Sometimes a Guy Has to Substitute

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten how it goes.”

Last night as I twisted the tops off carrots I stopped and stared at green leaves against a white cutting board.

These are treats for horses.

Now, though, I have no horses.

It was a week ago today that they jumped about three feet into a stock trailer—never saw a horse do that before. At first, looking at that high step, and well, just looking at that trailer was fearsome enough—I could see it on their faces, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

In the end all four jumped in—however reluctantly.

I was impressed with the loader lady, for she said of Sierra, "If she takes a step (meaning getting closer to the trailer door) reward her.”

In the end all four horses were loaded into the trailer, then they were driven away leaving two sad faced adults who felt to be six years old again.

The lady who took them is a trainer with 64 acres of property. She has a Percheron to buddy with Sweetums, the Belgium, and she thinks Velvet, my quarter horse, will be her riding horse.

A wonderful man from the SPCA put us in touch with this lady who would take all four of the horses. We figured the SPCA would make sure they went to someone who loves horses, and would not sell them for slaughter. We gave them away because no amount of money could account for what they were worth to us, besides we couldn’t sell our friends.

As you might imagine Daughter D and I were lost for a couple of days after they left—I suppose I gave away a little of myself when I parted with them. Both of us were happy to have this issue resolved, yet another part grieved. The goats are lost too. They still wander around going, “Uh, uh.”

Their new owner plus two friends drove about 5 hours from Northern Oregon towing a big stock trailer, Velvet, Sierra, Sweetums and Dante’s chariot for their trip to their next adventure.

The first thing the new owner did was jump on Velvet bareback to see how she handled. I had told her Velvet was nervous, she said, “She’s better than you indicated.” My lady Velvet behaved as a lady. Next the new owner jumped on Sierra, who danced around a bit, but was okay. Dante got that annoying person off his back.

None of the three horses had been ridden in two years.

I worry about my little Diva Velvet in the rain and hope she has cover. She hates being in the rain and will stand in the barn with her head out saying, “Well, I want the grain, but do I have to get wet to have it?”

On the home front, I’m reading a book to Husband D before he nods off at night, it’s entitled, Busting Loose from the Money Game, by Robert Scheinfeld. It was recommended by a friend who has a way of pointing out directions when I get lost. (When we were in Germany, though, she found that when asking for directions the person would point one direction, yet nine chances out of ten where we wanted to go was the opposite direction.)

The Busting Loose book is quite esoteric, and you need to follow his directions to get it, but I can point out a couple of things I found helpful.

• The Money game is one you can’t win. It’s set up that way. Even people who seem to play it well pay a high price.
  
• As you bust loose, “Your expanded self is driving the bus. You can’t make a mistake, mess anything up, or blow it. You just trust your Expanded Self and flow with what you feel inspired or motivated to do, moment to moment.”

You know how we spend much energy trying not to feel bad?

According to Scheinfield, jump into the feeling, allow it to be as bad as you can stand, and when you reach the peak, tell the truth about it.

He likens this process to children finding plastic Easter eggs with toys inside. The child finds the egg, breaks it open, grasps the toy, and runs to the next egg. The eggs in this analogy hold our limitations, breaking them open frees us.

To use another metaphor, you know how long it takes to build a building brick by brick, steel girder by steel girder, but if an explosive charge is placed strategically the entire building will come down in seconds. Our limitations can be like that. Rather reassuring isn’t it?

Okay, here are some pertinent points.

• Express appreciation—paying bills, receiving money, all is asking for appreciation.
  
• Apply the process—feel your feelings, tell the truth
  
• Use empowering Vocabulary and self talk.

I’m out of here. You know there will be more ahead. Hopefully you will join me on this journey.

Something to Look Forward To

I woke up this morning feeling like an empty skin bag.

I don’t know if I felt worst for Daughter D or myself. Yesterday when DD hugged her big Belgian horse Sweetums she said, “I don’t want to give up everything to move to Hawaii.”

Someone agreed to take her two horses Sweetums and Dante. I didn’t ask her to leave them behind when we move, but when I decided to leave my two horses, she thought it made sense to leave hers as well.

She said, “This gives us permission to part with them.”

By afternoon the lady who agreed to take Sweetums and Dante also agreed to take my two horses. It’s a relief. I made the decision to part with them. I’m glad we found someone. Still I feel sad.

This lady, whom I haven’t met yet, lives 40 miles from the coast on 64 acres. She is a horse trainer who often rescues horses and finds homes for them. She has another big draft horse, also aged, who will be a buddy for Sweetums. She said her grandkids can play with Dante.

It sounds as though she would like to keep Velvet, my AQHA Quarter horse, for herself. At first she was going to give her to a girl who had a barn and pasture but not the money for a horse. I thought that sounded perfect, but if she wants Velvet that’s okay with me. Velvet needs a nice gentle trainer to turn her into an awesome riding horse. (I hope this person is gentle as my Velvet is a sensitive lady.)

Some of my non-horsey friends think a Quarter horse is one quarter of a horse, meaning small. They aren’t. Most Quarter Horses are big muscular athletic horses. In the early days of this country cowboys used their cow-ponies during the week to herd the cattle. On the weekends, for sport, they would have races. Those horses became known as the fastest horse for one quarter of a mile. Thus the name Quarter Horse.

Quarter horses are the ones you see cutting cattle, roping steers, barrel racing, reining, spinning, or screeching to a halt so fast it throws your stomach into your nose. Sometimes they are used in other disciplines such as Dressage. One of the horse actors in movie, The Black Stallion was a Quarter horse. They have beautiful broad hips which gives them “rear-wheel drive.” They usually hold their head low as that gives them leverage for the task at hand. That rear-wheel drive gives them strength and the agility to out-maneuver a steer. On a cutting horse, unless the rider relaxes into the horse and lets it do the job, the rider can be all over that horse in a matter of seconds, under its belly, on top of its head, hanging on its neck—it isn’t pretty.

And then there is the mustang. Can you believe in the 8 years I've had Sierra she had never had her feet trimmed? The Farrier looks at them and says, “I’m glad all my horses aren’t like that. She takes care of her own feet.”

Tonight when I said, “Hi Guys,” and I heard the resultant whinnies. My heart strings twanged.

Don't forget to check out my webpage http://grannyshootsfromthehip.com as I will change the content from time to time.

Granny Shoots From The Hip

“I’ve stopped listening to talk radio,” says Daughter D. “All I hear is ‘I’m in debt, I’m going to get robbed, and my penis is too small.”

Shall we instead have the song of the poet ringing in our ears:

We need the tonic of wildness,--to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her next, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.
Walden
--Henry D. Thoreau

The news around here is that I’ve have gotten a new webpage.

It is http://grannyshootsfromthehip.com

Can you believe I am calling myself Granny when 4 years ago I had a hard time thinking of myself as Grandma?

The Granny Shoots From the Hip site will not be about horses although I will still be selling my book It’s Hard To Stay On A Horse While You’re Unconscious. It’s about, oh I’m not sure, Spirit will direct the course. The site attempts to explain itself.

I figured with the new turn of events around here, it is time for a new site, a new slant, and hey, I’m not over thinking it--just shooting from the hip, one can't hold a sight well with glasses on anyway.