Catch Ups!

 10/ 20/24

Well!  So much has changed in the past month that I found it tough to keep up with. I kept getting emails about how my life was going to change for the better. “yeah” I thought to myself…. “ heard that so many times before “ I don't think about it much, but they kept showing up. Oh well…

 I had been told to move out by the woman I rented the room from. I'd been looking for a good while so it was not a surprise. The trouble was that I couldn't find a place to rent. If it was in my price range, it was a dump. If I liked a place, it was way out the my range. Sighhhhh….

 I was desperate. So I  took a chance and made a post on my Facebook page. There's not much , but I got the expected replies from folks. I checked back later and there was a private response A pal I knew online and a horsewoman too. I had to be moved out on a Monday and this happened the Saturday before. She said that she didn't know that I was looking for a house.… that they had a farmhouse that was empty. I sat there stunned. It sounded like a dream coming true.  A farmhouse…on a horse farm! I sat there in tears, it was so hard to believe .Could this really be happening to Me? Nothing good ever happened to me. Not in many years. I called her and made plans to go see the house on Sunday… It was a bit of a drive from  where I worked but if it was great,  I decided  that I could figure it out. 

It was lovely. Two floors and there is a clear area that can be a craft place upstairs. I fell in love with it. Horses that would not run me over and I could see them from the windows .Big kitchen and country dining area.

                                                      A bedroom

                     The area I think that will be a great area for beadwork.

Kitchen 

 Needless to say I said Yes!  There were one and a half days left. I packed and loaded the Escape drove the miles to the farm house four times. 

Needless to say I was exhausted, but I was out of that house. Just one more carload and I got those things the next day. Luckily she had dumped the rest of my things on the porch. I didn't have to go up those steps 😁. Finally it was done. My first night I didn't get much sleep. The old leather couch that I had to sleep on was not the most comfy. I got used to it though.

It's been a couple of weeks now and  I love this place more every day. It's become a way to leave the world behind for a while. 

Not a new man for long..🤔

 10/14/24

Turns out the guy was boring as can be. No, thank you. I just stopped replying or answering the calls. I am not going to play second fiddle to a bunch of records. Such is life, I suppose.

 I had a reply to a dating site that I have decided to not continue. It's a waste of money that I don't have to spare. In the meantime, the man who responded seems very nice… stay tuned.

Autumn is here and I am enjoying it immensely. It's the best time of the year what with the great holidays and winter coming.😊  I used to love to decorate but ever since I was married to a man whose mission was to destroy me, I had stopped. I decorated for Christmas when I lived in the little apartment. But ever since, I just didn't feel Christmas or Yule in me.  That spirit is hard to find anymore.

A New Man 😁😁

 8/18/24

I know you have to meet a lot of people who are not your type before you find a special person to hold in your heart. I had been contacted by quite a few men who were either totally weird or unaware of how to deal with folks like me. Many didn’t want to get to know me because I was a straight shooter who was honest about my feelings, ethics and morals.  Apparently they didn’t like me having an opinion on anything. Or they just wanted to get laid.. or they wanted someone to take care of them. Then the one person I thought was wonderful decided that I was to be controlled. Ummm, No..  A few more of ‘ maybe we can just be friends’ get togethers, and I was about done.  I resigned myself to being alone for the rest of my life. Granted I was ok with that but it would have been nice to have someone to go out with or to various places of mutual interest. 

  I was online one evening , weeding out the whole bunch of men who wanted to   ’ meet’ me. I was giving up on the idea. Oddly enough, there was a name I recognized from a while ago. He was one of the group of guys, and I almost deleted him too. All he wrote was hi. Okay, so I returned the ‘ hi’ . The next morning I had a long post from him. We had talked a little bit about a year ago and he went on from there.  He asked if he could call me as he had never deleted my phone number from his address book. 

And so it began. 😉  He lives and hour away from me and is working on getting retired. He’s tall and has a super cute smile.  We have been out on a few dates so far and chat online more. We have just hit it off. We both were raised in a similar fashion… he knows something’ about horses, he was raised in a farming family and wants to live in the country.  So far we have been having a great time and I have been told that he has become ‘very fond’ of me.  We are becoming more than friends and it’s nice to meet someone who is not in a hurry. 

                                                                 Stay Tuned !!

Fun From the Past

8/19/24

Hope you enjoy these fun memories of mine… from almost 50 years of experiences. Sadly I don’t have pictures of my past horses… but if I come across them I’ll post some pics.

 I had an Appy mare who had maybe 20 tail hairs. (AKA: rat tail) My riding students thought it would be better for her to have a tail for swishing flies. I said ok when I saw the plan. Those kids worked and fussed over an hour to attach the’tail’. Keisha was so good at being patient. Of course, I had to come and see her after they were done.  “ see, Miss Kris?  It’s a delightful tail!”

 Keisha had been sprayed with fly deterrent so she wasn’t swishing that tail. She kept pulling it out of their hands. 

 When they took her out into the yard, she started swishing and then she started to freak out. She started turning around in circles trying to see what was wrong with her tail! Seemed like Keisha had never seen herself with a long tail before, especially one made from a bright orange kitchen towel…

                  

                               ********************************************************

I have to share this with you…  This little guy was 11 years old and he had just had a birthday, As one of his birthday presents from his parents, he was given horse riding lessons. When he arrived for his first lesson he told me that he loved horses and that he would be a great student for me.

Everything went smoothly with him learning to groom my ancient Appaloosa mare, Alli. Joey was cooing sweetly to her as he curried her spotted coat.

