Pet talk

I knew it would happen someday, but I didn’t think it would be so soon.  Its been over a year since I started this blog and my life has just gotten more than I can handle. 

Last fall I found Merlin.  Merlin is a 8 year old Hackney pony who was abused.  I got him with the thought that I would work with him to help him regain his confidence in the human race.  It has been a long winter but Merlin is making progress.  I guess I just didn’t realize how much effort would go into such small steps.

I still have my 2 other horses Magic and Mystic.  Magic is my most advanced show horse and the show season is quickly approaching.  Although he is already very well trained, he has been off all winter and needs some intensive work to get back into show ring shape.  Mystic is a long way from the show ring, but as with all driving horses he needs miles and miles of “practice” to become dependable. 

My day job is also demanding more and more over night travel.  My calendar looks like I am some sort of travelling salesman or something!

This week was the last straw.  I caught the flu and haven’t been off the couch for days.  It put me so far behind in my job, horses and finally the blog.  Something has to give and it is going to be the blog.

I have enjoyed my time here writing these blogs.  It was fun and something I am glad I tried.  I hope you have learned something and have gotten a chuckle or two.  I also hope to someday be back writing–if not in a blog, maybe in another form.  So I guess this really isn’t a good bye, just a break for now.  So with that I say:  “See ya later!” 

Yesterday the Detroit Free Press had an article about animal rights and the increasing number of lawyers who are studing them.  The arttcle mainly focused on animals in trust situations where the owner died and money was left in a trust to care for them for the rest of their lives.

It also touched on divorce cases where animals were fought over like children in custody cases.  But it breifly mentioned abuse/cruelty cases, and that is the area that concerns me the most.

Now don’t get me wrong.  As I have said in the past, animals deserve to be treated better (in the eyes of the law) than just property.  Who cares if you leave your car out in the back field to slowly dissolve into a pile of rust, but when you do that to an animal you should be imprisoned.  So yes animals deserve some rights. 

If you talk to PETA they will tell you that animals are beings that deserve to be free from ownership.  Humans would become caretakers and animals would be free to come and go as they wished.  In this situation could a caretaker be sued for not taking his dog on daily walks?  Or maybe sued for feeding a non designer type of dog food?  Would the care and attention that you can give no longer be “good enough”?

That’s the part that worries me about animal rights.  Every animal has the right not to suffer.  Beyond that, I’m just not so sure.

Last week sometime around dusk I went out to feed the horses.  I put food in the first bucket and patiently waited for the first horse to come charging into his stall. 

I waited and waited and nothing happened.  No pounding hoof beats from them running toward the barn.  No squeals from them squabbling about who gets to the door first.  Nothing.

So I walked out into the pasture and there they were.  All three were standing like statues; ears pricked forward, eyes wide and nostrils flaring.  They were looking off into the back of the paddock where a small creek cuts our property in half. 

And there in the middle of the creek was a beautiful white swan!  It quietly swam up the stream until it came to a small pool of water right in front of all three horses.  What a breath taking sight–so big and so majestic. 

Thus far this year I have seen numerous coyotes, hawks, herons, turkeys, deer, rabbits, and now a swan.  Then last Saturday the frogs started to sing.  You could not miss their songs because they were so loud. 

Now every time I go outside I look for wildlife and listen for the new songs of spring. 

Spring is on its way and I am VERY ready for it!