The last couple of weeks winter has gripped the farm here is south Mississippi. Several nights set record low temperatures in the mid-teens. That is cold for this area.

Bonnie and Sox have made out fairly well. We found horse blankets that fit their small frames (a size 70 for Bonnie and a 68 for Sox). They wore them the nights the temperature was below 25 deg. F.

When we first put the blankets on them their response was interesting. Both responded toward the other as though they were challenging them similar to the response to a new horse in the herd. However, the challenge period was very short. As soon as they sniffed one another they resettled in to their regular routine.

We were pleasantly surprised at the minimal amount of biting and tugging on the blankets that each demonstrated.  Apparently both figured out that these blanket things feel pretty good when the weather is cold.

Sox personality continues to unfold like a lotus flower. He is still trying to figure out the relationship with his humans. Based on his response to us, I do not believe he had a close relationship with humans in his past. He acts as though being loved on and petted is a little strange to him. However, in the months since he has returned to good health and weight, he has increasingly saught to get his share of grooming and petting. He is still a male horse who wants to dominate something and bears watching until he accepts you are not going to be his subject. Some time that is as simple as a bump on the nose if he pushes you, or showing him the whip if he gets his head up and starts to try to bully with his body. But once he gets past trying to dominate you, he can be as loving as Bonnie Blue. There is a good horse, hiding inside the pretty black and white socked skin and it is trying to come to the surface. My intention is to love him and work with him to be that good and gentle horse that understands that some humans are okay to be trusted. He has come so far in the months since he came to live with us, I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

May Peace be with you.

Since July we have completed the building of our new home which we had planed for many years for our retirement. We moved in on September the first and are just now starting to get settled. The new home is just a few hundred yard across the road from were we lived before and where Bonnie Blue and Secretes have their stalls. We hope to build them new quarters near the new house next year, but for now we go back to work with them two or more times a day.

The fall has been very pleasant but dry here in south Mississippi this year. Bonnie and Sox have started growing their winter coats. Both are a little fussy with signs of heaver growth to come with longer hair under the chin and on the face. Bonnie has remained her chestnut brown throughout the year. Sox has gone from scruffy brown in the spring, to smooth shiny black in the summer, to dark brown in the early fall, to black thick short hair now. One thing is for sure, Sox is better prepared for winter weather this year than last. His estimated weight is now about 850 lbs. and he is filled out all over. Having a stall that protects from the wind and rain is good too. The 24/7 hay is also a plus.

Recently Dori Thompson sent pictures of Sox from last February when he first entered the rescue program.  

The photo posted below is Sox on November 9, 2013. I am amazed at the resiliency of these wonderful creatures. With food, care and love, they recover quickly and blossom both in body and spirit.

The combination of a strong body, confidence from the stability of his surroundings and the cool fall air can lead a horse to look for opportunities to move up in position within the herd. Bonnie reminds him constantly that she is the mare in charge so he does not challenge her. (After all, she will bit and kick the fool out of any horse that steps out of line.) But the humans are fair game, so we have had to watch Sox closely recently when we are close to him. He starts his challenge by raising his head high and wanting to mouth us. Not a hard bit but wanting to put his mouth and teeth on your hands and hold them. He will also push us with his head. If you raise your hand up in or above his face, he will try to raise his head even higher and may rear up on his hind legs. This is not an acceptable behavior so we are trying to work with him to stop the escalation early in the challenge cycle. The trainer, Vernell Falgout, is helping us with firm actions we can take to help head off a challenge without being harsh. 

A few weeks back, both Bonnie and Sox were found to have a hoof fungus (Thrust) on some of their feet. They are being treated with Copper Napthanate and daily hove cleaning.  The Thrust seems to be gone but we are still cleaning almost every day. This regular handling is good for the feet and helps reinforce the humans dominant position in the herd.

A young lady named Amy has been helping us with both horses every Saturday morning. Amy love horses but she does not have a suitable place for one where she lives currently. We and glad for her help and she seems to enjoy Bonnie and Sox. We are all blessed by her visits and love of horses.

Blessings to all.

Today, 26 July 2013, marks the first anniversary of Bonnie Blue coming to live here at our little farm. Much has changed in these twelve short months.
Bonnie Blue looks and acts so different now. She has made a wonderful transition from a horse called "Bones", nearly starving and with injured right front leg, to the beautiful, strong, healthy, confident and sassy Bonnie Blue she is today.

