In Honor of Twist

You may be wondering, "Just what is so great about these horses anyway?"

My answer would be: they offer you their vulnerability, they make no judgment, they love you unconditionally, their trust in you is a delicate bond, they give you their best, they open a door in your heart that you may have never known to exist, they say so much to you without complicating it with words.

In return, all they ask of you is that you respect them, love them, honor them and give them good care.

One could say the scale is tipped.

Today, my dear friend Barb lost Twist. She told me that she has had Twist for 3 days longer than her only daughter, who is in her early 20s.

Their bond was deep, sweet, and honest. Barb was dedicated in blessing Twist with her tenderness and compassion. She gave Twist every ounce of her gentle and healing energy.

This evening, I could hear the cries of the other horses in Barb's picture-pretty pasture calling out for the matriarch of their herd.

In your thoughts or prayers, please think peace for Twist and soothing and comfort for the sad hearts of Barb and Jeff and their horses.

Back in the Saddle Again

This robin keeps appearing just across the lawn, perched on the fence between our house and the guest house. His belly is copper red. Just about every time I look over there, he's there. I'd like to think he is a sign of spring, but I'm not so sure he ever left.

It is almost one week ago that I returned to Bend. I wondered what it would be like to come back after being away just about 5 weeks. Would the animals still remember me? Would all my training have gone out the window? Would I still be so enamored by ranch living?

Thankfully, a resounding yes to just about 3 out of 3. Some minor retraining is in order.

The weather has been very agreeable. We haven't had full on sunshine each day, but at least some sun and it's been warm for January. The other day was 56 degrees with bright sun--that feels close to 70 in most other parts. The nights have not dropped down to the 20s or teens, or even much into the 30s. There are trade offs: cloud cover = warmer nights but no star gazing.

We have 3 new horses on the ranch: High Note, a very sweet gentle gray Arabian, Belle, a rather stout dark bay Quarterhorse, and Zak, the fiesty bay, son of Belle. The addition of these 3 has shifted the hierarchy in the dry lot. And in my absence, Lola has taken the lead role. What does this mean? Alibi does not come to the fence to greet me before eating. He has been pushed back in the pack, literally and in the food receiving line. Rest assured, he is just as kind and loving as he was before I left. Now, I have to feed everyone first and then go out to exchange affections with him.

The chickens are still going strong. We are grateful that we got the "cold hardy" breeds. I suppose it wouldn't do the feed stores any good to sell anything but that. It was luck on our part, we didn't know any better at the time. I must reiterate, it is an absolute joy to go collect eggs and have fresh farm eggs for cooking. We bought eggs at the super in Long Beach---hardly appealing.

The other day I checked out the garden and harvested a big sack of carrots! Yes, we still have carrots in the ground. They are in a raised bed, so they have a much better winter survival rate. I shared them with the chickens, the horses and my neighbors and still have a few in the refrigerator. I gave the garden a little water and left one or two more pickings in the ground.

Felon has become accustomed to sleeping in our mudroom at night. Well, she thinks she should be in there all day. I like going to bed knowing she is warm and cozy inside and it gives me a sense of security knowing she's in the house. On occasion, I let Jess come indoors during the day. He is a smelly boy, but it keeps him from tearing up the barn or the seat of the electric cart--ay ay ay.

And Pooker is happy as a lark to be back home. She did really well at our friends' house and she was well cared for. For the first couple of days, she would not leave my shoulder. It was all about reconnection and not letting me out of her sight. I would walk to the bedroom and she'd call out to me the minute she couldn't see me. Yesterday she decided to spend no less than 4 hours in the pantry. No kidding. I went in there, she wanted down, I put her on the shelf with cans and boxes and there she stayed. She just loves to walk on all the textures a pantry has to offer and she likes to "hide" on top of something tall. It puts her close to the next shelf up, making the open space smaller.

I put bird seed out and have seen one bird come in a couple of times. The others will be back. They are around, I hear them. I suppose it will take a few days for them to realize the food has returned.

In a sense I feel like an Italian grandmother: I feed all the hungry mouths and they happily eat up what is served and they love me for it. Don't they say food is the way to one's heart?

Working My Way Back to You...

We are back in Long Beach after our cruise through the Panama Canal. It was an enjoyable trip, warmed up by the Caribbean sun, rounded out belly by the menus of a 6-star cruise line with a Cordon Bleu restaurant aboard.

Truthfully, while I fully took advantage of our time away, at the bottom of my heart, I didn't want to be away from the ranch. I can't say I have ever experienced a vacation like that. I have always wanted to go some place else.

Well, that aside...one of our ports was Puntarenas in Costa Rica. We opted to go horseback riding. Big shocker there. Larry obliged me. They described this excursion as a ride for beginners as well as experienced riders, "no galloping."

We all felt comfortable in saying that this ride was not for beginners. Actually, the horses, Criollos, were so good and so accustomed to the terrain, and we had 4 Costa Rican cowboys and a paramedic along with us, that unless a beginner fell off the horse, they were going to get through the ride no problem. But, perhaps they may not feel very confident about that.

Only one other time had I been on a ride similar to this. By comparison, that other ride was just a warm up to this ride. We rode about an hour out, descending, ascending, descending to eventually reach a river in the canyon. There were times where the trail was hardly identifiable. We rode through crevices no more than a foot wide full of rocks and loose soil. We cut through all kinds of tropical brush, stopped to see a two-toed sloth in a tree, a Baltimore Oriole (didn't know they traveled so far), an orange colored squirrel the size of a large raccoon, a herd of cows crossing our trail, and kept an eye out for swinging monkeys.

The coolest part of this ride was actually riding. Fosforro, a gray gelding, was assigned to me. While we were waiting for everyone to saddle up, I gave him all sorts of loving. At first, he wasn't sure if he was into it, and then I felt his energy shift. It confirmed we would be good friends for this ride.

The horses I have ridden prior to Fosforro were horses I knew. Aside from two rides out at the reservoir, my riding has been around the ranches (I no longer include simple trail rides at vacation spots on my list of actual riding.) So, with Fosforro I was able to really test my knowledge, skills and comfort level. I established with him from the get-go that I was in charge and we would be riding as a team.

It was great! I maneuvered around the other 18 riders, changing our position on the trail. We went alongside the trail and on the trail. We went around the other side of trees. We stopped on a dime and started just as promptly. As we rode along the very tricky parts, working our way down and then climbing back up, I concentrated on using my body and balance to make his job easier and I sensed his appreciation. Even my Spanish skills were put into play.

There was one point where I wanted to go on one side of a brush and he insisted we go along the other side. I learned from Leighsa that in riding you trust each other to know what is safe and sometimes, you have to trust that the horse knows better than you. Fosforro's suggestion to go along the other side didn't feel like him challenging me; it felt like he was letting me know this was best for both of us. I yielded to him, again sensing his appreciation, and we were back on track.

Despite the "no galloping" posted on our tickets, I tested that skill too. Ha! How freeing it was. I would give him time to eat a few leaves here and there and at other times keep him away from what he preferred to be his own 6-star feeding frenzy.

Even on the return to the estancia, I kept control of Fosforro. We eased back, again changing our speed, our direction, our place in the pack. For all of you who have done trail rides, you know that once the horse knows he is heading back to the barn, good luck!

After dismounting, one of the caballeros took Fosforro and tied him off to the rail. "It's not over yet, my friend," I thought. I went over to give Fosforro praise, loves and thanks for a great ride. I looked up and I was the only person standing there with the horses. Everyone else had jumped down and walked off. That was just as well, I was happy in my little spot amongst the Criollos.

Very cool.