Thank you Mrs Tucker

You can count on whatever the subject I have for my blog, it will usually have a horse picture or two or more. This is SC Lady Ace with "Toro" aboard. 

I had some really good teachers in high school. As a matter of fact all through school. Some were better than others but I ended up with a good education. When I went to school, the teachers were not so bound up with federal and state regulations that they actually had time to teach. Some taught every minute of every day.

I remember especially a day I learned to pronounce a common word correctly. That lesson has stuck with me all my life. I was in the Freshmen class in High School. We were the under classmen and we had the largest class in high school. So they put the entire Freshman Class in the gymnasium for study hall. We had to sit on the bleachers so it was very inconvenient to do home work.

One day I decided I could do better if I went to the Library to study. Or perhaps being a reader, I just wanted to check out a new book. But never the less, I raised my hand. The conversation that followed went something like this, "Yes MISS Rogers, what is it?"

I responded, "May I go to the liberry?"

"Where do you want to go Miss Rogers?" I thought surely Mr King had not heard me since he was rather old. After all he must have been at least 25 years old.

So I spoke a little louder, "May I go to the liberry?" See I already knew the difference between "may and can". That was probably something else he taught me.

"Miss Rogers, I do not know where you want to go." I thought he must be pretty dense if he didn't know what a liberry was. I was also turning red because I couldn't make him understand where I wanted to go. By now my class mates were all listening to the conversation. I heard some snickers from high up in the bleachers

Finally I said, "Mr King, I want to go to the liberry to check out a book."

Now I thought we were surely going to get somewhere and he would excuse me to go to the liberry.

Mr King said, "Oh you want to go to the Library". He emphasized the first r until it rolled around on his tongue before it dropped off and lingered in the air for a couple of seconds before the sound evaporated from the large gym.

Now I was really blushing. But he asked me again where I wanted to go. That time I knew how to answer him. And I finally escaped the giggles of my class mates and out of the gym to the safety of the LIBRARY.

Yes, I was embarrassed. But I learned something that day that has followed me all through life. I learned the importance of good pronunciation. To this day if I hear anybody say "liberry" I cringe and almost look around to see if Mr King was standing there ready to pounce.

Mrs Tucker was our high school English teacher. I loved English and found I was really pretty good in that class. I stayed up with all the smart girls in the class with my good grades. My tests scores showed I worked hard and really had a knack for the spoken language. Mrs Tucker was not a favorite among my class mates. Some really hated learning proper English.

To this day, I catch misstatements in English usage that probably makes Mrs Tucker turn over in her grave. I catch misuse even among professional broadcasters. I heard someone giving a thank you talk a couple of days ago. This lady was thanking everyone for their prayers and support of her family when she was sick. It was all good until she said "Thank you for the ways you helped my family and I though this hard time in our lives".

My mind went back to Mrs Tucker's little test. If you left out my family would it be I or me. Of course it would be me.

Now I think I have carried this all too far. But in my defense, I do not correct people for their misuse. I do try to avoid those kinds of mistakes because I had a teacher that cared.

Thanks to Mrs Tucker and probably Mr King as well, I cringe when I hear someone say something like, "I seen him do it". They wanted us to have a good education and cared enough to see that we learned.

I have had many other teachers in my life. In fact, education lasts throughout one's lifetime.The more I learn the more certain I am that I really know very little.

May God bless and keep you in His loving care. And may your education always begin and end with the God of our Universe.  "For the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the Lord"

Regards

Mary

Bob on Venture's Golden Satin. This was made during one of the Competitive Trail Rides sponsored by ACTHA. To learn more about ACTHA and their CTC programs go to www.actha.us Don't forget our ride on November 3-4. Prizes, beautiful scenery, challenging obstacles and fun will make it a day to remember.

"Do you remember"? That is the words of a song written after 9/11/2001.

It was a day none of us should ever forget. It was a day that death and fire rained down from the sky in New York City.

I remember another such day that is forever seared into my mind. The date was November 22, 1963.. It was also a day of death. Fire did not rain down from the sky but death was in the streets of Dallas Texas that day.

I was hanging clothes on the line in my back yard in Jeffersonville Indiana. My neighbor came out of the house and I stopped to talk to her. It was leaning over the fence in my back yard that I learned our young President had been shot and was most likely dead. I was very young and the thought of someone killing our President was the furtherest thing from my mind. The office of the Presidency changed hands that day and life went on.  But so many like me had lost a part of themselves.

