The VALUE of a horse.......

When I think of:

"THE VALUE OF A HORSE:"

I think of a lot of things.

I read a lot of blogs and I see differences placed on this

Value of the Horse.

I read:

Fugly's Blog

Because she keeps to the for-front all the asshats that abuse the horse!

and I cry a lot on the inside for what the horse has endured.

Wishing I could do something to help them all!

Then I rejoice in the justice that is served on occassion,

and the rescues that help.

The best part about her blog, is there are updates and conclusions to the stories!

(Her blog is for sale too! :((. I know it won't be the same, EVER)

I read:

Laughing Orca

Because she is on a life journey to ride and

I identify with what she goes through.

I read: 

50+ Horses

Because I am 50+ and her adventures mimic mine.

I read: 

MSN Ranch

because,

Well

George, Alan and Lucy,

Plus all the other critters!

have taken on a life of their own

and I love their adventures!

I read: 

Postcards from Arizona

because the adventures are awesome

and it makes my life seem calm!

I read:

Shilo Horse Rescue

because they do SO MUCH for abused horses!

and it warms my heart!

I read:

The Journey's of Cactus Jack Flash

Because from a horses' perspective

you understand the human!

I read:
Horse and Man

because I learn something new every time I read her blog.

The bonus part is she evaluates products which really helps

in my decisions to use the product.

I read:

LIFE IS GOOD!

Because I enjoy her sense of humor!

When I have my grandson call and want to ride

horses, there is NO monetary VALUE placed on that

because it is the value that stays in your heart.

It is the joy of seeing them have fun.

The joy of knowing the horses care for their riders.

and the joy of lasting memories!

Kids surprise you at every turn, (horses too) and as much as I try to figure them out, I never will.

I thought Libby would be the one that they would want to ride all the time.

But as it turned out,

PONCHO was the favored mount!

Because he LIKED to go!

Libby being the lazy one at heart, was a bit obstinate at walking out.

She would glue her feet to the ground next to me, and would make the child (and me) work to get her to walk.

Good lessons, yes. Very frustrating to the child though.

They did switch at one point, because the grandson was tired of working Libby, 

and he was seeing all the fun his little friend was having.

I was concerned that he would not be able to handle Poncho well, but as it turned out,

he did great.

AND I found out, Poncho listens to the kids better than me!

AMAZING!

Both my horses have value beyond anything that I could ever imagine!

Saving a life!

I just hate it when things make my heart go THUMP!

Coming back from town the other day

minding my own darn business,

something in the road caught my eye.

Well on a 4 lane hwy you don't have much time to think!

I saw movement ON the road!

I can't swerve or I will wreck, and maybe take out another vehicle!

I can't slam on my breaks cause I am going to fast....

So I SHUT MY EYES!

My car straddles a TURTLE crossing the freeway!

When it dawns on me what just happened, 

quickly I look all around, and flip a U-EE in the middle of the freeway!
(Kind of like you see the cops do chasing bad guys.)

I go back and the poor turtle is now on the white line dividing two lanes,

cars and trucks zipping past!

He is getting quite a breeze as tires are inches from his head! 

He half turns, almost gets hit, 

I'm waving like a maniac!

I rush and whisk him off the roadway!

I take him across the road, but then I look around, and gee, there really is no place for him to go there.

So I go back to the center turning lane where my car is parked!

Put him in the car with me, and head home.

He won't stay in the seat of course, and so I am holding this turtle with my 

right hand, and driving with my left!

Now that his life is saved, he feels pretty frisky, and his feet are going in the motion like he is swimming.

He has very long toe nails, and as I am holding him in the air

(similar to the photo below)

His toes nails are scraping my fingers. (Ouch! Ouch!)

So I pull over again, and I have a box in the car I keep extra things in. I Dump it out, and there! 

He can't go anywhere.

I head home!

"WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO WITH A TURTLE!"

A Light Bulb!

I will take it to my dear and trusted friend who lives down the road from me, and has a big marshy pond next to her pasture!
(I always call her for advice on everything!)

YEP! That is the answer!

So this is where we are...She was kind enough to take these pictures for me

as in all the commotion, I forgot to grab my camera!

Here I let him go.....

Here we think he is going to get hung up.

But he puts it in reverse and kicks in the 4-wheel drive and off he goes!

He is quite agile, and moves pretty darn quick for a turtle

that has the history of moving slow!

Once he figured out he was free, and safe, he made a be line for the waters edge!

It was really weird, because a couple weeks ago in about the same area of the freeway,
there WAS a turtle that was smashed in the road, and I really felt to awful!

Then I find this one, making his way to find his lost friend????

