What?? A Horse was Dragged? Neigh! Ok, Mom Says No.

My mom says that last Sunday there was news that a horse was dragged by a truck. I was horrified!! But mom assured me that it was not as the news stated, or that people wanted to believe it had happened.

Apparently, this old man had the misfortune of having his wife's Arabian mare get loose. I wish I could see her. I bet she's really pretty. Not as pretty as my Pony, but Arab mares can have really nice....  Ahem. Anyway, she ran to the neighbor's lucky horses.

One thing I can tell you for sure, as a horse and as a gelding, some mares can be real bitches when they are having 'that time of month.'

I guess she is one of those mares. *Nicker*

Still, I thought, she didn't deserve to be dragged! But, once again, as it turns out, there is more to this tale. Mom wrote an article about it, which you can read here: http://www.examiner.com/article/man-and-horse-stafford-ct-horse-was-not-dragged .

Phew!!

I do not feel as bad for her. She should not have given this old man so much trouble! My mom once led me while she drove a tractor. I did not care. But then again I am not a mare, nor am I an Arabian. They may be pretty, but they are... *snort* (Yes, I am shaking my head here)

In any event, I wish people would stop being mean to this old man. From what mom and Aunty Sylvia told me, he was not experienced in handling us. He would not have had trouble handling me because I do not give my mom or anyone any trouble (no matter what they might tell you). But she tried to throw him into the woods. Neigh!! That is bad! So, this man did what he had to to get the mare home. He tied her to the truck. Mom says he drove home very very slowly but she slipped on the dirt and fell down. The old man stopped immediately so she would not get dragged. He cut the rope and that is when she chose to behave, so he led her home. She caused a lot of trouble. Bad mare, bad mare.

She should not have been such a bad girl and she wouldn't have fallen down. I have to admit, though, that I am guilty of that mistake. I remember once being so excited to get into my stall, I ran in and turned fast. All four of my hooves slipped on the shavings and I fell on my back. Ouch!! I remember that well. It hurt when I landed, but once I was back on my feet, the pain went away. We horses can do dumb things (wait! Did I say that??)

Mom said there were pictures and that my uncle Correy took the call from the neighbors. If these neighbors knew the old man did not have experience handling us, how could they let him handle a bitchy mare in heat? And then stand by and take pictures? I know I am just a horse, but I am confused. Shouldn't they have helped him handle the horse or at the very least loaned him a halter or a trailer?

What do I know? I'm just a horse... of course!

They Starve Horses????

My mom says that I am very lucky. She told me that she has written articles and seen TV shows about people that actually don't feed their horses! What???

She said this happens all over the world and that she even saw one case on TV where the people had hay and grain in the barn but did not even bother to feed it to the horses. The horses were so hungry, they were eating the barn! Yuck!

I know there are paddocks that don't have grass in them because I have been housed in some of them during my life, and I know how hungry I felt when my hay ran out and I had nothing to eat for a few hours. It was terrible! I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have anything at all to eat for weeks at a time or longer. *shudder*

My tummy always lets me know when I need more to eat and that's quite often. I am a horse after all, and we are made to graze most of the time. We cannot go that long without food!

So, listen up, humans. Your horse, like me, needs forage like grass and hay as his or her main diet. I guess, from what I have heard, that humans eat something like 3 meals a day and go without in between. I do not know if this is true, but we horses are not made that way. We have small stomachs and are made to have food moving through on a continuous basis.

My mom is very careful with my diet because I am what she calls "insulin resistant." I still get treats, but few and usually sugar free. Mom gives me yummy green hay in the winter. But the spring is tough because I am kept off grass during the daytime. I guess that's when the sugars are the highest. I don't know anything about this, just that it tastes yummy all the time and it makes me a bit depressed to see the others out eating grass and I cannot be.

I felt sorry for myself about this until I heard about these poor starving horses. I don't think I will complain anymore when I am kept off grass. Oh, who am I kidding? I will still complain. But I will understand more.

I hope all those horses not getting enough to eat out there all find food and I hope humans punish the terrible people who let them starve. Is a horse allowed to think such thoughts of humans? Hmmmm.

Time Flies Like a Fly

It has been quite awhile since I wrote. It is so difficult for me to get these hooves to punch only one key at a time. In any event, since we last spoke, mom has moved me to a new barn. This place is smaller than the other barns I have been to, but my stall is huge! I have a back door and a front door. One leads to the barn, the other outside to a pasture.
During the day, I have a friend, but I didn't when I first arrived back in August last year. I have to admit, it was pretty exciting at first to have so much pasture and grass all to myself... and to be able to go in and out of my stall whenever I wanted....! I couldn't believe it was real. I walked in and out, in and out, in and out just to test my new freedom. It was pretty cool.
At night I had the other horses in the adjacent paddock to talk to. Mom was right that there was a horse there that I had known at a past barn. His name is Hot Rod. He was a baby when I last saw him, and now he is much bigger. Not bigger than me of course. But, it was nice to see a familiar face. Hot Rod was supposed to pull a cart of some sort in races, but he told me he deliberately went slow because he's heard that race horses have to work really hard and run a lot, and he did not want to do this every day.
The other horses included a tall palomino they call Artie and a black, stocky guy they call Tex. Artie was nice enough to me, but Tex gave me a bit of an attitude when we first met. I told him I was the top horse in a herd of over 20 horses at the last barn, but he didn't get it, or chose not to, I am not sure.
There was only one girl there, which was disappointing at first. She is really small, but she explained that she is a pony, not a horse. I knew a few ponies at the last barn, but they were all boys who thought they owned the place. But this pony was a girl and super nice. She took to me right away, but I played hard to get at first. Can't make yourself too obvious, I always say.
After a week or so, I started to feel a bit lonely, being the only horse in the paddock. The others would talk to me over the fence, but that meant we all had to stand together by the fence and we would eat all the grass and have to separate to get more.
Mom, being the great mom she is at divining my needs, talked to the barn owner and ever since, I have the girl pony in my paddock during the day. Her name is Salem, but everyone calls her simply Pony.
I have been at this barn for quite a few months now. I have made friends with all the horses, though I love the few times mom lets me go play with my old friend Hot Rod.
Pony and I get to spend days together unless the weather is bad, then we are all generally in the barn together. At night I have the place to myself and mom opens my back door so I can come and go. But I still get to talk to Pony, Hot Rod, Artie and Tex over the fence.
Now that spring is here, grass has started to grow and mom seems very happy she doesn't have to buy so much hay. I like grass better than anything anyways.
Well, that's today's posting. I will talk to you soon.