Fast forward with me to the 1970s and the day the Supreme Court of the United States found a right our Founding Fathers would have never envisioned in the Constitution of the United States. That was also a day that death rained down on the ground of the United States. Death and destruction. Perhaps you don't remember that day as clearly as clearly as 9/11/2001. You may even be wondering what happened on that day.

It was the day that abortion was legalized in America under the guise of a constitutional right for women to choose. Some may agree it was a good decision but I bet most of you agree that it was a horrible misinterpretation of the Constitution. It is the day that led to the death of over 50 million American citizens. We are horrified that 9/11/2001 brought about the death of 3000 people but can you comprehend the death of over 50,000,000 people?

We are horrified at the death of people under Hitler that he was able to kill so many people. Not only Jews but those that were handicapped or political enemies. We see the pictures from the Holocaust and we are sickened. We see the pictures of people starving in other countries. Not just hungry but starving and we can hardly look we are so troubled.

Yet the world is a wonderful place. How can I say that with all that we see on the news every night?

God's creation is marvelous. It is man that has destroyed through the prompting of Satan who has come to "kill, steal and destroy". The work of Hitler was through the prompting of Satan. The work of John F Kennedy's assassin was the prompting of Satan. The work of the 9/11 terrorists was the work by the prompting of Satan. The killing of over 50,000,000 unborn babies is the work of Satan.

Why write of this in my blog? My blog are usually not so serious. Those of you who follow usually find them uplifting and often funny as I relate to life, horses and everyday living. Abortion is a horror to me just as the holocaust, John F Kennedy's murder and the 9/11 massacre.

As we approach the anniversary of that day in 2001, I am reading that those who are in charge of remembering that date, the Mayor of New York City has decided that God has no place in the ceremony. How can that be? What is he thinking? Does he not know that our nation has never prayed any harder than people prayed during that time? What about the 3,000? Does he think they did not pray as they realized death had come calling that day and they were about to meet their maker?

So here we are on the eve another Anniversary of the day the twin towers came crashing down.  And worse, the thing that we thought would never, could never happen, on our home soil happened. We have lost our way.  We have invited God out of the classroom and what do we see.  Kids murdering kids in schools.  We have taken the 10 commandments down because it may offend someone.  Murder in the classrooms offends me and a host of other people.Abortions are legal so the "Every child is a wanted child".   And yet we see more abuse than we have ever seen.  Babies forgotten in hot cars.  Babies and young children badly beaten to the point of death. Every day it seems there is another little coffin lowered into the ground because of the mistreatment by a care taker.

Are we as a society better off because these things have come to pass?  May God have mercy on our souls.

God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards

Mary

Wall Street Protests at Whispering Oaks Farm

This is a little heifer that is an escape artist. She knows when the electric fence is off before we do. She has several nicknames. David calls her Whopper Jr. I call her Mini-Cheese as in mini cheese burger. My brother Bob calls her Happy Meal. Do you see a theme there? It is apparent that we have food on our minds.

Today the horses got out. All the horses from behind the barn was in David's yard when he got up this morning. He called me to let me know they were out and to get some help getting them back in their field.

I went to the barn and there they were in the camper yard.

We started rounding up horses. By this time they were running into the barn. They soon run through the open gate and back outside the barn to their field. We walked over to talk to them. I asked them why they would want to escape out of their nice pasture.

Flair for Fury was their spokes person. But the others soon added their complaints to Flair's tale of woe.

Flair told us they had been following the Wall Street Occupiers on their Iphones. I knew then it was a mistake to let them have Iphones. I asked them what they had been seeing about the Wall Street Occupiers and what was that all about.

Here was their story.

"We got the idea of our escape by watching the news about all the Wall Street Occupiers across the country. We saw that the occupiers were active in Louisville and Lexington. That is close to us. We didn't know why they were protesting at first. Then we began to realize that they were protesting the unfairness of those who have so much and those who don't have what people on Wall Street do."

At this point I ask them who the Wall Street Occupiers actually are. I thought that was important to know.

Flair responded, "Well many of them are kids that don't have to work and don't have anything else to do because they are trust fund kids."

I knew that was right because I had seen one of them I knew on our local news that was exactly right. A trust fund kid who had never worked a day in her life.

