Welcome, Cleo!

 11.11.20

Firstly:

Here's to a BIG Thank you to all of the veterans!!!  Thank you for fighting, working, and doing all you can to keep this country Safe.

After I lost my Sadie, I had pretty much decided 'no more dogs' right now. My heart ached too much and just felt awful. A few weeks passed and still, I didn't want another dog in my life. I'd looked at some rescues but nothing tempted me. I didn't want any more giant bulldogs at all. 

 One day I was catching up with some friends on social media and saw a message from a gal I know. She loves horses and would just move into the tack room if possible. Her mom had had some terrible things happen in her life and needed to find a home for her animals. What my friend had in mind was home for a certain dog if I was ready to love another one yet.  I told her 'no, I didn't think so'. 

 

About a week later, she put a post on her page about the dog... She was a Border Collie and was completely house trained and more.

She hadn't posted any photos yet, so I wrote and asked to see some.  The dog was so cute and I was hooked.

The gal told me that if I wanted, they could bring the dog over for me to meet, and I said yes.

It took about a week before we got a good time for us all to meet.

Cleo and her 'mom' and my friend arrived right on time that Saturday.

Oh my gosh, what a sweet dog! She knew how to retrieve, and do all kinds of fun things. She didn't pay much attention to me, which was normal as I held no importance in her life. She was friendly but truly loved her 'mom' and it showed.

I decided Cleo might be a good fit in my life and on this farm. We got things sorted out and that my friend was going to bring back all of Cleo's things. Cleo's mom cried at letting her go but knew it had to happen. I got teary-eyed also- I knew how it felt to do that very thing. To say Goodbye...

They drove off and Cleo broke my heart by sitting at the door, waiting for her mom to come back to get her. It was so sad... Finally she came into my office and stayed there with me. We went out for a walk and when we had returned to the house, my friend had returned with all of Cleo's things. How very kind to send her bones, and toys, along with her dog bed. She even sent some dog food to hold us until I could buy some. Wonderful instructions for Cleo, and information about her vaccinations, when they were due, and who her groomer was. I felt confident that we'd be alright after all.

That night, Cleo slept on the bed and was so quiet I hardly knew she was there. Ever since we have become very close. I love her totally by now and wonder what life was when she wasn't in it. She's incredibly intelligent and quick to learn anything. I have to be careful that she learns only good things. Cleo has been being a great watchdog for a few weeks now, barking her shrill bark, warning anyone who is outside that they'd better beware! 

 There happens to be a Border Collie on watch!

She comes to the barn with me when I go, when I leave to get errands done, if she can come along, she loves it. 
So we both are looking forward to many years of fun and laughter.

Below is Cleo with her most favorite toy- her "Loggie''

every night, we MUST take it with us to bed, or life isn't good.

She's watching my hand holding the tennis ball- set to take off to catch it.

Cleo waiting at the gate for me

Bringing her tennis ball to me

What a great friend she is!

Suzi from Pennsylvania con't.

 Suzi was setting in really well when I discovered she wasn't all sweetness and smiles.  One of the riding students went out to get her one afternoon and came back in saying that pony had tried to bite her!

"She WHAT??"

Yes- there was most likely the reason that pony had ended up at an auction sale. She bit people. She worked her way from students to the husband and thank gosh, it was winter.  Everyone had on big thick coats and there were no injuries. 

She really hadn't even a proper name yet and here she was biting people Not a good way to make pals, I'd say. 

One day the younger students and I had a meeting.  We had to come up with a name for " That Pony" and figure out how to go about her biting us. She'd not bitten me yet, but she had to be choosing a good time. Turns out she never did try to bite me- perhaps I'd been the one person who'd been kind to her?  She wasn't talkin...

We discussed what a good name was, and how to get her to not want to bite us every chance she got. One little boy said he kind of liked " joe" for a name until he learned That Pony was a girl... There were many names floating about for a while and all of a sudden someone blurted out " SUSIE!"  That was it- but we had to make it an 'official name'.  I can't remember how many times I've been asked " what is that horses' FULL name, Miss Kris??"  I didn't quite know what to say so I just added my last name on the tail end of theirs.  That worked fine... ''Susie". 

Hmmmm.......I asked what if we made her name a very special spelling?  How about "Suzi" ??  Short and sweet (that brought a lot of laughter) like she is.  That seemed to please everyone under the age of 12, so "That Pony" became Suzi. 

I had made an appointment with my equine dentist for early Spring of that year. As he was filing her teeth he asked me how old she was. I told him I'd been TOLD she was a 12 year old and he began laughing. I learned that day my pony was closer to being 25 years old! Alllllllllllllllright then!

