her know I would rather have people report something they think is amiss than have one horse continue to be neglected because someone was afraid to step up. For me, it was all good.

Before she left we talked about some of the rescue cases that have happened in our area of late. This woman actually owns an Arabian horse seized from one of those situations. She mentioned the name of the breeder of the two Arabian horses seized in that case. She said Animal Control had contacted them asking them if they would take these two horses back to which the breeder replied, "No."

I was not surprised to hear the breeder declined. It pretty much fit with what I know of that breeder. My guess is as far as they were concerned those horses were no longer their problem . It's a sad commentary of things but it IS how some folks are.

We also spoke of the other big rescue of Arabian horses in the area. Unfortunately I know people involved on both sides of that rescue situation. It's a small community and word gets around. It was clear from the officer's perspective there were more sides to the story than what I knew. However things work out I hope they are finally better for the horses involved. That's what really matters.

We wrapped up our conversation and the officer left. Dave and I both breathed a sigh of relief as we saw her disappear out of view. Even knowing we take good care of our horses hadn't relieved the stress of having Animal Control come to call.

There's that nagging fear I have that truth doesn't always mean justice that makes me worry. At least in this one situation we were good. We'd had an officer who knew something about horses. I know that's not always the case and I've heard stories about what can happen. I was glad nothing like that had happened here. I'd had more than my share of stress on my plate lately. I sure didn't need anymore.

I must admit that I don't automatically think that people are up to no good. When Animal Control pulled into our yard telling me a woman driving by on her way to Ashford had seen a thin bay horse in the field, I believed exactly what she said. I didn't think much about the fact that our road would be out of the way for someone going to Ashford or what it would take for someone driving by to even get a good enough look at a horse through the brush outside our fenceline to see what kind of shape a horse might be in. I believed right from the start this was nothing more than a valid if not mistaken complaint.

Everyone else I know automatically believed that it was no co-incidence we'd just signed settlement papers on the lawsuit and now Animal Control was in our yard. They all think it was a form of harassment directed at us by the disgruntled "other party."
To them it is just all too much coincidence yet I still believe that coincidence does not make someone guilty and I know what it's like to be blamed for something that I didn't do because someone decided coincidence made me guilty so I'm going to try and keep an open mind until I have information that tells me otherwise.

For now all I know for sure is if it happens again, I'll remember to let Animal Control know that we've recently concluded a lawsuit and that it is possible that the source of the complaints might be less than honorable. Then I'll be using my new found skills to investigate if this is indeed harassment. If that turns out to be the case, I won't hesitate to pursue all my options to see it comes to an end. For not, at least, my adventure with Animal Control is over.





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The Beginnings of a Little Story...............Animal Control....

I must admit hearing the words "We have Animal Control pulling into the yard." did not shock me. With the state Solidare had been in I had been waiting for Animal Control to descend upon us for months. Every time I turned that mare and foal out into the front field I shuddered. It was tough enough looking at the mare in such shape knowing exactly what was happening to her. I wondered what an untrained eye must think.

I'd had friends tell me they wouldn't put the mare out into the front pasture for the world to see. They'd have kept her behind the barn out of sight but I couldn't do that. The front field is the flattest easiest to navigate field we have. The back field is sloped and has the creek running through it. I wasn't taking any chances Solidare might be hurt or even drowned falling back there. Instead I'd take my chances with the neighbors and anyone else who might question what was going on with my mare.

Now Solidare was gone and Animal Control was in my yard. It didn't make sense. I could see from the expression on the officer's face, she was puzzled too. Looking around she could see horses nearly everywhere but all of them looked pretty darn good. There may have been some tangled manes but that's not considered neglectful, thank goodness, and the only horse showing any sign of ribs was Scarlet.

The woman was shaking her head telling me they'd gotten a call the day before from a woman who claimed she wasn't normally in this neighborhood. She was driving by on her way to Ashford and had seen a thin bay horse out front in the field. It was clear from the expression on the Animal Control Officer's face she didn't see anything that would warrant such a call.

I laughed as I realized it had been Rhet out there in that paddock. Wouldn't you know it. I told the officer there was indeed a thin bay horse our front the day before. I described the horse as the hot arrogant colt he is and explained about the current issues that have caused him and the other colts to drop weight. I also explained to her about Solidare and how I'd really expected to see them then. If any horse on the place should have stimulated such a call, it was her.

The officer asked if she could look around a bit, a request that Dave and I both easily granted. Some of the horses might be a bit thin but they are healthy and in good shape. We had nothing to fear by allowing her access to any of them.

All the while we walked around our farm looking at horses we talked about what being a breeding farm and raising young horses entails as far as growth issues and weight are concerned. I kept looking for Scarlet because she was the horse most like Rhet at the moment, well other than Legs who is by far the thinnest horse on the place due to his worry about Solidare. Scarlet seemed to be lost back in the trees. The only mares up front were a little on the plump side. No wonder this woman couldn't figure out why she'd been sent here.

After a little bit watching mares, the woman asked if she could see Rhet so we walked her into that barn. I opened his stall door and Rhet loomed bigger than life right smack in front of us. His head was held high and his expression kind as he searched for some sign of affection.

I had to push the horse back just to get room to get through the door to remove his blanket. The horse didn't want to budge, he really wanted to be scratched and to investigate this new person brought by to admire him. It was easy to see by the look on the woman's face she was mesmerized by this huge 2 year old colt looming over the top of her. I heard her comment to Dave, "They're not loved much here, are they?" as the other three horses in that barn banged the walls trying to get some attention too.

Dave laughed as I worked on stripping Rhet's blanket off. I thought about the fire breathing colt Rhet used to be when he first got here. If she could've seen the difference between that picture and this she'd have really been amazed. I know I still can't believe the difference in this colt. He still has that big attitude but he's definitely become a people horse.

The woman stopped me midway as I was peeling Rhet's blanket. "You don't have to take it all the way off, just slide it up so I can see." I did as she asked and scrunched Rhet's blanket up on his shoulders so she could see his ribs and hips. Shaking her head again, she said, "This horse is a good solid 4.............endurance horses are 3's." From the tone of her voice, I took that as a confirmation the horse looked exactly how we told her he would. I covered Rhet back up and we walked the woman to her truck.

She asked us if she could confirm the information she had on us in her computer. The name and address were correct and "Yes" we'd had a rottweiler that is long since dead. Then she clicked onto the complaint and entered "Unfounded" into the database.

To be continued.........................

Rescues and Afterthoughts

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The Beginnings of a Little Story...............Turnouts....

One thing about Rhet at this time he just doesn't really adapt well to change. The horse likes his routine and reacts negatively by having it disturbed. Even if that change means more turn out time, Rhet just doesn't know how to deal with it. Instead of spending the time enjoying his time out, Rhet works the fence line wondering what's up.

Anyone who's dealt with such a horse knows they can drop weight in the blink of an eye. One episode of fence walking can burn the whole day's critical calories. Sometimes you can almost see the weight rolling off as the horse runs the fence and Rhet is definitely one of "those types" of horses.

Some people will give up on turning a horse out that runs the fence line in that manner but not me. I've learned over the years if I just let them be sooner or later they get it figured out and they relax. That is the case with Rhet. It takes a couple a days before he figures out there's nothing to worry about. Then he goes back to being a horse enjoying his loose time playing and chasing cars.

That week right after Labor Day was Rhet's week to get his new turnout schedule figured out. By Thursday, when I turned him out into the paddock in front of my house I was shaking my head at his weight loss from fence walking, well running, would be more like it for Rhet. The progress I'd made earlier was gone and he'd done another back slide leaving his ribs obviously exposed, a condition I'd seen before on this horse and will probably see again.

I watched him for a little while making sure he really was settled in. I didn't want the fact I'd changed the location of the horses he could see to have an impact on him too. Rhet seemed content there were horses out there and didn't seem to mind which ones so I decided I'd leave him out for the entire day, instead of the shorter session he'd had the rest of the week.