Flair continued her story. "We have worked hard.'

At this point Velvet, Satin and Rockin Andi agreed. "Yes we have." said Rockin Andi. We have to ride people around. We have to go horse shows and they ride us whatever the weather is. It could be cold and raining and hot and humid and it doesn't make any difference. And how about training? We have to train. It doesn't matter whether it is cold or hot. Jamie was riding me in all kinds of weather. David rides me into water and up and down hills."

I stopped them at this point and reminded them that now they are like trust fund kids. They aren't working very much and they still get fed.

Satin now took over as spokes person. "Yes," she said, "but now we don't get as much feed as we used to get. We only have all the hay we can eat and all the water we can drink but we don't get oats but once a day."

"But don't you have everything you need, I asked? After all you all look pretty well cared for to me" I didn't want to hurt their feelings but I was thinking they were a little on the fat side.

"Well we do", Lady Ace, agreed, "But we deserve more."

"Why" I asked?

"We see everyone having more", Lady Ace continued. Look at Mini Cheese out there. She gets to run all over the farm whenever she wants to. She has all of that grass to herself. And besides that Cody gets to stay in the barn. He gets oats twice a day. I know that because he told me. Apple, Celine and Dixie get oats twice a day. Dixie told me she gets four scoops of oaks a day. It is unfair. That is why we escaped from our field and was in David's yard. We wanted to be occupiers."

At that point I told them if they tried that trick again I would be taking their Iphone away from them.
 Well there it is.  Life on the farm.  You have your occupiers and we have ours.

May God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards
Mary

WOF Code's Mt Wind

In the first picture is LS Mt Wind Socks and her 2012 foal, a filly, we named WOF Code's Mt Wind.  It perfectly combines the name of her Sire, SC Code of Honor and her Dam LS Mt Wind Socks.  But her name also comes from the news of the day.   The second picture is of WOF Alyssa's Grace.and her dam WOF Once a Hobo.

Think back with me to March 2, 2012 and if you remember that day and many of you will, tornadoes ripped through Kentucky towns like West Liberty and Indiana towns like Henryville.  The tornadoes almost completely destroyed those and other towns across the area.                                                               

The next morning on March 3 we found Wind Socks with her new foals in the stall with her.  It was the little filly you see in the top picture.  In deciding on a name for the filly, I thought of the previous day and  decided on the name of WOF Code's Mt Wind.  OK it might be a stretch but there it is.  

From the very first day there was something very special about this filly.  Most new foals find their way behind Momma when a human or an animal approaches.  Not this filly.  When anyone walked up to her stall, she was there to greet them.  Wind Socks didn't seem to mind.  She has had several foals and over the years has come to trust the humans that invade her space from time to time.  She is completely comfortable with us in the stall with her and her babies.

Every day we went to the barn the little filly ran to the front of the stall to meet and greet us.  She would put her little nose through the front of the stall to smell our hands or to allow us to pet her.  She loved us putting our hands on her.  She had no "Don't touch me there" spots.  

She was about a week old when David called me to the barn.  She had somehow gotten under the gate that separated two stalls.  She was stuck solid and we didn't know how long she had been there.  But she looked terrible.  Her one eye we could see was glazed over.  We gently lifted the gate off of her and I called the vet to come put her down.  Or so I thought.  It wasn't long before she got to her feet.  She looked terrible and I was still worried that Dr Thompson would be coming and telling me that he thought it best to put her down but I had a glimmer of hope. Although she was having a hard time,still she had still found her way to Wind Socks and started nursing.  She could only nurse from one side because her eye was so sore from where she had struggled to free herself.  But she was nursing and Wind Socks looked content.

Dr Thompson soon arrived.  He examined her and gave us the good news that her eye was not damaged and it would heal and be ok. But he found she had a couple of broken ribs.  He gave her some shots and left us some medicine for her.  One was a ulcer medicine.  We gave her doses of that for a couple of days to keep her from getting an ulcer.  He told us because of her age she could easily develop one from the stress of her ordeal.  

You may think that this baby was finished with humans.  You may think her experience would sour her on life and make her fearful.  But none of that happened.  Every time we walked to the field where she was pastured with the mares and foals she immediately came up to us for lots of loves and petting.  She is fine with her ears being rubbed.  She likes to have a massage anywhere you please.  She will willingly pick up her feet.  You can rub her on the face and close to her eyes.  In short she is an amazing filly.  