That little gal knew how to drive, and she learned to be ridden easily. Many is the time I'd watch a student riding her only to watch her veer off to one side, and that student coming off. Suzi would trot back to the gate, I swear laughing the whole way. 

Suzi became a favorite of so many kids.  They all agreed that somewhere in her life, someone had been very mean to her. That was why she needed to show people she could hurt them. We learned about a big word "compassion" and understanding a pony who didn't speak English like we did. There were some who just wanted to groom her and 'make her beautiful'.   I bought her a brand new halter that was all hers, and she did grow more beautiful as she aged.

 Suzi also got so she accepted attention and yes, love, from we humans.

She surprised me constantly.  From driving all over the place, on the roads around the farm to being in a play. A local theatre group was going to present "The Wizard of Oz" and she got to be "the horse of a different color". Thanks to the guy handing the lights- she really DID change colors. Suzi's part in the play was to deliver Dorothy to the land of Oz towards the end. That pony was so wonderful- she learned to trot up steep concrete stairs and wait for me at the top. She stood quietly off stage, waiting for the singing to begin and she knew it was time for Suzi to go into the bright lights! And she stood there as the audience clapped and cheered. I'd hear a gasp of little people and comments like " OH A PONY!!!"  or "Mommy- look !"

I think Suzi realized it was her time to shine. She did, no doubt about it.

When I moved up here to Pennsylvania , I used her for a few riding lessons and she learned to canter and to not dodge the small jumps she was aimed towards. She was dressed up numerous times for Halloween and handled looking like a Princess or ballet dancer more than once.

When Suzi was around 48 yrs old (A guess on my behalf from what the dentist said long before) she needed to get her feed made into a gruel and she looked great. I remember one day, my old Appaloosa mare, Alli, and my younger one, Scarlet, and Suzi all romping about the barn area. They were so funny. Alli was blind in her right eye, so she kept swinging her head to see the others. Scarlet galloped and bucked - having a wonderful time. Suzi even tossed a few old lady bucks. I got some photos of them that day and cherish them because all three are gone now.

One cold day in December, Suzi developed a colic and even though the vet was out twice, we could get her past being so sick. When a pony or horse is so terribly ancient, one doesn't risk trying many things to get her feeling better. After trying a few different ideas, we decided to not try any longer. That Suzi had lived a long, contented life with me and to let her go in peace and love. She went to the Summerlands quietly and the other horses realized "our Suzi" had gone from us.

Alli- her best friend was very quiet for a few days and wanted to be close to me often. She grieved her little friends' death and was okay with it all eventually. 

My little pony who wasn't what I'd wanted turned out to be Just what I'd wanted after all.  She was friends with my Percheron mare, Lynn, when no one would be friends with her. She conquered her many fears, and taught us all so many things about old ponies who'd been abused.

 That, yes, they can learn that not all people will hurt them, and old ponies can learn to trust again. 

                                                          Suzi has an itch!

Scarlet during their big romp below.

Suzi was having a wonderful time too

"Our Suzi letting me know she just didn't wanna be a queen...

Suzi...

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Good Bye Sadie...

11.10.2020

This one has been taking me a long time to write because for a while, it was just to raw.

On August 28th, I had to make the decision to have my wonderful American Bulldog, Sadie, put to sleep. 

She'd been showing some signs of getting "old"- so I purchased her some Cosequin for dogs in hopes that would help her 11 year old joints.  It just didn't do much- but then again, I know that with some animals, herbal mixes/ holistic meds don't always work.

Then she began having troubles with breathing which just got worse. I made an appointment with the vet and had a time slot for a week later. ( apparently, the gal making appointments didn't see an older dog having trouble breathing wasn't considered much of an emergency) 

She was babied along and watched oh so closely during that week. The day of her appointment was the day she wasn't hungry.

She n' I arrived at the correct time and still had to wait to see the vet. It turned out to be an old friend of mine who'd taken our appointment. Sadie had been panting the whole time- and it wasn't "just stress".

We went into the room, and he checked her out, then drew some blood and came back and told me he wanted to ex-ray her chest. That there might be something going on with her heart. I consented and they took her to get it done.

The vet came out and asked me to come in as I needed to see something. There on my sweet Sadie's pix were her lungs.  Normally they are clear but Sadie's were black.  ( oh dear- here come the tears again)

I sensed that was a very bad thing to be seeing but I hadn't seen many pix of dog lungs. I looked at the vet and he nodded yes.  Cancer.