Joey gave Alli kisses and hugs too . It was clear to me that he truly loved horses, especially my mare.  I enjoyed watching him getting to be more comfortable around Alli  (short for All the Best)  She would turn her head around and nuzzle his little chubby tummy and Joey would just laugh.

We were all done with the first ride lesson and he couldn’t wait for the next week to get here.

Later that evening his mom called me and explained that by the time they got home, Joey was sneezing and had runny eyes… allergies.  She said that he was crying because he didn’t want to stop riding lessons. We both felt awful.

His mom said that she would send him next time with some allergy medicine and see if that helped. 

The day arrived for Joey’s second lesson …. He gets out of the car and comes running to the barn yelling “ I’m here, Miss Kris!” 

He was full of energy and smiles. Reaching in his pocket he told me that he had a treat for Alli.That he and his mom had made it. Apparently she had been thinking about safe treats for horses. He had it in a little box with Alli’s name on it It was so sweet to see him open it and show it to me and Alli. I showed him how to safely give a horse a treat and he was thrilled. 

‘ her lips are very soft and she is so polite’

That  lesson we didn’t have grooming  because of the dust and dander.  He seemed to be doing better Later that day my phone rang again. Joey had been sneezing and coughing since he got home… His mom said that he was in tears again. He didn’t want to stop… He would be okay, honest he would. Mom didn’t agree.So Joey was going to have to stop being around horses.  I could hear him in the background, sniffling. She said that he was going to make something for me and Alli, and that they would drop it off when he was done.

 Later that week I was called to be outside at a certain time because Joey had finished his creation. I was at the barn when they arrived. As usual, Joe came running to the barn, this time with his mom. 

He handed me a flat piece of cardboard that he had wrapped in Christmas paper. He was a little bit embarrassed because it was all he could find. I opened it up gently and inside was a watercolor painting of a little chubby blonde boy giving a spotted horse a kiss on the nose.It was all I could do to not cry… he was standing there beaming at me with tears in his eyes too. We all exchanged hugs and he looked for his favorite horse, only to find she was out in the pasture.  I told him to go call for her… see if she wanted to see him. While he was off doing that, his mom explained that he had worked on the painting until way past his before. They had gone to the store and picked out a frame that was the right size, and she had brought it along if I wanted it.  When we got to the car, we saw Joey and he was snuggling with his best friend. She truly was All the Best that day. 

I put the painting in the frame and it hung in my tack room ever since.

❤️😘💖💕💓💗❤️

Life….

 5.27.2024

 Well, its the day before my birthday. Used to be my birthday was special. Now? Just another day.  Used to be there would be a cake and some presents, maybe a special dinner out. Now? Just another day.  No celebration, no  family, no anything 

 I don’t know… maybe I’m having a tough time with all of this. Ever since I was a kid I looked forward to birthday celebrations. Not mine but everyone. I mean, we would not have a birthday if we had not been born, right? Therefore birthdays are important. The Only time I ever forgot a birthday was when I had just said goodbye to my Lynna a few days before. I really felt awful, but I couldn’t make it up. I had forgotten and that’s all there was to it.   

I realize that as we get older we might not like to be reminded that we’re another year older. Not me. I love to hear that someone remembered.  So many wonderful memories of birthdays in the past. Not mine but others I loved and went all out for.  Some of mine were pretty cool too. I always think of others before me and remembering them make me smile. 

So, if you have a birthday coming up soon…

                🎶💙 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!💐🎶

Or as Pooh says, 

“ many happy returns of the day !“

Oh Mine Gots!!!

 4/7/20

That’s a saying my Finnish grandmother used to say when she was facing a lot of problems.  I still can hear her. “ oh mine gots.Oh Mine Gots! Vot vill happen next?”  🩵🤗

Since I last wrote, things have taken a negative nose dive. Literally, twice.  Life was rolling along peacefully through the first couple of months. We got little to no snow or frigid weather like I dealt with when I lived further north by only a couple of hours. Mother Earth is definitely showing that climate change is real, and it's happening Now. At any rate, It was almost balmy in February. If I had been working on the farm, the weather would have been  a welcome item. 

Then March came along. 

On the 4th, I was driving to a Fed Ex location so I could get a package returned.  I was a little turned around and figured I would find the next area with enough room to get turned around and go back again. I saw a rabbit who had decided to sit on the pavement. Slowing down I waited to see what it was going to do. Usually they either make a decision to go back, or do the ‘death dash’ at the last minute. Apparently this one was undecided and just sat there. I had slowed down a little waiting to see what was going to happen. The stupid rabbit hopped right into my side of the road! By then I couldn’t get stopped enough to not squish him. I swerved to my right and all hell broke loose. BAM!!! I hit something hard and solid , air bags deployed and I couldn’t see anything. I felt my little VW spinning and I prayed for it all to stop. I did see the windshield cracking like a lightning bolt across from the right. And then things went quiet and still. I got out to see what happened and don’t you know, that flipping rabbit was no where to be seen. I did see the electric pole we had broken through. But my dear little car!! The whole right front fender back to the passenger side door was destroyed. It’s poor front wheel was all but separated from the car. I remember thinking that I ought to move my car off the road so I got back in and pushed the start button. She started right away.  We sort of limped off the road onto the driveway that was close by. One thing for sure, we were not going to get far had we wanted to make a getaway. Not that I would have anyway but we were out of trouble at least. All of the people that were in the houses were out there and I was almost in tears. My beautiful little car! There was no way it would ever get repaired. I knew that it would be totaled. The police came, took a look at my vehicle, asked me questions about what happened and I realized that I was not hurt. He kept saying that I was very lucky that I hadn’t been injured.  Like before when I would have had a nasty fall from a horse, going over a jump or simply being unseated the first thing I thought of was my horse. It didn’t matter that I could barely stand up -how was my horse?  I guess that was when the shock was hitting me because I was shaking inside pretty badly. No, I didn’t need to go to the hospital, I just wanted to reverse time about a half an hour. My roommate got lost coming to pick me up and couldn’t find where the location was so one of the other police drove me home. I had to watch the tow truck haul my car away and more tears were shed. It was truly a tragic day 

