Meet Missy

Missy is an adorable large pony who we have the pleasure of hosting in her retirement. Missy has truly earned her retirement and her golden years as she knows what it is like to work very hard for her living.

Missy

Missy worked for most of her life on a dude ranch out west. (I'm leaving out some specifics to protect the guilty). Her job was to be the safe and reliable mount for the kids visiting the ranch. She must have excelled at her job since she worked at the ranch until her late teens. All of the years of hard riding finally caught up with her at that point and she was repaid for her sixteen or so years of nonstop service by being dumped in the kill pen, very thin and crippled.

Missy grazing with Buffy

There was a guardian angel looking out for Missy though. An employee of the ranch was able to network on behalf of Missy and made contact with a family who agreed to purchase Missy and provide her with the home she had earned. Missy was literally pulled from the kill pen at the eleventh hour and her life suddenly took a dramatic turn for the better.

Teddy and Missy enjoying our snow that we had for almost an entire day in December. In Missy's former life (and location) I have no doubt she saw a LOT of snow, and I'm sure she wondered why we were so excited about this!

The family nursed Missy back to health. Thanks to their love and care Missy gained weight and her coat became healthy and shiny. Through cooperative efforts with their vet and farrier Missy was sound and comfortable enough to do light trail and pony rides for their children and their friend's children as well. Missy was and is wonderful with small children thanks to all of her years at the dude ranch. After a few years even the very light riding became more than her arthritis could handle and Missy was fully retired.

Missy never has to worry about being emaciated and hungry anymore

We are thrilled to have been chosen to host Missy's retirement. She is a wonderful addition to our family of retirees and wins the heart of everyone. She has the kindest eye I've ever seen on a horse and is incredibly gentle and quiet. Every horse crazy kid should have the opportunity to love a pony like Missy.

Missy grazing with Teddy

Missy strolling through the pasture. She also has a nice wardrobe in her closet now as well!

More Sharing

of pictures of our residents . . . that I didn't take! I shared pictures of Sebastian and Faune in this post that were sent to me by their moms. Sebastian's mom sent me another variation on the same picture. This one is equally as good but with a much more humorous slant to it!

She also sent me a picture of Henry, her other horse, who is here for some R&R. One of Henry's favorite holidays is Halloween, and he dresses up every year. She sent me a picture of Henry in his most recent Halloween costume.

Sebastian sending out his version of holiday greetings. I said it in the last post but I have to say again how young he looks with his dark gray mane!

The first version that I shared in the previous post. This one needs to be a Hallmark greeting card.

Henry dressed up as a cow for Halloween this past fall. I love riding and showing as much as the next person but to me these are the times you remember the most, just having fun and being silly with your horse. I think they both look pretty pleased with themselves!

I've Mentioned This Before

but truly sometimes I amaze even myself. You've seen many pictures of Sparky the donkey scattered throughout my blog. Sparky is an awesome donkey and is a lot of fun to have on the farm. The horses all love him and one of the highest honors on the farm is to be Sparky's best friend. In reality Sparky's best friend is Poco the shetland pony but all of the "big" horses are just fascinated with Sparky and like to stake their claims on him.

I randomly picked up a magazine about mules and donkeys a couple of weeks ago at TSC. I was enjoying reading about donkey behavior and reading about the inner workings of Sparky's mind. Then I was reading the article on health management expecting to confirm that I did everything right for Sparky. He is trimmed by the farrier every six weeks, is de-wormed on the same schedule as the horses, has his annual vaccinations, has his teeth floated annually, etc. I guess I was getting ready to break my arm patting myself on the back for my excellent care!

Well, instead I learned that I am a horrible mom to Sparky and have been torturing him for ten years! I learned that donkeys don't have an undercoat like horses do to protect them from precipitation or wind. I've never blanketed Sparky and yes they have shelter but no they don't stand in there every time it is windy or raining. So I guess I should have been blanketing him just as I do the horses and never have. The last time one of my equine vets was out (two weeks ago) I questioned him about this whole donkey/no undercoat/does he need a blanket thing. He told me that many of his clients that have donkeys blanket them.

