My friend was tacking her horse up to lunge him the other day.  I sat on the bench and looked at her and the horse.  “Are you going to ride him today?”  Her answer was “no, just lunge.”  So I sat and thought about it for a little.  He’s a schooled horse,  needs to be reminded every once in a while like the rest of them, but he knows his stuff.  “Then why did you put a bridle and saddle on him?”  Her answer was “to try out this new bit.”  “Okay, let’s think about this.  You’re going to lunge him, but your hands are not going to be on the reins.  How will you know what his reaction is going to be to the bit?”  It stopped her and she thought.  Her reply, “I’m not.”  “Okay, why the saddle?  He’s broke, been ridden for years. ” Her reply, “I guess there is no reason.”

We do so many things without thinking of the reasons behind what we are doing.  Because it looks more professional?  Makes us look like we know what we are doing?  It looks prettier?  Or we just didn’t think of the purpose behind it.

So still sitting on the bench I asked her a few questions.

• Why are you lunging him to begin with?
• What is your goal.
• What are you trying to accomplish by putting the bit in his mouth?
• What are you hoping to accomplish with the saddle?

So I went into my song and dance.  Whenever you are going to do something with your horse, whether it be training or just riding, you need to have a goal and a purpose.  Nothing is random.  You are either teaching or reinforcing something new and good, or something bad.  Before we do anything we must have a clear view on the goal and how best to achieve it.  With her being a fitness instructor she had a light bulb moment.  Oh! it’s like work!  When I prepare to teach I always ask myself.

• What am I hoping to accomplish with this exercise?
• Is it the best way to accomplish what I am trying to do?
• What are the risks?
• If not this, how can I progress to make it harder or modify it to make it easier if necessary to help some one accomplish this particular exercise?

With this I smiled and told her, yes! now apply your work program to your horse.

Sometimes we just can’t see the forest for the trees.

It seems like too much work to think about this all the time.  We just want to throw the saddle on and go.  By all means go ahead, but be a thinking horseman at the same time.  Stretch your knowledge and ability by being conscience of what you are doing and what you would like to accomplish.  It certainly will take your mind off the stress of the day, and at the same time put you more in tune to your horse.  Do I consciously think about this all the time?  No but I end up, probably in my unconscious mind, doing it anyway.

We do so much with and around our horses that has just become second nature, we don’t even realize what we do and why we do it.  Pay more attention to you, you are better than you think, and you are worth it.

Yup, it’s a New Year.  A year fresh, with a clean page to start everything over again.  A chance to get it right this time.

In my Children’s lesson, this past Sunday, we talked about Horton the Elephant who made a promise to Maizie the bird to sit on her egg.  For those of you who never read the story, Maizie was tired and bored sitting on her egg and wanted to go to Florida on vacation.  I’d rethink that right now because it’s snowing in the northern part of Florida and is going down to freezing here in Central tonight.  But unlike you in the frozen north, we are going to be back up to the 70’s by the weekend.  It’s really a shock to your system, since it was in the 80’s before Christmas and now it’s going down to freezing.  At least when it’s cold up north it stays that way for months.  By the way, I’m so sorry that the rest of the country is in a deep freeze.  With horses, or having to deal with other animals outside, it really stinks.  But I’m getting off track.

Now Horton made this promise, and he keeps his promises.  What kind of egg it was, was never mentioned, but I assume that he started sitting there in the spring, through the summer, and into winter since he had icicles hanging from his trunk and his feet.  Okay, picture a nest, with an elephant sitting on it.  Well it takes a children’s book to make this happen.

Of course we know that the point of the book was to teach children about keeping a promise, and my point was that God keeps his.  It’s brought to life with Noah and the Rainbow, God’s promise never to flood the whole earth again.

So what better way to start a year than with an Elephant and a Rainbow,  AKA a New Years Resolution.

Oh those dreaded resolutions.  This year I’m going to lose weight, go to the Gym, etc.  You know, the ones we never keep, even though they are intended to keep us fit and healthy.