Where the gate was on her, there is a little white spot that tells there is scarring there.  But other than that, who would know of her ordeal.

It is a mystery to me what this particular filly is so loving and sweet.  Oh they are all sweet and cute to boot.  But she goes out of her way to make friends with humans.  She will let us walk up to her in the field.  Most often she seeks us out and wants to be close to us whenever we are in the field with her.  Walk away and she follows.  This is a true testament to the kind of horses mountain horses are.  She just has some extra qualities that set her apart.

Animals have always been a mystery to man.  We have always sought to make friends with them.  Someone made friends with a dog once upon a time and found them to be good companions.  Someone had to figure out about miking cows and how to get that milk and still be in one piece.  I have to wonder about that.  I have milked cows that would have gladly removed my head had they the opportunity.

I have had some experiences with animals that seem unique to me but maybe they aren't so unique after all. 

 It was fall.  We were milking a herd of Holstein cows.  Bill was always in a bad mood when we were harvesting the crops.  It was always the  first and last thing on his mind.  .  I know his stress came from  the worry about getting the silage into the silo or corn picked before the rain came or before he was called to work.  Of course there always seemed to be the equipment breakdown that plagued us when we had field work and depended on things running smoothly.

Stress permeated the whole family in the fall.  The days were getting shorter with less time to work in the fields.  We had milking to be done twice a day and the barn to keep clean for the always unexpected visit from the milk inspector.   

Mike, Steve and I had milked this particular morning and for some reason we had some angry words.  I really don't know what it was about but when they went to the field to help their Dad I was feeling pretty down about it.  It seemed nothing was going right for me right then.  Bill was in a bad mood, the boys were mad at me and I had the barn to clean by myself.  

I walked out into the loafing shed after I ran the silage unloader to put out feed for the cows.  They were all lined up along the bunk feeder eating the good smelling silage and acting very content.  Far from what I was feeling at the moment.  I sat down on the edge of the bunk feeder and watched the cows eat for awhile.  I was in tears and leaned my head against the railing.  Suddenly I felt a hot breath on my neck.  I was startled and looked up quickly.  There standing close to me and offering me comfort was a young cow that we had just put into the milking string.  She was just standing there like she was saying "It will be OK"  or as a friend of mine always said, "This too shall pass".  It is still fresh in my mind to this day.  I sitting on the edge of the bunk feeder and she standing close to me to give me comfort.

A recent experience I had involved Erica.  She is my five year old Labrador Retriever.  Erica sleeps by my bed most nights.  I go to bed and she comes in my room and lays down.  This particular night I had a nightmare.  I was screaming and hollering in my sleep. I was awakened by a rough paw on my arm gently shaking me like a human loved one would shake one out of a bad dream.  It was such a sweet moment.  I petted her and thanked her and she went back to her rug beside the bed to sleep and keep watch over me.

Isn't God wonderful to provide us with companionship in dogs such as Erica or in a milk cow.  Or a special horse.  I have seen people come to the farm who have terrible stress in their lives that have buried their heads in the horses mane and let the tears flow and then the release would come and joy and comfort would replace the stress and agony of moments earlier.

The Lord tell us He is with us to give us comfort and security.  He tells us in Psalms through the words of  King David, "The Lord is my strength and my salvation.  Whom shall I fear, of whom shall I be afraid." I believe sometimes He gives us that strength through the friendship of animals who minster to us. 

May God bless and keep you in His loving care.

Regards

Mary

  

Stalking the Wild Asparagus

Back in the 70s Euell Gibbons was a popular spokesman for Grape Nuts cereal. Even today it is hard for me to think of asparagus that I don't think of Mr Gibbons. He wrote a book that was titled "Stalking the Wild Asparagus". I never read Mr Gibbons book and I really don't know why I think of it at all. Except it is a catchy title.

When I was growing up, I was privileged to live on a dairy farm. Along with all the hard work there was also many rewards. One special thing we were privileged to have was a huge garden. I am sure I didn't see it as a privilege then. It was a lot of work.

I can almost smell the newly turned soil in the spring. That was after a lot of cleaning in the barns. The manure was forked out and hauled to the fields. This may seem very distasteful to many of you but the smell of manure on fields in the spring was not an unpleasant smell to me. I can almost see some of you turning your noses up at the thought. The smell of the manure on the fields signaled spring in the air. It was a time that we drove with our windows down. No air conditioning in our cars made it necessary to get the fresh air through the windows.