 About a month prior I had gotten up to head to the bathroom in the middle of the night and was not awake. I lost my balance and fell backwards. Landed on my butt( which was well padded) and slammed the back of my head on the floor.  This created a mild concussion. Whew, if that was a mild one, I would hate to have a serious one. Still the dizziness hits me if I get up too fast. Not to mention my bum hurt for a few weeks afterwards. Youch. 

On the Wednesday right after the wreck, my roommate had driven to where my SUV was parked in order to get the things out of it. I was carrying a cardboard box,forgot that there was a curb step down and Wham.  Free fall/ nose dive. Smack, on concrete.  My nose began bleeding like crazy and all I could think was that I hoped I hadn’t broken it. After 5 stupid hours waiting to see a doctor and getting ex rays / cat scan it was determined that my head wasn’t cracked but basically my nose was broken. Oh Joy. 

So far I had no idea what was going to happen as I had Never been in a wreck before. No car, my face looked like something from a horror movie and I unraveled right into depression.  My  SUV was totaled and I got a new -to- me Escape. It is nice enough but not like my Tiguan. I loved the little one.  This one is bigger, has more energy, a little better gas mileage and a bit more room but…. My Tiguan was completely paid for and was the only thing that gave me freedom.

                                                        Josie right afterwards 

😥😢😭🥺

The new to me Escape.

Lower mileage but a year older. It's in lovely shape, 

but it is not all mine. 

In time I  suppose I will learn to enjoy driving it, but so far? Ehhhh.

But wait!!

 There's more.

  A couple of weeks after I was carrying some groceries to the house. I had on a pair of slip on shoes and as I went to step up a step, one slipped off. Yep, down I went Again. This time I heard that nose crack. Another awful nose bleed and luckily not as much damage. Last time I had two black eyes and my whole face felt swollen. This time, just a little bruise. 

At this point I’m almost scared to do anything for fear of hitting the ground again. Needless to say, I’m done with awful things happening to me. 

Good things: 

I have had an interview with a bus company that is ready to hire me as a van driver. The day before the interview was, I got a call from a pet rescue/ boarding place 15-20 minutes from here. An interview is scheduled for Tuesday  I’m happy to finally have some way to make some desperately needed money.  I lived on my credit cards and it’s well past the time to get them paid off.

Stay tuned on the above.👆 

That’s been my year so far! I hope everyone reading this has had a Much Better year so far..

A belated happy Easter holiday and  I don’t know about you but I am looking forward to some happier times this Spring.

🩵🐥🪻🐣🙋‍♀️👩‍🦳🐰🐇🤦‍♀️🩵

Happy New Year!

A day or two late… 

Since I have been forced to enter the realm of people more than horses, life has changed. Being able to observe them easily, I think they are fascinating. I spent a lifetime studying horses and ignoring humans…but they are even more fascinating to watch. Sit in an airport and just look around, you’ll see what I mean. 

Told you that so I could tell you this… I decided to not continue seeing the guy that I had met. As I got to know him better I realized that he was a little more troubled than I wanted to deal with. We parted ways and few weeks ago. He was very wrong for me. This is why I have never been one of those women who go around professing their love to people after knowing them for a few months.  That’s lust or desperation to me. Nah, I enjoy being with those special to me and observe. He checked off most of the boxes in my ‘ want’ list but as I got to know him more, he was not willing to give me any time.  That among other things made me feel like I was marching in place. A relationship has to move forward or it stagnates, in my opinion. So we parted ways and after a few days I realized that I wasn’t into him as much as I thought. And that it was okay., 

I was laid off from work and am trying to get through to April without finding a job. This is the first year I have ever dealt with seasonal work. My carriage business was available until the new year  kicked in and usually it was nasty weather from then until Spring. Finances are tight but they have always been.  I have a small business going , well, almost going, on Facebook. Miscellaneous hand painted rocks, some suncatchers , etc.  A couple of nice photographs of mine and some other prints by some of my favorite artists. If you’re interested, and a part of Fb, the page is ‘Winter Wytch Designs ‘. I’ve done a few custom orders and they were great fun. 

Those are a few. 😇

In the meantime, I have met another man who is into horses. This is the second time I have dated another horse person, so we will see. He’s very nice..good sense of humor and smart. He’s supposedly retired but he is still working every so often. He checks in every  evening and we have a lot of different things to talk about. He knows a bunch about horses and loves the ones who are there now. 

 All in all, the new year has been a good one. Only a week into it! 👍👍Stay tuned as we learn more about each other.

Oh! IT IS SNOWING!!  The first snow of the winter. Here are a few photos of a city snow. I much prefer a country setting, but it is what it is. I have learned how to use the iPad to take photos 😁😁

Have a  wonderful  weekend 🩵🩵

Merry Christmas to everyone

 12/24/2023

Firstly again I have to apologize for my not being present much. Just when I think I have things under control I don’t.Anyhow I’m back and have a lot of things to write about.