So yesterday, as I’m out in the pasture, trying to get a blanket on a flighty Thoroughbred, with a North wind that felt much like a tornado, I’m thinking…. this is really dangerous.  Or as I’m trying to wrap a horses leg in the middle of a pasture while she’s snorting and bouncing around, …this is really dangerous.  Aaa duh!!  Time for a New Years Resolution stupid.

Now I know better, but sometimes common sense leaves me.  No I was quite aware that what I was doing is not what I would teach a student to do, but when it’s cold, and you’re in a hurry, you just say – “oh I’ll just do it this one time.”  Or as I was squeezing between a wall and a horse last night to straighten a blanket….  “What are you thinking?”  Yes I know the horse, she’s mine, yes I raised her from a baby and she’s a good girl.  It only takes something stupid to happen and you’re on the way to the emergency room.

So my New Years Resolution is to heed my own advice and stay safe.

We break resolutions because they are promises we make to ourselves.  Now I won’t break a promise if I make it to someone else, that’s just plain rude.  Why then, am I not as important as anyone else?

So if you made a resolution to spend more time with your horse (this is good for your peace of mind), to take down all those cob webs (this gives you a feeling of a job well done), to clean your tack and oil it more often (this could keep you safe if you notice a problem), treat yourself like you would treat others, keep those resolutions, you’re worth it.

Have a wonderful, healthy, safe, Happy New Year! from our farm to yours.

For the more mature of my readers, remember when you were a kid and all those wonderful Westerns were on TV?  The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry.  Or even the horse programs like Fury, My Friend Flicka, Mr. Ed.  I’d would watch any program that had a horse in it, like Wagon Train, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, you get the picture.  All these cowboys had fabulous horses.  John Wayne had the same two horses that he used in most of his movies.  His career was longer than their life span, I guess.  Other than a movie here and there, horses are hard to be found on TV.

As we move through life, we lose people.  As we mature, we lose them faster and closer together.

I’ve had some wonderful mentors in my years of horses.  The “old timers” had a grasp on horses that the “new comers” will never have.  With some, these horses were part of their lively hoods.  My first husbands grandfather had work horses.  He would use them to haul ice from the lakes to be delivered to customers for their refrigerators.  Horses weren’t pets in those days.  They were necessities to survive, and make a living.  Now I’m not talking about this happening in the country in different states, although it did, he had his business in Staten Island, New York.  Yup, right there in one of the five boroughs of New York City.  What a different life it was back then.  But he had wonderful “homemade” treatments for all that ailed the horses.  He did things the “old-fashioned” way, and they worked.  He also died and took all that great information with him.  He wouldn’t let on to any of his potions.

Well a couple of weeks ago I lost another mentor, who did share his knowledge.  Michael J. Torpey, Master of Hidden Hollow Hounds.  This man was a hoot!  And boy could he dance.  Mostly I learned so much from him about Fox Hunting.

When I first joined HHH it was a small, unrecognized, pack with very little territory, but did we have great runs over beautiful country.  Then we acquired more land to use and became a recognized hunt.   My friend Vincent, who was a Joint Master, wanted us to be recognized, Mike liked it just the way it was.  He was very strict on what was proper and what wasn’t.  Only small pearl earrings were allowed.  No other jewelry.  Hair nets were a must, no compromise there.  Everything was done “old school.”  They weren’t the best bred pack, but they could do their job.  I loved watching them run a fox across a freshly plowed field, or gallop after them through a field of pumpkins after Halloween.  Pumpkins do crush under your horses feet.  At first I was scared that my horse would hit one and it would roll, and therefore we would too, but that never happened.

He taught us all so much, not only about hunting, but a lot about training our horses for the job.  We’d have clinics on Saturday in the off-season that would prepare us for anything we’d encounter on the hunt field.  Drop jumps, coffin jumps; I loved watching people’s faces the first time they would try one of those.  Basically it would be what you see on cross-country courses now.

He gave me and Nancy the opportunity to become Whipper-Ins, and we had a great time doing it.  We would practice and show in Hunt Team competition at shows along with our Huntsman Lew.