Before the horse had come to me he'd spent most of his time outside. It was interesting to see he'd adapted so comfortably to life in a stall that he wasn't really sure he should be out. I guess it just shows it's not what the schedule is the horse seeks as much as it to be consistent. Now Rhet sees life in a stall as his schedule and he is always happy to go back inside.

The next day's turnouts we put out all of the mares. There are sixteen of them and the only ones that are thin at the moment are Scarlet and Vee. Vee has been stewing her weight off worrying about Solidare's foal as she watches him out with Dare and Scarlet is in a growth spurt.

The other horses I put out were Doc and Trouble in the round pen so that they can get acquainted with Solidare's colt. I give hay to the two in the round pen. Doc needs it but Trouble does not but Trouble is in charge so he's constantly running Doc off from each pile. Sometimes I think that Doc is walking off his extra calories just trying to find a pile that Trouble will let him have.

Dare and Solidare's colt rounded out the group turned out that day. Dare's weight is awesome but the colt needs some weight. He's got that baby belly going from being weaned and he is a bit light but not bad for a foal weaned at three months and he was a bit thin when he was weaned. I'm pleased with his progress even if he's not picture perfect at the moment.

Later that afternoon, I was taking a break in the house. Dave had gone to get hay a while before and I was waiting for his return. When the phone rang, it was Dave all right but he wasn't saying the usual, "I"m home." Instead he said, "We have Animal Control pulling into the yard."

To be continued....................

Animal Control

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The Beginnings of a Little Story...............The Colts

I didn't seem to be able to find anything live on the World Equestrian Games today although I know the dressage started because I got an email telling me the Netherlands is leading in the team competition. It's probably a good thing I couldn't find a live feed because I actually got to work horses here which was a nice change but not something I'm going to post about at this time. Not that the work I did wasn't interesting but I have this story I keep putting off that I'm going to tell so put on your seat belts. You're not going to believe this.

Normally the Sunday after Labor Day is when I have my annual open house. I usually begin conditioning horses for that event when my round pen finally dries out which is usually in mid to late spring. Because of the legal proceedings I was buried in up to my eyeballs, I had long since given up on trying to put that event together. I just didn't have the time to work horses, nor clean up my yard for such an event, let alone the two solid weeks of last minute preparations it takes to pull such an event off.

It was funny how things worked out because it was the Friday before Labor Day that I received that offer. The proximity to my usual open house date was not lost on me but I still knew the event was just not going to happen this year. The horses weren't in shape, the farm looked like the caretaker had died and there wasn't even enough time to get horses bathed and clipped to have visitors anyway. Visitors were just not in my plan.

Dave and I signed those papers the Tuesday after Labor Day and hand delivered them to their attorney. On the way home I kept thinking about my open house and how sad it was that we weren't going to be able to pull it off this year. I did not try to second guess myself but it still knocked around in my mind. At least now I could begin the farm clean-up I normally would have had done months ago and I could devote some time to the horses themselves.

In the process of this overhaul I made sure the colts and stallions were getting the turnout they need. Lindsay doesn't handle them and Dave puts it off as much as he can. The result is the still intact boys don't see as much turnout time as I'd like them to have. I was putting colts out in the morning while the other horses were eating breakfast, doing some clean-up outside, then rotate those horses to the girls for the midday and onto the rest of the boys during dinnertime. That way I could get each horse out every day and some normalcy back in our lives.

This time of the year, my colts always seem to be a bit on the thin side. Being a breeding farm with a potful of mares, the hormones are raging and the colts rage right with them. It's an ongoing problem trying to adjust their diets to keep as much weight on them as I can without crossing that line into growth issues.

I've pretty much resigned myself by this time of the year that I'm not going to see good weight on my colts until the mares quit cycling. I keep trying but I know how it's going to be. About the time one gets "good" he hits a growth spurt and is again bad. This condition cycles through the youngsters and I never know which one is going to look the worst on any given day. All the years I've been breeding horses this situation has just been a fact of life. I've tried everything I know how to do, I have resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to see some ribs now and then and it's OK. There are even those experts who think the amount of rib I see is just right for a growing horse so I try to console myself with that thought.

Last year we were showing Rhet and his weight was always an issue. The colt never did carry the kind of weight the halter boys would like to see. I worked my tail off to keep enough weight on him that we didn't see ribs but I pushed a line I wasn't really comfortable with. I didn't push it far but I pushed it none the less.

With no plans to show Rhet this year, I'd decided I would just let him be a horse and I wasn't going to push all that extra stuff at him to keep him in show shape. His diet was set up with the help of my vet so I knew he was getting what he needed. Mostly what that means is I backed off on the alfalfa and the rice bran and made sure he had free choice good quality grass hay, the appropriate feed, vitamins and beet pulp and I crossed my fingers and hoped Rhet would not get too growthy looking.

It has been an up and down battle with him just like with the other colts. Sometimes Rhet looks the best of the bunch and other times he has looked the worst. His body seems to be in a constant state of change and I just try to adjust as I can. The horse is definitely not an easy keeper at this time and may never be, only time will tell.

To be continued......................

The Colts

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The Second Day........US Wins Gold Medal....and My Heart Skips a Beat

I'm not all that well versed in what can be found on my own tv. We have Comcast for cable and I still can't tell you what's there to watch other than the usual three standard networks ABC, NBC and CBS, I just don't know my way around the rest nor do I usually care most times other than not being able to get RFD-TV. When the broadcast schedule I downloaded from USEF stated Universal Sports Network as a place to watch some of the games, I was totally at a loss. Where could I find this stuff on my own television.

I decided to use my computer (DUH) to help me out and I found the Universal Sports Network is a part of NBC but it looks to me like it's more the web version. If it's available on my tv I'm still in the dark still I found this Viewers Guide for the World Equestrian Games. They'll have 60 hours of live streaming and I was going to get myself signed up but at $29.99 which is probably not bad for 60 hours all I could think of was the three bags of grain I could buy for that amount so I decided I'd pass the information on here for anyone who might like to see what they have to offer. The service is available worldwide so that's a good thing if other access isn't available.

Their site also features some slideshows that are free. They have pics from the first day of reining, opening ceremonies and then second day pics which include some endurance pics and more reining. There are a couple of shots of the horse that posted the highest reining score in the competition so far that are amazing. The pics have captions telling pertinent information like horse and rider names and country for which they are competing. Pretty cool stuff for those not educated in the who's who at that level, which would of course be good ole me.



You all know I am a died in the wool Arabian horse fan but I must tell you after watching Shawn Flarida's run this morning on RC Fancy Step, I could have that horse standing in my barn any day of the week. That is one mighty fancy horse and his go was so round and soft I was very, very impressed. The best scores of the day by far and I feel privileged to have seen it. That was the absolute prettiest back up I've ever seen, not that the rest of the ride wasn't equally awesome, cause it was, still I've never seen a horse back so perfectly...........be still my heart! (That would be the beautiful palomino horse pictured here!)



I also looked Shawn Flarida up online and found on his official website information on his personal trainer series. There's a brief sample clip that looks like good stuff. I love how soft his horse was in the pen today and the one on the clip is equally as soft. I may have to check this out. I would love some great video on reining. I have a hankering to go down that road but no access to trainers I'd trust with any of my horses or even along the line of lessons. I'm really hoping this guy might be just what I need. Now I have to figure out which horse to experiment with. If anyone has input on this, I'd love to hear what you think.

Back to the reining, if you didn't get to watch, the US team won the gold medal. These facts are from the Flarida site.

September 26, 2010 – The final two riders for Team USA helped put the the team on the top step of the podium today. Tom McCutcheon, riding Gunners Special Nite, rode to a 224 in the morning session. Just a few hours later, Shawn piloted RC Fancy Step to the high score of the games so far. Posting a 227, Shawn and RC put together an incredible run. The team posted scores of 220.5 and 223.5 on Saturday. Typically four member teams drop the lowest score, so Team USA posted a 674.5 and put up a 15 point lead over the Silver medalists. Belgium won the Silver and Italy earned the bronze.