                     Tonight is a special night and this is one of my favorite moments…

I used to tell my students that I was on personal terms with Santa. I had delivered him to many towns so we were pretty good friends. They would look at me with wide eyes and in wonder. How could I know Santa!?

 It turned out that one of the Santa’s had left a black glove behind and I would show it to the disbelieving.  It wasn’t long before they too were asking about him. This is truly my favorite time of the year. When true magick happens and love abounds. 

  Did you know that all animals are able to actually Talk on Christmas Eve? Yes they do ,and we are able to understand them!  It was and still is a beautiful time of the year. Cold days and colder nights ; maybe it will snow? So bundle up and keep warm, head to the barn or wherever you beloved horses are and sit quietly. As the clock strikes midnight, listen very carefully…. Hear them? They are talking amongst themselves . Hear them? Listen  closely. If you are lucky enough to be loved so deeply by them, You will be able to talk with them. Just maybe. 

Hear the Christmas bells ringing in the distance?  Be oh so still and tell God thank you for being allowed to come to a barn just like many years ago when a couple needed a place to stay. A barn is an incredible place to be on Christmas Eve, because it’s where a special babe was born thousands of years ago. We horse folks are very lucky to be able to be in touch on a Very magical night. Can you imagine us all sitting quietly in our barns, maybe holding hands and listening? 🎄🩵🎄❤️ 🐎🎄🐴

                                                  Shhhhhhh, can you hear them?

 

                 🎄❤️🐎🎁🎄 Merry Christmas…. 

                 And sending love to you all 🎄🩵🎁🐎🎄❤️

Men in general.

 7/25/23

Men,Eh? I have always liked them a lot. Not because they are good to go places with,but because they are more interesting than many women.

Women are to competitive and sometimes right rude about it. I imagine many of you have been in the “ I have more than you “ game… You know, they have more men, if they are married, or not , they have more money,diamonds, bigger farms,deeper pockets. Ohhhh,a higher paying job, a bigger barn,fancier trailer, etc. If horse oriented, it is worse I think. Maybe I just have watched it happen so much in the world of horses. Jealousy is crazy with women. Heaven forbid you talk to a man who is standing beside you at a horse show. 

Well I guess I don’t know how to play the game Or more truthfully, I don’t care. . I was never impressed by money. Yep, it can buy you anything you want but, I usually want to get to know the person inside. It’s what I look for.  Can’t be bothered otherwise.

Okay, back to the men. Don’t worry, guys, I still think that you are great. In my last few years travels I have chatted with and met some Very odd guys.  I think I mentioned that I decided to join a dating site and see how it goes.  When the subscription ran out I didn’t renew it. 

Early on, there were men who were incredibly picky about the ladies they talked with. They wanted a Barbie girl and at our age, those women didn’t exist anymore. I found myself thinking “ ya gotta be kidding me!” Oh, some even had body measurements listed. If you don’t have a PhD,then you’re out. Good grief! I was learning about what I would not want to meet. One guy kept sending me messages and wanting to talk to me. Turns out he wanted an “older woman “ to teach him about sex. HELLOOO?  🤪 The guy was in his early 50s. If he didn’t have a clue, then he was going to have to learn on his own. Another one didn’t want to see me again because I didn’t dress up like a fashion model for a lunch date …. Ummmm at a crab shack? Sorry pal. It began to get funny as the requests showed up. 

Unfortunately, I am a very kind person who has been used a lot. I should have applied my rules a little more but I started feeling bad for some of them. Wrong. One was looking for a woman who was a perfect choice for him. I really don’t think he actually knew what he was looking for, but I wasn’t it. Turns out, I’m glad I wasn’t.  A few guys I clicked with but it was distance or other things that kept us being friends.  There was one guy who lived a long way away and basically wanted phone sex. Ummmm, no thanks. One man I met was not a part of the site and I liked him a lot. Ha, turns out that his wife didn’t ‘understand ‘ him…. ‘ see ya’.  

 One needs to be careful when meeting people anymore… Not just sit and talk in a car, or whatever. I’m aware of the fact that there’s some real sick people who are out there. Scammers run rampant and I have learned to despise them when they show up. What a waste of time and air space.   The pill droppers are not for me at all.

So, I guess I am a picky person who is not going to‘settle’.  It’s been said that I am,from many men, lately. They’re right. I am picky and never going to make mistakes I made in the past. Which leads me to the man who is slowly stealing my heart. So far, he’s been great. Summer is a time to get out door things accomplished and the man is busy. We are getting along famously and there’s no frantic rush to get together every single free moment which I am enjoying immensely. Thanks to this amazing man who is becoming a good friend, I am finding myself smiling a lot more often. 😁🩵

Regards con’t: Decision Made

 7/20/23

The choice was easily made. Regards was hopefully going to be a mama. She had been letting me know that she was feeling a little bit sore after her jumping classes, so of course I let the boss know. We had a equine vet available for pictures to show us how her tendons were after her class.

Regards had been winning every class she was entered in and loving it. I knew by then that we were to go walking about before she would allow me to wash her off. She was such a show off. Anna had brought her to the point where Regards was racing fit and then added in a lot of gymnastics. To Regards,it was like a game that was so easy. She was  incredibly athletic. I wished I could have met her before she had beef almost wrecked mentally and physically. Wow! 

The last show for us,  and luckily it was close. Once she was all tacked up, Anna said that she could feel her mare’s excitement . It was time and they were in second place. Regards jumped each first round jumps easily, clearly enjoying herself. There were only two horses left to decide the winner.

