the shatupon is screwed up today.. so i opened next weeks....
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what would i really like to do today??? sit in bed and eat ice cream all day -- black rassberry ice cream-- and maybe every third quart pistashio.-- but------between the bathroom scale, my aging bladder and various attitudes-- i can not do that.
i like the horses-- it is a bit of a love hate relationship. because horses are extremely labor intensive.... i have spent at least 75 years of my life worrying about what friends relatives.. had which horse to ride... who had what truck or trailer to transport them to wherever they want to ride... like the 4h kids to vermont... or the topsfield fair. my kids... the neighbors kids... . 3 trips over. 3 trips home----- i never rode. finally i bought harvey. a qh buckskin- at 40 cents a pound ( 1100 pounds) because he kicked so badly they couold not get him out of his stall for 2 months.... i figured only the back end kicked and we did very well.... and i did get to. ride when my husbands horse neeeded to be galloped so some jockey could beat on him with a whip.. so he would run on a broken knee - ( normal in the racing world) my riding just for the fun of it... has been minimal.
now age has got the best of me--- almost----and for me to even sit on a horse is a major production...
but.. i now own a beautiful black mare-- really spectacular--- if yuo can catch her--- i can no longer walk far enough to catch her--- but matt can. with great planning... so most of my enjoyment is watching taxi get away from matt.
now that may not sound like a reason to maintain a 1200 pound hay burning machine.... or the cowboy who. is really quite a talented animal person-- been around alot of animals for a long time.... and taxi can still ---on ocasion --- outrun him... and look beautiful doing it. and i laugh...horse catching is alomst as fun to watch as riding. it is certainly a lot more fun than watching horses get beaten so they will run in a circle so inebriated males can "own a horse" for the 3 minutes involved....... but normal horse chasing........ i have been there myself trying to catch some kids horse before it gets cut on some fence or stump... so teh kid can ride in circles before some judge where you hope she gets any ribbon.. not jjust the blue.....
so we all grow up- and finally i get a horse big/sound/relatively pleasent .. once you catch her-- and i like watching her gallop thru the trees... and maybe wishing i could still at least a walk thru the trees ---- it would be fun... but one tree limb. would also be fatal... or if not fatal then total immobilizing with things like broken hip... in a nursing home--- without a window to even watch her run.
so we all grow up- and finally i get a horse big/sound/relatively pleasent .. once you catch her-- and i like watching her gallop thru the trees... and maybe wishing i could still at least a walk thru the trees ---- it would be fun... but one tree limb. would also be fatal... or if not fatal then total immobilizing with things like broken hip... in a nursing home--- without a window to even watch her run.
i can not tell you how many people i know who own horses that they never ride....and if they spend their money on brian ( the vet) instead of getting sick on a carnival cruise.. so be it... why not me? i have always told janine--- who's expansion of. ERN is always on the horriszn... that the 3 stalls and that side of the barn were horse territory..... all she has access too. and about once a year i find a horse in the flat field grass.... bad thing... horses make mud out of grass....with their pointy hooves.
entire point being. the horse. taxi.. and friends.... belong... to me... and will be kept in the "horse area". .. maintained by someome... not me....in exchange for whatever i can wrangle. with the least disturbance of sdp operation as possible. he will never say to me "i am not helping that dog side". nor will the sdp people ever say "i am not helping with the horsE project" without very severe repercussions from me. the horses and donkeys.... are educational ly fun. to the cp's. and they are M. I. N. E. I BUY THE OATS AND HAY.. not a penny of sdp donatons go to horses.
now for the frustrating part. --- you couldn't wait??? to hear anyone complain about spending the entire morning cleaning stalls. when janine, matt ( or a younger i ) could clean a stal in 5 minutes or. less... and do it better...is frustrating-- i have to let it go a as. "playing with wheelbarrows 101" volunteers are learning in the fresh air...
it is very close to having to watch paid staff carefully dry the dog food dishes in the kitchen
they will dry themselves.... keep moving...