Mike was the Master and Hunstman until it got cold, and the doctors didn’t want him out below 40 degrees because of his heart.  Lew would take over as Huntsman then.  When Lew was out-of-town, I would hunt the hounds.  Now there was an experience and a half.  It looks so easy until you have to do it.  Now the hounds only knew me as the person who called them off a scent, so why would they listen to me when I was the Hunstman?  They wouldn’t follow my horse, they were looking for Mike and his white horse.  So Mike put me on his horse until they got used to my voice.  When they acknowledged me, I was able to use my own horse.  To this day when I call in my own hounds and Jack Russell, I still use the same words and tones as I did back then.  He gave me opportunities that served me well through my years of hunting with different packs, in other states.

He was a tough old dude who didn’t have patience for stupid.  He would talk about other Masters whose names were well-known in the Hunting industry and tell me they were a bunch of “Horses Hind Ends (my choice of words, not his.”)  I would smile and think he just was very set in his ways and didn’t think much of others.  Well thirty years have passed since then and I have ridden under other Masters who are well-known, and guess what?  Many were not, but many were.  He was right.  I told Mike that several years ago, and he was not even a little surprised.

He lived to be 97 and has taught many people to ride and hunt.  He would be at every show in the area, just sitting, just watching.  Occasionally he would just sit there and shake his head.  He was wise in the sense he didn’t volunteer his knowledge, unless he was being paid.  That is something I have a hard time doing.  I’m more in trying to help the horse, so if I can pass something on to a rider or owner, I just do it.  I’ll keep working on that one Mike.

He was a great horseman and mentor.  Mike, you will forever be in my mind and on my heart.  Someone should blow “Gone Away.”  It won’t be me because I never really mastered the horn.  I can get by, but he deserves better than that.

Thank you Mike for all you taught me, and the good times we all had.

Well I finally got my new computer.  I’ll let it go at that.  Have my computer friend on speed dial.

Why when you get it, is everything different.  Even though we downloaded everything from my external hard-drive, nothing is the same.  It won’t even let me send out emails.

When computers work, they are a wonderful thing in your life.  When they don’t you just want to pitch them out the window via your foot.

I have a puppy like that now.  Somehow, getting a new puppy is like childbirth.  You just don’t remember all the pain and clean-up.  There is just the joy of getting a new one until it is there for 24 hours.  Then it all comes flooding back and you buy a lot of stock in rug shampoo, or like my friend says – a lot of paper towels.

Horses can be the same way.  You just got to take the time and work the bugs out of the system.  When they are good you love them and think they are the best horse in the world.  When they are bad you just want to send them packing.  That is especially true when you’ve just lost the most perfect horse in the world.  When they die you just remember that they performed every maneuver just right.  Didn’t spook at anything.  Knew what you wanted before you asked.  Came when you called.  Respected your private space.  We never remember that we had all those years teaching him all that stuff, and that all these years later this horse will be the same, you hope.

It’s even more frustrating when the new horse gives you a problem that you have never had to deal with before.  I have one here now that is really a good boy for a Thoroughbred.  Good brain, level-headed when it comes to scary things.  Good manners.  Is in a four-acre pasture and when it comes to dinner time he runs the fence line.  Why?????  You idiot!  You’ve got all the grass in the world and you want me to serve dinner now?  Never had a horse do that before.  Back to the drawing board.

I’ve got Bob pretty much trained on waiting.  Having a little trouble with the puppy.  She is very demanding and wants to be put up on the bed and taken off the bed every five minutes if no one is with her.  Bob is spoiling her like he has never done with any other dog we’ve had, and I’m staff.  If she doesn’t get her way she gets really ugly.  I’ve seen every tooth in her mouth with her growls.  Don’t touch her while she’s sleeping unless you get permission first.  Well the other morning she decided that I shouldn’t get too close to Bob in the kitchen.  So the good trainer I am, I got the fly swatter and popped her a couple of times in the butt before she got out of reach.  Nothing else works with her.  I’ve done all the Cesar Millan methods and she just ignores me.  I thought after dealing with the two Catahoulas I had it all down pat.  The Russell is rewriting everything as to how she feels it should be handled.

So I don’t care how much you know, there will always be a horse, dog, or husband that will come up with something new.  It used to be exciting to try to figure out how to deal with this new thing.  It’s just getting old now.  Well so am I.

