SEPTEMBER! YAY!

SEPTEMBER! YAY! Can it be? Can it really, really be? Can the interminable desert summer finally be coming to a close? It ain’t necessarily gone yet – but the signs are there. Consider…… Orion is back in the early morning sky. The annual monsoon, which brings a continuous damp blanket of humidity & towering thunderstorms, seems to have crept out of town on little bobcat’s paws. The water running from the cold water tap is longer too warm to drink. The mornings are cooler &, once again, Eric has to turn the barn lights on to feed the kids their breakfasts. We haven’t had to turn on the Home Depot-donated misters in over two weeks. The daily ritual of scratching the salt – really, dried sweat – off the horses’ backs has ended. The local two-legged populace seems to be shaking off its annual hibernation – the polar opposite of what most folks in the colder climes do during the winter. And football season has begun! We have two words to describe it: “Whew!” & “Yay!” Okay. “How have the horses been?”, you ask. Well, for the most part, this was just about the best summer we’ve had in a long time. Oh, Charlie had his annual bout with cellulitis & we had to get Ted’s back fixed, but other than that, we did real well. Oh, sure an abscess here & there – especially after a hard rain & the resultant mud – but, gee, we did really, really well. Oh – last week we had a situation that flummoxed both Eric & me. And it was Ted. On Thursday morning, Eric noticed that he was covered in hives. And, he had trouble walking. He didn’t want to move. Hmm. Now, between Eric & me, we’re usually pretty good about determining what’s wrong with somebody, but this one had us confused…..hives & not wanting to walk? We both agreed that a call to Dr. Rollins was in order. Doc showed up a couple of hours later & found that one of Ted’s hooves had two bad abscesses – one on the bottom of the hoof & one on the ‘bulb’ of his heel. That combination had even conspired to make his lower leg swell – the sure sign of infection. Oh – he had a minor fever, too. Proof positive. Plus – he had the remnants of an abscess in his other hoof, too, though that one had pretty much rectified itself on its own. Doc got our boy all cleaned up & we put him on antibiotics. Oh - & Doc gave him a shot of antihistamine for his hives – the cause of which remains a mystery to this day. Needless to say, ol’ Ted was pretty miserable that morning. But, by suppertime, his hives were gone & his attitude was back to Ted being Ted. And he’s improved every single day since. I guess the reason that I’m relating this is because Ted is really funny. See, because he lives right next to the breezeway, he’s always banged his hoof on the lower bar of his fencing whenever any two-legged is in the immediate area. He wants a treat or a carrot. And he really has most of us – volunteers included – trained pretty well. BANG! BANG! BANG! “Oh, all right, Ted! Here! Now, knock it off, willya?!?” Ted smiles. Here’s the funny thing…….Ted used to wear shoes. And that metal-on-metal sound resounded throughout the whole neighborhood……we couldn’t hear ourselves think. Then, once his shoes came off, the sound was a little more – but just a little more – muted. Our aural senses were nowhere near as assaulted. And Eric & I were laughing the other morning because, as part of his two-hooved abscess treatment, ol’ Ted has to wear rubber E-Z boots for a week or so. On both hooves. “Let him bang on that bar with those rubber boots – we’ll never hear it! Hahahahaha!” Wrong. Because the E-Z boots have a metal clip on the front of them to help hold them on (much like the old ‘mouse-trap’ shoes of the early ‘60s – if you’re old enough to remember them!), our boy has figured out that if he kicks the bar instead of stomping on it, the sound is almost as loud as when he still wore shoes. Needless to say, over the weekend, Ted has had more than his fair share of carrots & treats. Ah, that’s okay. That means that Ted’s back! He’s feeling good again! And that thrills us no end. He can’t wait to go back out into the arena every morning with Sweet Boy & Sedona, but he’ll have to wait another three or four days. “Sorry, Ted…..later this week, okay?” Ted’s answer: BANG! BANG! BANG! We love that guy! Our great friends, Tracy & Marty (he’s Tracy; she’s Marty), come out – oh – three or four days a week to help clean poop, clean & fill waterers , walk & care for horses, just hang around being great friends – all of that. They’re really part of the family, now. And they have two dogs (three, actually, but I’m talking about two of them here). One is Zuma. The other is Kima. And they’re both pretty much Australian Shepards – just like my all-time best partner in the world, Mikey. And one day, it’s Zuma’s turn to come out & the next day it’s Kima’s turn. And, like Mike, they roam