How I Spent My Saturday

I had a wonderful day today.  First I picked up a mare that was bred to an outside stallion.  Her baby has grown so much and she is really getting a pretty chocolate color with a white mane and tail.  Below is a not so good picture of WOF Livin the Dream.  She is following Mom out to the pasture after a long day on the horse trailer. 

 

This year I don't have a stallion to use for breeding.  Pictures 1, 3,4 and 6 are pictures of my stallion, Sky's on Fire.  He is the son of Sonny's Silver Dollar and is a coming 6 year old.  Sky hasn't been ridden enough to  get him ready to be a breeding stallion and still have his head on straight.  Chris and Stacie Tipton are doing a fantastic job with him getting him to work as he should under saddle.  Sky will be ready to stand as a breeding stallion this fall.  In the meantime, you will be seeing him at events such as the ACTHA rides and look for him at the World Show at the KEC  near Winchester.  Sky will be making a special appearance at the Parade of Stallions at the Rocky Mountain International Grand Championships in September and the Futurity in October at the KMSHA International Grand Championships. 

 

Sky is a very unusual color.  He is a red chocolate roan.  His color is really popping these days under the capable hands of the Tiptons.

 

Pictures 2 and 5 are of WOF King of Pop.  We call him Jackson.  Jackson is a yearling stud colt and will be appearing in the same shows that Sky will be in. 

 

So I had a pretty good day visiting with Chris and Stacie and with Toro at the Pruitt Farm near Mt Sterling.  It is always such a pleasure to be around people who know and love horses.  I learn so much from them.

 

Chris and Stacie gave us a short lesson on setting up a horse to show in a halter class.  I took Dereck along with me so that he too would learn about parking a horse out. 

 

So it was a good horse day.  Once I got home, I got an email from  a lovely lady I had sold a horse to last month.  Brandy and her friend Amy had taken their two horses that were bought from Whispering Oaks Farm to the mountains for a ride.  Every where Brandy goes with Titan, she is approached by strangers wanting to know about that horse she is riding.  She tells them that Titan is three years old and they are in utter disbelief that a horse that young will do what he does.  One man went so far as to look in his mouth to determine his age.

 

It is always a good day to hear of friends having a great time with a horse we have raised here on the farm.  Brandy is so excited about Titan.  He is a son of Venture's Black Fury and Blue Ridge Mt Girl, a mare that I own. 

 

 

 

 

David is so proud of Titan because he was the first horse he had gotten under saddle and now he is doing so well for his new owner.  The last three pictures are of Dah Polish Fury aka Titan.

 

So yes, I had a very good Saturday and now I am headed to bed to get rest so that I can have another good day tomorrow.  First I will be going to Bible Study in Joe Donaldson class at Southeast Christian Church and then on to church to sing, worship and learn more about Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

 

So good night everyone.  Rest well and have a great day of praise and worship tomorrow and every day and remember when you think about your troublea to count your blessings as well. 

 

God bless and keep you in His loving care.

 

Mary

Derek working with Watch me Go.  AKA Phoenix

Phoenix is like his sire, Code of Honor.  He loves to have his picture made. Phoenix is two years old and is learning ground manners and how to work in the round pen.

 This is a coming two year old, Look at Me.  AKA  Poppy.  He is a beautiful red chocolate gelding.  He has been worked with and has been taught how wonderful it is to be around humans.  Lots of love, petting and scratching those itchy spots.  This boy has no "don't touch me there" spots.

Poppy has a beautiful white mane and tail.  He is a real looker.

 

I just let Erica out the door.  I saw a small animal in the back yard.  It was a possum.  Erica immediately ran out to investigate.  The possum dropped like it had been shot.  Erica smelled the small animal laying in the yard.  It kept laying there.  I came back into the house to allow Erica to play with her new found friend. 

 

I know how dogs play with there new  possum friends.  I remember one winter that my electricity was off because of the ice storm the region had experienced.  It was mid afternoon and I went to the creek to fill up jugs of water for the few horses I had then.  The dogs were all too eager to go with me for a run in the snow. 

