Lessons and Gene

I introduced Granite to Gene, today.
Gene is the long distance rider I discussed in my earlier blog. I think he is wise and kind, with a good take on life.

I knocked on his wagon door... well, I didn't physically knock (how do you knock on a wagon?), but I approached him with Granite and said, "Knock, knock, knock! I have someone I would like you to meet."

Gene was resting after completing his morning chores, but I think he was happy for the visit. I introduced him to Granite and he said that Granite was a great horse and we agreed he was a flea bitten roan, not a gray...who cares what the book says. We chatted for a while and I proudly showed off my friend.

I think Granite liked Gene, too. Even Miss Lady Bug checked out my magnificent steed.

Gene's mules had taken quite an interest in Granite earlier, when I was taking him for a walk, and they really perked up when my handsome guy came by again.

I like Gene. He's an interesting guy. I commented that he was walking around in his bare feet, because he had been relaxing when I arrived and didn't take the time to put on his shoes for our visit. He replied me, "I came into this life barefoot and wet." I like it when people come up with little quotes like that.

Anyway, thanks to Granite and the animals at Shiloh. I appreciate life a little more and understand death a little better because of you. My new favorite saying is: Live your life. Don't ever let it pass you by. Live without regrets. Do your best and, if you make a mistake learn from it. If you hurt someone, say you're sorry. And you'd better be patient...or you're in for a long haul.

The Teacher and the Student, which is which?

What is so great about having a horse?

It's all the wonderful adventures that come with it. All of the lessons to be learned and all of the knowledge to be gained.

Granite has opened new doors for me. I am learning things I never knew—about me, about life, about all sorts of things. I am developing new friendships I never thought I would have. It's interesting how one old, flea-bitten gray horse can change everything.

Where once I wanted to stay in bed and sleep, I now get up at the crack of dawn so I can race to the ranch and see this fabulous horse: my buddy, my student, my teacher.

Sunday was one of those days that is just so special. The folks at the ranch were great and we spent quite a bit of time bull-shitting and taking "fat" pictures of ourselves on my iPhone. We have all vowed never to become obese after this session of picture taking. We laughed and laughed about our fate, should we choose to eat one too many donuts and then agreed to arrange a camping trip. Friends are had to find. It's like Christmas came early when you make so many new friendships all at once, just because of a horse.

On Sunday, I realized I am a little fearful, but so is Granite. He has to learn to trust me and I have to learn to trust him. Right now, he's afraid of lifting his feet for cleaning and shoeing. When a 1,200 lb. horse decides he doesn't want to lift his feet, sheer physical strength will not cut it (I lack physical strength anyway, let alone sheer physical strength). Bullying a horse into lifting his feet won't work, either. From a common sense point of view, neither of these scenarios will ever get the job done. You will get yourself kicked, stepped on and who knows what else and that is for sure. What does work is patience, kindness and understanding. Being patient enough to try and try again, kind and gentle in your manner and knowing how a horse's mind works are the keys.

I watched Dave as he helped me with Granite this Sunday. He was patient, kind and understanding, lifting Granite's feet, one at a time—carefully, methodically and firmly, but gently. It was not easy and it will not be easy the next time, but it will be easier. Granite was confused and very afraid. Dave pointed out to me that just below his withers a sweat spot was appearing, and this meant that he was very anxious or nervous. I never knew! Most would think he is just stubborn. But he's not, just afraid.

Horses communicate in an unspoken language of actions and reactions. You have to watch them, carefully. You learn to be observant. I am so glad I could watch that day, as Dave helped me with Granite. Dave has a way with horses and Granite is a better horse today because of his help... and I'm a better owner.

But I do have to admit, I'm still afraid to lift Granite's feet. The front I can do—with some hesitation. But the back I'm afraid to lift. ...If I had withers, I would be sweating like Granite. Why? Because I am afraid and unsure, just like Granite.

Will I lift Granite's feet one day? Yes, I will lift Granites feet and he will lift his feet, willingly and without fear. But, like Granite, it will take time for me to accomplish this. We will learn together to trust each other—me, him and him, me.

Owning a horse tests you; it makes you stop, think and contemplate how you are going to handle certain situations. You have to plan ahead and be consistent. You have to learn sign language: horse sign language.

