The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread NINE

See our "who's who" page! ^

[HairOfTheDog]

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club - Who's Who *pics*

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!

I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and MissTargets will now be pinging everyone most mornings. Let MissTargets and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.

Previous threads:

The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - thread ONE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread TWO!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread - Thread THREE!
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FOUR
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SIX
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread SEVEN
The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread EIGHT

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

[HairOfTheDog]

It's different, that's for sure :~)

[tuffydoodle]

What a lot of sad news on the Saddle Club lately. Hair's friend's mule, CD's stray and now your kitty. Putting an animal down is such a hard thing to do, but when they are old and sick, the right thing to do.

AAM, your description was eloquent, beautiful and heartbreaking. I have to re-do my make-up after that one.

[AnAmericanMother]

I love this line . . .

"For he is an instrument for the children to learn benevolence upon."

I can just see the small ones pulling his tail . . .

- The Graham Children, by Hogarth, a little older than Smart but his contemporary. Note the tabby on the upper right . . .

[CindyDawg]

I really believe pets are a tool for parents to teach kids gentleness and kindness. How many times have we said things like:
"Easy, pet her easy"
She just wants a piece of____ too. She's hungry. No, No. Break it off don't let her bite .........

[CindyDawg]

I just got home from the chicken sale. Darn, it's hot outside. I'm going to wait until this evening to ride.

[AnAmericanMother]

It's REALLY hot here too.

Not only hot, but humid. The humidity suddenly kicked in about 10 o'clock this morning.

We drove all the way down to Columbus GA for a hunt training day -- only to find that they had CHANGED THE DATE. I had the date in my daytimer, didn't check my email, . . . oh well. (The dog wondered why we drove and drove, but when we opened up the back she was in her own driveway.)

[CindyDawg]

Funny. Don't you just hate when that happens? I think I got too much sun though. I can't seem to get enough to drink.

[AnAmericanMother]

Yeah, I blew out the gutters and blew off the roof, planted a pieris and a rhododendron and watered everything in the yard . . . I was watering myself out of the hose, but clearly didn't get enough . . . still very thirsty.

[Duchess47]

I'm so sorry about the dog.

[Duchess47]

I am so sorry about Finn. There really isn't anything to say that will ease the hurt.

[AnAmericanMother]

It's all right . . . this wasn't sudden. We'll miss him, he was a great old boy, but we had him for fifteen years, and he's weathered several crises before . . . we almost lost him five years ago to a mysterious virus, but my daughter and I learned to give IV fluids and nursed him round the clock, and he was saved.

And I hated to see him so pulled down, he was the big mean kitty that beat up all the neighborhood dogs.

[Duchess47]

:) I had one like that - big Maine Coon male. He took on all dogs for the fun of watching them cringe. I lost him to leukemia at 8yrs old.

[AnAmericanMother]

Best Finny-and-the-dogs stories:

He was supposed to be an indoor cat, but he spent his days plotting and planning how to get out of the house. I came home from work and heard a commotion in the back yard - the kids had this little playhouse/treehouse about four feet off the ground, with steps leading up to it. In the treehouse was a smallish fluffy white dog (looked like an American Eskimo), and at the foot of the steps was Finny, with all his neck fur fluffed up and the hair on his back standing straight up. The dog was literally trembling with anxiety, and every time he put a foot on the steps, the cat would give this huge warning growl and the dog would pull his foot back like it had been burned. I had to pick up the cat and carry him inside, and even then the dog had to be coaxed down with deli turkey . . . "I know he's still here somewhere!"

Another time I came home from work and there were four dogs sitting in the front yard in a circle - a Gordon Setter, a Golden, a Lab and a mutt. And sitting in the circle with them, just like one of the boys, was Finny. It looked like they were holding a business meeting. I rolled down the car window and yelled, "Hey Finny, what are you doing?" The cat got up, shook himself, and strolled to the car - the dogs got up, shook themselves, and walked away. I have NO IDEA what all that was about . . . maybe a truce meeting or a deputation to the Capo di tutti Capi . . .

[CindyDawg]

She was a cutie. I think she was dumped because even though she was hungry she wasn't the skin and bones that we see with pups born in the wild. She came up to me after church. She was almost knocking herself down with wagging her tail when I talked to her . I got her where she would take food from my hand and a couple of times I stroked her face but she would jump back when I tried to catch her. I even got a slip rope over her head but she shook it loose. The dog just seemed to want to be with me. When it got dark and I was out of food she just sat there watching like where was her new friend going.Even my husband remarked about it.Sad. I wish I had tried one more time. Oh, well... Win some loose some.

[CindyDawg]

Looks like yall may gets some rain. This storm seems to be headed yalls way.

[AnAmericanMother]

Love the Maine Coons . . . wonderful cats.

[AnAmericanMother]

Storm? What storm?

< . . .checks weather.com . . . >

Oh, THAT storm. . . such as it is. Unfortunately any rain from that one will pass well south of us. Looks my parents will get it head-on though . . . they live on the GA coast.

[CindyDawg]

Everyone seens to want the rain.

[CindyDawg]

You need a ping to the storm thread?

[AnAmericanMother]

Yeah, I sure do.

And we would LOVE the rain. I just had to water everything in the yard (that I wanted to keep).