We are looking forward to the Individual finals on Thursday. All four Team USA members qualified for this competition as well. USA-USA-USA! He not only trains soft horses but has a competent staff who is on top of things. That's pretty cool too!

I might add this was the first time that Belgium has medaled in this sport and the Italian team dropped from a silver at the last games to the bronze one this time out. The woman rider for the Belgium team had the closest score to Flarida on RC Fancy Step and she had a darn nice ride too and was the second highest scorer of the day.

I know I should be doing something with myself other than watching these games but I am compelled to watch. Getting the opportunity to see the best horses in the world compete just does something for my heart that I can't resist. I am a junky when it comes to good horses, that's all there is to it. Is anyone out there as crazy about this stuff as me.

Pictures I've posted from the games, I've been provided by AllTech along with the following email press release
USA Team Wins Third Consecutive Gold Medal at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™

Photo Caption: Shawn Flarida (USA) captured the individual first place ranking on RC Fancy Step at the Reining World Championships presented by John Deere at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The USA team captured its third straight gold medal Sunday, this time on home turf. The Reining World Championships were presented by John Deere in the Alltech Arena as part of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky, USA.

The Belgium team medaled in reining for the first time and took silver.

Italy, on the medal stand for the third time in World Equestrian Games’ history, secured third place.

Final Results- Reining
Individual - 1, RC Fancy Step (Shawn Flarida) USA 227.0; 2, Yellow Jersey (Stefano Massignan) ITA; Gunners Special Nite (Tom McCutcheon) USA, 224.0; 4, Mister Montana Nic (Craig Schmersal) USA; BA Reckless Chick (Bernard Fonck) BEL 223.5.
Teams - 1, USA 674.5; 2, Belgium 659.0; 3, Italy 655.5; 4, Austria 635.5; 5, Canada 652.5.
FULL RESULTS at www.alltechfeigames.com. /results

Audio interviews are available for free download via the link below:
Jeff Petska (chef d'equipe of USA. team – reining gold)
http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Jeff%20Petska%20-%20Chef%20US%20rein%2026-9.mp3

Jan Boogaerts (Belgian team – reining silver)
http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Jan%20Boogarts%20-%20BEL%20Rein%20Silver%2026-9.mp3

Copyright free photography is now available to download from the Alltech Web site at http://vip.alltech.com/pressbox/Pages/Photos2.aspx. This is a complimentary service provided by Alltech. Please note these images are for editorial use only and are copyright of Dirk Caremans.
Further news and details are at www.alltechfeigames.com. Also check out the FEI photo catalogue at www.fei.org.

Note to Editor:

Founded by Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech is a global animal health and nutrition company with 30 years’ experience in developing natural products that are scientifically proven to enhance animal health and performance. With more than 2300 employees in 120 countries, the company has developed a strong regional presence in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia. For further information, visit www.alltech.com.


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The First Day..........

While I have done other things today my focus has really been on the opening of the World Equestrian Games. I didn't get to watch the first session of reining this morning because I kept getting error messages that make me suspect their servers were overwhelmed by the initial response. I did, however, get to see the afternoon session. Yeah for me!!!!! Still I know that Sweden opened the games with the first ride in the reining competition. I learned that little tidbit in the opening ceremonies. I wish I'd taken some notes as the teams paraded into the arena because I probably missed some other good morsels of blog fodder. I do know that Poland sent a reining team............and only a reining team. .......whodda thunk.......... Have the cowboys taken over Europe?

The announcer, whose name has illuded me, has tickled my blogging fancy a bit. It was a bit confusing and a lot amusing listening to the European announcer talk reining during that event. My enjoyment carried over into the opening ceremonies.

Obviously European and well versed in the normal fare for these kinds of events his interpretations of things American, cowboy and reining have made me giggle at times. His commentary on reining in progress caught me a little off guard at first. I was not expecting to hear "canter" but I only did a small double take, and to his credit he only did it once or twice. Run downs as a description for small circles still has me shaking my head and since he does call the run down before the sliding stops just that, I am wondering if he's even realized he's using the same term for two different things.

It's OK! It just tickles me to hear the polished European voice complete with accent talking western dressage as he labelled it. Careful trying to back peddle a bit and still not dish the sport he went into a lengthy explantion of the comparisions to the sport he knows best. I couldn't help but giggle at all the dressage queens I've met over the years who would have been gritting their teeth and maybe even pulling their hair at their beloved, exclusive sport being help up against the good ole cowpokes if they'd heard it.

Maybe the world is making some changes after all. There was definitely respect in this man's voice as he described the skills of these horses and what kinds of things were bringing the highest scores.

In the opening ceremonies it was great to see Arabian horses given the credit they are due. Introduced as the oldest breed of horse and the horse upon which all other modern horse breeds are built. The Gift of the Desert - The Arabian Horse opened with a beautiful chesnut western pleasure horse ridden by Audrey Hart, I believe, and followed in by Arabian horses representing nearly every division of perfomance that Arabian horses do. There were few announcements of who the horses or riders were except for the mention of WN Knight Rider several times and his breeder, Wayne Newton. A presentation of the Gift of the Desert will be presented each day throughout the ALLTECH FEI World Equestrian Games.

Unfortunately I lost the feed a couple of times but I did get to see the dressage demonstation by ten beautiful Freisian horses. It was beautifully correographed and great fun to watch. Seeing things like that makes me think I might actually try dressage some day.

I missed the names of the cowboys doing the demonstation with the loose horses but that was pretty darn cool along with the Cowboy Dressage, which is definitely my style. If I could ever get lead changes down, I could do that stuff with Legs. The only thing he doesn't do that cowboy did is the changes like that and the deficiency is definitely mine and not Legs.

Stacy Westfall was amazing as always. More time was spent on the singer than Stacy but still any chance to see Stacy ride is a a real treat. I'd love to see her in person some day.

Oh, I must not forget the biggest laugh I got today from the announcer. It was during the parade of exhibitors when the huge US contingent entered with many wearing their...........Five gallon hats?? I need to get me one of those...............

Watch Arabians Live from WEG at 8:06 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25!

This text is from an email I received from AHA.

The Arabian Horse Association is pleased to announce that our very own Arabian horses will make their first appearance on the international stage in the Opening Ceremonies of the FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games™ (WEG). Sept. 25. The event will air live on NBC from 7-9 p.m. CDT. AHA has just learned that the Arabians will go live at 8:06 p.m. Eastern Time. If your NBC affiliate is not carrying the Opening Ceremonies in your market, live coverage can also be see via the Internet at the United States Equestrian Federation Network at www.USEFNetwork.com, or Pay-Per-View coverage at www.FEITV.org.

A variety of owners and riders from well-known farms stretched all across the country will work together to put Arabians on display under the direction of Martha Murdock from Martha Murdock Stables in Versailles, Ky. Some of the costumes and tack used in the opening ceremonies are authentic historical pieces on loan from the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation. Arabians will then appear in daily demonstrations at the Equine Village, a central site at the Kentucky Horse Park that will house both exhibits from various equine organizations and a number of world-class equine demonstrations and other special events.

A Second Day of Play........and a Little Closer Look

The next day it was raining so hard here that Storm didn't get outside as did none of my other horses. I had originally thought I might ride him on that second day but considering how hard he'd played I figured he could possibly be sore. Since I already had some concerns the horse might have some issues with soreness, I wanted the opportunity to make an evaluation based on "normal" for this horse so I decided to put off riding him until sometime the following week. In the meantime, we'd focus on getting him outside as much as possible so he could really settle in and get back to being a horse.

Last Friday there was a break in the weather so I put Storm outside before he even had his breakfast finished. Not knowing if the break would hold long enough for a full day of turnout, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to get the horse out. I just put some more hay out in the paddock so he had it if he wanted it and then left the horse on his own to play.