So I inform my parents (who actually own Sparky) that we have all been remiss in our care of Sparky and he needs a rainsheet and a blanket. NOW! They are happy to go along with this and tell me to order them. Well I got busy and forgot and now we are having a bad cold snap, as in cold that we don't normally see in middle Tennessee. It is supposed to go down to six degrees tonight. Now I lived in Vermont for a couple of winters and my horses lived out 24/7 in temperatures MUCH colder than that but we're not used to this in middle Tennessee. And I left Vermont and came screaming back to middle Tennessee because I hated the winters. I loved Vermont and it was so beautiful but I just can't stand cold weather and they had seriously cold weather in Vermont.

So last night I'm freaking out because I forgot to order blankets for Sparky and have decided he will die from being cold. Oddly Jason was totally going along with all of this and humoring me, as he suggested last night that we run over to TSC and see if we could purchase a blanket for Sparky. (I realize he probably just wanted me to shut up, I'm not that stupid!) We purchased a 75" blanket for Spark-man which I knew would be way too big for him but I thought I could have it as a spare for some of the other horses and order him the appropriate size blanket for future use.

Sparky was extremely cooperative when we put his blanket on him today. Like, he just stood there. I thought he would have a problem when we tossed the blanket over him but he stood like a statue while we buckled him in and did up the surcingles. Jason swore he was smiling when we were done. Sparky really did seem quite pleased with the latest turn of events. So now I can rest easy tonight knowing that Sparky is wearing a blanket and I am back in the running for world's best donkey caretaker. I don't know how I manage to get myself into these situations like trying to find a blanket for a donkey at the last minute after he's survived without one for TEN YEARS!!

Jason and Sparky after we finished putting his blanket on. We thought it would take two of us to complete this task. We didn't even need to bother having a halter on him much less have two of us on hand.

Poco offering to help Sparky remove his blanket

Just Another Day

Today was just another day on the farm. A very pleasant one really. The first thing I do every morning when I wake up is I start soaking the bucket of alfalfa cubes that I bring in the house with me every night. A couple of the older residents have teeth that are not in great shape, or I should say the few teeth they have left aren't in great shape. So they get a mush of alfalfa cubes and complete feed a couple of times a day. Personally I think waking up and preparing for the day to the smell of alfalfa is as good as or better than the smell of coffee. I happen to love the smell of coffee but hate the taste so I'm not a coffee drinker. Jason always has his morning cup though.

We're still in blanketing season of course and I've been playing a bit of musical blankets. We'll have a a few days where it is pleasant and everyone on the farm is nekkid. Then it will cool off just a bit and the ones that I tend to blanket the most aggressively will be wearing sheets, and if it is also supposed to be really windy or raining then everyone is wearing sheets. And then of course there are the times when everyone has on their blankies.

We're getting ready to have a cold snap the next few days with the evening temps well below freezing for the next three nights so all of the horses are sporting their blankets. I am definitely loving my new cart as I hauled blankets all over creation in it today! I have to say it is quite a satisfying feeling to think of them all snuggly with their blankets on. And I do realize that is classic anthropomorphism and most of them would be just fine without their blankets. It definitely does a lot for my mental health though!

Jason teases me about my cart full of blankets. I bought some bungee cords so I could strap down my big, puffy loads of blankets. The top blankets would shift and fall out when I hit bumps. Anyway, Jason and I rarely watch TV (like almost never - our TV will go weeks at a time without being turned on) but we stumbled onto the TV show Ice Road Truckers one time. When we do watch TV we like the History Channel, Discover, Animal Planet, National Geographic and such. Yeah, we're pretty boring! So we've watched Ice Road Truckers several times and you would always see these guys out in -40 weather strapping down their loads on their big rigs to head out onto the ice road. Thus Jason calls me the Paradigm Farms Trucker when I am strapping down my blanket loads in the cart. Re-reading this paragraph makes me realize we need to get our more often or something!