This isn’t how the “Golden Years” are supposed to be.  Remember when we were teenagers and we thought we knew everything, that old people didn’t have a clue.  Well we were right.

You just need the right attitude.  I laugh at the puppy when she tries her Kujou act.  She’s 11 lbs. and tiny.  I’m 120 and 5″6″ with a fly swatter.  Bring it on.

I was watching my girlfriend work with her new horse the other day and gave her some small hints.

She exclaimed, she never knew that or thought of that, and certainly never read it in any books.  Where did I learn that?  I really had to think about what she said.  Where did I learn some of these things?  Good question.  Answer – I don’t know.  Perhaps I read something somewhere, a long time ago, but mostly I learned a lot of these little tricks from the school of “hard knocks”.

Maybe you could think about what you do, why you do it, and where you learned it.  I bet most of the things, no one taught you, you learned the hard way.

Did you ever wonder how people found out what was poison to eat and what wasn’t.  Did someone eat a watermelon, and say it was really good when it was red, and they didn’t die, and that’s how people found out what was edible?  Or, Harry tried that thing that looked like a fruit and he’s not here for breakfast.  Guess we won’t eat that anymore.

The school of “Hard Knocks” is an intense study on how not to do things, and equally an easy study on what really works best.

How many horse people have had dislocated fingers, broken fingers, fingers that are full of arthritis.  How many of us learned not to wrap a lead line around our hands (even if we knew that), or not to allow knots in a lead line or lunge line.  Boy when a rope slides through your fingers with a knot in it, kiss you life as a concert pianist goodbye.

I watched her, unknowingly, let the end of her lunge line drag on the ground around her feet.  Now this is one thing that makes me crazy with some of these well-known trainers.  They may be aware of where their feet and rope are, but the people watching aren’t that savvy.  Getting dragged, even around a circle in a round pen, will ruin your day.  And it will scare your horse, which in turn will make him run faster.  It’s just a no win situation.  I know I’ve said all of this before, but it’s so important it needs to be repeated.

Most of the things I told her yesterday where things I’ve printed here in previous posts.  Some she may not have read, or if she did, they didn’t apply to her at that time.

I know I’ve written about holding your lead line or lunge line like an English rein, coming from your pinky, through your hand and out the top by your thumb will give you a better grip on the line.  Nobody taught me that, it was that special school I’ve been attending for close to 60 years.

She has a OTTB.  Okay he’s broke, but not to do what she intends to use him for.  So I told her to just start from scratch as though he doesn’t know anything.  It’s becoming more of a learning experience for her than him.  I can’t say it’s easier to train a horse that has already been trained, because correcting some bad habits, or getting them to unlearn some bad training is sometimes harder that teaching something from scratch to a young unbroken horse.

I can tell you one thing, this whole process will cause some interesting posts in the future.  I will remember things I didn’t know I forgot and pass them on to you.

Be patient, we learn from repetition.  We really learn when it hurts.

Before I start, I want to thank my friend Louise for making me smile.  As I entered my web page to write this I saw her comment of You Go Girl!  I somehow didn’t get a notice it had come in.  And I also smiled at my friend Nancy’s comment, which I had read the other day.  No my doctor is just a regular, non horse person.  You’ve got to remember that non horse people just don’t get our breed.  Now be kind and forgiving, they are just clueless.  But it made for a good, pot stirring, post.

I was sitting here being a little sad.  A good friend and wonderful neighbor just passed away.  He was the one who helped me build this website.  I am computer challenged and I’m not sure how I will handle this site if anything goes wrong.

I had no idea what to put on my site, but he helped me format it and gave me suggestions as to what needed to be there.  He prompted me on how to word things to make them more appealing on the internet.  He reviewed what I wrote and approved of everything I did.  Then he made a suggestion that I post “Horse Riding Tips – 10 Things You Should Do Before Getting On Your Horse”, he said that it would generate interest.  Needless to say I’ve been posting things ever since.  Now every time I go to this web page, I will think of him.  He battled cancer for two years.  He had more courage and determination than anyone I have ever met.  I always told him he was my hero. He is someone I will always look up to and try to be like.  Now Mark was not a horse person, so to speak.  He was in Marketing.  His wife, however, is very much a horse person, so he knew about the whole drive and life style.