The whole time I was working outside I could hear Storm making the most of his turnout time. Kicking up his heels, passing a little gas along the way the horse couldn't get enough playing. The horse would stop for brief respites and munch a little hay then go right back to bucking and kicking and rearing and calling. I've not seen this horse play like this since he was a baby. It was good to see.

On the way out to the paddock on this second day I'd taken the time to take a closer look at the horse's overall condition. While his weight looked good, his coat was dull and he appeared to be loosing his mane. Also, the horse was not conditioned like you'd expect a horse to be who was supposedly in training (that was the reason given to the judge why they couldn't possibly return the horse to me before a judgement as I'd requested in the replevin order).

The horse had muscling but it was erratic and suggested the horse was not driving off his hind end as he should be. The crest of his neck was abnormally built up suggesting the horse was being ridden more off his face than being pushed from behind. I would be able to confirm those perceptions once I actually got onto the horse's back to evaluate what he knew. For now everything I saw suggested the horse had been "trained" exactly as I expected, more about frame than impulsion.

Considering some discussions we'd had over the past couple of years I should have been surprised by this but I wasn't. The farther down the road we'd gotten the more I'd seen the talk was one thing and the walk was another. I'm pretty sure that Storm will confirm all of that. Hopefully any issues he has will be easily worked through and we'll still make it into the ring next year.

I also took a close look at the horse's feet. I had some reasons to think there could be soreness issues and I wanted to rule out his feet as a possible source. Finding four misshapen hooves there were enough irregularities to consider any lameness issues could definitely be caused the condition of his hooves. For now at least, I would focus on them before we looked for others sources that might cause the horse distress.

I noticed the angles on the horse's front feet were not even. His right front was lower slung and the hoof was misshapen. The point of breakover was off center as well. The horse also appears to be shedding the frog on that foot as well as having some trush all the way around.

I suspected from looking at this hoof the horse probably has some some soreness in his shoulder but I would have to wait to tell that for sure. Considering the way he'd played there would be no way to tell if the soreness came from hoof problems or his playing. It was another good reason to let him settle in before I tried to get to the bottom of my concerns.

His left front foot was going the other way as far as the angles were concerned. The horse probably had more heel than he should but at least it was breaking over better. There were some abnormalities in its shape but it was still better off than the right front.

The hind feet had their issues as well but the fronts appeared to be the biggest problems to me. At least the horse looked sound as he played. Considering the condition of his hooves he had valid reasons to be less than sound. It would be interesting to see what I actually had when I got onto the horse's back.

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The Homecoming

You'd think when this whole mess was over, I'd finally be able to relax and move on but there's something about being so focused for so long that makes changing gears difficult. Having thought about this thing so hard for so long, it just didn't want to leave my brain.

I understood there would be a delay from the point we signed the papers until they were signed and executed by the other side but having had such a negative experience with these people it was hard to even trust them now. I just couldn't believe it was real even though I knew as a officer of the court their lawyer must follow through with the offer or she could not file the stipulation dropping the case. Without knowing they had signed the paperwork and the process was underway, I sweated what was coming next. Some part of my psyche would only be satisfied once the horse was home and not before.

From the Tuesday after Labor Day to the time the horse arrived home it was a full, long, miserable 8 days. Insecurities filled my thinking and I struggled with doubt. I wanted so badly to post here about the internal conflict but just didn't dare. I was worried one false step might blow the whole thing up and I sure didn't want that. My health was suffering from all the stress so I needed this to be done.

With my focus still centered on the conflict, it was hard to do anything else. Shifting gears and going on with my life seemed premature so I found myself continuing on with my paperwork. I figured if I got everything in proper order, I could use if for reference in the future should I even find myself needing to act as my own lawyer again. After all I sure didn't want to have to do all this research again. Maybe because I'm prepared I won't need it. I sure hope that's the case.



By that Monday I decided I was going to begin doing some little things around here with my horses. I have a number of young stallions who need something to do so I turned my focus to them. I must admit I think Rhet was really glad to get some one on one time in even if it did mean just lunging in the round pen. Patriot and Andy seemed that way too.

The lunging session were short both because the horses hadn't been worked in months and because I hadn't worked much in months either. Five minutes of me walking around in the round pen following a lunging horse caused me to sweat. The first day I only worked three horses and I was spent. By Wednesday I'd worked five horses and I was done for the day.

The horse was delivered here on Wednesday afternoon. The weather was supposed to change to rain but I'd already decided the first thing I'd do with this horse was turn him out. It was my best guess he'd not been turned out in a field but maybe one time in two years. He was long over due for some time to really be a horse.



When he came off the trailer, the first thing he did was scream. Like most stallions, he was announcing his arrival and the rest of the herd welcomed him. Then the little snot reared and pawed the air shaking his head at me but he did come down when I asked and pranced his way to the paddock in front of my house.

My friend, Chris, had said she wouldn't turn him out in a large place just in case he got a little nuts over finally being free. Although I didn't think he'd do such a thing, I'd decided better safe than sorry so I'd gone for this paddock that's probably 80 feet square by 65 feet, bigger than a round pen but not big enough to build up too much steam.

From the time we turned towards the paddock the horse knew exactly where we were going. He pranced, tossed his head and snorted in anticipation. If I had any doubts that turning this horse loose was the right thing, they were quickly dissuaded.

We've had such a cool miserable summer, my horses haven't gotten nearly the amount of turnout time they normally do. I'm used to seeing horses strut their stuff for a few minutes because they're so glad to finally be free. However, that strutting doesn't last long as they go to the more serious business of looking for something to eat.

That sure wasn't the case with this horse. I sat on my front porch watching him play for over an hour before I got cold and went into the house. Even from inside I could hear him kicking things up.

The horse wasn't stupid about it but he played hard. He did these leaping twisty things in the air kicking up his hind feet and throwing his shoulders from side to side. Sometimes he'd rear and just paw the air all the time tossing his head and celebrating his freedom.

I'd put some hay in the paddock because it needs to be reseeded and has little grass. He'd dive by the pile of hay grabbing a mouthful on the run. Then he'd toss his head like he'd made some great score from an unknown target. It was very heartening to watch. I knew by the length of time he played, that all the torture of the past months had been worth it. This horse was now home and in a much better place.

Four hours later Dave tried to catch the horse to put him in for the night. Even though he and Dave have always been great buddies, the horse did NOT want to be caught. He made it quite clear the last place he wanted to go was back into a stall even though it was now raining and this horse has always been something of a powderpuff about being rained on.

NOTE: I know there are a lot of questions about what happened here. Things are pretty raw right now and I need to move on but the day will come when I answer those questions or at least some of them.

The Second Day

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Wrapping Up a Difficult Summer........Getting Through....

I talked to a number of lawyers along the way trying to find myself a legal coach or someone to be a spokesman at hearings at the very least. The local court rules were confusing in their vagueness and I felt the judge didn't take me seriously whenever I stood before him. There were no answers from most attorneys other than "that's why you hire an attorney" and the attorneys I spoke to wanted huge retainers I could not afford.

Over and over I said if I could afford one, I would have one. Since I couldn't afford one I needed to figure out how to get through the legal system on my own because if I quit, they would win. No way was I going to LET them win and take down my reputation when they are the ones untrustworthy.

Every lawyer I spoke with was helpful in some way. Even if there were no direct answers about those things for which I needed answers like those darn local court rules. There still were little bits of information that helped me get a clearer picture of procedures or even the pitfalls that were out there.

Each lawyer I spoke with always ended the conversation by telling me I should consider law school. At least that was encouraging. My understanding of my case had impressed them. Hopefully it would impress the judge when the trial came or so I hoped.

It did look like a trial is where we were headed. The only time I heard from their lawyer once I initiated the lawsuit (that's right, I filed this AFTER I got a threatening letter from their attorney accusing me of fraud knowing that it would be better for me to start the action that to respond to it, thanks to one of those conversations with lawyers) was in response to something I had done. Even though the judge had told her in our first hearing that she needed to keep things moving, there was no movement from her I could see. I suspected she was hoping I would miss important deadlines and they would win their counterclaim by default.