 

I was busily filling the jugs when my eye caught a possum coming out of the woods and starting across the open field.   The dogs didn't miss the event either.  They made a run for their new playmate.  The possum did as all possums do.  It dropped like it was dead.  The dogs didn't understand the game their new friend was playing.

 

One of the dogs shook the possum with his paw.  The possum just laid there.  Another dog shook the possum.  The possum pretended to be dead.  The dogs kept rolling it over and over.  Finally it was no longer playing dead.

 

Now you may wonder why I didn't rescue the poor little animal.  It was because I really don't like possums.  And that is why I won't call Erica away from the possum tonight.

 

Possums carry a deadly disease that can infect horses and kill them.  There is very little that can be done.  The treatment is very costly and ineffective.  I once had a boarder that lost a horse to EPM.  It was a terrible thing to watch the poor animal suffer through.  Finally the owner gave the vet a word and the vet put the poor animal out of its misery. 

 

The one lesson that we can draw from the possum is how it protects itself.  It of course, plays dead hoping that it's pursuer will assume it is dead and leave it alone.  In the case of the dogs it did not work.

 

All animals and people for that matter have methods to protect themselves.  We have a couple of people that have worked here recently that really know very little about horses.  They are both very eager to learn.  The first thing I tell a person that has very little experience with horses is that horses are prey animals and that is the basis all of their actions.  We on the other hand are predators. When  you learn about horses you will learn about the different ways the eyes are set in a predators head versus how the prey animals eyes are located.  Look at picture number two above. 

 

By the way, these are two of the horses I currently have for sale.  The first is WOF Watch Me Go. My great granddaughter, Melissa calls him Phoenix and I like that.  The last two pictures are of WOF Look At Me.  AKA Poppy. 

 

Do you see the location of his eyes?  Phoenix can turn his head and see all around him.  That is important to a prey animal.  Horses are constantly aware of what is around them.  They are fair game for mountain lions.  Now you may be saying to yourself, "There are no mountain lions in Ky or__________. "  Fill in the blank where you live.    Anyway no one has been able to completely convince a horse that they are safe from Mt Lions.  But there are other predators.   

 

Horses have the quickest reaction time of any domestic animal.  That is why one can be sitting in the saddle one minute and kissing dirt the next.  But that is how horses have survived since God created them.  They have the instinct to protect themselves and to live to see another day.  And a horse owner or rider must learn to think like a horse. 

 

That is what we try to teach people who work and handle horses here on the farm.  For instance, one of the new guys was trying to catch a young filly in a stall to treat an eye injury.  He was walking directly up to her.  She saw a predator.  He wasn't seeing a prey animal.  He was just seeing a horse that needed to be caught.  He may have not caught her all night.  I stepped into the stall with the mare and filly and gave him a quick Clinton Anderson lesson. 

 

He was holding the mare by her halter.  I started approaching the filly.  Just before she looked like she was going to walk away, I walked away from her.  Then she relaxed, I approached her again.  Approach, retreat, approach, retreat.  I did that several times until she finally let me touch her and scratch her shoulder and rub her back.  Everybody enjoys a good back rub and so did It's an Honor (the filly's name). 

 

So she was caught and Andy learned a little about how to approach a horse.  It may take him time to get the approach and retreat thing down where he can actually do it.  I did not look at her.  If I did, I would be acting like a predator.

 

We can learn so many lessons from horses.  For instance, I can draw a parallel to our relationship with God.  God approaches us to draw us to Himself.  He wants to be our friend.  But He doesn't force us.  For who can force their friendship on another.  So God will invite us but if we resist, He will leave us alone.  He will keep trying to become our friend but because He has given us free will He will not force us to love and obey Him.  That would not be free will.

 

But God doesn't give up on the sinner.  Jesus has already paid the price for our sins and it was a huge price.  He died on the cross for our sins so that through our relationship and accepting Him as our Savior we can join Him in Heaven when this life is over. 

 

Watch your animals.  Especially horses.  Learn the lessons God has placed with them for us.  Lessons to help us learn who He is and His love for us. 

 

God bless and keep you in His loving care.  May He surround you with His hedge of protection from all the predators that inhabit your world.  And most of all may you come to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Mary Lipginski