The heights were raised for a jump off between another great open jumper and herself. Two had a very tricky take off angle and almost enough space to make it, so long as a horse was easy to turn and rate their speed. Two were monsters. It was going to cut the top horses from the lesser horses for sure. 

I could see Anna and the other horseman talking about it while waiting for their call. All I could do at that point was to wish them both the best of luck.  Due to Regards being a fraction of a second slower, was to go first. They entered the ring and picked up a canter, while Anna let Regards see the heights. Regards shook her neck and head as she was saying.   “ Let’s go, human… I have work to do!”

Anna aimed her towards the one simple jump and they sailed over it. Next was the first of the two tricky jumps. I knew Anna was glad she’d taken the time to look at those two. She swung Regards out to one side to get a better take off and left it up to her great mare to bring the ribbon ( and the huge check) home. 

They thundered towards it in complete unison and I swear Regards kicked her turbo booster into action. Leap, fly, land ,one stride .. leap, fly and land. She’d done it. One more to go….. they cantered around directly into the big fence. No easy angles for those two. With a Big grunt of effort Regards took off, cleared the huge jump and one stride after, she threw in a giant buck to let it know that she could have gone higher.

The whole stadium went wild. Anna asked Regards to slow down and then to walk. Anna was never a person to show many emotions, but I could see she was in tears and rubbing her wonderful mare on her neck, then top of her rump.  They exited the ring to allow the other team to have a good round.

I was drooling over the horse in the ring … he was spectacular. I had seen him before and he was absolutely perfect in confirmation. A huge deep bay, with a stunning head… wow, just wow. They took the first jump easily but came in the tricky ones a little bit too fast and had a pole down. The rider was done. He slowed his gorgeous horse down and took his hat off to honor the winner. 

Later when it was time to receive the awards, they both entered the ring together and cantered their way around the ring. They stopped in the middle and did a typical dressage move… hats off, and bowing their heads to the crowd, instead of the judge. There was some music playing in the background and when it was turned up, it was “We are the Champions “ by Queen. Anna and Regards turned around and went to the award presentation area, after she gave the second place winner a kiss on his cheek.  

 After all the excitement had settled down a little, we were able to talk about the class and how Anna thought it went. She was so incredibly amazed at Regards’ effort that each time she began talking about it,the happy tears began. Regards herself was still high from winning and was being an amazing horse. Allowing so many face pats and praise from her fans. She loved it. She would grab a mouthful of hay, then stick her head out of her stall for more attention. 

Something caught her attention and she lifted her head to see who it was. I had learned that her competition was named Sternlicht. He was a Hanoverian stallion who was at stud a few hours drive from the farm. I got to meet him and I was in love. Oh my gosh, he took my breath away. We chatted with the rider and when he walked away! I told my ‘family’ what I thought of him. 

 We had gotten the bad news about Regards’ tendon deterioration, it was decided that she would be retired from the show ring. The vet had let us see the injured tendon photos and they would not have lasted much longer…

We all agreed that the second place stallion was one stunning animal. Then my boss asked me I thought he would be a good stallion for Regards. 

??? !!!! 

I was stunned.. Really??? Everyone was nodding their heads ‘yes’.

 Come February, Regards was hopefully going to be a new mama… I could barely wait .

Regards….continued

 7.13.22

Finally, I had a full time job. Before I was morning help, but since I was being much more than that,  I was told that I would be getting full time pay and also an basic health insurance policy. I was totally pleased!   That was going to be very helpful for me to catch up on my bills.

 I had been working with one of my personal horses and she was lookin so very good lately. So good that I thought we could be ready for an easy day trip to a show. I just wasn’t sure though. I owned Appaloosa horses and loved them so much. One was moving into a wonderful English pleasure horse and one other was just so sweet under western tack.

Jellino had been showing in baby classes and he was loving it. What a complete show off he was! He would jump so high that it was like he knew this was for  ‘ babies’.  Each time he’d return happily and full of energy ,Anna had been saying that he might be more interested in eventing than a boring show ring. She was not sure if the damage that had been done before would rear its ugly head or not. This was one of the reasons I loved working here. The horse’s health came first… not the status or ribbons. This is why Regards had been held back before her re-entry to the world of show jumpers. To be completely sure that she would have a good time, and she did. In fact she still was. 

My little monster was growing like a weed. Every day she changed. Butt high for a couple of days, then she’d level off and be gorgeous.  Then it was back to “ Omg, Who are you today ?”  One day I was grooming her (she adores being groomed, especially when she is muddy) and was trying to get her tail a little neater when I noticed that she had a white area starting from the top of it and traveled about half way down. Sure enough, it was white hair… I asked my boss about it and he told me it was inherited from Cliche’s side … many decades ago a foal had been born with a white area in his tail.Try as they might, it would not go away. Owners had tried braiding it at shows, pulling the white hairs out so they wouldn’t show up… just didn’t work. I thought the white hairs in my filly’s tail were cool looking. In fact I told her that she reminded me of a little skunk. Oddly enough,that became her barn name. “ Skunk “. She was so incredibly friendly and kind,that there were times when I could not believe she was so young. She would pick up all of her feet for me, she’d let me brush her all over ,bend her little ears almost inside out, rub her gums and loved to get her tummy scratched. We’d go out for walks with mama and she’d have the best time with the snow. I could say the word to back up or to walk on with out touching her. Such a smart beautiful baby she was becoming.  Cliche’ was a great mama too.  She was patient but when little Skunk was wrong, she was firm in her discipline.

