The Daily Game of Hide n’ Seek

I play hide n’ seek everyday with Duke. I never thought ‘finding’ a black horse out the field as challenging. Well, I am wrong. Were it not for his white socks he would be nearly impossible to spot.

A close eye is kept on the horses throughout the day. They can get in the most uncanny trouble. A friend once said, “You could put a horse in a padded stall, and he’d still find some way to hurt himself.”

Duke rolled too close to the board fence one pleasant afternoon and caught his hind legs between the bottom and middle boards of the fence. With hammer in hand we were prepared to remove the boards. As we stood by him quietly he got himself out of that mess with only a few scratches, and a small limp.

He disappears then reappears in the field as if by magic. Our two black miniature horses are the same way, but they do not cover as much ground the way Duke does. They tend to stay in much the same grazing space.

The pretty white shining star on his forehead is also a beacon of light in our daily game of hide n’ seek. Last but surly not least, is snow. He is always a dead give away in snow!

Can you find Duke?

He is easier to spot against the skyline.
His white star and three white socks help me find him.
See him?
Can you find him?
His bright white star helps me find him.

He cannot hide when it snows!

The Tennessee Walking horse is a beautiful, well-tempered, smooth riding Gaited horse. He is our senior horse. I still ride him, though not far or long. I would have a whole field of this breed of horse if I could!

See his beautiful white socks and shining star on his noble forehead?

Five Minute Friday Writing Prompt—Choose

I did choose very well eighteen years ago today. Casey Creek Farm in Kentucky was an adoption farm for abandoned nurse mare foals. We were adopting a beautiful, tiny one-month old buckskin filly. I choose her from a pile of photographs they had posted on their website.

Never having had any experience in raising a foal without its momma made it a scary yet exciting adventure to undertake. High Hope seemed the perfect name for her and me.

I could write pages about how High Hope has touched and blessed the lives of so many people in her eighteen years of life. She is a fine mare and one of the greatest joys of my life.

The photo I choose High Hope from.
Happy foaling day today, High Hope! Eighteen years ago today, March 10, 2005!

Cleaning the Barn

Cobwebs happily flutter in the gentle breeze in all the corners of the doors, stalls, and rafters;  dust seriously collects in and on every available space;  hay and straw are strewn all over the floor like children’s lego blocks;  and surely not to forget all the poo deposited in the four corners of each stall.  Why would anyone want to clean one of these messy, dusty ‘ole places?

 

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Cobwebs hang and happily flutter in every corner!

 

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Hay and straw cover the floor like children’s lego blocks.

 

Suppose it is confession time for this PFO.  There is no time like time spent out in the barn.  It does not favor any season of the year nor time of day.  Anytime of the year is a wonderful time to be out in it, and every hour has it’s own specialness.  The smells, temperatures, and critters all vary during a day.  Several of the critters were put there by this PFO.  Others appropriated it for themselves, seeing it very fit for raising and feeding their family.  One must be very still and quiet to catch a glimpse of those that have adopted it as their  home, for they keep to themselves, and come out only when all is either dark or quiet.  As God would have it, they are a benefit to the ecosystem of the barn.  The barn swallows eat pesky, biting flies, as do the spiders.  The black snakes eat the mice.  They also add to the overall mess!  But it is nothing a hot cup of coffee and pre-breakfast homemade biscuit cannot handle.

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A hot cup of coffee and buttered homemade biscuit can handle any mess in the barn.

Certain sounds and smells are unique only to barns, and a well-kept barn always has the sweet smell of fresh hay wafting in the air.  Horses stamp their feet impatient for feed, cows moo softly as they saunter in, the chuckles are busy working in the manure piles (good Chuckles!), the baby birds are chirping high up in the rafters for more, more food from busy parents.

 

It is a dusty, dirty satisfying job.  Being a good steward is important.  Visitors to the farm go away with a good or bad idea of farming and how this farm is run.  The goal is to send them off with a smile, knowing these animals (and farm) are well cared for.

 

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Oh! The sight of a neat and tidy barn!