Happy Trails to You

You know, I never really wanted a white horse.  They get too dirty, and they are just kinda bland. But, the way I get most of my animals, this one just came into my life one day.  He was an older guy.  We never had agreement from the vet or the other horse specialists as to whether he was only 14, or if he was "twentyish". 

But, white horses, or any other, grow on you.  I originally called him Speck because he is not white.  The vet tech told me he was flea bitten gray and Speck sounded a lot better to me than "flea bitten".  I started calling him Mr. Speck because I thought he deserved a little more respect.  No properly raised Southerner refers to their elders without a Mr. or Miz in front of their names.

He was such a sweet gentleman.  He did push a little for his food, but I figured that if I had been starved, I would have been a little pushy too.  I am a sucker for big ole beautiful horse eyes, and he had them along with a most beautiful face.  He loved to be rubbed and appreciated any attention that he received.  I had brushed him out on the day this picture was taken, and he thought he was a Champion!


I have said before that I learn something from all my animals.  I thought I would have a longer time for Mr. Speck to teach me my lesson, but it came to an end all too quickly.  What I learned is that I can wish for something and I can work toward that something, but ultimately, I am not in charge of another life.  I agonize whenever I have to make a life or death decision, and Mr Speck made that decision for me.

The sun will still rise and it will still set.  Happy Trails to you Mr. Speck.  Your friends here at Poplar Springs Farm will miss you.

How Time Flies

I have been working on this blog in my head for a while, but the trouble was making the time to sit down and get it processed.  Time has moved on for my horsey friends and for most, the better.  We have had visits from the farrier and also from my favorite vet. 

Mom, isn't there just one more bite in here.  Who ate it???  Notice how this little guy has gained weight.  In case you have forgotten, this is Lucky Pete.  Don't know if you can tell, but his feet look close to normal now, not like a Flat Bill Platypus' bill, if there is such a thing.  My most wonderful farrier worked wonders with him.  This little guy can run now, and you should see him prance.  He really has some great feet(two, not one) action.  And, speaking of feet action, I was working to get two temporary stalls set up for Lucky and Mr. Speck during this snow storm.  Lucky started running around and I was enjoying it until all of a sudden he turns and backs up to me.  Fortunately, I know that sign and can still move fast and I only got a slight kick on the left rear.  He did recognize what a stick was, even if it was covered in snow and took off.  We will be working on manners very, very soon!

My Mr. Speck has had somewhat of a setback, and was one of the reasons that my favorite vet came out.  Speck has had a pretty horrible cough for about a month.  The diagnoses was something like allergic asthma, basically a hay allergy.  He was given an antibiotic and also a steroid shot with follow up steroids to be given in his food.  He also has quit gaining weight, which is a big concern.  He has gained roughly one hundred pounds, but he has another 100 that he needs to put on.  Hopefully this is a temporary setback, and we can soon get it behind us and start working on the weight.  Amazingly, I personally have never had this problem.   

The second reason for my favorite vet's visit was Jon Boy.  Jon Boy is a stallion and I really do not need a stallion around so our hope was that after the vet's visit, we would only have geldings at the farm.  During the preliminary check before JB came to the farm in November, the other vets indicated that there might be a problem so my favorite vet was to check him out and see what he could do.  Well, seems like we have a cryptic orchid here.  No, I have not looked that term up, but what it means is that this little guy has not had all his male parts fall into place.  So, we are looking at a trip to Knoxville to visit the UT Vet School Hospital to get this little guy fixed up.  My vet looked at me kinda apologetically and said, you know these rescue horses always seem to wind up costing a little money.  We have a great relationship, but I think he worries about me taking on these critters.  Dogs, too!

If you don't look carefully, you might think this is Jon Boy, but no, this is my baby, Spirit.

Spirit was the first horse that I had to nurse back to health.  He got his foot caught in a panel at the horse trainer and got a horrible foot injury.  It went on to get infected and a horse vet, not my favorite vet, told me that I needed to put him down.  Well, there is something about big ole horse eyes looking at you, and there was no way that was going to happen.  So, here we are, about 2 and a half years later and he is a beautiful spoiled baby.  For the most part, he stays very healthy, but occasionally he will have an abscess occur in his right front foot and he hobbles until it gets well.  He is taller and slimmer than Jon Boy.  He is the newer style Quarter Horse where Jon Boy is the older stockier style. 

Midnight is my Rocky Mountain horse; my retirement present to myself.  He is a beautiful boy and loves attention.  He is probably the most curious of all my horses and loves to be the center of attention.  He would love to be the boss hoss, but Dillon, who is not pictured, will not let him.  You can tell that he has been in the hay rack.  I just realized that I need to get a purple and orange saddle blanket for this boy as his real official name is Midnight Express!

Happy Trails............ Till we meet again.