Leo, Homer and Elfin in their blankets

Clay, Snappy and Lucky in their blankets. I really like Lucky's plaid blanket.

Silky whom we ended up nicknaming Slinky (long story!). Jason dubbed him "Slink in Pink" when he has his cute little pony blanket on.

Missy, another cute retired pony sporting her blanket. Maybe we should switch her blankets with Slinky's and she can wear pink and Slinky can take over her more manly colored blankets.

Chance lounging around in his blanket with Bella the dog admiring his taste in fashion.

What Is It Really Like? Part II

I mentioned in my first post on this topic that I hear from many people that I have their dream job. For that matter I have MY dream job! However there are times when it feels a tad bit less than dreamy. This morning was a great example.

We've had tons of rain the last few weeks. The mud in the traffic areas by the gates and water troughs is ugly. Thankfully the pastures are holding up ok away from the traffic areas. It would sure help a lot if the horses didn't gallop around digging their hooves into the ground and then do sliding stops and destroy the grass roots but I digress . . .

Today I was thinking about a discussion that Jason and I have been having about finding more help. We have some great help now (you know who you are!) but we've talking about adding some more. I was writing the recruitment ad in my head as I was working this morning and here is what I came up with:

Help Wanted
Horse retirement farm in middle Tennessee is seeking a horse lover to assist on the retirement farm. Do you like working outside in the rain for 2-3 hours at a time? Do you like to work outside when it is cold and windy? Do you like to work outside when it is hot and humid? Do you mind getting mud all over you and having no shortage of dirt under your fingernails? Do you enjoy scrubbing water troughs, even when the water is freezing cold? If you enjoy exercise this is the job for you! You must be able to walk extensively through pastures and up and down hills. You need to be able to lift 50 lbs.

This job will require you to work on holidays, weekends, birthdays, when you are sick and when there is a family emergency. You need to be willing to put on and take off horse blankets and sheets, even when it is windy and the blankets are blowing around like kites as you are trying to put them on the horse. You will especially love this part of the job when the blanket has caked, dried mud on it that blows all over you during this process! You need to enjoy cleaning and rebedding stalls, scrubbing and refilling water buckets daily and sweeping the barn aisle. You will stack more hay bales than you ever thought possible in the spring.

In exchange for being wet, cold, hot or sweaty as dictated by the weather you will have the opportunity to spend time with horses from all over North America. These horses will all have unique and interesting backgrounds that you can learn about. You can tell them how pretty and special they are as you groom them (after you've done all of the hard labor of course). You will also get to be outside when the weather is perfect, the sky is blue and your surroundings couldn't be more beautiful, but please keep in mind there is a lot of cold, wet, windy, hot, etc. weather in between these days.

In summary the pay is not great, the work is hard and never ending, and no one will care if you are sick, hurt or otherwise incapacitated. You will work in whatever weather conditions happen to be present each day. The horses will act like you are their long lost best friend every morning at breakfast and again at dinner. You will be able to chat and catch up on all the local gossip with the vet and farrier as you will see them regularly, and in fact you will become friends with them. You will be able to put on and take off blankets in your sleep. You will be dirty most of the time. If interested please respond to blah, blah, blah.

_________________________________________________________

Do you think I would have any takers?

Pictures

This will probably come as no surprise that I am still way behind on posting pictures. In fact, just as in my last picture post, these were taken in late October. I like looking at these pictures better than my current ones anyway. Everything is still green and pretty, just the way I like it!