So pondering on those lines I started thinking of all the horse people in my life who have helped me become the person I am.  Those that have given me not only knowledge, but taught me to ride by the seat of my pants.  Some of them have passed on, but some are still here.  We keep in touch via Facebook.  I think, after I write this, I will get on Facebook and send a few Thank You notes.

The people at the barn I grew up at loved horses and loves kids.  They taught us to teach our students how to love and respect horses.  They treated us like part of the family.  I try to pass this love onto my students to this day.  Of course I’ve researched and expanded on what I was originally taught.  There have also been professional horsemen in my life that taught me many things I didn’t agree with.  I thank them also for showing me how not to do things and it causes me to reflect on what I believe is right and wrong.  I hold true to the values of these lessons.

I know in every ones life there have people who have taught them and helped them to grow.  Made them into the horse person they are.  Don’t be afraid to go back and thank them.  Let them know that they made a difference in, not only your life, but all the lives of the horses that you have encountered over the years.  Or perhaps will encounter in the future.

As I always say – Teach what you have learned and one less horse will suffer from ignorance, and never stop learning.

Pass it on.

Now wait a minute guys, this is going to be very useful for you in the long run.

Okay I’m a long way off from being a “girl” anymore, a “woman” or “lady” is pushing it a little now a days.  A “senile ole bat” works for me.  But don’t tell me I can’t do things.  That’s like waving something red in front of a bull.  The doctor tried that the other day.  Bob is down with his back, so I’ve been doing all the mowing.  Our doctor freaked.  “You can’t do that!”  How many of us like that kind of challenge?  Okay, bring it on!  You just don’t tell a horsewomen they can’t unload grain and hay, mow, use a hammer, saw or whatever.  The men in our lives, if any, aren’t always there, but the destruction that horses create is.  So the doctors next question was, “Well how long do you think you can keep this up?”  “Oh pretty much until I die” was my answer.  So he checked the muscles in my arms and said okay.  Bob told him I can handle the tractor and zero turn just fine.  I know he’s not really used to a horsewoman.  Some men just don’t get that we can handle a thousand pound horse, and anything that goes along with it.  We are not all sitting home watching Soap Operas, or Oprah, and eating Bon Bons.  We are not going to the mall and shop ’til we drop.  (Unless it’s a tack sale.)  And the truth of the matter is we like it this way.

Oh sure we like men, and if they want to put up fencing and do whatever needs doing, we’re fine with that, go out to dinner, you bet.  Just respect us for having a brain, using it, and doing what needs to be done, when we have to.  I know I’m a woman, still mostly blonde, but don’t put me down for that.  Celebrate who we are, capable partners who are not afraid to get our hands dirty.  Working side by side with a man to get whatever needs doing accomplished.

The doctor then asked me what plans I have for the future.  Have I even thought about a time when I can no longer do these things.  I guess I have, a little.  The boys at the feed store will deliver and unload the grain for me.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to sit on a tractor, cut grass and play pole bending with the trees.  I tried to explain to him that there is just no reason to get up in the mornings if there weren’t those happy faces, with ears perked forward waiting for you.  I know I’ve witnessed my older horsewoman friends watch the number of horses in their barns dwindle in number.  I watched where there were no more foals being born in their pastures.  We all do get to that point.  But seriously, do we want to rush it?  Do we just want to quit and say I’m old so I’ll sit in my rocking chair and wait to die.  No Way!  We will do what we can do, while we can do it, and ride quietly into the sunset on our gallant steed.  Even if only in our minds.  We will look younger, feel better, and out do any of those health club yuppies, or whatever they call themselves now a days, any day.  Our horses are our reason, they are our goal, and everything we have to do for them is our purpose in life.  It’s what keeps us going.

There are times we like being treated like a lady, but respect us for all the facets of our lives and personalities.  It makes for a great friendship, and a wonderful marriage.