One morning, I was having some coffee with my boss’s daughter and she asked me if I was going to breed Regards,what stallion would I choose.After almost choking on my coffee I got out “ I have no idea “. Anna grinned at me and said that I should think about it because it was going to be a family decision. A “family “ decision? Wow. They wanted Regards leave a legacy for them after she was gone. Well, I didn’t have a clue but I was going to have to think about it all.  Hmmmm, a Hanoverian mare would match perfectly with What? Yes, I certainly needed to think about that. I needed some options to consider too…. 

A short one tonight..

7.12.23

 I am liking this man more and more in getting to know him.  We seem to agree on  important things the same. You know,like ethics, morals , and standards. I’m feeling like if this doesn’t become something “serious “, we will end up being close friends. Of course I am hoping for the first one.  I get called daily as we live a bit of a distance from each other. ( around 50 miles) It’s not close enough to just pop over for the evening. 🥲 He lives closer to where I work though which is cool.

He’s funny, smart and knows a lot of things that I have no clue about. He’s close to his family and I like that..  Plus the man has a Harley. Woooohoooo. Oh and he’s taller than me too! It’s a stay tuned sort of thing and we’re not in a hurry . Another thing I prefer 😃

All in all, it’s been a wonderful time getting to know who he is, really.

 Subject change… omg I was so hot today!  Summers don’t agree with me anymore. I now have the typical Farmer Tan. Just my arms are tan and that is it. It’s been many years since I have not been able to get more than that. Ah well,it’s been a great week and the horses are behaving, so life is going great!

                                            

                                                    Have a great day tomorrow 

  

Regards, continued & a Surprise!

7/8/23

The moment we got to the stall, there was a big crowd all wanting to see the super hero. She’d out jumped one of the best open jumpers on the East Coast.  Regards was ever so pleased with herself, she bounced all the way back to her stall. 

It was my job to give her a bath to get the sweat off of her coat and to help cool her off. Normally she loves a bath but today she was very anti-shower. We took a long walk around the show grounds to let her relax some and tried it again. No problem this time… it seemed like the “Jumping Queen” had appeared. 

‘Noooo, I don’t get a bath until I have been shown off to everyone’. 

Hmmmm….. seems as though the one that jumped over the moon (almost) was declaring the rules… silly ol me. Once she was dry and in her stall, I wanted to wrap her legs. Just a good rubdown and standing wraps. Hahaha, I would get one almost finished and she would reach her face down and pull the bandage loose. I would have to begin all over again. She’d offered to do that back at the barn but never as much as today. I told her that she was being worse than Jellino… she paid no attention, gazing down the aisle.

We loaded the up and got on the way home. When we arrived the whole farm was nickering and whinnying, saying “hello!”. Finally we were all done and I headed home to my little house.

The next morning, I was doing the normal routine turning some horses out and feeding the horses who were retired, living outside. Mucking up manure, setting up haynets and all that comes along with caring for a barn full of horses. The weather had been getting colder now as winter approached. Soon it would be Christmas time and I was excited about the gifts I had for the Boss, his wife and Anna.  It was going to be the best, I thought to myself.

My favorite mare was so heavy in foal that she looked like she was going to explode. She had two more weeks to go in her pregnancy still. She was miserable and it was like she couldn’t get out of her own way. She’d stand by herself so the other mares would not bother her. I tried to spend extra time with her and I think she enjoyed it. Plus she got all of the best carrots.

Jellino was flourishing in his new life. He wasn’t sore at all and acted like a big nincompoop when he thought he could get away with it. One day he decided that Jellino was to come in first rather than 4th… so he calculated the fence height and popped right over it, trotting into the right stall. I was floored in watching him. Wow!! From a trot,he cleared the 5’ fence easily. My boss was amazed at his ability. Perhaps we’ll have another jumper in the future?  He was a favorite ‘ big putz’.

 Because I had just about been living at the farm, I was told to take a few days off and then return on a certain day. I had time to get back to riding my horses and get everything cleaned up before the big holiday arrived. It was not as though I was going to get any company but it was nice to get home to a sparkling clean house. 

The morning I went back to work I was excited to see if everyone was alright.  Sure enough, there was Anna riding a colt who had been on stall rest for a while. He was looking sound as could be. The farm was able to redo the old track with Regards’s earnings and what a big difference it made. The new footing was slow to freeze ,making it much safer.  Jellino was upset being outside because he was no doubt getting chilly. I told him that if he kept running the fence that he would be warm in no time. 

I turned the broodmares out for the day and got started on the stalls. It was then that my boss showed up and helped me with them. I was thankful that it was not a big place like some other places. I would have been cleaning stalls all morning…

The clouds began rolling in as predicted and wow, the temperatures dropped considerably. A cold wind picked up making it feel a lot worse.At noontime,I was to bring my mares back to their stalls.They were ready, standing at the gate, whinnying for me to come get them. Two by two, they were led in. Every time a gust of wind hit them, they would jump around like one ton hippos. I could imagine the ride to the barn being an unborn baby that day. I didn’t see Cliché’ anywhere though. My last trip out was for Cliche’. I called and called through the wind getting no reply. ‘ where was she?’ my mind wondered… Still calling her, I headed down the long hill and saw nothing. All of a sudden I heard a gunshot. That was the way my boss let everybody know that we had to get to the house immediately. Dashing along as best I could, I still got there last  We all sat down at the kitchen table to listen to the news. It turns out that the neighboring farm had lost two of their broodmares last night. Heavy in foal and Stolen , it was like stealing four horses. We were told to be extremely diligent about locking doors to the tack rooms and feed rooms too. For the next few weeks, the security cameras were going to be on and to be sure that they were all working. That’s when I realized that I had not brought my favorite mare in yet. I asked permission to go look for her, so I left. 

