Terrible Tuesday

What started out as just a normal miserable Monday, ran over into a terrible Tuesday. It was just one thing after another yesterday. First, I was sitting at the computer when I first woke up and I heard the sound of a Stallion outside of his designated area.

It is a distinct sound that only people who have more than one Stallion would recognize. A horrifying sound that makes your blood run cold because you know how much damage can be done in a very short time when one stallion gets directly across the fence from another stallion.

Stallions who live in the same town, state, country or even on the same planet hate each other with a passion and having to live on the same farm with each other is nearly unbearable. They dream about the day that they can get nose to nose to prove who is the master of the universe.

Jazz, our Appaloosa Stallion had figured out that his electric fence wasn't hot. He really doesn't care much if it is hot or not, he will still lean into it to get the greener grass on the other side. Some things are just worth it. When it pops him good it just makes him mad and he shakes his head and stomps his front feet at it as if he is going to whip it into submission.

So he accidentally leaned too far into it yesterday morning and low and behold he found himself outside his area without even breaking a wire. Once he was out, the green grass lost its appeal and all he wanted to do was kill Badger our AQHA Grullo Stallion. There was still another electric fence separating them but neither of them cared.

As soon as I heard the sound, I was out the door grabbing the first rope that I could get my hands on. The lot that Jazz had found his way into was uninhabited so the grass was tall and boy was it ever wet with dew. They were squealing, rearing, biting and bleeding and one strand of fence was already history.

I yelled at Jazz to stop it and he does listen and obey but then Badger would say something that he just couldn't ignore and they were back at it again. We ran back and forth, and back and forth. Finally, I threatened Jazz in such a way as to become a bigger threat than Badger. He could tell that I was really tired of running and I was soaked up to my knees in the wet grass.

So he stopped and started eating, pretending that he had done nothing wrong. Badger continued to badger him but he was focused on me and my anger at this point. He stood perfectly still while I put the rope around his neck and listened carefully to all of my lecturing.

That was just the start of the day, the whole day continued on like this, just little annoying problems like fences to fix and working out the glitches of the electric current.

In the evening when I was just starting to relax after a tough day, I stapled my thumb. It's true, I was reaching for the stapler and it shot me right in the thumb. I screamed at the very thought of it, ran into the kitchen without looking at it and held it out to my dear Husband, saying something like, "Get it out!". He got a good hold on it and pulled it out in a quick motion. It had gone all the way in to the bone. My thumb is still sore but it was at its worse about two hours after it happened, very painful, like a smashed thumbnail, throbbing.

I was happy when Monday ended but then Tuesday came...

Moon Shadows

If you didn't go for a walk in the moonlight last night, then you just aren't living. I took two walks last night. For some reason, it may be a compulsion, I have to take a short tour of the grounds before I go to bed. My tour last night was just inspiring, that harvest moon was a thing of beauty.

I marveled at my shadow that was so clearly defined. Two of the goats were out and snoozing in the driveway along with their faithful companion, Angel. She was bright white, soft and cuddly in the moonlight when she ambled over to me for a rub and a hug. I enjoyed the scenery for a few minutes then went to bed.

I had a rough night, I couldn't get to sleep. I had a headache most of the day yesterday and it got worse when I laid down. When I did finally doze off, I kept waking up in pain, then my stomach started complaining about something I ate. I promised myself that I would quit eating spicy stuff right before bed, then later I promised myself not to eat anything before going to bed, still later I promised myself not to ever eat anything spicy at anytime of the day. I ended up promising myself never to eat again period!

As I flopped about the bed with all of these thoughts, pains and promises, Angel and Abby both started pitching a fit. They normally bark throughout the night to ward off predators but this was different, this was something serious that needed someone's attention and since nothing wakes my dear Husband, it fell my lot.

I walked out into the night with my tiny flashlight that wasn't needed because of the brightness of the moon. The dogs fell silent as soon as I walked out and no longer seemed concerned, they had done their job, they had alerted me to a problem that really didn't affect them.

I looked around and didn't see or hear anything, then I walked around the corner of the barn and saw something that most people would love to see in the moonlight. It was just the most beautiful sight. Although I didn't have time to stand around and marvel long at it, because I had to run into the house and wake up my Husband before this beautiful sight got ugly.

There, standing in the yard, in the moonlight on his hind feet pawing at the sky was our white stallion. It took my breath away for more than one reason, it was an awesome sight, he is very beautiful. But he was also challenging our Grullo Stud, who was only one tiny electric wire away from him and he was making some challenging moves himself. They had already broke one wire and the valley soon filled with violent screams and squeals.

It was really no big deal, I woke the man and he grabbed a halter and lead rope, I went back out and yelled at them. They were like a couple of kids who had been caught doing something wrong. Badger trotted off and Jazz started pacing the fence but stopped and stood still as quick as my DH said his name. He haltered him and put him in the corral for the night, then went back to bed. He is out fixing fence this morning. He had two days off in a row, that is just amazing.