“The Old Grey Mare, She Ain’t What She Used To Be.”  A cute old song I remember from my childhood.  To me, it was like “Old Mac Donald.”  Something you sang for fun but really didn’t relate too.  Now that I’m the “Old Grey Mare”, it’s taken on a whole new meaning.  The funny thing is I can’t remember the whole song.

What I do know is that there are a lot of horse people my age, who really believe, that their riding years are behind them.  That their bodies can’t do it anymore, and that they need to sit on the sidelines and just watch and remember the “Good Ole Days.”

I’ve been communicating with a person, the last couple of days, who is in this category.  Went to a site on Facebook for a reason I can’t remember, and came across an ad for a Horse For Sale.  Well I was looking for a horse so I read the ad.  It was for an 18 yr. old TB Gelding, the girl was going off to college.  Well I really wasn’t interested in a Thoroughbred, but the age sounded good.  My friend is in her 60’s, doesn’t want to jump anymore.  Just wants to do flat work, trail ride, groom, bathe, and have a horse to love on.  She had come to me to try and take a lesson, feeling that her body couldn’t do it anymore, but something in the back of her mind told her to try.  (I’m sure I told you all about this before)  She called me to cancel because she didn’t feel like she could do it.  I told her to come and just brush a horse.  She did and she has been riding ever since.  It’s been a couple of years now.  She’s now ready to get her own horse to love on.

So I replied to the ad.  Explained the age and experience of the person the horse would be for, and what she wanted from the horse she was going to buy.  The girl was really interested in my friend taking the horse, but the person I was dealing with was not the actual owner of  the horse, this woman had just posted the ad for the girl.  She explained that she was a little older than my friend and was interested in the fact that she was going back into horses at her age.

We’ve been communicating back and forth the last couple of days.  She says that she likes my attitude.  I simply just told her that our minds have a different outlook on our ability to ride again, than our hearts.  Our minds tell us that we are too old, that our bodies can’t handle it anymore.  We could get hurt.  Yes we could, we always could, but when we were younger we bounced a little better.  I explained to her that we still can ride, but we have to make some adjustments to accommodate our age and worn out body parts.  Sometimes all we really need is a lawn ornament to brush and tell our troubles to.  There are a lot of older horses out there that need homes and attention, but can’t do what they used to do either.

If horses are a part of your heart, don’t give into the idea that you are too old.  That those days are behind you.  Yes our wild, crazy days maybe behind us, but there is so much more to riding and loving horses than what we remember.  It’s not about having the horse that can jump the highest, gallop the fastest, turn the barrel the quickest.  It’s about the feeling of being on something that’s more powerful, more alive than we are.  It’s about the love, and communication between human and a majestic animal that God had created.  “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”  Winston S. Churchill

We used to want the latest style on clothes, the hottest shoes, the fastest car.  Now we want to wear things that are comfortable, and drive a car that is safe.  It’s the same with horses.  We want something safe, and sane.  He doesn’t have to be the picture perfect example of equine flesh.  No matter what he/she looks like, if they are happy to see us and share our deepest thoughts, that’s the horse we want.  If we can go for a trail ride safely, or just walk around in a circle just to keep our (both horse and human) arthritis at bay, that’s the horse for me.  If they just want to share a carrot and just hang out and watch the sunset, what more can you ask for.

You’re never too old to own a horse, just maybe to old to do what you used to do.  It’s not right or wrong, it’s just different.  Find a companion that wants to do the same things you want to, or are able to do.

When I was a kid my instructor used to say when we were jumping –  “Throw your heart over the fence first, and your body will follow.”  It’s not our bodies that keep us from horses, it’s our minds.  Satisfy your hearts desire and the mind will follow.  Just make the right choice in a horse.  Like I used to tell my lesson kids, “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find that prince.”

We all are approaching Midnight.  The clock will eventually strike twelve, but until it does, put on your glass slipper and “Dance” like no one is watching.  Listen to your heart and body, the mind will follow.

By the way, the woman is coming on Monday to get back on a horse, she’s 78 yrs. young and just wants to have that feeling one more time.

So today my friend emailed me and told me her dog crossed the Rainbow Bridge.  Hit me hard, they weren’t expecting it, and it came too close to me losing a horse and two dogs.