Thanks to a district court clerk I was aware that deadlines were my worst enemy. If I missed those, I was dead as far as the law was concerned. The problem I had was figuring out exactly what those deadlines meant in some instances and if I couldn't met them, how did I deal with it in a manner that kept me within those rules. There is no road map to the legal system that explains those issues because the court rules can differ in each jurisdiction. Believe me, if there were a road map, I would have found it by now. The only answer to dealing with court rules and deadlines is that statement I've grown to hate "that's why you hire an attorney."

I did finally find a lawyer who would take on my case without a huge retainer. With 30 plus years of practice in equine law he understood the complexities of my case. He knew it was going to be an expensive case and that I would be a slow pay. I'd made the paying part clear right up front. The lawyer thought about it and decided he would represent me. I think he did it because he realized it was a matter of principle to me and I guess he believed in me. That really helped my confidence but still this thing hanging over my head was eating me up.

I sent him everything I had put together in my case including all documents from the other side. It took me ten days to get it all scanned in and sent off to him. I have four 3 inch binders full of documents including legal filings. He was working on going over all of them himself before we decided our next move which it looked like would be bumping this case up from district court to superior court.

With all that material grasping the scope of this case was not an easy task. It was taking him longer than he had figured and in the meantime the clock was ticking away. I was worrying about those court deadlines I didn't quite understand, a process called discovery and where things were going from here.

Before the lawyer ever got through all of that stuff, I finally heard something from their attorney. Friday afternoon of the Labor Day weekend, I received a settlement offer. I was advised to consult with an attorney while at the same time an answer was required by the close of business Tuesday. Since they had no way of knowing I was in the process of retaining a lawyer, they had no way to know I really could sort the offer out with the aid of legal counsel and boy did I have questions. Another manipulation of the system was foiled and they didn't even know.

I did get to speak with my attorney about the settlement offer early Tuesday morning. I had already scanned in the documents and emailed them to him so when I got him on the phone all he had to do was log on and retrieve the email. We went over the specifics and my concerns and then I made my decision. I took the offer even though I was entitled to much much more. The odds of me every actually getting what I would be awarded by the court was a huge part of that decision and the toll this thing was taking on me, my family and my horses figured in as well.

The offer contained a confidentiality clause so I can't share information about it but I can say that this whole thing is over. I got my horse back last Wednesday afternoon and a stipulation dropping the lawsuit has been filed. It's over and basically I did it on my own without a lawyer. Now I can get back to my life and my horses. As I said, the trials of this summer are over and now it's time to move on.

The Homecoming

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Wrapping Up a Difficult Summer........a Big Drain....

The most draining trial of this year started when things began to unravel in a business relationship clear back in January. I began to doubt my journey and to lose focus on what really mattered. The realization I had made such a mistake in judgement that my dream was now in danger of crashing and burning had me doubting most everything I did. As things went downhill so seemed to go my determination at least in the beginning of the decline.

Once it became obvious in late May that a legal battle was what it was going to take to preserve my reputation, something sparked in me even if the flame of belief in myself didn't burn bright. I dove in head first and the journey consumed me. At least by that point I had realized, like Solildare, I was not going to give up no matter what came my way so I dug in and fought with the vengeance this battle deserved. Most every waking hour I was buried in legal books or pouring over the facts trying to understand how I was going to get myself out of this mess I'd created by not trusting my instincts in the first place.

Acting "pro se" with little understanding of the legal process for a civil suit was a monumental task. I have experience with the legal system back from those days when my daughter was molested. I knew from that experience that truth does not always win out and that understanding the system and what one must do within its framework is far more important than truth. Still I had to hold tightly to my belief that the truth would win out IF I could get it before the court according to court rules instead of human logic. A sad commentary on our legal system but one all too true.

The importance of understanding the demands of the court was obviously my biggest challenge right from the start. I figured my opponents would think I didn't have a prayer against an attorney but I needed to believe that I did. I think watching Solidare's daily struggles helped me keep faith in myself and in the truth so I could hang in and fight.

During this time I had little contact with the outside world. I had little contact with my horses for someone who has thirty of them. A brief ride on Legs and checking in on Solidare and her colt were pretty much it for me. Then I was back into survival mode. The focus of my business totally changed from training horses so I could get them into the show ring to preserving the reputation I'd worked so hard to attain. I worked on this case nearly every waking hour and many hours that were supposed to be devoted to sleep. To say I lived, breathed and slept it would be an understatement. It consumed me.

Those I did have contact with during these months probably grew sick to death of hearing the details as I mulled them over and over in my mind, in conversation and in written form in emails. The facts I knew and the way "they" represented them churned around in my brain upside down and backwards and every way in between as I tried to see all the angles to find all the ways to support the truth. Bouncing the information off my friends helped expose the holes in "their" version, helped me understand what had happened and how I could prove I had been taken. The pieces slowly fell into place and I began to see that I probably could prevail if I was diligent with the process demanded by the court.

I think the biggest problem with being successful as a pro se was the way the law is structured. The rules are vague so they can accommodate more different types of scenarios (causes of action to be specific). Descriptions must be open to interpretation to fit all the nefarious ways that human beings can do wrong to one another. Reading between those lines is what makes lawyers rich and those who need them poor and, of course, manipulating them is big too.

Manipulation is not something I'm good at, nor do I ever want to be so I was definitely disadvantaged there. Truth and manipulation are not good bedfellows and yet they are the foundation of our legal system. This was a realization I was really saddened to see. It was important to me to prevail without stooping to their level and yet I had to work within this structure that was so foreign to me.

Finding a way to navigate through the quagmire was a daunting task. I studied. I read and I reread. I did searches on the internet. The homeless woman living in my back yard answered questions as best she could.

It was really from her I learned about the need to have case law to support my perspective. After discussions with her on how the law works, I'd do searches on past cases to see how case law determined how trials turned out. Over and over I read Supreme Court decisions where judges mentioned what would have worked for a pro se that didn't because the appropriate case law was not referenced or the case law that was referenced didn't support the argument. Fortunately it was in that process I began to find the case law that would work for me.

Getting Through

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Wrapping Up a Difficult Summer

I'd like to thank everyone for their supportive comments on Final Words on Solidare and DSLD With the stressful summer I've had, it had become easy to doubt myself and to feel pretty alone. Having the support of my blogging friends has helped get me through when sometimes all I really wanted to do was pull the covers up over my head and forget the world. I couldn't have gotten through this rough time without you.

I've found when times get tough the ugly things that are said seem to hit home even though they are passing comments, made by unknowing and sometimes mean spirited people, that should have been discarded as the useless comments they were. Yet, I was painfully aware of criticisms particularly made about my choices with this mare even though all I ever wanted was what was best for her.

I would never have knowingly done anything to harm Solidare and my decision to breed her that one last time was never about me. Still with the outcome of this summer being her passing, it was easy to fall into the trap "it was my fault" even though the mare's pregnancy had little if any effect on what happened. What it did do was assure Solidare's last days were doing what she loved most............being a mother. As much as I regret her demise I will never regret those last days she was able to dote on her foal.

It was hard to watch Solidare decline but at the same time it was joyous to watch the twinkle in her eye and the strength in her heart as she tended to her colt. I always knew Solidare had amazing heart but the true depth of it was revealed in those last months. The awareness that Solidare was never going to quit on life made her all the more endearing to me, as it made her passing all the more difficult.

I really hadn't intended for this post to go off onto my heartbreak about Solidare again. Instead I wanted to say to all those who have supported me through all the darkness of these past months, there finally is an end to the tunnel. While there is still healing to be done, the trials of the summer are over.

To be continued...........

A Big Drain

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Goodbye to a Friend

This afternoon I went to a memorial service for one of my horse friends. Not my favorite way of spending a Saturday afternoon but at my age you have to expect those times will happen. When it does I take it in stride and go say goodbye...........something I seem to be doing a lot of here recently.

