Queen Amelia

One day several years ago, when we first moved to this farm I lay down for a short afternoon nap. It was a warm summer day and the kids were plenty old enough to look after each other I reasoned as I snuggled into my comforter. Our little farm is an older one and we have 4 weathered outbuildings as well as a large shop/garage that all needed treasure mapped. We have 3 acres, and at that time no horses so there was room enough to explore and build forts in the tall grass and weeds.

Just as I drifted off, all 6 of the kids came running into the house, "Mom! Mom! We have kittens! Josh is out there in the garage catching them right now!!"

"What? When did we get a cat?" I answered groggily.

"No Mom, we don't have a cat! These are wild kittens! You should hear them hiss! There are four of them!" They all clamored to be the first to tell me the vital information about their newfound treasure in the garage.

Okay, I was awake now. Josh walks in with a big grin on his face and an angry growling kitten in his outstretched hands. The kitten bites him and he drops it onto the bed. All seven of us scramble to recapture the little lion cub without further injury. I was the one who finally caught her, and I have a scar on my finger to prove it.

All in all the kids captured 6 kittens that day in the garage. They were beautiful. Some were peachy cream color, some smoky grey, some calico. They lived in the dog crate until the kids were able to handle them. Then we gave them away to unsuspecting friends and advertised them in the paper.

There were two left over. One was the first kitten that Josh caught. I think the kids hid her every time someone came to look for a kitten to take home. She had long hair and had a few patches of orange, if you looked hard enough. Josh had taken to carrying her around on his shoulder. The kids had taken to calling her "Queen Amelia".

The second was one that took the longest to tame and was still quite wild. She was named "Tiger", not because of her coloring which was a short haired smoky calico with a few orange patches, but because she was ferocious.

The kids talked us into keeping the two leftover kittens and they are now our chief mousers, and keepers of the chicken house along with Tommy who is Ameilia's son.

Amelia loves to follow us around outside, meowing for attention, to be picked up and for a ride on our shoulders. I took some pictures of her with my camera and my cell phone the other day as she followed me around as I was doing chores.

"Okay, I see we are ready to do chores. You set your coffee down right here, so that your hands will be free to carry me, all right?














"Oh alright. I will just watch you feed the pig then. You are lucky I have such great balance!"

"Can you see me now?
Yes, yes, I think this bale will do for the horse's breakfast this morning."




"Look deep into my eyes... You cannot resist picking me up... You can...not... re...si....sssssst..."

A visit from a Boy

A friend was over recently with her grandson and of course he wanted to go out and see the "horsies," so I happily obliged. How can you resist a cute kid? I was wanting to take some pictures of the horses and I needed a "safe" spot to set the kiddo down. I don't think the horses minded too much, do you?

Delight is saying, "Can you please stand still??"
Star, "Does he get to stay?"
Ted, "Move over, you are standing my my hay kid!"

See how big Star is getting? I wasn't able to get the good updated pictures I wanted, but this one gives a little bit of an idea.
Star has a wart. I'm sure she got it from the cows. She loves the cows. When she was younger she would stand against the fence line and allow them to lick the salt off of her. I have a picture somewhere....

With the cattle we just cut the wart off and the summer sun finishes off the cure. With this being so close to her eye I think I will have the vet do it when he comes out to give Spring shots.

Star has such a kind eye. I think it reflects her loving temperament.

I am so grateful to have horses in my life again!

The One I missed

Since I am still introducing the horses in my life I want to introduce a mare by the name of Noelle. I call her Noelle, because it was almost Christmas when I met her. She didn't have a barn name given to her by the breeder that I know of. She was an American Blazer Horse and part of the same so called "production sale" that Speedy and Spinner came from. Her registered name was "Honks Duces" [sic]. She was an aged broodmare. Seems like I remember she was about 17 years old. She was very thin, and of course untrained and unbroke to ride.

Before the sale I went to the breeder's ranch two times. Both times I remember this mare because she was so friendly, coming out of the herd of 200+ horses to get our attention and to be petted.

At the auction preview, when we were walking around the herds of horses looking for the two we would take home, once again she followed us around begging for attention. I loved on her and prayed she would find a family at the auction the next day. She really wanted a family.

Speedy and Spinner went to the auction block during the first couple of hours. We were surprised and taken aback at how quickly it happened. We were expecting to be at the auction all day. I didn't get to see any of the mares go through, let alone Noelle. Everything just happened too fast.

Two days after the auction, when the dust had settled at our place, I couldn't get her off of my mind. So I tried to track her down. I called a couple of people at the American Blazer Horse Association, and later called the killer buyer himself. He bought 60 horses, and while he told me a big fat lie about where they all went, I am pretty sure he bought Noelle. He said he shipped them back east for training - yeah right!

I missed her.

One of these days I am going to blog my feelings about horse slaughter and why I support it, but for today I just want to remember Noelle.