Then next came the smell of newly turned soil. Oh what a wonderful smell that was. Recently when Bob was working Code of Honor along the side of the barn, Cody's hooves turned up some fresh soil and the smell came back to me. Then we were treated to the wonderful smell of fresh cut hay. What a scent in the air. Did I just hear you sneeze?

I can never find an air freshener that satisfies me. I think because I remember all too well the real smells of spring.

But back to the garden. After the manure spreader had done it's work and the plow had turned the soil, then came the planting. Yes all of it was hard work but the rewards were great. Mom spent the spring and summer picking and canning for the next winter. The first reward from our garden was the new potatoes and asparagus. Mom would cut the asparagus and dig new potatoes. Then for supper we would have new potatoes with asparagus and it would be creamed with a wonderful cream sauce made with rich cream from our Jersey cows.

Those memories were still fresh in my mind when we bought the farm from Dad in 1971. My mother had died in the previous summer after a bout with cancer. We moved here in January of 1971 and I knew I had to have an asparagus patch.

Planting asparagus is a work of faith in many ways. First you dig a hole about 18" deep. The mix the rich soil with a generous amount of dried manure. You then spread the asparagus root out and barely cover the new planting. As the shoots begin to come through the soil, you then keep covering the plantings until the hole is fully filled in. The first year you do not cut any of the new crop. The second year you only cut it lightly. The third year you are beginning to get the benefit of the hard work you put into your patch several years before.

I had a tough fight on my hands with my new asparagus patch. We had a stray dog who found her way to our house. My husband almost never saw a dog he didn't love. Of course she was adopted and fed table scraps along with our own dog, Ginny. Now the new addition to our family loved to dig in the newly planted asparagus bed and I would rant and rave over the roots I was finding that had been dug up and laying on top of the ground.

Finally our visitor left and followed someone else home. We only saw her once more and that was at a neighbors house. I denied any knowledge of her and I never saw her again. It was good riddance and I was once again calmly attending my new asparagus patch.

Soon we began to see the fruits of our labor. Every spring I would watch carefully for the new fat shoots and cut them and we would have new potatoes with creamed asparagus. By the way we also had a Jersey milk cow. But my dish just did not compare favorably with Mom's creamed asparagus.

Time passed and we moved to Taylorsville into a house in a small subdivision. I cried every time I went home to the farm and Bill hated to take me with him. I guess I had it coming but eventually I got to the farm less and less often. I would always check my asparagus patch and it slowly disappeared over time. Asparagus suffers when cows graze it and a lawn mower does it's devastating work on it. Our renters didn't have the taste for asparagus that I do so they continued to mow that troublesome weed until it finally didn't come back.

When I moved back to the farm in 2008 my asparagus patch was completely wiped out. We had not had cows in the fields for several years and the pastures had tried to go wild. The first summer I was here, I spent hours on the tractor with the bush hog. I mowed until the bush hog broke and I couldn't mow any more.

But along with getting the weeds and various other growths knocked down I found a new asparagus patch. There is not doubt that birds carried the seed from my old asparagus patch and dropped it into one of the pastures. Because the field had not been mowed or pastured the asparagus had grown up and thrived.

Yesterday i was stalking the wild asparagus. I had looked for it last week and found nothing. Yesterday I got a text message from Bob while I was at the dentist that said "The asparagus is ready to cut". He had been out on Satin and seen the patch with the beautiful mouth watering shoots poking their beautiful heads above the grass.

This is the time of the year when all sorts of wild edible foods can be found. There is a an abundance of greens growing. Some of you may be familiar with poke greens. My son loved this time of the year when he could gather poke and we would mix it with kale and have a big pot of mixed greens.

I know several people who hunt wild mushrooms. I was always fearful I would pick the wrong ones.

Tomorrow is Easter. God is good. He has provided us with an abundance of good food to nourish our bodies. We find them in the wild when we know what to look for.

But God is good to us because he sent his one and only son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross. Aren't we blessed.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care. And may you know the joy of Easter and what it means for all of us.

Regards

Mary

Luke 14:46 And said unto them, Thus is is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.

God is so good to us.