So I started thinking about my dogs who had just passed.  I didn’t give them as much of my attention as I think I should have.  According to other people I did, but you always wonder if you did enough.  So I thought about Holly.  She was the chow cross.  I picked her up off the street.  She never really wanted a lot of attention.  A scratch on the belly as you went by, but really was never a lap dog that looked for your constant love.  Rain, my Jack Russell, lavished more kisses on others than myself.  I always wondered if she really enjoyed being my dog.  At the end, we cleared all that up.

But I thought about the differences with all my dogs and how they each had their own needs and how much attention they would like at any given time.  Some were happy just having a home and a good meal.  One of the Catahoulas would like to be a 35 lb. lap dog.  The other just wants to hang with you some of the time.  Some of my dogs you couldn’t even go to the bathroom without.  Some didn’t care where you went.

This brought me to the book “The Five Love Languages.”  It explains how each of us feel loved by different ways.  Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.  Apparently dogs do too.

Then my thinking evolved to the horses, and do they have different love languages?  Looking at the two standing in front of me at the time, indeed they do.  Zoey loves for me just to sit in the pasture.  She’ll come up and just hang with me while I hold a one-sided conversation.  Friday on the other hand likes physical touch.  Grooming, bathing, having her face wiped with a cool wash cloth.  Zoey loses patience when I don’t groom her fast enough.  Fri could spend all day being fussed over.  Then my mind wandered to my other horses.  Dawn loved hanging with people.  I always said she’d be happy to sit on the couch with you, eat popcorn and watch TV.  Some liked the personal attention and some just liked knowing what time dinner was served.

I spoke with a vet friend about this and she said it all comes back to the Chinese and the Five Elements.  Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood.  How each person and horse is one of them, and how we either complement each other, or lock horns.

There is more to this life than we can imagine.  I can’t even begin to think I could learn all of this and figure it out at this point in my life.

So back to my original thought.  We all have a different need as to how we feel loved.

When you have nothing else to think about while cleaning stalls, think what makes each of your animals feel the most loved, and act on it before the chance slips away.

It wouldn’t hurt in our human relationships either.  What makes you feel loved by your animals or a person?  I love when an animal just wants to be with me for no reason.  I guess I feel that way about my husband and friends too.

Stall cleaning thinking.

I love summer, that’s why I live in Florida.  Even with all its bugs, and heat, I still love it.  Actually I use less fly spray here than I did up north.

Think of all the fun stuff you can do.  Go trail riding and get bit by every bug in the area, but it’s a good excuse to gallop to out run them. Take your horse swimming, and watch the manure balls float toward England, when you live up north, or Africa when you live down south.  Bathe your horse and get wetter than he is.  If you don’t have a pool, you can always sit in the water trough.

When we were kids, it never failed, someone would throw someone into the water trough.  If they were kind, someone would empty your pockets and remove your watch before the dunking. However you’d have to lay on your back, on the ground, to get the water out of your high boots.  Now if you were really lucky, it would end there.  However, the kids at my barn never let it go at that.  They would roll you in the manure pile, dump hay from the loft on you, or perhaps lime.  You were quite a sight riding home on public transportation looking and smelling like that.

We’d put hay out in the fields for horses using a small dump truck.  Everyone was covered, and itchy, with hay.  Sometimes people just happened to fall out of the back while in transit, but when it was empty was the most fun.  Bill would lift the dump body and we would hold onto the front.  He would then drive under low branches to see who would let go.  Funny, no one ever did.  It’s really hard explaining that to your parents.

Sitting on the porch watching the sunset, then going out after dark and jumping on our horses, bareback, maybe a halter if you were lucky.  Oh no lead lines of course.  We’d run around in the dark trying not to hit trees.

Now I sit on the porch or at the barn and watch the sunset.  Sometimes on the mounting block with my horse next to me, and I’ll dream about being young and stupid again.  If given the chance to do it again, I think I would.  Well maybe not hanging from the front of the dump truck, but the rest of it.  I wouldn’t trade any of those memories for all the tea in China.

It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, create memories with your horses and friends. Some day that will be what puts a smile on your face.  Bug bites and all.

It’s summer, let the games begin!