Horses and Snow

The horses are all enjoying the fresh snow but none are enjoying it any more than my chocolate palomino, Dixie Belle. Dixie is a three year old and has been under saddle for several months. She is tall but still a growing girl so she is getting some time off. In the meanwhile, Flair for Fury, Rockin Andi and Ann's Mt Treasure have all gone back to work.

Middle left is Ann's Mt Treasure who has only been under saddle for a few weeks. She is doing really well under Brandon's skilled hands. To the right is her big sister, Flair for Fury who will be going into her 4th show season and second under saddle. They are both out of Rebel's Rock's Ann. Meanwhile back at the farm the horses are enjoying the snow.

When I worked at the post office in Prospect Ky, I was a Sales and Service Associate (fancy name for a window clerk). I didn't get paid more, I was just given a fancier title. I used to stand at my station when I wasn't waiting on customers and watch the snow fall on days like yesterday. I thought how beautiful the snow would be if I were sitting in the safety of my home watching it fall through the window without thoughts of driving home on slick roads with other drivers that seemed reckless to me.

Yesterday I was sitting in the sun room with Bob and Natalie watching the snow fall and it was really beautiful. There is something about snow (when one doesn't have to drive in it) that is peaceful. It may be the silence of the snow and everything out doors when it is falling. Yesterday the wind was still and the air was cold and all was silent. It was a storybook day.

This morning when we let the horses out that had been in the barn all night it was a beautiful sight. I snapped pictures until my camera card was totally full. Dixie was running and really putting on a show. The other horses were running too just for the sheer joy of the snow and life in general. The horses that had been in overnight had just been given a little grain and they were ready to play. Bob sometimes says the grain to them is like a good cup of coffee to us. They do seem to enjoy the grain as much as I do my first cup of coffee in the morning.

Tonight they were all eager to get to their feed buckets. They could hardly wait to get into the barn and then as they waited for us to bring feed to them, they were restless. Some do a tap dance on the concrete. Satin likes to paw the floor while she waits impatiently for what she knows is coming.

Dixie was at first skeptical of what we were putting in her bucket hanging on the fence but she has now learned it is pretty good so she also is impatient. My newest mare, Dock's Darling (a Rocky Dock mare) is not sure of what is going on in her life. Although she has been ridden and certified, she has not had a lot of handling. She is a big beautiful chocolate mare with a flaxen mane and tail. She has most recently been turned out with my stallion, S C Code of Honor, and is pronounced safely in foal to him. I know she misses him and is not sure of what is going on in her life right now.

Bob has not gained her trust yet. She knows we have provided for her. We give her good hay, grain 2x a day and all the water she needs to satisfy her thirst. She gets to go out to the field with the other horses where there is a big pile of hay to satisfy the need she has for forage to stay warm and maintain her body weight. She can run at will or lay down and roll. At night she stays in a stall with an ample amount of hay to get her through the night. She gets petted and made over. Yet she is suspicious that maybe it is some kind of trick.

She sees us providing amply for her but yet she has not given her heart to us.

I see people like that. God has provided for them so generously but in their pride they think they have done it all themselves. Perhaps that mare thinks that because she is there she has found the grain and hay on her own. I sometimes fall into that trap. I get to thinking I am smarter than I really am and that I have done something special and extraordinary. But then I snap back to reality and realize that it is God blessing me and I have done nothing special. Whatever I am, what ever I have is gifts from God.

I know I wrote about this yesterday but I just can't help thinking about God's goodness and how he has blessed me so generously. I can't help but think who am I that God even takes notice of me. I am just an average person but whatever talent I have or what ever good I accomplish I owe to him.

So I want to leave you with this thought tonight. Do you count your blessings? Do you think about from where those blessings come? We are all blessed. Even the poorest among us live lives that most of the rest of the world can't imagine. I consider myself blessed that I was born in the United States to Lucy and Frank Rogers on a farm close to Taylorsville. I am blessed to live in a country full of opportunity. I am blessed that I can go to church, read my Bible and live in a house that is warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I am blessed to call all of you friends and loved ones and I pray God will bless and keep you in his loving care.


Regards,

Mary

As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.

Isaiah 66: 13