This friend, Ann Cunningham, I have known for more years than I can remember. She and her husband, Bill, are small breeders of Arabian horses like me and live in my area. I knew about them before I actually met them but since the meeting we've grown to be friends. They are regular visitors to my annual open house and I can usually catch up with them ringside for halter classes at the Daffodil shows. They weren't around this year, now I know why.

I was saddened to hear of Ann's passing and I wondered how Bill was faring. I went to the service to see for myself and to let Bill now my feelings. I was glad I went.

Bill and Ann are older than Dave and I. Looking around the church today many of the people there were older than us too. Even at that the feelings of the people in the room were young. I don't know if I can explain this but I'm going to try because it struck me how important how you think affects how you live.

It turns out Ann has a group of friends she's known since grade school. They've always kept in touch and they were a big presence at this service. They call themselves the GG girls. It stands for Grade School to Grave friends. Listening to their representative talk, I could see why that had been the case. Instead of women nearing 80, they sounded like teenagers celebrating their friend. The giggles were more prominent than the tears.

They are fun loving, happy people. Involved in their lives instead of sitting around complaining about their age, they're out there living every moment like it might be their last. It was easy to see not just from the things said about Ann but the conversations around the room afterwards these people love life and pursue it to the fullest.

Most of the older people in this room did not look their age. I imagine that is because they weren't acting their age. I couldn't help but think the reason for that is their attitudes about life.

It's an important lesson to learn. Many never do. Life is what you make it. The bumps are not what matters. How you handle them is. Living life under those terms kept Ann young and made her life full right down to the last minute. The woman lived with no regrets. You could tell by those in the room. Her investment in people was evident. Her investment in life the fullest a person can ask. The legacy left to those in the room, the treasure of a lifetime. Ann Cunningham will be missed.

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Final Words on Solidare and DSLD

Over the course of the spring I posted a couple of blog posts Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis and then
More on DSLD, Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Desmitis
about the illness known as DSLD. The motivation of my posts had very much to do with people's criticism of my breeding my mare, Solidare, who had dropped fetlocks. It's been clear from the start that dispite information to the contrary many people assume any horse with dropped fetlocks is a victim of that disease and therefore should not be considered a breeding horse. I had hoped more information might educate people so I put myself out there but pretty much things did not change. Most kept a tight lip, their beliefs to themselves and continued to believe that Solidare was a DSLD mare.

As a breeder I take my job very seriously and would never consider breeding an animal I thought would contribute harmful genes to the breed or maybe even worse yet, produce animals that would be unable to perform the purpose for which they have been bred because of a heritable disease. Not only can I not afford to make such a mistake, I believe it is unethical to engage in such practices. My belief about Solidare was based on my experience with the mare and had nothing to do with some thick layer of denial shielding me from the real truth.

I remember my first encounter with that accusation that I wouldn't see something right before my eyes because of denial. It was about the condition of my daughter, Lindsay, after her brain surgery. Those doctors in the rehabitilitation division of Seattle Children's discharged Lindsay when she was still in a wheel chair and required 24 hour a day care. My insistance that Lindsay had way more progress to make was met with closed minds on the part of the professionals. I was the one accused of being closed off and unwilling to see reality. Yet today, Lindsay is my number one help around this place. She has so far exceeded the expectations of any of those "experts" they don't even know what hit them.

I guess the current question about my beliefs would have to do with Solidare's condition and my supposed denial about that as well. Were Solidare's dropped fetlocks really due to the ill fated pregnancy so many years ago as I believe, or were they because of disease? The only way to answer that question would be examination after death. DSLD which has been renamed Equine Systemic Proteoglycan Accumulation can only be determined by visual inspection of affected organs and tissues. For a diagnosis of the disease it takes the presence of excessive amounts of proteoglycans in affected tissues. "Abnormal accumulation of proteoglycans between collagen and elastic fibers rather than specific collagen fibril abnormalities is the most prominent histological feature of DSLD"

Being a person who challenges my own thinking as a way to keep myself on track, I felt I should have this question answered despite my beliefs. With three daughters of Solidare's that I very much want to breed and now a colt who looks like he will be stallion quality, it's pretty darn important I not make a mistake. I'd made the decision early on when the time came, Solidare would be examined to be absolutely sure I was on the right page.

Unfortunately on Solidare's last day, I was a basket case and the thought of examining my mare for this disease was the farthest thing from my mind. It was NOT, however, the farthest thing from my vet's mind who knows me well enough to know what I would want. Solidare was carefully examined to the specific cause of her dropped fetlocks.

My vet found that Solidare's achilles tendon had migrated. Specifically the achilles tendon is the combined superficial and deep flexor tendon. Not only can trauma occur to cause issues with the legs but the tendon is susceptible to luxation where it comes out of normal track and runs over the calcaneus (this is the back bone that forms the hock). Although this situation indeed happened at the end of the pregnancy where Soldiare went well passed her due date and was over saturated with the hormones responsible for relaxing the pelvic area readying the birth canal for the passage of the foal, it is hard to know if the relaxation itself caused the problem or some external force on the tendon in it's relaxed state caused it. Either way it is considered to be an injury. The luxation (movement) of the tendon from it's normal track is the injury responsible for Solidare's dropped fetlocks.

In addition the tissues were examined and found to be normal and healthy showing no signs of the disease. Thus further supporting the fact the dropped fetlocks resulted not from disease to any tissue but from injury.

Fortunately, in this situation with Solidare, I was there to experience what had happened to my mare. Because I saw first hand the changes in the mare's body from the excess hormones I was able to understand how she ended up dropping in the fetlocks, as was my vet at the time. I think this is important because had it been different, Solidare might have never had another foal. Considering the quality of those foals I think that might be considered a loss to the breed as a whole as well as a loss to my breeding program.

I doubt that Solidare was an isolated case. It is safe to assume if she ended up in this situation from injury, others horses do as well. I would hope that people dealing with individuals with dropped fetlocks but have no idea how or when the situation developed might be opened minded to the possibility that DSLD is not always the only answer. It would be a shame to lose some individuals from the breeding pool for something that was "assumed" instead of something based on fact.

I've known for years that it is not uncommon to find old broodmares dropped in the fetlocks like Solidare. Following along the development of their produce has revealed no recurrence of this phenomenon. Mostly it's occurrence seems to manifest in mares who have had many foals or gone well over term. Some of those over term occurrences have been even more dramatic than dropped fetlocks. I have seen mares lose the strength in the straps to their backs causing them to drop dramatically. Just another example of what can happen when Mother Nature over does her job but important to know when you're a breeder trying to figure out what is good stock to breed and what is not.

NOTE: I didn't do this post to vindicate Solidare. In my mind she needed no vindication. I always knew she was a great mare. Nothing has changed. I did this for her foals, they deserve to be valued as the individuals that they are and not condemned based on misinformation and fear. They deserve the opportunity to contribute to this breed I love so much. I hope they get the opportunity to do that.


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An Update on Rhet

Rhet was such a big part of my postings last year, it feels like I've been neglecting him. I think it's been months since I've posted anything specific the colt. What a transition from almost daily to practically never...............poor Rhet.........definitely neglected. With an ego like his, he'd be appalled if he knew.

With no plans to show him this year, it was time for the colt to just hang out and grow up a bit. There's not much exciting in that scenario. Maybe if he was allowed to hang out with another horse, there'd be stories to tell.

My original plan to get Rhet bonded with Trouble went south when Trouble proved to be too aggressive for Rhet. Getting Rhet to run the fence line constantly was NOT what I had in mind and that was happening with the fence still in between the two horses. I'm afraid without the benefit of the fence Trouble would have been taking Rhet on...........and NOT in a good way.