Patience, which has always been a weak point for me, is my lesson today. No rushing around, no quick actions, no fast learning. It all takes time: slow, methodical, consistent. Once, when I was younger, I prayed, "Lord, please make me a more patient person." Don't ever pray for that. Trust me, he doesn't waive a wand and suddenly you are patient. No, no, no. He gives you tests. I think he is still testing me, 20 years later, and Granite is his newest tool.

Apart from my time with Granite, this week was a sad week. Kenny Guinn died suddenly and it was tough watching his son and my friend, Jeff, and his family go through this pain. I know that pain because I have been there, having lost both of my parents.

Words do not comfort. But hugs help a lot, I think. Solitude is important and patience helps. Death is hard to understand. Sometimes it makes no sense and we feel cheated. Other times, it's a blessing, though always sad.

Having now spent a year and a half at Shiloh, I have watched death and how it fits into our lives. We see at the ranch—not every day, but a lot more often than we want—the passing of some truly amazing creatures. They are loved to the end and they pass on in peace. It is not easy, but it is the cycle of life: a new journey for all of us. We learn from their passing that it is not always the worst thing that can happen; when they are sick and old it is a blessing. When a horse is taken too soon, because of an accident or some illness, it is much more painful and we question it. "How could this happen?" we ask ourselves.

It happens because that is the way life is. It is the cycle of life, which is not about how long you live, but how you live your life. I am deeply saddened by the passing of Kenny Guinn, although I knew him only a little. What I did know of him is this: he was good and generous man, always smiling and always with a kind word. That alone sets him apart as a truly remarkable soul.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