The plans for the next trail ride on May 26-27 are going full steam ahead now. Prize bags are being filled. Ribbons are ordered. The barn is being readied. The crew is gearing up for the best ride yet. I think we are getting better all the time with our rides. I was very pleased with our ride in November but we are not going to rest and say that was the best we could do. We are full speed ahead. We hope you will be able to join us. There will be more great pictures that will be posted before the ride from previous rides.

Even if you don't ride, come and enjoy the food and the friends. We do not charge a fee to get on the grounds. We will be having the Lawsons to entertain on Saturday night and there will be no charge for anyone to attend.

We still have our past crew in place. David and Mike will be taking care of the barn and parking. You may remember David. He was everywhere. Helping people park, carrying water etc. He was doing his best to make everyone feel welcome.

Mary Beth and her husband Mike are taking care of the food. They are the planning good menus again. They are making some changes to the menu but they are going to be serving up the same high quality food at low prices.

Debbie and Natalie are once again taking care of the check ins. You will stop at the camper to check in and get stall and parking assignments and to pay your fees. This really worked well on the last trail ride. We have 16 stalls available and you will need to reserve a stall on the ACTHA web site. I do not want to over or under book stalls.

Lucy will be behind the camera again. She takes some really good pictures and she and Jessica make them available for a very reasonable price. They take hundreds of pictures and they are very good.

Bob is planning the obstacles. It is not easy to come up with new variations on the list of obstacles that is available for our use but he somehow does it for every ride we have. The trails have taken some hits with all the storms we have had this spring. But they are getting back in order.

Bob will lead our Cowboy Church on Sunday morning. He always has good insight to the Scription and he applies it to everyday life.

ACTHA has changed the rule on sign ups for the rides. There is no longer any way that a rider can sign up at the last minute. You must sign up on their web site before the ride closes.

We are very excited to be a host for these rides. We try our best to make them the best ever. We know we make mistakes despite our best efforts but we do try to be as fair as we possibly can be. We try to to treat everyone as honored guests and that is what you are.

So watch for more news. I will be sending you emails as we have new updates.

We hope you will spread the news of our upcoming ride. If you can't personally attend the ride we will miss each of you but we hope you will be telling everyone that we are hosting another ride and if you can pray for us that we can honor God our creator in all that we do.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary Lipginski

A horse can lend its rider the special speed and strength he or she lacks but the rider who is wise remembers it is no more than a loan.

Pam Brown from Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover's Soul

For Service, Ring the Bell

Venture's Golden Satin ridden by Bob Rogers in the UMH Summer Celebration 2011. Satin's sire is Chocolate Venture.

Bob and David have been using a new way to get the horses to come to the barn to be fed. I taught them to come when I whistled.

Bill and I liked to watch Westerns and we watched a lot of movies when he was sick. One movie in particular was "310 to Yuma". Perhaps if you have seen it you will remember the scene where one of the characters whistles for his horse and the horse comes running.

I thought that was awesome. So I thought I would teach my horses to come when I whistle. It didn't take long for them to learn that when I whistled it meant dinner was soon to be served. They are very smart. Especially when it comes to food.

Bob and David decided to use a cow bell to call them in for feeding. It is like the old time dinner bell.

Bob was trying to teach the horses that cow bells are ok. One was used in an obstacle in a competition that he was in and some of the horses didn't like the cow bell very much. Bob is always trying to expose our horses to new situations. He wants each of them to realize there is nothing they should be afraid of. He wants them using the "thinking" side of their brain instead of the "reacting" side. We also need to learn to trust God in every situation in our life. Psalms17: 1 tells us that the "Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom should I fear. The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid"
Tonight when I went to feed the horses, I discovered they were all at the barn waiting to come in for their evening meal. I didn't let them in right away. I wanted to feed the pregnant mares first. It wasn't very long before I started to hear the cow bell ringing. I looked around and there were the horses standing by the gate. There was Velvet a beautiful bay mare that is in foal to Blue on Black. Satin was there. So was Flair for Fury, Rockin Andi, Blue Gene,Treasure and Lady Ace. They were looking at me like they were laughing. Velvet reached up and rang the bell again. I had to laugh. They are so smart. They had learned if they wanted service they should just ring the bell.

It is perhaps a lesson we should learn from them. They have learned how to talk to us by use of the cow bell. And in so many other ways. Tonight they are saying "Here we are and it is time for us to get our feed." Shouldn't we also learn to communicate with God.

