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