So I decided to let her go - that she didn't need to suffer more just so I could have one more day with her. I didn't feel a need to call my husband as she was my dog... I'd call him and let him know afterwards.

She got a shot to let her drift off to being present but out of it...  and then they lifted her up on the stainless steel table. That last drug was given to her and she left me very quietly. My sweet girl was more than ready to move on. There's nothing anyone can say at that point to help an owner feel easier or better. Doc just hugged me and told me that she was at peace. He had said a wonderful prayer for her as she was moving on, and I wanted to just scream out " WHY!?!?!?!?!?!  WHY, God?" 

When I was in the car, holding her collar and leash, I called home and delivered the bad news.

She was gone, and that was that. Not much was said at home but for telling him what had come to pass, and that was it.

I was lost- after losing SO many animals on this farm, Sadie was a blow. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to her yet, but I had to. No way will I ever allow an animal to suffer for my greediness for another day, or couple of days. She was ready, and couldn't let me know how sick she had gotten.  Talk about feeling guilty over not seeing her feeling so awful. Sadie was always so stoic and kind. Like Petey, she did her best to keep me smiling and loving her.

'Sadie- I did love you and am so horribly sad that I didn't notice when you tried to tell me you'd gotten so sick. I'll miss you for a very long time, and always remember how silly you were and how kind you were to all animals.' 

She was such a smart girl- and learned easily. Even things I didn't want her to learn

"WoodFinn's Rhapsody in White"

8/28/2020

Suzi from Pennsylvania.

  Quite a few years ago, a friend and mine went to what is now considered a 'kill auction' in Pennsylvania. I wanted another lesson pony and thought maybe, just maybe there'd be one for sale there on that day.  

Off we went, the day was a wonderfully sunny day but cold as it was December. We arrived a little late and a couple of large ponies I thought would do had already been sold. It was fine as I wasn't really thinking I would find The pony there. Back then, an auction was fun to attend. One didn't have to be concerned very much with the kill buyers being there and generally, the horses all had a reason why they were there but nothing like today's sales.

We looked around a little and climbed up in the bleacher seats to watch the horses get sold. The sale was winding down that day and I figured it was not going to happen. I wasn't going to find a perfect lesson pony that needed a little re-training and better care. We sat there, chatting with the people around us, and listening to the auctioneer do his thing. He called for 'any more horses left" ????  " Last Chance, folks!"

Nothing happened but in a minute, an Amish boy came into the ring leading a medium-sized " white" pony. Oh, she was fuzzy as can be and looked a little terrified.  All of the noise, the people so high up, and did I mention that noise?  I had learned to ignore it all but not a  little white pony who'd not ever been to a sale before.

She was cute and of course, my friend poked me in the side saying " Look!!  That's a cute pony!"  I didn't really want to bid for her as no one rode her, not the right size and I had driven my fancy pants car. Left the truck/trailer at home. All of a sudden she raised her arm up and waved at the auctioneer.  " Here!! "

He took her bid and I looked at her like she was crazy. Long story short, we bought that little dirty white 'wrong sized' pony for just a little bit of money. Now how to get her home to Maryland? Not being prepared at all for a pony mare that so far as I knew, wasn't trained at all.

I called my husband back then, telling him that if possible, take some time off from his job, and bring the rig to the sale. I told him I had purchased a Percheron, and needed a ride home. We had a good 2 hrs to hang around, waiting for him to arrive. We walked over to where "the pony" was tied.  It was a mare which was nice. She was small- we guessed between 12-13 hands tall and the Amish guy told us that he'd bought her out of Ohio where she was pulling kids around in a little cart all day.  Ok- so Maybe she knew how to drive? He told me he thought she was "around 12".  I knew better as I'd been to a few auctions in my time. "Around 12" meant she could be any age from 10- 30 yrs old. The pony didn't want me to see how old she was and I didn't argue with her. 

Finally, the husband showed up, bless his heart. She jumped right into the giant stock trailer and stood quietly. I thought that was a good thing also. Off they went,  my friend and I followed behind.  Got home safely, put her in a stall down at the end of the barn in case she came brewing an upper respiratory infection as many horses develop when at sales. Luckily she didn't get sick at all, in fact she settled in really easily. I got a chance to look her over better the next day and liked how she was built. Nothing outstanding but sound and basically healthy. Maybe I didn't do so badly after all.  She got turned out in a small area - away from the other horses again.

And that began my friendship with "Summer Storm"... AKA - Suzi. Stay tuned for more of her tales!