Horse bits and pieces...

The following are four little horse bits and pieces for the moment...each by itself not long enough for a blog entire, yet still gems I would like to thread together here...and trust me, one of them is very, very funny!

Horses are like kids, and if one thinks it can get by with anything, they will not hesitate to try.  Horses are also extremely sensitive in immediately being able to detect if a human is afraid of them, or doesn't know what the hell they're doing.  While all of mine knew they DEFINITELY had a human who did not fit into any of those categories, this still did not keep them from testing "mom" to gain control now and then. 

My "children's" most common attempts to get their way, was trying to head home far sooner than "mom" wanted, or to go left when "mom" intended to go right.  Or not move when "mom" said go.  They also knew "mom" deeply loved them too.

So, whenever one of them balked at which way we were going for instance, I would first tap them on the rump with the reins.  Nine times out of ten this alone was always enough to settle the matter MY way, because they all knew what would come next if they didn't quit their attempt to have me relinquish my control.  And what came next would be a hard slap on the rump with the reins which always settled the matter immediately...soon followed by a reassuring rub on their shoulder to let them know how grateful I was they listened to "mom."

One of the many amazing things each of my horses did around me was to keep their heads held at my eye level.  In fact I recently posted a photo here of Patches doing just that...sweetly holding his head at my eye level.  And if I had a lead shank on them, while leading them, they moved beside me holding their heads level with mine. 

Horses have hooves, and the care of those hooves is vital.  Another of the many questions I am asked concerning my horses is, "How do you lift up their hooves to clean them?"  Because to people, it is often difficult to fathom a Little Person deftly lifting up the hoof of this huge animal while practically being right under it...behind it...balancing it between her legs as she squats, then with a hoof pick, cleaning out each one.

Here is a very funny story now, but to me then, I was not amused.  During one of my many long hospital stays, I had asked my friends Bob and Tom to visit the farm to check on my pony Sadie.  That was all they had to do.

Since the two knew Sadie could pull a cart, they had a bright idea one day.  Only I didn't own a cart nor did I like them.  I wanted to be ON my horses, not behind them!  However I did have Sadie's cart harness which came with her.  Unfortunately, the guys knew where it was kept.

So they decided to make a two wheel cart.  They were really very proud of themselves too.  Somehow they managed to get the harness on Sadie, so they told me later...and attached it to this homemade cart.  Perhaps it really might have worked, who knows?  But one of them had the ridiculous idea to shake a huge LOUD cowbell to get Sadie moving.

Oh, she moved all right.  She went FLYING!  Neither the cart nor most of the harness survived.  What remained on Sadie, got caught around a tree, which stopped her until she could be extracted.  Thankfully SADIE was fine.

The cart was not fine, ending up in many pieces.  One of the wheels was never seen again.  The guys?

Since they knew I would be hearing about this they decided to visit me before news reached me, to confess.  Imagine my surprise when Bob and Tom showed up at the hospital, with Bob's arm broken and in a cast.  Tom's ankle was broken and in a cast, besides being on crutches.

At first I was upset they got injured in some terrible way.  Then they told me, beginning first to assure me Sadie was fine.  Hearing this, my compassion level for them dropped.  Hearing the rest, it plummeted.  For a few moments I wanted to throttle them.  They were scared too.  But very thankful I couldn't get out of the bed to break any of their other bones.🥴

Realizing they obviously had suffered enough, and would have the scars to carry with them always, I couldn't help but to then begin laughing.  And laughing.  We all three did, and have laughed over this for many years.  

But they knew never touch my horses again.🤣