The horses have scattered the last bale we gave them. It's been less than a week, July 28 to be exact. They've picked through it a bit. The tastiest morsels were quickly consumed. The rest however-- well let's just say our horses love decorating their stalls and pasture! We could call it Alfalfa chic. What do you think?
You see, we'll find hay all over the place! Sometimes it's been flung on the electric fence, just hanging there without a care in the world. The hay's not heavy enough to touch the ground, and therefore can't short out the fence. Darn it! One escape attempt thwarted! Only this time of the year... well with the weeds being as tall as they are, the hay and weeds combined make for more work for us. And no, if you're wondering, the goats won't go near the electric fence. Ha! We've trained them well.
Yet, festive wall--err, fence hangings and scented candles--I mean hay dust in the stalls are not all a hay bale is good for. It's great for bedding too, don't you know? Our horses love taking naps in the lazy afternoons, but even more they love Love LOVE rolling around in the hay. Heck, reminds me of a story I read once, about a horse and his boy. Seems they were trying to escape some really bad guys, and they got up to the pleasant land, but the horse, despite facing all the horrors and dread in the deserts and bad lands, still didn't want to go on. Why? Well, you see he was worried he wouldn't be able to roll in the grass. He was a talking horse, you see, and he didn't know if talking horses could roll in the grass in civilized countries, like where they were headed. And the more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself it just wouldn't be possible to roll in the grass in a civilized country. I'm of course talking of Bree and his boy Shasta, from C.S. Lewis' Narnia stories, but it is a great illustration of exactly how much a horse--our horses specifically--love rolling in the hay.
What could make life any better? Getting to sleep on the dinner table- done! Giving oneself a personal massage on bedding as soft as an angel's wing- done. Of course there is only one small, itsy-bitsy problem. There's no food. They began looking at me as though they're starving. Unlike Bree in Narnia, our horses can't talk. Whew! Imagine how sorrowful they'd sound then:
"Ah, mom, we don't have any hay left! We're hungry!"
"Sure you do. You have lots of hay left! You're standing on it."
"That's not hay. That's Bullet's bed."
"What about the hay over there? On the fence?"
"Oh that!? That's not hay either. That's our privacy hedge."
"Oh, I see. What about the stuff in the barn?"
"If we ate that, the barn wouldn't smell like hay anymore. Never you mind about all the hay bales in there. It takes a certain amount of finesse with hoof and hock in order to get the hay just right. You wouldn't want me to mess it up now, would you?"
Guilt trips are so tough when they come from our animals!
So... we resist. And resist some more. But the struggle is futile. Big, sad, warm, loving eyes win out. We gave the horses a new bale. Of course, hay alone won't do. They have to have their daily grain too! So we slave over feed bags and the kitchen sink, warming water and soaking alfalfa pellets until they're a green mass of warm, gooey mush. Then, to add garnish we sprinkle a little sweet feed and some Senior feed on top. Voila! Better than any Parisian stable, let me tell you!
What's that sound? Is that the alarm clock? No! It's Lady neighing! Oh gosh, we're 30 seconds late with the feed. Man, they have a clock wound tighter than any even a Swiss watch maker could craft. So out we go, heavy feed bucket thumping against our legs. They're dancing. They're jumping. They're pawing the ground. Gosh oh gee golly but we're not a minute late. Hold your horses (haha, pun intended), the world isn't coming to an end. Not yet.
Down goes the food, up comes the halters. The horses come to attention! No... we're walking, we're walking. No, we're not running. No, we're not galloping. We're walking, we're walking...
Splosh and splash and splish goes the alfalfa meal, and out pours the grain. Ah, we can relax. As the horses are munching their food contentedly I realize the antics they display while starving... I mean waiting for their afternoon meal are pretty impressive for a couple retired rodeo horses. Who'd think they had it in them. Can't ponder too long, there's other chores we need to get done. We have other critters needing to be fed. And I gotta get a new bale in the pasture. It's getting late and we need to close up the farm.