My idea for "hanging out" was supposed to be a more relaxed kind of picture. You know the one..........horses calmly grazing side by side. Feisty Trouble, however, thought a horse with an attitude the size of Rhet's needed to be brought down a peg or two. The last thing I needed was Rhet to get hurt so I abandoned the idea of Trouble as a buddy for Rhet.

Now, if Rhet had his way, he'd be hanging out with the girls. Whenever we begin moving mares around Rhet is one of the first voices I hear. The colt may only be two but he's pretty sure he's got it figured out what girls are about..........and I'm pretty sure he's still longing to get up close and personal with the love of his life, dear sweet Scarlet.

Our solar electric fence has failed so that means Rhet doesn't even get outside when girls are on turnout. Most of my horses wouldn't even think of taking on a fence, hot or not, but I'm just not sure about Rhet so I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. Instead Rhet gets out with a couple of other colts, each in their own paddock with a vacant one in between. That's about all the stimulation I think he needs.

At first Rhet really didn't like these turnouts. He stressed about not having another horse closer to him. The colt spent much of his time running the fence line and exercising his lungs. I'm sure if I could translate horse talk it would have been something full of expletives. Rhet was NOT a happy camper.

I am not one to put a horse back into a stall just because its running a fence line. I think if the horse never gets the chance to work throw the stress, the situation will never get better so I left Rhet to his own devises knowing sooner or later he'd get it figured out and learn to appreciate his time out.

Poor Rhet did drop some weight in the process. He seemed to hit a growth spurt right at the same time as the weather got good enough for him to get some real outdoor time. The combination resulted in a growthy looking youngster with some ribs showing but Rhet did get it figured out. Now he plays happily whenever he gets the chance.

The other day Rhet was having a great time racing cars that drove by. The silly colt would hear the car coming and let out a challenging scream. Then he take off galloping beside the car as it drove past his paddock. Off course, Rhet can never really win because he runs into a fence that stops him from continuing his race but I'm pretty sure that in his mind Rhet is convinced his winning.

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An Update on Solidare's Boy

If there's ever been any question in my mind that Solidare's foal was coping just fine without his mother, it was allayed one day in the middle of last week. Returning from a riding session at the park, I was greeted by Dare galloping across the field running to greet Legs. The mare was trumpeting a seductive love song to the stallion as she executed an impressive rollback at the fence. The last thing on her mind was Solidare's colt.

While Dare may not have been thinking about Solidare's foal, he was definitely thinking about his newly adopted mother. As Dare raced across the grass, the little guy raced tight behind her right at the left hip. His tail was flagged up over his back as he bleated his complaints. "MOM..........MOM..........Wait for me!!!!!!!" He looked just like any other foal chasing after his dam in a similar situation. Anyone who didn't know better would have never been able to tell this was the colt's sister..............and not his mother.

From the way my horse trailer was rocking and rolling, I knew Legs was totally aware of the mare's intentions even before he returned her call. Over the sound of my truck's noisy diesel engine I could still hear the distinctive squeals that confirmed the mare must be in full blown heat. At that moment I was relieved the conversation was happening while I was still driving instead of standing in close proximity to either horse. The volume was definitely up there enough to make my ears ring.

With all that racket going on, the last thing I expected to hear was the sound of a foal. I did, however, look around to see where he was in the midst of all this ruckus. The colt was keeping a safe distance as Dare snaked her gorgeous neck over the fence trying to get close enough to get a real sniff of Legs. Solidare's colt stomped his foot demanding Dare's immediate attention as he screamed his displeasure at this interruption of his morning graze.

I had to laugh just a bit at the little guy's arrogance thinking he could avert the mare's attention from his dad. I'd seen him pull that number of couple of times when Solidare had been visiting with Legs in days past. It did indeed look like the colt is pretty content with his surrogate mother.

I suspect when the time comes to wean this guy away from Dare things may not be quite so easy. I've been putting Doc and Trouble out in the round pen for turnout so this little guy can get the opportunity to meet them. So far he's shown no interest in leaving Dare's side long enough to investigate. That will probably take some time but we have plenty of that. In the meantime Dare's content with her tag along adopted son so it's all good.

The Face of Homeless.............a Departure.............

Part 1

We knew when our guests moved into our back yard that their stay here was to be limited. Still life got in the way and the time frames originally set in place were pushed beyond our original expectations. At no point did we consider that to be an inconvenience for us, although it probably wasn't how our guests wished things had gone except for one little blip that was a good thing.

The teenage girl staying here was accepted into a summer camp put on by the Y. I'm hoping that for the entire week that she was gone, she was able to put this current life situation behind her and actually do the things that kids should be doing in the summer time. That would be having fun with friends and being a kid. I know she certainly needed that break from life's rocky road.

The opportunity to go to camp had come up unexpectedly. It pushed a departure date from here to southern California back by a few days but it was certainly worth it for her to get the opportunity to have such an awesome experience. I never did get a chance to speak to her about her trip but her mom said she had a great time.

After her return, something else pushed the departure plans a bit although I hardly remember what it was. Dave nor I ever worried about this extended visit. I guess we never saw our guests as an inconvenience. I felt bad for them that life's bumps were still interfering with their plans but that didn't change the fact they were welcome here as long as need be.

It was actually during the Daffodil All Arabian Horse Summer Show that the first departure from our farm happened. I expected when I arrived home from move in day to find mother and daughter gone so we had some brief goodbyes as I was preparing for the horse show.

When I arrived home that evening, their car was here with the hood up and dad was gone. I don't even recall the mechanical specifics of the issues but dad was still working on those last minute issues with the car and that was all that really mattered. The trip was postponed but only a matter of hours.

The good part of the postponement was we got a chance for a more "proper" goodbye. That part was good but I could see the frustration taking it's toll and I was saddened by it. As much as I worried about what the future might hold, I understood their need to try to take some control of their lives. Moving back to familiar country would help them do that, I really hoped they'd have a safe journey and deeply wished there was more we could do to make things better.

By the time I got home from the horse show the second day, mother and daughter were indeed gone. I thought about them a lot during my horse show wondering how the trip was going and if they were safe. I even had a few flashbacks of my own trip down that road to California to met up with Jesse Saldana for my trip to Tulsa. I sure hoped they had a better experience than I did. I wouldn't wish that trip on anyone.

Over the next few days we got updates on their progress. They stopped for a few days to visit with an old friend before continuing the rest of the way down towards San Diego. I was relieved to hear they'd arrived safely and I know a little about how things are going.

Dad is still here living in our yard although he is worried about putting us out. We keep telling him he is welcome as long as need be. I believe he's hoping to join mother and daughter at the beginning of next month.

The teenage girl was able to begin her journey into high school on the first day of school as they had hoped. They have a roof over their heads but I believe it is a temporary situation. They are still looking for something more suitable. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that happens.......and it happens soon. There's nothing we'd like better than to know that things have really turned around for this family.


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The Face of Homeless..........a Little Collateral Benefit......

Part 1

I'd mentioned my first real concerns about what I might do with strange people living in my backyard had more to do with being embarrassed I might get caught fighting with Dave than anything having to do with our guests. Those thoughts were not just fleeting for me. I had real concerns about looking like a shrew because sometimes that's exactly how I feel.

Dave has never been particularly motivated about anything except his job. Being out of work for nearly two years now has taken its tole on his self esteem and his motivation. Having a normal conversation with the man to get my point across sometimes just isn't easy. With all the things there are to do around here, I've resorted to being that shrew more times than I care to count. It is not something I am proud of, it's also not something I have figured out how to avoid.

I talked to Dave about my concerns and he just laughed. He told me he would be on his best behavior so I didn't need to worry. Having heard promises about "his best behavior' before, I was worried. It turns out that I was not the only one that was worried about such issues.

I can imagine how stressful it must be to be homeless. I also know that stress is probably the number one reason that Dave and I fight. I hadn't even thought that our guests might be as concerned about fighting around us as we were about them. Yet that was exactly the case.

I think it was only the second day that this family was here that I confessed my concerns to J. The woman almost instantly laughed. Then she confessed she had the same concerns and those concerns had been the first thing she thought of when I first extended my invitation.