I have had people ask me how to pray. They tell me they don't know what to say. I tell them to talk to God as one would their best friend in the whole world because that is what God is to us. I tell them to talk to God and tell him what they have on their minds. Their troubles, the fears, their cares and also their happiness and joy of the day. The way they are thankful for the blessings God has bestowed on them. I have also pointed out that trails and tribulations can also be blessings in disguise.

Have you ever been delayed leaving work? Then get behind an accident that delays you even more from getting home. Did you ever stop to think that perhaps had you left work when you should have you might have been in that accident?

Code of Honor has been home for the winter. Perhaps you have seen pictures of him on Facebook. Frankly, he doesn't look like the same horse. He gets out and runs and rolls in the dirt. We don't have a facility to give baths in the winter so he is DIRTY. Oh he is still very beautiful. But on top of that beauty is a good layer of dirt. But his mane and tail are still combed out and they don't have any "Pasture Braids"

He gets ridden every once in a while. Not the everyday riding he gets when in training. He has his favorite stall. It took us awhile to"hear" what he was telling us about his stall. He has a big roomy stall that is actually large enough that it could be two stalls. He loves that stall. When we walk by he hangs his head over the gate and expects us to stop and give him some special attention. He always gets it too. We have learned how to listen to him. That is part of communication between our horses and us. We do our part when we learn how to "listen" to them. There is another lesson we can learn from our horses. Learn to listen to what God has to say to you just as you learn to listen to your horse or your friends.

Have you ever been around someone who does nothing but talk about themselves. Oh they may ask how are you or what have you been doing but before you get to answer they launch into their story of how they feel or what they have been doing that is of interest to them. I often think that perhaps I too am like that more than I like to admit. Do I let God get a word in edge way? Or do I just do all the talking?

We have tried keeping Code of Honor in the lower barn and he hated it. He was in the free standing stall and he hated that as well. So he has found his spot and let us know right away he likes it there. We finally "listened" to him.

It is no news to horse lovers that they are very smart. Code of Honor is no exception. Bob has been working him in the round pen. He was not sure at first but he has become more and more sure of himself every time he is worked. Perhaps it is just the difference in the way he is asked to work in the round pen. Or did we just learn how to "talk" to him. I know Van Bert's work horses in the round pen. He is becoming less pushy and more respectful every time he is worked. It is my opinion that he is smart enough that he was testing the waters to see how much he could get away with.

Now he is learning and he is getting settled into a new lifestyle. And we are learning to talk to him and listen to him as well.

He has been on the Van Bert Farm for several years. He was settled in to the routine there. He knew what his feed was going to be like and what kind of hay he would get. I am sure my feed is different and we have a different sort of hay but he has been a champion about all the new things around here. Of course, our trails are different and he has new horses around him. But he is so smart and good natured that he seems to accept every new thing with good humor and grace.

Needless to say, I am very proud of my beautiful stallion. I love his disposition. I love his beauty. I love his good conformation. He has been out on the trail with mares and he is fine. He goes out with geldings and he is fine. In the arena he shows with other stallions and he is fine.

But you know that is what Mountain Horses are all about. That is what initially attracted me to them. I read about Mountain Horses and I knew that was what I wanted. Code of Honor has been everything a Mountain Horse should be.

God has blessed me with so many horses that are the picture of the perfect Mountain Horse.

I see ads for Mountain Horses in my email. I know they are true. I know when they say beautiful, sweet, smooth gait and first to meet me at the gate they aren't making any of it up.

That is what makes us all so glad to own these wonderful horses. I look with pity sometimes at people who ride other breeds. I could never get the hang of posting and perhaps others have that problem as well. Thank God we don't have to do it.

It is like we were created to bond with these wonderful horses and they with us.

It makes me think about God and how the human spirit longs to bond with our Creator. If one doesn't know the true living God they find something else to worship. The Jews of the Old Testament saw the miracles that God did. The parting of the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness are two examples of how God took care of his people. He led them into battle and when they followed him and did his will they were always successful. But they strayed and worship idols and God turned his back on them. When we know the true living God and we know Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who died for us, why would be turn away and let other things crowd him out? But to my shame I know I do that too often.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care. May he place his hedge of protection around you and those you love.

Regards

Mary