I regret that I wasn't able to save her. I regret that she was used up and thrown away.

RIP Noelle.

The Boys

Tawshi became my daughters birthday present and then finally, my Delight came to be my heart and my forever horse.

In October of last year I saw a flyer that advertised 200+ horses for sale at a "production" auction.


It broke my heart. I decided I wanted to do something. The result was a long journey of following my heart and doing my best to get the word out about these horses.

As a result (long long story goes in here) we rescued two Blazer geldings, now named Speedy and Spinner.

I journaled most of the story at Horse Training 101. Here are some links:

Blazer auction:

We are going to get 2 Blazers!

Blazer pictures from the auction lot.

Speedy and Spinner's Big Day.

I also keep a detailed training journal at 101.

I love these two horses. They now belong to number 2 daughter and number 6 son. They have come a long way in the last two months, from not being handled to being ridden for the first time by the kids themselves! I will be sharing more about these two wonderful ponies!

Here they are getting their first look at their new home:


Spinner - registered name "Taffy's Spinner"

Speedy - registered name "Blaze's Asset"


I will be sharing a lot more about these two!

Tawshi

Tawshi is a 2001 grey Arabian mare. She was my second try at finding the horse of my dreams. We bought her late in the same year that we got Ted. She was a young 3 years old. She was small, but everyone I talked to said she would grow and that her height wouldn't present a problem for me.

I remember when I first met Tawshi. The thing that first drew me to her was her heart. It seemed like she reached out to me and told me she wanted to come home with me. We had to make payments on her and she stayed at the breeder's until she was all paid for. I drove one hour down to see her and the one hour back at least 3 times a week. She was so beautiful! I loved everything about her Arabian-ness; Her floaty trot, her high tail carraige, her big soft eye, everything!

I broke her to ride at the same time as Ted the next summer. When it came time for me to really work her though I realized that she probably wouldn't be able to handle carrying my weight plus the weight of all of the tack on long trail rides.

In the meantime, my oldest daughter caught the horsie bug. (See a pattern here yet?)

Ted: Another Introduction

I know my readers must be waiting for updated pictures of Star, but the camera needs batteries and the weather is not cooperative. Soon, very soon! They will be something to look forward to!

Ted is a buckskin Quarter horse. He was my first horse after a 20 something year hiatus from horses. In the meantime, I have been going to college, working and raising kids. He was foaled in 2002, and we used our tax refund to buy him in 2004 when he was a 2 year old.

He came to us with the name "Teddy Bear" and he was spoiled rotten. And still is.... *grin* He had a good start on round pen training and leading though, for which I was grateful.

I spent hours and hours with Ted every day. I hand grazed our front yard bare with him. I brushed him and breathed in his horsey smell. I sat at the pasture fence in a lawn chair staring at him and just soaking in everything about being in his presence.

It wasn't too long before I discovered that Ted really didn't mind my presence, but that he wasn't a very cuddly person. Brushing was fine and feeding was the best, but he enjoyed having a job to do rather than having me hugging on his head.

I felt like I couldn't make a connection to Ted, at least not the one I dreamed of and the one that I remember having with my horses as a child. For 3 months I cried. I was so sad. I thought there was something wrong with me. After waiting for two decades, here I had the horse of my dreams and I was unhappy?? What was wrong with me?

I eventually talked to my husband about how I was feeling.


In the meantime though, my Dear Husband fell in love with Ted. Ted was the first horse he had ever been around. He didn't even know that he liked horses before he met Ted!
Ted's name was promptly changed from Teddy Bear to just plain Ted, because "Guys don't call their horses girlie names."

Ted and Tom have become quite the team and they are both learning a lot together. Ted is now broke to ride and he has also been out into the hills on many trail rides. He is still rough around the edges, but with time and training this summer Tom is hoping to remedy that!

Tom and I decided to buy me a second horse, of a breed I had always wanted to own but couldn't because when I was a kid they were so expensive - an Arabian.

More about Star

My family has requested more baby pictures of Star. She is coming two this April and so now she looks quite a bit different! She is taller than Delight. It has been fun for all of us to remember her as a foal.

Star has always been a bold, curious horse. From the time she started walking she showed her independence by leaving her mama's side. I learned a lot about how horses manner each other by watching Delight teach Star how to behave.












This is a picture of Star's sire, Midnight Price. He has some really nice old Morgan bloodlines. He was sold a year ago across the country to begin a new career as a dressage horse. If I were to ever breed Delight again, I would pick Midnight. Star has great conformation and a wonderful temperament. Her breeder says Midnight gives this temperament to all of his foals. I believe him.









And one last picture of baby Star "helping" my husband work on his pickup truck. She is so curious!!










Edited to Add: I can't figure out how to get rid of those big spaces. Every time I try, I delete one of the pictures. I'll figure this Blog thing out!