Asterik And Sebastian grooming each other

Ogie nappingAsterik was keeping Ogie company while he napped
Homer rollingHomer looks very satisfied

Apollo sticking his tongue out at the camera

Ivan, Homer, Apollo, Elfin, Chance

Harmony, Teddy, Buffy

Asterik and Faune

Trillion, Faune, Asterik and Sebastian

Ogie

Asterik

Chance, Elfin, Homer and Bella the dog

Leo and Homer

Elfin, Apollo, Ivan

Elfin

Homer

Apollo with Ivan behind him, Homer and Chance

Leo

Pretty pathetic, we just celebrated the New Year and I'm posting Halloween pictures! Jason loves to carve pumpkins every year. Me not so much, but that has more to do with the fact that I really suck at it than anything else!

Faune

Sebastian

Jason took this picture to send to all of his friends in Ontario. October 30th with bright sunshine and low 70's, leaves still on the trees and green everywhere.

Trillion and Sebastian with Faune grazing in the background

I Really Love Him But . . .

Just as a warning this post has turned into a bit of a rant from me, and if I've offended you I don't really care. You probably deserved it. This is my blog and therefore MY opinion is the one that counts here!

NOTICE TO HORSE OWNERS:

Please do not call me, e-mail me, or contact me in any way about retiring your horse for free. The answer is NO. I can't afford to retire your horse for you. I have my own retirees that I am supporting.

And while we're on the subject I've got a news flash for you. If your horse is truly unrideable and pasture sound only, no one else is going to want him. Look at the thousands and thousands of horses that are shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter every month. EVERY SINGLE ONE of those horses could have used a companion home like the one you are seeking for your horse. Do you know how many truly good "companion" homes there are out there? VERY FEW in case you are truly interested. There are lots and lots of horses out there that have lost their "value" as far as riding horses. There are a few people out there who will take these horses as they feel sorry for them but the ratio of horses needing kind people who will assume the responsibility vs. people who are trying to dump their liabilities on someone else is pretty dramatically skewed, and not in the horses' favor.

Does it really make you feel better to go on and on about how much you love Dobbin and how great he is and what a wonderful horse he is as you are trying to dump him? And for the love of all that is holy please don't tell me how you can't afford him anymore since you now have a new horse to ride. The issue here is not that you can't afford him it, is that you won't afford him now that he is no longer rideable. If you could afford him when he was rideable, and you can now afford another rideable horse, the only problem here is that you don't want to pay the bills now that things aren't perfect anymore. I think my favorite part about these predictable conversations is that you will be checking references and a good home is a must. So you will be demanding that someone else step up and do what you aren't willing to do, and apparently they need to be willing to give a lot more than you are!!!

Since I'm on a roll now I have a few other tidbits for you to think about. The therapeutic riding facilities are not on the hunt for unsound horses. They need horses that can work in their programs. The horse rescues aren't standing around going "gosh, I really hope someone brings us another horse to take in today. We have all this space, time and money but no horses to take care of." The university equestrian teams need horses that are suitable for riding and showing.

To summarize things here, the bottom line is if you really care about Dobbin as much as you claim to, suck it up and do the right thing. Either cough up the money to continue to support him, and if you are absolutely unwilling or unable to do that then euthanize the horse. Trust me when I say there are far, FAR worse fates for a horse than euthanasia. I've had more than one horse show up here after it was given away as a companion, only to be given away again and again and finally wound up starving somewhere. These two horses were lucky because in each case a good Samaritan was willing to take the time and effort to track down the horse's story and find the old owners.

Oh, and in case you are wondering I have walked in your shoes. I had to retire my horse young due to injury and I basically didn't ride for a few years. I wasn't in a position to replace her and support another one at the time that it happened. So yes, as a matter of fact I do know what it feels like to be dealt a bad hand of cards. I chose to support my horse because I wasn't stupid enough to think that someone was going to do it for me. Or maybe it was just that my parents taught me about this thing in life called responsibility. Or maybe it is just that I really do love my horse. Bridget gave me everything she had when I was riding and showing her and I couldn't have looked myself in the mirror knowing I had dumped her to an uncertain fate. She is still with me today at the ripe old age of 16 years young and I smile every day when I see her.

Bridget in September of this year

Bridget packing a friend's sister around in short stirrup. I don't actually have any pictures of me showing her saved on my computer. She's jumping the snot out of this tiny little jump, she jumped the kid loose!