We both laughed maybe at ourselves and maybe at our personal situations. No one really likes to admit that there are things about their relationships that are not good, let alone to strangers.

We made a pact then and there on that spot. I would turn a blind ear to her fights with T and she would turn a blind ear to mine with Dave. I think we both giggled like a couple of school girls. We were both relieved not to have to worry about this anymore. At least it was out in the open and we knew we were on the same page. There was a high five thrown in at the end to cement our pact.

I think just talking about the situation relieved some of the stress for me. Dave did manage his best behavior for a while a least and maybe I figured out how to be a little more tolerant. Either way we've managed not to fight "much" with people living in our back yard and Dave actually managed to get a couple of things done that I've been begging for months. I doubt this new trend will carry through for long, however, winter is fast approaching and the list of things to wrap up is growing as we speak.

To be continued...................

The Face of Homeless......A Departure.....

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Remembering Scooter...........

It's been a long week. Finding out about the passing of my friend, Barn Goddess, was just not the way I expected it to start. Then when it did begin on such a note, I figured the worst of it was probably behind me. I'm sad to say that was not the case.

There was a double whammy in this story. I learned Tuesday afternoon that Barn Goddess's beloved Scooter was euthanized a couple of weeks ago. Some might think it's odd that I bother myself with the passing of some old horse I've never really known but Scooter meant to my friend, Barn Goddess, what my beloved Solidare meant to me. I can't help but think the passing of a horse that was so loved needs to be honored in some way.

I know if my friend, Barn Goddess, was here that's what she'd be doing. Yet, Barn Goddess is gone so Scooter has not received the kind of memorialization deserved by such a horse. In honor of my friend, and the relationship with Scooter that led to our friendship in the first place, I've decided that Scooter must have his just due. Such horses are such gifts, their loss is surely felt in ripples throughout the horse industry.

I don't remember how long Barn Goddess and Scooter had been together but I know it was most of his life. The horse was thirty this year and Barn Goddess's last communication with me had mention of her concern for the coming winter. Even though the vet had recently given Scooter a thorough check and found him in great shape for a horse of his age, Barn Goddess worried the coming winter might be more than he could bear. The very thought of life without Scooter was disturbing Barn Goddess as any of us who love horses can attest.

Scooter could be a grumpy old guy. He really didn't particularly care for the company of other horses. His one and only love was Barn Goddess.........well, that is until her youngest son, Wee One, recently acquired eyes for him. The old boy decided the attention of the young autistic child was fine with him. Scooter stood rock solid as Wee One crawled beneath him waiting patiently for the child to tire of his ministries to the horse.

For the aging horse this was no small feat. Like most autistic children, Wee One's attention span is quite different from normal children. Intense and unwavering, it is difficult to sway the focus of an autistic child. They are done with their endeavors when they are done and NO ONE can change their mind.

I can imagine Scooter's patience was tested as the attention of this autistic child rested upon the horse. The many posts about Wee One's interests in animals suggest that the child rarely tired of an activity with any form of critter. Barn Goddess wondered on more than one occasion if the attention of Wee might not just be too much for any critter.

Once his mother finally allowed the child access to Scooter, I suspect the child made up for lost time showering all forms of attention upon the aged horse. I picture very long sessions with the blonde locked boy exploring any portion of the horse's body Scooter would tolerate.

I know that Barn Goddess was proud of Scooter's tolerance of Wee's attention. Waiting as long as she had to put the two together had always been about the boy and never about the horse. She'd known from the day the child was born that Scooter would be fine.

When I read the words of Scooter's demise, a damful of tears broke and a sound I didn't recognize emerged from some depth inside. I had been deeply touched by this horse I'd never known. Hearing of his passing somehow made the loss of his owner an even greater hurt.

I can't help but wonder if Scooter did not die from a broken heart. He and Barn Goddess had been a force to be reckoned with most all of his life. Rarely separated except for her days at work, poor Scooter probably didn't know what hit him when Barn Goddess passed.

Now, like BG's sister, I have to believe that Scooter and his mistress are riding across the fields of heaven never to be separated again. I have to say it's the only thought in this awful week that holds any relief.

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Summer's Gone and Scarlet is Terrified

I know most of the country is still languishing in the heat but the temperatures here today were below 60° and very, very rainy. The fact that normal late fall weather is already here leads to depressing thoughts since we didn't ever really get a summer.

Way to wet to ride outside, I decided to spend some time detangling manes. I've commented about how laborious that job can be with as many horses and long thick manes as live here but I was determined to get started. I thought if I could get through even a few today it would make the whole task not look quite so daunting.

It was raining so hard when I started for the barn, I turned right back around to grab a rain slicker. Otherwise I'd have been soaked to the skin before I even reached the first stalls.

I know they say that horses cannot see color but I swear my horses just hate that yellow rain slicker. I have other raincoats that are a different color that don't seem to cause problems but this yellow thing seems to set the horses off big time.

Each of the boys in the first barn snorted at me as I entered their stall. Most of them, now even Rhet, like grooming so once I got started working on their manes their apprehension over the yellow coat from h*ll seemed to wane. I did have to put halters on Rhet and Suede to begin work, but then Rhet I attempted to clip his bridle path first and that always requires extra restraints. Still, the boys did good and the coat didn't eat anyone.

It was poor MizScarlet that could not contain herself with me wearing that jacket. My usually adoring Scarlet tried climbing over the wall to escape. Even scratches on her whithers didn't ease her discomfort. She was not being fooled by any yellow fire breathing monster sporting her owner's voice. Scarlet knew, beyond any doubt, that she was about to be eaten.

I did manage to get her mane untangled but the wild eye never left her eye. The filly tried to duck out the door a couple of times and did pretty nifty spins on her haunches whirling around to escape me moving to the next knot. It was quite a display of athletic ability all to avoid a hair brush wielded by her supposedly favorite human. Who knows what goes through their minds...........Any bets on what she'll do when I try to wash her mane if I am still sporting that yellow rain slicker?

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The Daffodil Summer Show........Wrapping Up.......

Part 1

It seems like the Daffodil All Arabian Horse Summer Show happened eons ago and here I haven't even finished posting about it yet. I suppose my ability to get off track so easily reflects my overall feelings about the show. It was a brief respite from a chaotic and stressful life.

I did ride one more class for that show. It was on Sunday morning, so that meant I again got up at the crack of dawn dragging my b*tt down to the Puyallup Fairgrounds to school my horse before the morning session. I fed horses for all those I was stabled with and then Legs and I headed out to the arena to try to fit in some more galloping.

There was one horse out there schooling when we arrived but I was able to get some galloping in before anyone else arrived. Legs seemed to be more responsive to moving out on the second day. I even had to remind him a couple of times that while he could gallop, he wasn't free to just run off. Still it didn't take much to intimidate him. I had to be careful to make my intentions clear.

Once more horses had arrived on the scene, I went to working at getting more collection from my horse. I pushed the horse's hip to the inside. Then I tipped his nose to the inside as well. I had to block his outside shoulder to stop him from dropping it and is was pushing him forward for all I was worth.

Legs was resistive to this at first but gradually settled in to a pretty decent lope before we were through. His jog still left something to be desired but it was way better than it had been the preceding day.

I think it was the select rider class that I had that Sunday morning. I had hoped at least in this class we'd place higher in the ribbons. Despite Legs vast improvement from the other classes, that just didn't happen but at least we had a clean ride.

All in all the Summer Show was nothing more than the distraction it was supposed to be. My horse didn't do nearly as well as he had at the Spring Show and it was a little discouraging.

There was one really good thing about the Summer Show experience. Legs did not spook at one single thing. Not during schooling, in the warm-up or in one single class did my horse jump out from underneath me. I think this is the first clean show I've had since this whole fiasco began with the dropped cell phone in the spring of 2008. That alone was enough to say that our trip to the Summer Show was worthwhile.



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