The first picture is of Bob riding Eleanor's horse, J R. In halter is WOF Celine's Shinin Star. Celine is a yearling born in May of 2009. She is out of our mare L S Mountain Wind Socks and by Sudden Impact. Sudden Impact is owned by Mark and Vickie Smith.
J R was in the freezer early this morning. WHAT??? Let me start at the beginning which I have found is a pretty good place to start. We had taken J R for a test ride last Saturday. More accurately, Lucy and Melissa had taken J R for a test ride. My sister Eleanor is 77 years old and although I know J R is a really calm horse, I had not seen him out on the farm yet. Eleanor has been craving a ride out on the farm with J R. I wanted to make sure he could be handled by anyone out in the open. I rode him one day last week when the weather broke a little and had a good ride. Then Lucy and Melissa wanted to ride last Saturday so they took J R out too. He behaved beautifully for both of them. Melissa is only 7 years old and it was her second ever trail ride as she explained it to her Granny, my daughter. And she added, she didn't even fall off.
J R is the most laid back horse on the farm and if one of the bossy horses wants his place at the stack of hay, they will take it. So he has some bite marks and I thought had lost a little weight. Not that he was showing ribs by any means but the weather has been so mean that I thought he could use a little TLC. So I made arrangements for him to be housed in the barn for the last several days and we started him on a diet of grain and extra hay.
J R has certainly enjoyed all the TLC he has been getting lately and he has looked forward to us coming into the barn and especially getting his grain.
Yesterday my daughter-in-law, Natalie thought the feed room needed cleaning. So she and Annie went on a cleaning binge. We had moved an old freezer into the barn where we could store feed and it would be handier. It also has a top and can be closed against rodents and nosey horses. It seemed like a perfect solution to keep the feed closer to where we needed it. The freezer is close to where we were stalling J R. Not a regular stall actually just an enclosure in the barn with a gate tied with baling twine across it.
J R must have gotten to thinking about grain during the night or perhaps it was that big stack of hay across from his enclosure. Anyway J R being smarter than the average bear (I mean horse), got to pushing against the gate and knocked it completely down. He then helped himself to the hay.
After a generous helping of hay, I suppose he started thinking about his grain. Now J R as I have already said is smarter than the average bear (I mean horse). He had very obviously watched us put his grain in the freezer and get it out of there for him. So he went over to the freezer and raised the top of the freezer up and proceeded to eat grain out of the bag. How did we know? He had left a lot of evidence to convict him of his theft. We figured there was maybe two scopes of grain gone from the bag. We certainly couldn't call him a pig over it because there were several bags of feed unopened in the chest freezer. And the open bag wasn't even empty. We could tell he had been into it by the droppings around the freezer and the mess in the freezer where he had dropped grain from his mouth.
But this horse is Eleanor's and he means a lot to her. I could not take a chance on his health so we called the vet. What happened to him next was not nearly so pleasant as his little foray into the grain supply. It involved a tube and his nose. Plus some nasty shots. The vet wanted to be sure we avoided colic and laminitis. We are still watching him closely. The vet says the next two days will tell. J R was most definitely in our prayers today and tonight.
Is it wrong to pray for an animal? I am sure you have your opinion just as I do. My opinion is "no it is not wrong". God cares about us and about what we care about. God provided J R to Eleanor through the generosity of H T Derickson. If God is good (and He is) and if He saw to it that Eleanor had a horse of her own that she could ride and be safe on then He cares enough to answer our prayers if that horse is in danger. And I believe with all my heart that J R will be alright.
I will keep you posted on how J R is and let you know from time to time about Eleanor's rides on the farm. There will be pictures. I am really getting ready for some sunshine and warmer days so we can get her on J R and let her ride on the farm. I know she is going to love doing it. She has been craving a ride all winter. She loves that horse and he is perfect for her.
I hope you are doing well through this cold winter. We had some snow this morning plus enough ice under the snow to make the morning commute tricky. I heard there were multiple accidents due to cars slipping on the ice. As it turned out, my commute to the barn was uneventful. Of course, it is right here on the farm about the distance of a city block from the house. I hope yours was uneventful as well.
My God bless you and keep you in His loving care.
Regards
Mary
Here is advice Eleanor doesn't need.
"Always smile when you are riding because it changes your intent."
James Shaw
Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul
"Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy ways unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass."
Psalms37: 4-5
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