Back to the broodmares pasture to see nothing. I hoped that by then Cliche would have made it to the gate. There was nothing but some falling snow. That’s when I thought.                 “ omg,noooooo!” Had Cliche been stolen too?? I raced to the house and tried to let everyone know what was happening. Finally the police arrived and took notes, listened to everyone and then checked for fingerprints on the gate. I remembered that there was an old gate on the other side of the field that might show something. We all tramped down to where it was and found it pried open. Fortunately the snow didn’t dilute the thieve’s  prints. The police were optimistic about having something to work with now, and left. I didn’t want to go home but I had to care for my two horses,etc. Once I got to bed, I realized how tired I was… it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

For almost a week, we heard nothing about “ my” mare. I was beginning to give up hope. Never to get gentle hugs from Cliche, or hear the soft nickers. I would never see her new baby!  Christmas wasn’t as good as I thought. It was just sad, waiting to hear from the police that all of the mares had been found. In fact , we decided to delay it until the mares were found. We asked neighbors to watch for the mares at any auctions or advertised for sale.  Nothing.  Even the guy that I had been seeing would drive all over, trying to see if the farms had any new horses. No one really knew him, so he could easily pretend to be wanting to buy mares in foal. Still nothing. It was as though they had disappeared into thin air.  New Year’s Day came and went with no news at all. The neighbors were concerned that they might have their babies early due to the stress. I knew that Cliche was due a few days after the first of the year. Her baby was going to be a special addition to the farm as she had been bred to a stallion known for his jumping talents. 

Where Was She???

One day when I was finishing my chores up, the barn phone rang and rang. Usually it was answered by those in the house. Not today though. Finally just to make it be quiet, I answered it. Turns out it was my boyfriend. He’d been told by a friend at work that someone had some horses for sale and cheap. He was going to see them after work and would get back to me. Of course, when I checked the house, everyone was gone. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where anyone was so I thought I’d just get done with setting up feed for nighttime and wait. It was close to 5PM  when they all got home. Quickly I told them the days events. They wanted to go see it those horses belonged to us and our neighbors. To do that would make a mess of things, so there we were, sitting around the kitchen table, waiting and willing the phone to ring.  Finally it did. He was not positive that the horses he saw were the stolen ones. We heard a truck drive in and it was the neighbors who had lost their horses too. They told him what white markings their horses had and as much as they could remember of anything that might ID them. We couldn’t think of anything else that would make the extra horse be Cliche when all of a sudden I remembered a little scar on her nose from when she had a small cut on it. I described it and my boyfriend said it was the right group of horses.He said he would try to stall the sellers as long as he could but it would not be long. The police were called and we were told to ‘just sit still’.  It was mighty difficult but we did it. I ran to the barn to make sure Cliche was coming home to a safe clean stall. It seemed like we waited for days but it was just a couple of hours.  Finally we got the phone call that the horse thieves had been apprehended and we were welcome to come get the horses. 

The old farm was a good 40 miles away but we were there and fast. Our neighbors were following us with their big horse trailer. The police tramped thru the snow to a barn way off to itself. As they slid the old heavy doors aside, there were our horses! Covered in manure and crud, tangled manes and tails, but not in terrible shape. I ran over to my girl and she whinnied to me. I was never so happy to see a dirty, big pregnant horse in my life. We led them out to their trailers and loaded them up.  We invited everyone to come over for a belated Christmas dinner later that weekend . I was in tears most of the time that day.; All happy tears. My mare had been found. There was no way I could thank my boyfriend enough. He truly understood me when I was so scared and he did his best to make things happen.  He had my heart at that point… 

The next day, I cleaned Cliché up as best I could. Got her mane and tail detangled, and curried her until her coat was shining again. She was so happy to be home . Regards was pleased to see her too. They had become friends when Regards really needed one. 

It was just about time for our delayed celebration and I wanted to get home to get out of the barn clothes.  I was just gone for an hour when I got a phone call to “ HURRY !”  Oh no, not another delay for Christmas! In no time I was rumbling down the snowy lane to the farm. The bosses wife pointed me to the barn. It’s hard to run in heels, let me tell you.  I followed the noise and realized it was close to Clichés stall.  Oh noooooo, she could not be sick… nooo.

I turned the corner to see she was down on her side and groaning something awful. My boss was there along with Anna.  I was going to ask him what had happened and he smiled. “She’s having her baby. “  

‘  No! She is????’ I thought to myself. I would miss the foals being born, only to find them in the mornings all the other times. This was my first time seeing a foal being born in person. And so it came to be a tiny black filly was born on that cold winter night in a barn with all of her family around her. Cliche did it all by herself and what a wonderful mama she was. I sat there with tears running down my cheeks, destroying my makeup. I didn’t care though. We turned on the heat lamps for a little warmth for the new one to get dried off under. 

