Take the Time to Learn from the Herd

I challenge you to watch your own horses in their pasture with their herd. Quietly set and watch, see how they interact, notice the subtle things that go on within the herd. Notice how some things are merely a ear flick or a look. This will give you great in-site on your horse. And when you walk away you will feel a wonderful peace for having shared that time and space with them.

The true character of the horse is never completely revealed in the stable or in the riding school, beneath the saddle or in harness. To know him as he really is we must watch him under the open sky, in the meadow among his own kind, for there we can see how different each horse is from his companions, how the ancient law of the herd live on, and how the hierarchy is created with barley an encounter.
-Hans Heinrich Isenbart, The Beauty of the Horse

And So It Begins

Yep fall is fast becoming its evil counter part "winter". Oh we don't have snow yet but they are warning us that we will see some on Sunday (yuk) you would think I would move someplace warmer. Realy no other place I can imagine to live that has what we have. I live about 30 miles from the West Coast of Michigan and if you have ever been here you would know why we all stick out the winter here. I knew the other day we had had one of our last nice days. I felt like an old friend was leaving town and would not be back soon. So sad.
Well the puddy tat is being a trooper and not picking on Found Her, but he is a bit of a stoner, yep a stoner. I have cat nip planted in a planter in the flower bed by the barn doors. I picked all the long stems of cat nip and hung it to dry and covered my roses and plants with straw so they had nice warm beds for winter but Cat keeps digging up the flower pot to get to the remaining cat nip. This morning I discovered he has managed to pull down the hanging budle of nip and was eating it. You never know what you might get when you take in a stranger HE he He. His herbal flea collar should come this week so maybe we can get rid of the darn fleas he has, poor thing. Horses are really getting wooley like big stuffed animals. Winter wool is soft and squishy, Mare gets a much longer coat than Gelding but they won't get too thick cause they go in each night. Looks like we will be looking to get more hay I started with 240 bales and did not plan to feed until October but had to have some in the summer until we got some rain again so I fed some of it through August and September, and I had some that moulded on the bottom so I sold it to a friend with cattle Lost about 25 bales that way. Figured on putting away some rounds rounds are those large round bales you see out in the field. With horses you have to be very careful though because they cant have mouldy hay and the rounds sometimes have mould if your farmer has not taken good care to keep it out of the weather. I guess I need to get that done. I hate the hay hastle. Price is high and handling the bales is darn hard work and it just never ends even if you have pasture like I do you need a small amount in summer if you put horses in at all. Well I have mouths to feed at the barn and they are expecting me soon so that will be all the clever thoughts I can muster for today.

I Thawt I Saw A Puddy Tat I Did I Did Saw One

I Well about 12:00 a.m. I wake up from the stupor I was in after falling asleep in the recliner. (A Really bad habit I have developed this summer) I go into my bedroom check to see the window is open just he right amount, about an 1 1/2" perfect for the cool weather, crawl into my down mattress covered bed and cover up with my down comforter. I cough a bit which is part of my fall ritual. I get settled and I hear Mew Mew sounds like a kitten, I have been expecting one. That is hard to explain but it is something I seem to know ahead of time. I have wanted one to keep my Found Her company this winter and hopefully help her stay warm, but I have not been sure she would like company, so I have not pursued a kitten, I decided to let her and the Universe make the decision. I wait to see if the mew noise is on the TV that is still roaring in the living room, and I hear it again right outside my bedroom window. I get up go outside thought I saw a tiny black kitten, but I guess it was a shadow, I go back in the house to get pants and shoes since I only have a night gown on, I go back out and there I see a pretty yellow-gold short hair cat probably last winter's kitten, not a tiny one its a male about half grown but not adult, it comes right up to the door as soon as it sees me peering out at it and he pathetically cries. He is not the kitten I expected but it is a male like I expected maybe he is the one? I knew I should not have done it but there was a can of food here that Found Her wont eat so I open it go to the door and the poor thing walks over and lays down and rolls to greet me, just like Found Her does, I put the can out and he goes to town eating it. He actually looks very healthy and like he has not missed a meal but he is hungry and knew to come to the door. I remember earlier someone was stopping just up the road from the house and I wonder if they dropped the poor thing off. In the country this seems to be a all too familiar scenario, people get pets let them have litters of babies then decide they have too many and drop them off at the first farm house they find. They either get ate by coyotes or get hit by cars or worse die of a long slow cold starving death during winter. I have seen cats and dogs treated this way. Heck there used to be some tame bunnies up by the cemetery that probably got dropped off. People in the country often shoot strays, people hate that idea but it seems less cruel than the alternative. My other half will not be happy that I fed it but I can't let it starve and he is not likely to shoot it he is pretty kind hearted anymore despite his upbringing. The cat does not seem to have hunting skills or it would not be up at the house on a night like this with a full moon, hunting should be good tonight for a cat. This cat needs to be at the barn, I hope he goes there, but I hope that he does not try to beat up my old girl if he does go to the barn. If he does go to the barn and behaves himself I will know that he is the puddy tat we are expecting. I guess we will have to wait to see.