One Month Down

Well, actually, it has been about a month and a half since Speck and Charley came to Poplar Springs Farm.  I have been somewhat remiss in my update on them, but their progress has continued.  


I had a farrier out last week to trim their feet.  Specks were in good shape, and we chose to wait to trim Charley's in six weeks when he settles down a little more.  As my mother would say, "No need to borrow trouble".   While my farrier could actually touch Charley, he felt that his feet weren't so bad that they could not wait another 6 weeks.  My job will be to continue to work with him;  even more so with the weather cooling down.

I am sure  that you see quite a difference in this guy. His bridle is still on because at
this point, I don't know if I could get it back on if I take it off.  That is also something we will be working on this month.  I do not see any starvation in this guy.  I think he will be a great horse when we can work the skittishness out.

Then there is this guy.  Yep,  you can still see the ribs, but his hip bones are no longer jutting out in the sky and his body all sunken in.  Remember, we had 200 pounds to gain a month ago.  We still have at least a hundred to go.  He gets the best food, all the hay he wants, salt and good water.  He has a very sweet nature and will do most anything for food.  The farrier recommended that I get a horse dentist out to look at him as he is dropping quite a bit of food when he chews.  Hopefully we can get that done in the next 2-3 weeks.


Once Speck is up to speed, I will be moving them in with my other 4 horses.  Speck will keep Sunny, my other old horse, company and help him devise ways to stay out of the limelight and attention of the four younger ones.  


Charley, on the other hand, will receive the come uppance that he is due.  He will have three other horses that are as frisky as he is and he will meet the "little general" who is the shortest of the bunch yet maintains the position of head gelding.  He won't even be the assistant gelding as Midnight continues to hold that position and remind Dillon (aka "little general") that he is just waiting to take his job.  Charley will also learn from this group that he can trust and love his humans. 

Little Man

Little Man and a boy he loved

I do not like sad stories and I certainly do not like to dwell on them, but another member of our family has said so long.  

Little Man came to us several years ago, six or seven I can't be exactly sure but he was fully grown when my brother and I found him in the pasture surviving on cow chips.  We did not realize that he was blind until we got him home and tried to feed him a bacon snack.

He was a sweet little guy.  The vet said that he probably had been blind from birth - not enough blood vessels attached to his eyes.  But he was not like Clyde.  He did not stumble forward at full speed then reassess when he thudded into something.  He was cautious and he memorized patterns.  He knew exactly how to get from room room and outside and back inside.  When we carried him with the gang to our Texas house, he always got a little off kilter as he didn't have that pattern in his mental file drawer.

The lesson from this boy was trust.  He loved to be held, and especially held like he was a baby.  He would take his little front feet and hold on to your arm or stretch them out across your chest.   He lay many hours beside me when I was recuperating from back surgery.  And he had a special affection for little boys.  When they came visiting, there were a lot of little hands for pets and hugs and he loved it.  

But, as with all living things, he grew to be old.  Congestive heart failure and pneumonia to top that off.  He was improving slowly, but then there was an accident and he could not make the turn toward improvement.   

There is a season for all things. 

 My Little Man is truly missed.

Clyde

July 14, 1997 - September 9, 2011

Last Friday, we had to say goodbye to an old friend.  I have told my Grandsons that I learn lessons from all our animals.  From Clyde, I learned perseverance.  As you see from the dates, Clyde lived a long full life.  Clyde was a black Lab and their normal lifespan is about 12 years.  But long life is not what I learned from Clyde.

Clyde was the first dog we got when we bought the farm.  Steve came and lived at the farm while I was still working in Miami and about 10 years before I retired.  Steve wanted a Lab and I had seen a posting for Labs for sale on my vet's bulletin board.   The note said all shots, registered, etc., etc., etc.  The note did not say "liar, liar, pants on fire".  That we had to find out the hard way.  

So, we go get Clyde, and his sister Bonnie and brought them home.  They were a lovely pair, full of life and perfect for Steve.  I returned to Miami and a couple of days later, Steve called and told me that Clyde was really sick.  He took him to the vet, and the diagnosis was parvo!  My vet, my favorite vet from a previous post, tells Steve that he has been able to save some parvo pups, so we signed on for the treatment.  Two weeks in intensive care, and Clyde comes home, almost as good as new.  From this episode, we realized that no, Clyde had not has all his shots, and oh, by the way, he was not registered either.  Didn't matter, he was a great dog.

Our farm is a wonderful place for animals.  We are off the road a half mile and we back up to timber land, and then to Cherokee National forest.  Clyde absolutely loved the freedom that he had and that he could chase deer pretty much as long as he wanted.  It was not until we started building our new home that we realized that Clyde had gone blind.   He would have been 3 to 4 years old.  The vet said he had macular degeneration.  Nothing we could do, but not to worry, because if a dog had to lose a sense, sight was the easiest one for them to compensate.


Clyde continued to "hunt", you know, chase deer, rabbits, ground hogs.  I was watching one day and saw our red dog stop and turn back looking for something.  Soon, I saw Clyde coming, and once he reached the red dog, they continued on their journey.  Clyde had a "seeing eye" dog!!!


On another occasion, when my brother brought me my first chickens, one flew over the fence before we clipped their wings.  Clyde was on the outside of the fence and as I came through the door of the chicken house, Clyde was waiting for me in a perfect lab hunting pose with a dead chicken in his mouth.  Who would have known he was blind?  He always was so proud of himself for doing his job well, and had difficulty understanding why I would be upset with him.  Early one spring, he did the same thing with a little ground hog.  I was crying because he killed it, and he was walking beside me so proud with his prize in his mouth. By the way, our farm is sort of an animal preserve and no hunting is allowed here.  Well, other than the dogs, of course.


Clyde could not see, but that did not stop him from living a full life.  If he walked forward and banged into something, he just backed up, turned and went around.  He was not reticent or fearful.  What a wonderful lesson to learn about life.  What a wonderful lesson to teach the Grandsons.


Clyde, I know you are chasing deer and rabbits somewhere, but you are missed by your family here at Poplar Springs Farm.  Godspeed.