After dinner we were sitting in the living room and relaxing when my boyfriend wanted to open gifts. He sure was in a hurry. So we all moved to the next room. It had been a parlor in the early days but was a TV room now. We all opened our gifts one by one, Ooooing and ahhhing over the gifts for the others. I got a gorgeous pair of custom made riding chaps from my boss and his wife, a perfect gold necklace with a silver horseshoe on it from Anna. That’s when my boss told us that there were two more presents for me. Did I want the small one or the big one?  Having never been good at choosing that sort of thing I said to surprise me. A small package was given to me and I had no idea what it was. I gently opened the paper and inside was a long jewelry box. My wonderful man bought me something beautiful I thought to myself…a necklace or bracelet… I sat there thinking of what it would be when Anna said

 ‘ if you don’t hurry up and open the box, I am going to faint’  

Well we all knew that she had never fainted in her life, so everyone laughed. As I was opening the box, completely expecting a beautiful piece while my boyfriend sat on the table beside me and watched. I opened it and there was nothing there.  Nothing. He said that before I got any further, there was something he had to say. I was confused and shook my head okay.  He said that he had been in love with me ever since he saw me take a nose dive off a horse at a show… that he wanted to protect me from anymore harm… only to give me happiness. Then he took the box from me and asked if I would be his wife… I looked underneath. There was a diamond and emerald ring sitting there. It had been custom made by a favorite jeweler just for me. I knew it was as I had drawn it out to show my boyfriend . I had no idea about the secrets and surprises going on that winter.

 

When he asked me if I would do him the honor of becoming his wife, I said yes,of course!  Everyone clapped and cheered. What a great Christmas!  I wanted to go to the barn and wish Regards and Cliché a Happy Christmas . My boss said he would be there in a few.  Due to my shoes already being ruined I slopped through the snow to the  barn.  

Quietly I slid one door open and stepped in. I didn’t want to wake anyone up so I was very quiet. Regards was laying down in her deep bed of straw, sleeping. Whispering that I loved her, she flicked an ear.  When I was almost to Cliche’ stall, my boss caught up with me. 

They were both awake and when Cliche knew it was me, she gave me a soft nicker. Her little daughter nickered too ( she had no idea what she was nickering about but she made a little grunty noise.)  It was then I noticed that she had something on her neck. It was red and well chewed. I looked at my boss in confusion. Had someone been in the stall…if so,what happened with the alarm ?  He was grinning from ear to ear and as his wife and daughter joined him, he said that I needed to go take the thing off. The little one might get hurt. I did but with a little monkey not wanting to be touched much, it got to be interesting. Finally I got it free and stepped out of the stall. Thinking who on earth would be so stupid as to do this to a baby.

By then my new fiancé had showed up wondering why the delay. I was standing there,holding the red “ thing “the boss’s wife said that she wanted me to read the words on it. Ooooookay,so I tried to read it even though there were places where I could not …slowly but surely I realized what I was reading. 

“ Merry Christmas, Kris.

    May all your dreams come true 

                and let them begin with Me” 

**Next, Regards becomes a mama, and Cliche’s Christmas Gift grows up.

The Attack Cat

7/1/23

Welcome July! I always thought of July as being Midsummer, even though it is not. What it is, is Hot!  Holy moly it is hot. Perfect for crops to grow and the hay to grow for winter feed. This year has been a great hay growing season. I look at it growing up , being made into bales and sigh to myself. No hay orders for me this year…  No one to feed it to.

Back to the reason for the title of this tale. I am owned by a lovely long haired cat. She came to the farm as a stray 3-4 month old kitten and stayed. She was scared and spooked easily when someone came by. Whenever she was in the tack room, she was as sweet as could be. Never did she act nasty or grumpy around anyone, ever.  She was a perfect barn cat. When I left she came with me. No way she was being left behind. I would never do that to any animal.

There we were, apartment dwellers. I was not used to it and neither was Simone. Cleo was all good though. Inside or out, Cleo was cool. I was planning a week long trip to Florida. Cleo would be okay being boarded… I didn’t want to but she would be fine. Simone? Hmmmmm…

The perfect plan came to mind. I would ask my brother in law if he could stop on his way home from work and take care of her. He said he would. Yayyyyy. Before I left I put her food on the dining room table with instructions. All was good.

The trip was a non event and they very kindly picked me up at the airport. On the ride home, I was told that Simone had not been very ummmm, hospitable.  It seemed that when my brother in law had stopped by to first couple of times… he said that he didn’t see her at all. The next day he said that she was laying on the sofa and watching him intently as he cleaned the litter box and gave her some more food and water.  

Then on the 4th day she was laying in the living room, watching him. Now this guy loves animals… so he would talk to her and make pleasant sounds to her. Simone hissed at him. She knew who he was because they had met before.

The 5th day, Simone was in the living room and hissed at him as he cleaned up the litter box and fed her. He said that she fuzzed her coat up, doubling in size, looking huge and fierce. The next, she did did the same with more anger.

As he was telling me about her, I was very surprised! Sweet Simone? Scared of her own shadow, Simone? She’s never been nasty to anyone, ever. 

The last day before I got home, she was ready for a big discussion about him even being there. She paraded around, doubled in size,due to fluffing herself up, hissing at him and growling. My poor brother in law didn’t know what to do. He quickly got things done and then as he turned around to leave, Simone was sitting between him and the door. Growling and hissing at him loudly. He said that he waited for her to move. Finally she did and he left as fast as he could.

Again, I was floored by her behavior.  Why on earth would she be so upset and defensive when she was not like that at all?  

When I got home, I didn’t see her at all. Finally she showed up and was so happy to see me! Of course, Cleo chased her away, hogging all of the attention. Later on, we watched some TV and I headed to bed. Cleo sleeping in her bed on my bed. 

The next morning, everyone was fine… no bad tempered cat at all.

The only thing I can think of is that Simone had been left alone and decided that she was the one in charge of protecting the place. This, the big protective measures… I don’t know if she would have gone any further than being intimidating or not, but I’m glad my now not so willing to feed her brother in law didn’t test her. 

 He said she was like a mountain lion in miniature. 

                                           Haha, not my sweet little Simone!

🩵💜🩵💜