Shelley's Critters

Swarms of birds at the feeders and plans for bird houses, not to mention a totally worthless cat just wasn't enough for Shelley. She couldn't find any elephants, but did buy a saddle. It turned out to be broken, but that still was enough to justify riding lessons. Jack tried to postpone the inevitable but a sheet of paper on the bulletin board at Hatcha's Cafe was his downfall. A package price for two horses, a horse trailer, 200 gallon stock tank, three saddles, misc tack and a hundred bales of hay. He finally gave in on the basis that a good deal now was better than a bad deal later. Besides, Shelley was in love.
Sapello Kid

Sapello Kid

Now the problems really started. The old goat pen roof was rusted and rotted out and too low for the 17 hand thoroughbred. Rebuilding the stable seemed imperative. We got a discount for one saddle that had been sold separately, but the other two were the smallest adult size and a child's saddle. We now had two saddles too small to use and one broken one. The hay was in bad condition and mostly unusable. The thoroughbred needed training, the fences around the property needed repair, holes along the creek needed filling, the trailer needed repair, etc.

Sapello went off to school, but Brownie came home with us.

Shelley riding Brownie.

Shelley and Brownie on the driveway. That's pumice from the attic, not snow.

Brownie turned out to be an excellent crittur for learning on and we had a lot of fun riding him around, especially bareback. However he did not want to go any faster than a slow plod, and not too far at that. He also had an attitude all his own, and Jack finally decided to take him for some manners classes at the same stable as Sapello. Double Bay BaileyOne of the staff there fell in love with him and we ended up doing some horse trading, our 14 hand sorrel pony with attitude for her 15+ hand, bay, registered quarter horse. Bailey came home to stay with us and his personality bloomed - now he has got an attitude all his own!! Maybe it is us - maybe we ought to be kicking some horse ass!.

Sapello came home about 2 weeks after that, and promptly got sick. This of course resulted in large vets bills and a lot of disappointment. We finally decided that the problems stemmed from dehydration due to Bailey harassing him all over the place - for the first time in his life Bailey found a horse he could intimidate and he made the most of it. One thing we had not expected (ah,innocence) was all the little equine mind games, and try-ons and challenges.

Well, once we had both of them here we were incredibly busy trying to get all the fencing and everything else done, as well as riding the critturs, who were more than content to be fed and watered and not ridden at all. All was going pretty well until Wednesday May 20, when we both managed to fall off Sapello (sequentially) and ended up in the emergency room in Las Vegas, with a fractured and sprained ankle (Shelley), and a broken collarbone (Jack!). The **expletive deleted** horses are now on extended R&R while we recuperate. To save on hay, and to give them some change of diet and scenery, we are trying to use them as lawnmowers. Believe me, a gas powered lawn mower is cheaper and the results are more uniform, even if these are automatic-fertilising, riding models.

Shelley On Sapello We must add here that our downfall on that day was not the fault of the horse in either case, but down to our inexperience and failure to understand the dynamics of the relationship between the two horses. One thing sure - they do not think like people. Check back later for more in the saga of Shelley's Critters.

Before the Fall! ---->