May we pause on this day to remember all of those who have served and are serving to protect our freedom. Humans and animals who bravely faced dangers unknown and untold to make sure we can enjoy all of those things that we have come to take for granted. May we never forget and always be grateful.
Blessings to our soldiers and their families.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Whether we use a saddle or walk side-by-side, Boogie this is our journey together and I will always enjoy the "ride"~ DOR
I am leaving for rehab this week, so the DOR will be taking over my blog with the help of the rest of the herd.
The DOR and I had a long talk yesterday. I knew she didn't want me to leave, but she knows I need to go. She misses me terribly when I am not here. She depends on my daily smooches, hugs, and conversations...yep she talks to me all the time. But what I couldn't figure out is why she was afraid to have me go away. I could feel the fear every time the conversation came up. Turns out the DOR is afraid she will be told she will never be able to ride me again. Why would that make her afraid? I wouldn't be afraid if I was told that the DOR could never ride again. When she had her heart attack all we could do for a while was take walks, sit, and even read books together (yep the DOR read me books). The DOR and I have been working on this fear of hers. If for some reason I can never carry her again she can ride another horse. But really what truly changes? We can play in the arena, imagine the tricks I can learn (clicker training here I come). We can go down the trail, walking side-by-side. We can do shows, parades, take trips to the beach...the only thing that will be different is we will become more equal in our partnership.
The DOR has made a commitment to be serious about her physical therapy, she feels she can't ask me to do something she isn't willing to do herself. The DOR is also going to start studying equine therapy so she can keep supporting me in my journey. She is also on a mission to loose 100 pounds, she plans on doing an endurance ride next year. She also says that she and I will do an endurance race, even if we jog it together-she jokes about starting Special Olympics for horses.
Yep, regardless of how we take this journey the DOR and I will being taking it together for the rest of our lives and that knowledge brings us both a sense of peace.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This week has been an adventure. The weather has been rainy, sunny, rainy, windy, rainy, torrential downpour ...well mostly rainy. I am not a barn horse by nature, but I have sure appreciated being able to hang out in the shelter out of the constant rain. The damp makes my arthritis act up something wicked, so I am not running around like a youngster this week. Mushboy and the DOR make sure I get my medicine to help alleviate the symptoms and help me feel comfortable.
I like the photo frame around my picture, it has some of the flowers I like to eat and kittens that I love to give rides to.
It is sunny this morning and the weatherman says sun all weekend...I am not sure he is right, but I sure hope so.
The DOR and crew are giving us all a good grooming and massages to those of us who need them. The animal communicator will be talking the prince of bling, Jack. Jack will be leaving Sunday or Monday to go to rehab and she wants to make sure he understands what is going on. I am not sure what he is in rehab for, but it might be to treat he addiction to green apple biscuit treats. I do know that we will miss his fancy spotted butt while he is gone.
Freedom's Lady is scheduled to leave sometime this week also. I have my mush packed and am ready to go with her. The DOR says I can't, that she needs me here because I have work to do. Well we will see if she can keep me out of the trailer when they load up my lady, because once I am in I am not coming out!
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
We have had rain and lovely skies this week. A mixed bag, but all so lovely.Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Please go visit the other great Skywatch participants at Skywatch Friday There are wonderful photos from all around the world!
The DOR says I have to go back to work...
Seems that we are going to start doing walks, walking up hill, walking down hill, walking over things, walking around things. Heck we might even walk out and herd the cows around. I just hope the DOR knows that if the bull starts chasing us I am soooo outta there, she is not hiding behind me.
Why are we walking? Well the DOR says I need to tone up and so does she. I keep telling her it is all muscle, but she points out that muscle gets flabby if it is not used. Since I can't be ridden still we are going to walk. She even threatened to take me on a trail ride/walk.
The DOR is pleased to see that the supplements are helping to keep my coat darker.
