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