What was I thinking last night when I went to bed? I was thinking, I want to get up really early and go to Shiloh and see Granite. I told Ben, "wake me when you wake up". If you know Ben, you know this is a dangerous request. Ben gets "Up at the Crack of Dawn" everyday. At precisely 4:45 a.m. Sunday morning, Ben reached over and woke me up (he took his life into his own hands, brave man), he said, "honey do you want to go the ranch", in his most charming voice. How did I respond, no, no, I was nice, eventually. I was super excited to go to Shiloh and see Granite and the rest of the horses and critters, I chirped, "NO". Well, that was my first response, but my second response, moments later, much to Ben's surprise, was when I jumped out of bed and said "Lets go honey'. The nicer side shinning out at dawn, the crack of dawn. This is what owning a horse does to you, it makes you nice at the crack of dawn. Dressed, packed with water, Gatorade, soda, protein bars, ranch shoes, sun screen and all the other necessary items to venture into the Mojave desert in the middle of the hottest week of the year. Yes, it was 88 degrees at 5:15 when we left the house. Ben is responsible for everything but dressing me, I did that myself. A quick stop at McDonalds, at Ben's suggestion and off we go. The sun was just coming over the mountains as we drove down 215 on our way to Shiloh. Nice this time of the morning, a few cars, not many. Probably coming home from a night out, no one in their right mind would be getting up at dawn on a Sunday, or would they? The drive is nice this early, its my first early, early drive to Shiloh. We munched down our breakfast and coffee, chatted and checked out the awesome scenery and critters on the way to the ranch. Most people, unless they live in the desert think its just a hot waste land. This is not true at all, its a beautiful place, but you cannot just speed by, you have to pay attention. Its a beautiful and picturesque place perfectly landscaped, rocks, cactus of all kinds, grasses and the occasional quail, yes quail, rabbits, desert fox and if you really keep your eyes open SNAKES. I am not afraid of snakes.
We arrived at the ranch at 6:15 (I wonder where the time goes when I am trying to get to Shiloh, I seem lost in a time warp, it seems to take forever) just in time to see Gene, Gene is the gentlemen who has stopped at Shiloh to wait for the really hot days to pass. He is a super neat and nice guy, he is a long rider. Long riders, I guess, go on these super long rides, thus the term "long rider". Gene is going to travel from San Diego to the east cost, he was on his way to San Diego when he stopped at Shiloh. Shiloh seems to draw the most wonderful and interesting people, horse people. Gene has two of the largest mules I have ever seen, I have not seen a lot of mules, but I know these girls are big. Anyway, Gene was on his way to fill the water troughs for all the horses and critters at the ranch. When you get to the ranch you are always greeted by the ranch dogs, which you pet, hug and tickle. Its like a ritual, pull up, put on your ranch shoes, play with the dogs, open the gate, say hi to whomever crosses your path, human or animal, stop along the way, fill up a trough, chat with a horse, alpaca, lama, human, whomever crosses your path. All the while, in the back of my mind I am excited to see my main guy, Granite. Their is a lot to do before you even get to Granite. First all the introductions we just went through, and little chores you find along the way and then into Cherry Pie (Cherry Pie is a little house built on the ranch with air conditioning, bathroom, fridge and table), gotta drop off my cooler and water jug, cut up the apples and then we are ready to go to the tack room. I have my own little tack room ( I share with Helga, we we have our own little tack room, she is super nice). I was so excited to get my first tack room, me, my own horse and tack room, who knew. By the time I get to the tack room, I have again filled a few water troughs, handed out some of Granites apples and petted a couple of horses. Before going out to get Granite I must prepare his treat, which I do very quickly, right after I killed the biggest black widow I have ever seen. I believe in live and let live, but this sucker could do damage so I squashed it. Ben was no where to be found so it was useless to scream and act scared, killed it myself. Do not tell Ben I am not afraid of spiders. After preparing Granites treat, I grab his new red halter and lead rope. Yes, I have those things, my very first. Granite looks great in red. I am off to get my guy, a couple more stops and I am at his pasture. I looked and looked and could not see him, my heart skipped and then, I spied him, standing with three other horses, tail to face, tail to face. Horses know how to take care of each other, you swat the flies off my face and I will swat the flies off yours. Humans could learn from horses, a lot. I put down the lead rope and halter and climbed through the fence, every time I come to see him it makes me cry, he is saw awesome and he is mine, WOW. Yes, he comes to me, with a little coxing, after all he has his own personal fly swatter, tempting to stay, but he comes. We meet half way, exchange our hugs and kisses, I do all the hugging and kissing, he just stands their. He is so patient, a lot like Ben. On goes his halter and lead rope and we are off. Granite, gets his treats, a brush a wash and lots of love. I do it a little backwards, I have to switch it around, should be work the horse, brush the horse and give him a treat. I like dessert first. We will switch it up later, its dawn, its hot he needs pampering. I did work on his fear of water and that seems to be coming along nicely. During the Granite pamper time, some other friends stop by, Charlie, the resident "little fat pony", he needs some treats, then their is Aztec, he needs some treats, then their is the lama, who I call MAMA, but that is not her name its Inca, a couple of wanders (horses that wander around) and of course Mojo, a little black pony. Mojo is Aztecs love interest, Aztec is an alpaca, don't ask. They love each other, check out the Shiloh blog, its the cutest thing ever. By now its 95 degrees, I know that because, Ben keeps telling me I am hot, I had not noticed, kidding. Ben's funny, he thinks I won't notice that is almost 100 degrees and I am standing in the sun brushing down a huge horse. I notice, I just do not care, I am completely into Granite, its such a cool thing to have your own horse. Granite trusts me for the most part, he still spooks (when I do something dumb) but he is coming along nicely, learning to ignore my obvious short falls. It is time to go, it has heated up and I am really only good for a couple of hours in the super hot heat. I lead Granite back to his pasture all the while checking out this and that. Its not easy to walk a straight line at Shiloh, there is always something to distract you, finally we make it to Granites pasture, just in time for his breakfast, he has already had breakfast with me, but this is his second breakfast. He leads beautifully into the pasture, even though I know he cannot wait to start chowing down. Granite loves food, yes he does, MMM so do I. I release Granite with one last hug and a promise to see him next week and off he goes, happy, content and just simply awesome. Its time for me to go, it takes me forever to leave the ranch, I think its because I do not want to go, but I need to go. I chat with Gene awhile, Ben waits patiently, I have to go back to the tack room a couple of times cause I keep forgetting that I have a halter and rope around my neck, cause I keep getting distracted. Finally, we are ready to go, a quick goodbye to Stretch, Vanilla, the mamas with their babies, and Sitka and we are off. Another wonderful day at Shiloh. The ride home is quiet, I like to think about what I just did. Me, a horse owner, getting my horse from his pasture, putting on a halter, leading and grooming him WoW. For me this is amazing and I love it. The drive back is beautiful, quiet and just the end to a perfect morning. When you get up at 4:45, morning is over at 9:00 a.m., you have a full day ahead, its great. All the creatures we saw on the way their are gone, early arrival at Shiloh is good, lots of things you do not see if you come later. I will do more of getting "Up at the Crack of Dawn". Thanks Granite, you have changed my life, I love you old boy.