By the way Miss Shandi Pants threatened to kick me yesterday. I am now interviewing the mares at the ranch to see who wants to teach her royal snottiness some manners.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
The DOR will stand for a long time watching me graze the pasture. She loves the hearts on my rear.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Here is proof! The DOR had the camera ready and Shandi gave me her "Jack's a tard" face. She shakes her head and sometimes curls her lip when she does this. I got the tard face last night because she had gobbled her treats and I wouldn't share mine. Well I think she is being bratty! I did give her a nip on her little smarty rear...that will teach her. If she doesn't learn from getting nipped I may have to give her an appy hoof on her butt. Any advice from the mares out there would be appreciated.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This is Sir Darby modeling one of the fly masks we are all wearing. The reason it isn't a picture of me is I keep taking mine of and hiding it in the pasture. The gnats are wicked lately and the DOR keeps thinking that we need our ears protected. What I need is to look spectacular and so far none of the masks she has put on me cut the mustard, so I just keep taking them off and stashing them. I even tried to cleverly disguise one with a pile of poop, but she found it....
If anyone has any suggestions as to a mask that will meet my coolness factor please let me know.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
There is no secret so close as that between a rider and his horse.
Robert Smith Surtees
Chapter XXX: Bolting the Badger, Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour, 1853.
This picture is a couple of years old, but the DOR and I like it. We can often be seen standing like this, sharing a secret, a quiet moment, just sharing the peace of being together. Well not exactly like this, I am not wearing antlers, but we do get our heads close and just share our thoughts. The DOR tells me things that she would never say to a person, and I keep all of her secrets. I know when she is sad, worried, afraid, mad, happy, or is puzzling something out. She says I am her therapist, I think it is just what a good friend does.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Spring is in full force at the ranch. The rain and wind has been a bothersome factor, but they are also a blessing. The dry weeds, leaves, and brush have been blown away. The rain has set our pasture to growing like mad. The grass is deep, little wild flowers are blooming, and I am gumming all the grass I can chomp. I hope that other horses have the great pasture that we do. Enjoy your eating.
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Here is the DOR while she is taking a riding lesson. She is concentrating very hard. It was a lovely warm day with a lovely blue sky.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!Please go visit the other great Skywatch participants at Skywatch Friday There are wonderful photos from all around the world!
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This is my Shandi Doll and as cute as she is and as much as I love her, she is in trouble with a capital T! Lately she has been naughty. She tries to stick her little dolly head in my treat tub and she knows better than that. When I get after her she stretches her neck out as far as she can, shakes her head and says, "Uncle Jack you're such a tard" and the skips off. I will be quietly grazing and she comes running by, kicks her heels at me and squeals, "Jack's a tard, Jack's a tard, Jack's a tard tard tard tard" and beats her little hooves to the far end of the pasture. Seems like every time I turn around she is making a face at me and calling me a tard. What is a tard? Why does she call me a tard? The DOR assures me that it is a word commonly used by many twerpy teenage girls. I am not sure I like teenage girls if this is how they act. Shandi better stop with the tard stuff or she is going to get a big ol' appy hoof upside her dolly head, or maybe I will start kicking turds at her.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
If you have seen nothing but the beauty of their markings and limbs, their true beauty is hidden from you.
~Al Mutannabbi
This is Ginger and she was one beautiful horse. Her coat was long and shaggy, she had cushings. She was a stout mare with a droopy lip. She had a think mane and tail, a tail that she would use as a whip on an unsuspecting human who had offended her. She was one of the most opinionated horses around, but she was also very kind and loving.
Ginger was often overlooked by humans because she wasn't what they considered pretty. Once a human was overheard say that Ginger was the ugliest horse they had ever seen. But there was more to her than her looks. Her heart and soul made her one of the most beautiful horses at the ranch. She was a wonderful teacher to both horse and human. She had a courage that none of us could match. She seemed to know what each human she encountered needed from her and she willingly gave that to them.
Those of us who knew and loved her feel bad for those who overlooked her or turned away when they saw her...they missed the company of an exceptional horse.
I want to encourage horses and humans to take some time this week and look beyond the surface of other creatures. Take the time to get to know a creature that you have turned away from or ignored simply because they didn't look the way you think the should.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This lovely bottom belongs to my girlfriend Freedom's Lady, aka Free. Yeppers that is me in the background standing there staring at it. I spend most of my day either looking at her lovely bottom or kissing her fancy face.
Oh my, life has been on delight after another for this old guy since she arrived at the ranch. I still got moves and Free loves me, she won't give the other geldings the time of day...take that you twerps!