As far as I know, we do not have a migration of turtles in this area!
If so, then this is the first one, and I better not come across anymore
making suicidal attempts at crossing a 4 lane busy freeway!

My heart, and my friends pond could not take it!

Winnie's................

I know it has been awhile since you've heard from me and I have a lot to blog about. I will eventually get it posted.

On an up note, I finally got to ride Libby down by the river. Went with a friend and he rode Poncho. They were both relatively good, with one exception.

We got to one point, and no matter what, Libby was not going any further! She just absolutely refused to go beyond this one point. It was like there was a line, or a wall. She even rared a bit, oh about a foot off the ground with her front feet. Lots of circles, and when I would ask her to go forward, she just would throw her head and tell me "NO!" in no uncertain terms.

At first I thought she was being a brat. Then I got to watching Poncho. He goes ANYWHERE~ He would not even go forward!

That got me to remembering the last time I came down here with a horse. It was Sadie, and she acted really stupid and was almost uncontrollable at the time, which was so out of her character!

A couple days later I spoke with someone that lives along the way there, and a cougar had been spotted.

Remembering that, and watching Poncho, it was like, "OK, JODY! LISTEN TO YOUR HORSES!~" So we turned around and headed home! I had a hard time keeping Libby at a walk! She wanted to TROT and probably would of galloped all the way to the pump station road if I let her! LOL

I noticed her bottom lip quivering and her previous owner told me when she gets nervous that she does this with her bottom lip.

SOMETHING was down there. I do not know what it was...but the horses were fearful!

So when we got to the pump station road, instead of turning to go home and letting Libby think she was getting her own way, I turned Libby away from home.....UH OH! She wasn't going to have that either! But Poncho did not have any issues walking towards the water, and once she saw Poncho going, then she relented! Then off to home we went, and once we got on the frontage road, Libby was calm, and walked very quietly home. It was a GOOD DAY! and a GOOD RIDE!

Of course I do not have pictures, because I don't take my camera riding.

Well Yesterday, Libby just was not herself. So I kept a vigilant eye on her. I think she was having an off day. It was the hottest day this summer so far, and maybe she does not do well in the heat. Kind of like me. Just drags me out terrible!

I had ordered a free sample of Winnie's cookies, and I came in the house to get two of them for her. (The samples are awesome! You get 9 of them. That is ALMOST A DOZEN!)

Libby: "I smell Coookies!"

Libby ate her two cookies and wanted more!!!! She even followed me part way back to the gate, but then decided she would go stand in her lean to and pout or do whatever horses do when they have an off day. Maybe the ride on Saturday was just getting to her!? I don't know.

Libby: "Poncho, I know Mom's got cookies! I can smell'em!"

So, last night, I went to Winnie's facebook and from there I went to their website, and I ordered 8 dozen cookies!!!!!!! (There is gonna be a lot of eating of Winnie's cookies around here!)

Poncho: "I heard they're having a big sale!"

They are having a wonderful SALE!

SALE

Please!

Go check it out!

Oh and tell them:

"JODY SENT YOU!"

 "You got more? right?"

 Libby: "I will keep 'one' an eye on her just in case!"

 "Maybe if I look sad and pout she will come forth with more!"

(I am not affiliated nor do I get anything from this recommendation.)

The Earth Moves:

We have had a lot of rain this year.

Every time it rains,

The Earthworms come out at night.

In the photo above, 

and up the middle in the dirt area,

Is Earth Worm City!

See how many you can count?

I notice they leave one end of themselves in their hole.

Then they just stretch as far as they can.

By morning there is little hay stacks 

piled up on top of their holes.

Kind of like they build a roof.

Ad dull as an earthworm seems to be,

they are actually very interesting to watch.

Right after a rain storm, is the most interesting.

AND If there is a full moon,

The dirt comes alive at night with them.

Rattlesnake Harley Dealership in Kennewick Washington

Had their grand Opening this weekend. 

(I really dislike giving notoriety to this business because

they are not easy to deal with, Long Story for another time.)

It was such a nice day, and we all wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

So we went to see what was going on.

They had a demo ride, in which you could ride

any type of Harley out there you wanted.

That was pretty cool.

Second it was Baby Cameron's first BIG adventure in his 12 days of life.

He enjoyed most of it by sleeping.

Here is Mom and Son.

I know 'mom' is thinking:

"How am I going to ride and pull off motherhood at the same time?"

Mom and Dad could not be happier!

Dad is so joyful he is singing the Harley song to Cameron!

At least I think he is since I took TWO pictures and he appears both times to be singing.

It was a cloudy day, which we were thankful for.

The temps were in the low 80's and it got pretty humid.

Just right for "baby's" first big outing.

He will do just fine as I think he enjoyed every minute of it!