Fire up the tractor, grab a round bale and start moving it. What's that feeling. Man it sure does feel like someone's watching me. No... not one someone, two someones. And not someone, but some...horses! What am I? The floor show? A meal and entertainment? You got it! Munching grain and mash, the two horses stare fixedly as I drop the bale in the pasture. I look back at them. Did I do it right? Two bobbing heads seem to indicate I did... or perhaps the bobbing heads are a sign of impatience. They want back out in the pasture.
So, with mash and grain consumed--it didn't take long, kinda like cookies at the dinner table, they seem to vanish faster than the speed of light--it's time to take the horses back out to the pasture so they can eat their veggies... err, I mean hay. We get the halters back on and lead them back out to the pasture, where they get to spend these warm, summer nights under the stars and moon. Again I get to play the brakeman on a train, digging in my heals keeping the horses from rushing out to their new bale of hay. A brand new bale, cause like I said above, the old one, the one from less than a week ago... well it's been utilized for alternative purposes.
They're impatient for the halters to come off. Come on... come on, why's it taking so long? Geez, it's only a halter, and look at that fresh hay! Ah! Freedom at last. Just like that one movie. FREEDOM! Well, something like that. I mean they were just here.. but you know, any time you take the halter off you just gotta yell 'FREEDOM!'
I watch them luxuriate in the pasture as the dusk creeps over us. It's been another blessed and beautiful day. God is good, and always He is good. Bullet is getting old. He has a tough time sometimes with the humidity--being raised in the dry deserts of New Mexico, humidity can get to him. Lady's still doing okay.
It's the best feeling in the world, being on a farm. It's one of the reasons I want to share with everyone. But it's also hard. Money's tight. The barn's not as ventilated as I'd like. I have plans. Hay is expensive. Especially when we use it for decorations rather than feed. I have my eye on a hay net, but at this point it's a luxury rather than a requirement--although as a luxury it sure would help me keep hay consumption down. I mean curtains made of hay have that au natural feeling to them, but it's an expensive window covering technique, if you know what I mean.
What's a hay net? It's a great big net I can stretch over one of the big bales of hay. It keeps the hay together, but allows the horses to nibble at it all day. It would also end their interior decorating careers!
Perhaps asking for sponsorships will help. Especially if people realize what their sponsorships are going towards. It's not some fancy new truck, or new clothes. It's not a bigger house or bigger bank account. It's hay. And a barn. And an indoor arena. And a hay net. And grain. And the vet bills. It's all these things and more rolled into one. The sponsorships will hopefully go a long way to helping us keep the animals safe and healthy, happy and content. And they'll go a long way to helping us provide the riding lessons for our special needs neighbors. Man, but how those kids just light up when they're on a horse's back, or when a horse nuzzles one with their velvety soft nose and lips. You can really see the light in their eyes, the special bond forming between such a precious soul and such a beautiful creation.
Rubbing Lady's forehead I realize sponsorships will help me be here, present, at the farm, more often, and it'll allow me to offer riding lessons and time with the animals for our special needs friends and neighbors. I won't have to charge exorbitant prices, I won't have to Jones it with the showmanship barns down the street. I don't want that. I don't want to limit access to horses, goats, chickens and ducks, rabbits and all the other farm stuff we're doing to those who have money, those who have more time. I want to open this up to those who need this, who could really benefit from these interactions with these animals, the wonderful experiences of caring for and loving on an animal, who can return the love unconditionally, no matter the 'condition' we each are in. I know, I've been broken and beat up, wounded and hurt, and my horses, my animals don't care, they just want to love me and love one me. Oh how it would be wonderful to offer this same thing to so many others who need so much this beautiful and wonderous love.
Thanks for reading and thanks for taking the time to consider helping us out. It really means a lot to us, to the kids Gale and Joe, and to myself. Thank you.
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