The farrier and equine therapist are here to day so things will be hopping.
By the way Shandi is right, Jack is a tard!
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Warm, sunny, no wind, lovely clouds...a glorious day.Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!Please go visit the other great Skywatch participants at Skywatch Friday There are wonderful photos from all around the world!
Not me....the DOR has a new owner. Seems that ownership of the DOR is like a corporation, with several horses being in partnership. The new owner that has joined our corporation is a little mustang named Freedom's Lady. The DOR calls her Free for short.
Free has been here for close to two months getting acclimated to humans and attending basic "charm school". The DOR made Free a promise when she came here that she would always be safe and happy. As their time together was coming to an end the DOR began to worry that she had made a promise she couldn't keep, that is something she has never done in the past. So the DOR asked the rescue to let Free become one of her owners, along with the rest of us. While Free may not always be here with us, she will have the DOR watching over her for the rest of her life-an angel making sure her life turns out the way the DOR promised.
If you would like to read about Free, her past, and the journey we have all had with her here until now go to Freedom's Lady and enjoy catching up.
Just so you know I have Shandi in time out, she has been running around calling me a "tard". I will catch you up on that later.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
The DOR is getting a tooth fixed today, she broke it on Sunday. After that she is going to attend a RCER board meeting. I have heard a rumor she may be adopting a horse...stay tuned.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This is Dovey, one of the ranch cats. She is not friendly with humans, but she will hang out in the pasture with the old guys. She is not like Peanut and does not like to go for rides on Freedom.
We appreciate her because she is one great mouser, not a good thing for the mice though. She keeps our grain bins mouse free...
Thank you for all of your hard work Dovey.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
This is me and my mom the day after I was born. As you can see I have her head, tail, and back.
I want to wish all of the moms out there the best Mother's Day ever!
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Another day when our favorite mountain was at her grandest.Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!Please go visit the other great Skywatch participants at Skywatch Friday There are wonderful photos from all around the world!
Today there was less wind compared to the past few days. Winds up to 90 MPH on the hill have blown for the past three days.
I am glad that it is calmer. The DOR does not hurry as fast with her chores. She spends extra time brushing and massaging all of us. She is happier too, getting all of her horse smooches.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
New stirrups for the new saddle....BLING
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
I don't like the wind. I really don't like it when I have to walk through the alley way from the barn paddock to the pasture, I call the alley "blue tarp hell". Yep I went there and used a potty word...I'll do poop duty for that later. Going through the alley past the flappy trap is horrid for little spotted ponies. Shandi's one job in this world is to walk between me and all blue tarps, after all she can't spend her whole life being cute. Well yesterday she didn't want to go to the pasture after our treats at the barn and I did. I tried chasing her out of the paddock, but she is quick and sneaky. Shandi started down the alley then she sat on her haunches and spun, running back to the paddock. Well that was just plain dirty pool...she knows my hind end isn't working right yet. I went back to the paddock and chased her out again, I even nipped her little rear. She tried to spin past me again, I blocked her with my big rear and bumped her into the hot wire. I think that taught her a lesson because she stuck right by me going down the alley. Once we were at the end of the alley she turned and went back to the barn paddock, that was just fine because I was well past the tarp. When she got to the barn the DOR gave her more treats...I called for her to come back and get me and she just ignored me. I called again and Shandi looked at me like I was a big chicken. I am not a chicken, I just want her to understand her place in the herd. I'll show her tonight, I am staying in the paddock and getting all of the treats-so there!
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Sir Darby has been doing a grand job standing in for me with the DOR and I appreciated it. This weekend her grandson Calvin came down to visit for the weekend. He was very thrilled to see me and wanted to ride, I couldn't take him riding yet so I had Sir Darby stand in for me. Sir Darby took Calvin on a couple of spins around the pasture. He was very careful with his precious cargo.
I plan on taking Calvin for his next ride.
Have a good day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Wow grandma, I love that horse! It is spotty and big-I think he is the best horse in the world.