the ranch of their own free will. I just love those guys - & so does everybody else. As a matter of fact, we’ve named a part of the field “Kima Pond”. Every morning, when we dump the water out of the tubs in the field, we dump it into a particular corner - the very corner where one of the resident bunnies comes to drink. That particular little pool of yesterday’s water just happens to be Kima’s favorite place. She has her timing down well enough to know when the water will be dumped over there. This morning, while I was in the process of baling & dumping the water, I looked up & here came Kima through the field & negotiating her way around the horses. “Jimbo”, she said, “you gonna dump that water or what?” “Hang on, darlin’”, I said, dumping the cart full of water into the big hole. “Here you go.” “Aw, thanks!”, she said. And promptly walked over & lay down right in the middle of the freshly-dumped water. After a minute or so, she jumped out of the water, shook herself off & said, “Okay, Jimbo….thanks a lot. I gotta go back & see dad (Tracy) now.” And off she went – all the way across the ranch to where her dad was cleaning stalls. And that’s why that little pool of water has come to be known as “Kima Pond”. And, once she’d been gone for four or five minutes, here came Bunny. “Dang, dude – that girl freaks me out. Now, if you don’t mind & she ain’t comin’ back for a little while, I’m’a get myself a quaff of water, okay?” “Sure, Bunny. Knock yourself out.” “Okay – thanks, Mister.” It’s those little magical moments of life that just knock me out. Okay. You can’t believe the progress that Eric has made with Chance. Those two guys have become soul-mates. Really. No kidding. Chance listens to every single word Eric says & everybody who spends any time at all around here remarks on the love those two guys have for each other. I mean, Chance & I get along pretty well – really well, actually. But nothing – nothing – like he does with Eric. The love that passes between those two is absolutely palpable. I’m so happy for both of them. And it hasn’t come without a lot of time & compassion & work & love on Eric’s part. Chance has gotten so lucky. And so – admittedly – has Eric. Those two were meant for each other & now they’ve found each other. It is amazing, simply amazing. I came around the corner of the breezeway this morning & all I saw was Chance’s big ol’ butt sticking out of the tack room. His head, his front hooves & most of his body were actually IN the tack room. Eric was in there, getting him some carrots. And Chance was all for it. To actually witness that boy having the peace of mind & the confidence to follow his best friend that far into a closed space was stunning. Tears might’ve come into my eyes if it hadn’t been for Ted & his BANG! BANG! BANG! Okay. Because the flies, this year, have been brutal - & no matter who we talk to or where they live, they all agree – we’ve been putting this stuff called SWAT on the faces of the kids in the field. Fine. It works really well. However, the color of SWAT is hot pink. So, when we put it on the horses’ faces, it looks like either war paint or women’s blush – whichever you choose. Note: I choose ‘war paint’. They look funnier’n hell, but it seems to work. To see Bentley with war paint on his face is fairly impressive. After all, he looks like a war-horse to begin with & when you see a few hot pink ‘war paint’ stripes on his kisser, you think, “Jee-zus! Is that boy gonna stomp me into the ground – or what?!?” Nah. He’s just a sweet little boy, down below that war-horse demeanor. Hot pink SWAT…..what WERE they thinking? Okay. I guess I gotta go. I’m really sorry that this blog has been so long in coming, but the summer around this neck of the desert is really survival time. And that’s what we’ve been attempting to do…..survive. And I think – I hope – that we’ve succeeded. And that more temperate weather is right around the corner. And that I’ll have enough energy & good humor to be able to write this with more regularity. Oh – don’t forget……..We’re celebrating our fifth anniversary! And, with our “Hi, Five!” promotion, two of our angels have agreed to match all the donations you can make – up to $10,000! So, if you ever have an inkling to help out the 29 Horses of Tierra Madre, now would be a good time. Because your donation will be matched, in full, by our angels. Just go to the “How to Donate” page on our website: www.tierramadrehorsesanctuary.org - & our kids & all who care for them will love you for ever & a day! Okay. That’s enough for the commercial announcements for now. Thanks for reading this far &, like I said, I’ll try to make this blog a little more regular, now that the weather is a little more compatible with life as we know it. In the meantime, let’s be nice to each other, okay? Remember – we’re all we’ve got. Peace. Out.