Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Wendy wrote:
> Bev, at least with the fruit trees, Ron can take some fresh fruit in 
> to work with the eggs and offer them to your other egg customers.

True.  Ironically, I've never thought about that.  I've been locked into
the canning mentality.  Thanks, Wen...(the simplest things often elude me)


I didn't know you
> liked to ride.  What kind of horses do you have?  I have an Arabian 
> gelding CMK breeding, lots of Crabbet.  Very intelligent, sane and 
> athletic.  I love him to pieces.

Well, they aren't my horses, I just get to play with them and enjoy
their antics.  This week, I am taking care of them while she is away on
vacation.
Ava has been a good friend.  They moved to Rock Creek in the summer of
2005, and while she is more citified than me, and they still live a
wasteful, consumerist lifestyle (my opinion), we get along well.  She
and her husband Todd have been very generous, and her boys, Josh and
Hayden are like my own.  Until last year, I'd never really been around
horses on a daily basis.  I had kept my other neighbor's horses
periodically, but never had the opportunity to really enjoy them.  Ava
has 3 horses...
Rebel is a Tennessee Walker, 25 years old.  He has a bad front foot and
we don't ride him anymore.  I have to feed him separately because I add
Bute to his feed.  He's wonderful and gentle.  Ava has owned him for 23
years.
Dallas is a palomino Quarter horse.  He's 4, I think, and is full of
life and energy.  He's absolutely beautiful.  I have a picture of him
somewhere.  Perhaps I'll go out and take pics of the horses and add them
to the collection on the yahoo site.
Joe is also a Quarter horse.  He's black, jet black, in the winter, and
turns more reddish in the summer.  He's about 7 years old and also
beautiful and full of mischief.
When we ride, I ride Joe and Ava rides Dallas.
Jack is a 25 year old donkey.  He's a stud muffin. (Everyone loves Jack)
 We call him a stud muffin because until last year, Ava thought he was
sterile, but in the past year or so, he has sired two mules and another
horse down the road is expecting. :)
All the horses are geldings, but Joe was only gelded about 18 months
ago, just before he came to my place, so he still has that stallion spirit.
For whatever reason, I think it is the wind, her horses like my pasture
better than hers.  They get very exuberant when we bring them here, but
show no excitement when we take them back. :)
This morning, I have been watching Joe chase Jack around...Jack finally
gets enough and kicks Joe...so Joe retreats and starts picking on
Dallas....then they run full speed up and down the pasture....feeling
their Cheerios.
Anyway, I kind of "got into" horses late.  I was never one to fantasize
about them the way most young girls do, which is rather ironic
considering what a naturalist tomboy I was.  I guess I envisioned horses
as too "girly" for my tastes, preferring football and contact sports to
girly things.  I even had a neighbor who had horses, but Jaime was a
girly girl, so I guess that's where I got that impression.  One of my
surrogate mothers in college taught me to ride English, but I never rode
much back then.  Of course, we would ride horses on vacation, too, but
never the same horse or the same location, and I don't know, the bug
just never bit me.  When we moved here, my other neighbor, George, had
me keep his horses while they went on hunting trips and I was around
horses more, even got a nasty bite on my bicep a few years back (it was
an accident), but nothing ever clicked with me until last year.  Perhaps
it was the day we rode or my mentality at the time, but something almost
spiritual happened and I had a newfound love for horseback riding and a
new appreciation for horses.  I almost think of Ava's horses as my own
now.  I groom them, feed them, and no longer need help saddling one up.
We have miles and miles of NF trails to explore around here and when I
ride I feel a sense of freedom and a spiritual connection with Nature
that I need at times.  It's rejuvenating and uplifting.  I know you
horse people will understand that.  So now, I am learning about other
breeds and what they are used for and their gates, etc.  I am very
comfortable around the horses now, and that hasn't always been the case,
especially after Spooky bit me some years back.

  I also have a house pig, a little pot-bellie.  That is why I
> don't eat pork anymore.  I have learned that pigs are way too 
> intelligent to eat.  It is almost like eating children.  Can't do.


LOL...yeah...they are smart, for sure...but I like pork too much to give
it up...Deer are cute, too, but venison sure tastes good.  I could say
the same for rabbit.


Bev
--
Bevanron of EarthNSky Farm   Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the
ocean's depths, MY son is protecting YOUR freedom.