The Beginning

July 11, 2010
On June 12, 2010, at age 57 I adopted my first horse. I have wanted a horse my whole life, finally my wish comes true. Enters Granite, Granite is a 20 year old gelding, he is referred to as a flea bitten gray. This means he is a gray horse (although he looks white) with small flecks of chestnut all over him. Actually, when Jill Curtis of Shiloh Horse Rescue gave me his bill of sale she wrote, "Flea Bitten Gary" I thought she was referring to his stauts as a horse, a flea bitten old gray horse. Of course, if I had thought about it for minute she would never have referred to him in such a derogatory way. At the time, I thought she was kidding around, later after researching his ancestors I realized, "Flea Bitten Gray is a reference to a color of horse. How funny, I had a good laugh at myself. Granite was abandoned by his owners. His owners left one day and did not take him with them, they left him in his corral, no food, no water. At this time in his life he was a stallion, he had never been gelded. He broke out and headed to the neighbors for food and water, he is one smart horse. The neighbors called animal control and Granite ended up at Shiloh Horse Rescue where I met him. Granite has a beautiful face and many battle scars, he has puffy big checks and a giant scar on his side. Who knows what this horse has been through, what I know is, his face is endearing. I spent the first six months grooming Granite, of the over 100 horses only three have caught my heart and Granite slipped in to number one. This you should consider amazing, I was cleanning his tail and butt for months because he was suffering from chronic diarrhea, me who has never owned a horse was spending my days off cleaning up an old gray stallion. Who knew the first horse I would truly know and love would start the relationship by cleaning up his butt and really poopy tail. Granite was also gelded and that also was a first for me, I did not geld him, but I did take a photo of the surgery on his penis and send to Jill when she was out of town so she could see how it was healing. He was being watched by others at the ranch, but Jill likes to keep a close eye on things. The picture was super gross, one day I was showing a friend a picture and ran across the picture I had forgotten it was on my phone, ugh, we deleted it.

I have owned Granite for almost a month now and feel both excited and apprehensive. Excited because he is so awesome and apprehensive because he is a huge responsibility, at 16 hands and 1,200 pounds you need to be a little apprehensive. He is a kind old boy and still has some spunk in him, just like me (only I am a girl). We have spent many hours now, hanging out, grooming and just sort of getting to know each other. He now has is own brand new halter and lead rope, he looks pretty snazzy in his new stuff. I for the first time in my life also have my own tack room. Oh I have such plans for my tack room, rug, shelves, decorations, color swatches (kidding about the color swatches, no paint for these walls). Things are shaping up nicely for this first time horse owner. Do not get me wrong I am book smart just not hands on smart when it comes to horses, with the exception of the color thing, I know a thing or two about horses. Trust me though, no book or video can prepare you for horse ownership. Hands on, understanding horse and your friends at the ranch, that's at the end of the day what helps you learn. I am super excited about this new adventure.

Let me say a little about Shiloh Horse Rescue, I met the folks at Shiloh at Pet A Palooza in Las Vegas two years ago. I decided to check out the rescue, having been a horse lover all my life. I went to Shiloh and learned how to groom a horse and began volunteering at the rescue. I helped out on the days that I could, watering, grooming and just generally doing whatever at the rescue. Shiloh, has over a hundred horses, rescued from slaughter, given up by their owners, dropped off, abandoned or brought to Shiloh for a million other reasons. Shiloh never says no, they have old horses, blind horses, crippled horses, off track race horses, abused horses to all of them, the barn door is never closed. They even have a few pot belly pigs, mules, goats, chickens, donkeys, ponies, ranch dogs, ranch cats a Lama and one of the cutest ever little Alpacas. Basically, Shiloh is heaven for these animals and for the few humans who are lucky to be their to help. Shiloh is a new beginning and a happy ending. Its a place for horses to live out their lives or stop for awhile to await a new home. Its heart warming, its sad sometimes but it is always a wonderful place for all these creatures.

There is never a dull moment at Shiloh, not for the people or the animals. I will tell you those stories later. For now I am one happy horse owner. I plan to relay to you in this blog the story of Granite and Elaine and our journey together. Happy Trails till we blog again. LOL