~The DOR's grandson
The DOR's grandson came out to visit. He is nine and the smartest kid in the whole world, I know that because he said I was the best horse at the ranch. He liked my spots and came in to give me scritches. The DOR stood right by him to make sure that I didn't bump him or nuzzle him to much. He kept looking up at me and saying how big I was, how pretty I was with my spots, and how nice I was. I kept kissing on him...you see I have a soft spot for little human foals, they are so cute. The DOR took him to meet all of her other horses after I was done with my treats. He gave them all their treats and then came running back to look at me some more. He asked the DOR if he could feed me more treats, she gave him some cookies for me to eat. He asked if he could go for a ride on me, oh how my heart sank. I would loved to have given the little guy a ride, but I can't do that yet. Well all the more reason to get better soon, because the DOR's grandson said the next time he comes to visit he wants to ride me. He said that he wants a horse just like me and called me his buddy Jack.
Isn't it wonderful to see a small human fall in love with horses. It is a wonderful feeling to be the first horse a child loves, a bit like the Velveteen Rabbit in the book and his friend the Skin Horse. Well now I have a new goal, to recover enough to be able to give the DOR's grandson a ride on the horse he thinks is the best horse in the world.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
I want what I want, when I want it!
This is me a few years ago teaching the SCC's niece how to ride. Yep, I can still do a few fancy moves and I showed them to the DOR this week. She put me in the big barn paddock for the evening, thinking that I would appreciate being able to move around a bit more and not get so stiff over night...I didn't! I don't like change and she knows it. I am not sure why she forgets, it must be her old age. I ran around the paddock screaming and then decided that I would jump the fence. Laugh if you will, but I jumped the fence two years ago when the DOR put me in a new pasture, actually I went over two fences to get back to my old pasture. The DOR decided then that she wouldn't ask me to change pastures-I guess I should have included paddocks in the deal. The first attempt this time was from a stand-still and the DOR yelled and waved at me, she destroyed my concentration so it was a no go. I made a second attempt after trotting around the paddock, but the DOR saw it coming and tossed poop at me yelling "Freedom, stop, no, you will hurt yourself you old fart!" Well that was just plain rude if you ask me. She hurt my feelings a bit and I wasn't going to stand for that. I waited until I thought she was distracted and made a run for it. I loped to the fence, it was only a 4 foot jump and I was uphill from it so I knew I could clear it. The DOR saw me out of the corner of her eye and darted to get between me and the fence. Well that wasn't good, not good at all because I had started lifting my front feet. She waved at me and roared like a bear, she turned her back and went left I leaned right and clipped her shoulder ever so slightly as I scrambled to put the brakes on my jump. I knew I couldn't clear the DOR and the fence...after all I am not a fool. I am sorry about clipping the DOR, but she was in a bad place at a bad time...
Now with my third attempt to get back to Salty and MY PASTURE foiled I had to result to throwing a king sized fit. I screamed, I ran, I snorted, bucked, rolled, and even resorted to shoving the DOR towards the gate...I definitely went to level 4+ to get my message across. There are advantages to being old and having cancer, the DOR opened the gate and let me back to where I wanted to be. She said "Freedom you are going to give yourself a heart attack or kill yourself trying to get out, so go. I guess you can just be stiff in the morning and suffer through it." She hates to see me upset so she always caves in when I have a baby fit, I am careful that I don't do it often though.
I would have like to have shown the DOR I can still jump a fence. I still have the moves and the spirit. The nice thing is in her heart the DOR knows I could have jumped if I wanted, she just worries about me. She calls me the energizer bunny and says I will live forever, we both know the living forever part is not true. I still move like a teenager and that makes us both smile. So the DOR has now decided that "What Freedom wants, Freedom gets!" Oh goody!
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR!
Spring is in full force at the ranch. The rain and wind has been a bothersome factor, but they are also a blessing. The dry weeds, leaves, and brush have been blown away. The rain has set our pasture to growing like mad. The grass is deep, little wild flowers are blooming, and I am gumming all the grass I can chomp. I hope that other horses have the great pasture that we do. Enjoy your eating.
Happy birthday Mushboy!!!
If you have seen nothing but the beauty of their markings and limbs, their true beauty is hidden from you.
This lovely bottom belongs to my girlfriend Freedom's Lady, aka Free. Yeppers that is me in the background standing there staring at it. I spend most of my day either looking at her lovely bottom or kissing her fancy face. 