As for me, I have still sworn off food. I did have a glass of goat's milk this morning and that seems to have settled things down for a little while. My head is still aching, so I am thinking that I have probably contracted the bout of flu that has been making the rounds.

Tracfone

I had to get my DH a cell phone so that I would always be able to reach him when he is away from home and I have some emergency. Like mares foaling or stallions escaping their pens and getting in with each other. That is always a good way to get your heart rate up. I can deal with mares foaling but when the two studs get together, I feel a little overwhelmed.

The problem that I have is that he never seems to have it with him. He does faithfully take it to work with him but he leaves it lying here by the computer most of the rest of the time.

We can't afford a cell phone plan. I can't justify it with our measly income, so we have used a Tracfone for the last 3 or 4 years. I can usually get a good coupon code, so that it doesn't cost us that much.

I do get a little upset that at both places of employment where my DH works, they have his Tracfone number and call him, burning up my hard earned minutes. I believe that if they need to get in touch with him then they should pay for his minutes or supply him with a phone.

I purchased minutes for the phone last night on the Tracfone website. I bought the one year card with 400 minutes, then used the coupon code 52057 to get 200 bonus minutes. I had previously purchased double minutes for the life of the phone, so that doubled the 400 minutes. This was added to units and time that I had left, so that took me to January of 2010 with 1026 minutes for $100. This coupon code expires sometime in August.

I told him this morning that just because I got a good deal and he has a lot of minutes doesn't mean that he can use them to gab for long periods of time with anyone but me. I will be watching.

Horse Articles

Articles of horse abuse, neglect and starvation.

Kentucky's unwanted-horses crisis spiraling

Rise in number of neglected horses

Hungry, Hungry Horses

Slaughterhouse legislation may worsen horse market

Middle Tennessee's horses going hungry or selling cheap

Lack of foresight

The premise that without horse slaughter there will be no incentive to continue breeding horses doesn't make sense. I don't know of anyone who breeds horses for slaughter anymore than people breed dogs to be euthanized at the local animal shelter. Thousands of dogs die everyday without the incentive of slaughter. Horse ranches who run large bands of broodmares that number in the hundreds with stallions, who never touch their young stock until round-up time when they are taken to auction, will continue to do what they have always done, it's their way of life, even if they are getting $50 per head.

Also to say that closing the packing plants is not contributing to these problems is more fantasy thinking. Not every state had a drought last summer and to say that the slaughter market is still very much alive in this country is a clueless remark as well. Killer buyers are just not buying the same number of horses that they were. They are making more money per head when horses are cheap or free and with the cost of gas and the longer transports out of the country, they are only going to take the cream of the crop, certainly not thin or crippled horses who might not make the trip. Isn't this just common sense?

I predict that the Humane Society will come up with a solution soon. They will take over the horse slaughter industry to make sure that it is done humanely, and then we can pay them to dispose of our horses, further devaluing the horse.

What the anti-slaughter people are trying to do is noble but not possible. They want to change society. They want people to have feelings, be compassionate and loyal, in a society where animal and human life is not as important as their own comfort and finances. When an animal has no value, then it has no value and will be treated as such. I heard Rush Limbaugh once say that if you want to save an animal from extinction then you need to start eating it. This is unfortunately true.

Many people have already stopped registering their horses, because they aren't going to put anymore money into an animal that is already worth nothing and while I can understand that, it is still heartbreaking. At times in the past we have had people buy horses from us and tell us that they don't care about papers because you can't ride papers. We always tell them that the papers aren't for them, they are for the horse, they give the horse more value. Even if they think that they will keep the horse forever, you can't see the future and something could happen to force them to sell, that horse will have a better chance at a good life if he has paperwork that goes with him than if he doesn't.

This is all about the devaluation of the horse. If you want to help horses then you have to give them value, not only in your eyes but in the eyes of everyone. Believe it or not, there are lots of people out there that don't even like animals of any kind. They could care less about horses or they especially don't like horses because they fell off of one once. Sometimes we can only see with our own eyes and think everyone thinks and feels just like we do, they don't, they don't care if animals are mistreated and even mistreat animals themselves.

I have a friend who is a big softy now but tells horrible stories about the things that he used to do to animals. He didn't have any feelings of compassion at all for them until he started getting older and got a house dog, now he has four dogs in his house along with three birds, he worries over them to no end. I know other people like this, I also know some people who just live in their own little world and think that animals are dirty and nasty creatures. But most people do care about money, I don't know anyone who thinks of money as dirty and nasty, though most of it is. Give a horse some dollar value and it will be treated with more respect.

I have a question? Why would anyone have a Mustang stallion? I just recently saw where someone is expecting a foal by their Mustang stallion. Can you adopt Mustang Stallions? Why wouldn't all Mustang stallions and colts be gelded? From what I read she adopted this stallion at 9 months old directly from the BLM. Why is our government closing horse packing plants and then promoting the breeding of unregistered horses?