SCRATCH. MY MULE--- BETH GETS TEH AWARD OF THE DAY-- now this is a very serious topic.... joshua probably spent 18 years of his life pulling a plow around amish vegtable fioelds--- as a piece of equipment he was adeqyately cared for- only because to do otherwise would make him less efficient.. but i don't think he ever had a carrot or a really good ssscccrrraattcccchhhhh. - a scratcher bolted to a pole looked too much like something used to make him pull the plow harder. so it took beth-- and about 5 pounds of carrots-- to let her touch him withthe rubber scratcher... but once she had... he understood immediately -- and stoood for about an hour while beth got rid of that itchy winter coat in blotches. in that one hour beth turned him from a fearful creature to one who appreciates teh finer things of life... like ascratching device.. the trick now is to hold it there and keep him from deciding he is entitled--- even tho that might be a reasonable result from his previous existancde . his other 1800 pound friend "MO" pushes her luck, and every gate she can get her neck over as mo has decided she is entitled to more (as her name suggests "give me MO-re"). we do the best we can...
being able to accept scratching will be a life saver- because we are going to need to trim joshua's feet-- and i bet-- like mo-- he was probably put in a wooden stock and had one foot aafter another tied up so tehblacksmith could trim his feet. ( for you beginners.... they grow like fingernails) -- it seems to me ... in amish country .. there is not time for a beth type person to take an extra hour to explain to joshua that he should not fear people but just go along with things like picking up a foot... so he could get back to work pulling a plow so we could enjoy fresh veggies from amish country.
thank heavens for teh BEER DRINKING public. THEY SPEND SO MUCH MONEY ON BEER THAT THE BUDWEISER PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO RAISE THE CLYDESDALES WITH A LITTLE MORE FINNESSE..
***
WHICH BRINGS up another draft horse story- 40 years ago...
i was in toronto with 2 days to kill... day #1 -- i took a flying lesson-- scared teh #$%^&* out of me- fyi--- going to a small airport - looking like a responsibel person--- it is possible to take a flying lesson with instructor and small plane - the cost is not prohibative- if you have a few extra bucks, it is a very interesting thing to do.. in my experience there has always been an instructor and guy kind of hanging around these small airports looking for a few extra BUCKS - SORT OF UBER STYLE... THAT WAS DAY #1
DAY#2 I WENT TO A FARM THAT RAISED BELGIANS FOR TEH COORS HITCH- TEH BREED OF BELGIAN IS 1/2 OF WHAT MO AND JOSHUA ARE-- WHICH IS WY THEY ARE THE COLOR THEY ARE - AND COORS HAS A HITCH OF THOSE -WITH LESS FALDERAL THAN THE BUDWEISER BUNCH.
NOW I WAS A 4 -H LEADER/BARN INSPECTOR-- AND I KNOW A BIT ABOUT BARNS... WHEN YOU FEED HAY IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP THE PLACE TOTALLY LACKING IN STRANDS OF HAY ON THE FLOOR OR GROUND-- THIS PLACE HAD NONE- SO I ASKED HOW DID THEY HIDE TEH HAY.. AND HE SAID WE DON'T FEED HAY-- I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT...PELLETS... CUBES... WAS THERE SOMETHIGN NEW I HAD NOT HEARD OF? HE SAID THEY FEED ONLY CARROTS-- I THOUGHT THE GUY WAS NUTS....BUT TEHR WAS NO HAY ANYWHERE I COULD SEE..- and ther was a white snow cover so i should have seen some.- WHAT TEHRE WAS... WAS A COUPLE 10 WHEELER DUMP TRUCKS FULL OF CARROTS- TEH WIFE TOLD ME THEY PUT A 5 GALLON BUCKET OF WATER IN TEH PASTURES WITH THE MARES AND FOALS- AND IT IS Rarely touched. and they don't feed grain either. IN HOT SUMMER THEY MIGHT HAVE TO ADD MORE WATER BUCKETS BUT THIS WAS WINTER..
TO THIS DAY I DON'T BELIEVE IT--- BUT I DID SEE THAT - UNLESS I WAS DRINKING -- AND I DON'T THINK I WAS... I ALSO CONSIDERED TEHY WER PULLING MY LEG-- TEH SILLY AMERICAN TOURIST.... BUT EVEN IF THEY WERE NOT TRUTHFUL ABOUT TEH NO GRAIN OR WATER.... THERE WAS NO HAY AROUND THOSE BARNS... and what on earth would teh 10 wheelers of carrots be doing-- it was winter so tehy were not in harvesting mode for carrots.
i still don't believe it... but it has caused me not to worry about too many carrots for the donks here..
and we went thru 15 pounds yesterday..
which also reminds me-- fugan sent a carrot slicer which sliced carrots with minimal chance of slicing fingers- this did yoemans service yesterday as several "challanged" visitors sliced away and sprinkled carrott slices in teh new donkey feeder with huge success. which provided lovely entertainment for a bus load of very senior citizens who had dropped by on a mystery ride. teh tent got tightened and floor swept- all by me sitting in those comfortable high aderondek bar chairs and suggesting things to do.
A successful day.