Bridget napping with her roomies in October 2007. Bridget is the one in the middle lifting her head, I disturbed her nap when I walked up with the camera.

Bridget under the lights in my arena; I think I took this in 2001

December 2002; Bridget letting me know she wasn't too happy about being kept in for a few days due to weather. She has never lacked for opinions! This picture was actually published in the Chronicle of the Horse a few years ago, Bridget rearing with a mouth full of hay!

Lights, Camera, Action!

As most of you know Jason's education and professional experience is in large animal nutrition. To say the least he is a handy guy to have around the retirement farm! Jason has developed many contacts in the nutrition field over the years. A few weeks ago a professor from Cornell University that Jason has worked with before asked if he could bring a camera crew to our farm to get some footage for a video he is working on that will be about feeding horses.

Bear did NOT understand why he wasn't an integral piece of this production. He tried to make himself a part of it anyway.

Of course the first thing that went through my mind when I heard this wasn't "that's neat!" but "can't he find any horses closer to Cornell than middle Tennessee?" As it turned out the production company he is working with is based out of Nashville, and it was cheaper for Charlie to fly here than for the crew to travel to Cornell.

Arranging all of the lights around Henry

Henry on camera; he was perfect and stood very still with his ears pricked the whole time. Those acting classes really paid off Henry.

First they did quite a bit of filming that did not involve the horses. Charlie was demonstrating how to take core samples from hay bales using a core sampler. My favorite part of that was when Charlie's core sampler was not functioning properly and Jason came to the rescue with his own sampler. Jason has the super deluxe $300 bale sampler while Charlie had a cheaper one and Jason enjoyed poking some fun at him about that. So the cameras stopped rolling while Jason used his core sampler to pull samples from the hay bales and then transferred the contents to Charlie's so it would look like he had pulled the sample himself.

Charlie emptying the contents of his core sampler into a baggie to be sent off for testing. Of course it was actually the sample that Jason had to pull for Charlie with his own sampler.

Then they filmed some other things like using the little hand held scale to weigh your feed and weigh your hay. As Charlie pointed out they are all basic things that everyone who feeds a horse should be doing but most don't. We got a gold star on our farm as Jason keeps a scale hanging right next to the feed room in the barn. Yes, we know exactly how much a "scoop" of each and every feed we ever use weighs. I have to say the term "scoop" drives me crazy. When I ask people about their horses current diet so I know what they are used to eating when they arrive it is always described in scoops of feed and flakes of hay. Do people not realize how many different sizes of scoops there are, and that the amount of hay in a flake varies widely depending on the type of baler used and how tight the person operating the baler set the tension? So a scoop and a flake tell me nothing about how much a horse was actually eating. Anyway, getting back on track . . . !

Charlie weighing the bucket of feed with the little hand-held electronic scale

Henry watching with a lot of interest

While the non-horse parts were being filmed Asterik and Henry, our demo horses for the day, went through "make-up" and were prepared for their starring roles. I was very impressed with how little they cared (none) about the lights, the cameras, the crew, anything. Clearly they both felt they were born to be stars and they were wondering why their agents had taken so darn long to get their careers launched. They both enjoyed watching the non-horse parts being filmed, especially when Charlie had to repeatedly scoop out feed for a certain segment. That was always watched with alert expressions and pricked ears! The horses were used to demo the use of a weight tape and for assessing body condition.

Asterik is clearly an A-lister as he was pretty bored by this point. He did perk up a lot when they started scooping out feed though.

Then, as quickly as they arrived all of the equipment was packed up and everyone was gone. Henry and Asterik had their blankets put back on and went back outside to rejoin their friends. As soon as their halters were off they went racing off to find their friends as if they had been separated for days. They probably just wanted to brag and say "guess what I just did!"

It's a wrap. Jason, Charlie, myself and Bear. Yet again Bear put himself in front of the camera!