Bonnie Blue looking slick and shinny

Feeling Sassy

Bonnie Blue feeling good and running strong

Not only has she changed, but she has changed us and our lives also. We have been blessed with new friends like Dori Thompson with the Trails End Horse Haven, Vernell Falgout the trainer and George Lupper the farrier. We have learned from from all of these fine folks and Bonnie Blue. For me, Bonnie and the other horses have added a whole new dimension to every day and my life. Grooming the horses in the morning is a meditation and a way to touch nature in a very special way. These wonderful creatures are always their authentic selves. No pretense or politics with them. They have their own ways and social structure, not always gentle or polite but very consistent. We can learn a lot from observing these creatures.

Socretes (Sox), is doing well and is slowing on his weight gain. His body is filled out well and he has lots of energy. His girth has not increased in the last couple of weeks but he continues to round out in the hips and along the back. He is rapidly approaching ideal weight.

Sox looking confident and filled out

Our daughter Santha and her children, Cai (13), Truett (10) and Noah (6+) visited with us for the past couple of weeks. They enjoyed the horses dogs and cats here at the farm. It was great to see them and have them interact with these creatures. All seemed to benefit from the experience.

 We had had two yard dogs for the past two and a half years. They were litter mates and had always been together. We took them in when a neighbor could no longer care for them. We named them Bonnie and Clyde. Being cure dogs they loved to hunt. It was a joy to watch them for they did everything together. Sadly, this past week we lost both of them. They left Sunday morning and Clyde has not returned. Bonnie (dog) returned Monday morning seemingly poisoned. We took her to the vet but too much damage had been done. We had her put down and buried her Wednesday morning. May their dog spirits find peace. We loved them and will miss them greatly. May those who do such foul deeds find peace and forgiveness.

Blessings to all.

Bonnie Blue and Sox 7/6/2013

Bonnie Blue and Sox (Socretes) are doing well and enjoying the mild summer we have been having. We have been blessed with adequate rain to keep the grass growing and fresh.

Sox and Bonnie Blue enjoying summer grazing.

Vernell Falgout is Bonnie Blue and Sox trainer. She comes to the farm once a week to train them and us. The horses are the better students for it is hard to teach old humans new tricks. But we are all trying and are making some progress. Bonnie Blue has been working on ground training while Sox has been focused on adjusting to being sprayed for flies and not resisting having his hooves cleaned. The horses seem to enjoy the challenge of doing something new and know that Vernell is a good, fair but firm teacher. We have all benefited from her working with us.

Vernell and Bonnie Blue working on ground training with Sox in the background.

Sox has been with us for three (3) months and continues to gain weight and confidence. His estimated weight is 779 pounds and his Body Condition Score (BCS) is a 4+. With an additional 30 to 50 pounds, he should be nearly ideal. His coat has nearly all turned brown with the lower legs, mane and face remaining black. His coat is slick and shinny and he has started running for what seem to be the joy of running. Thanks to all of the kind folks that have helped him since he was found abandoned in a cemetery and left to die, he is now in very good condition and far away for that cemetery and deaths door.

Socretes (Sox) three months after adoption.

One of the cash crops here in south Mississippi is watermelon. The crop is good this year with the regular rains and relatively mild summer temperatures. We have been purchasing and enjoying good melons for about the last two weeks or so. We have been sharing some of the meat of these melons with Bonnie and Sox. The first time they tried them their response was interesting. The taste was great but the texture was strange. When they would chew the melon, the juice would run out into their mouths and this was a lot different than the dry foods and carrots they were accustom to eating. Bonnie, who eats carrots much faster than Sox, eats watermelon very slowly and keeps all of the juice in her mouth. Sox, on the other hand, chews  fast and has juice and slobber dripping every where. Both of them love a juicy, sweet, cold slice of melon on a hot summer day. (Please don't think we would ever spoil these horse. We don't even take the seed out for them :). Life is pretty good these days.

It has been a little over two months since Socretes (Sox) came to live with Bonnie Blue here at the farm. His coat is good and he has steadily gained weight and is now estimated at 755 lbs. His Body Condition Score is about a Four (4). His ribs are slightly visible and the spine is still somewhat above the back. Another 50 to 75 pounds would be good and we are working on that. His hips and shoulder are fairly well filled out now.

His confidence and personality are growing even faster than his body. He and Bonnie Blue are really good pals. It is very rare to see one of them without the other very close by.

Based on how Sox reacted to us when he first came here, I don't think he had a lot of close interaction with humans. When we would visit with him and brush or stroke him he seemed nervous and a little anxious. But those days are gone. When we call to him and Bonnie Blue, Sox is the one to come first to see what is going on. He like to be brushed and rubbing and kissing is great too. New things are more curious than threatening now.

 We introduced him to the garden hose this week. Bonnie was first and she love to be wet down on these hot Mississippi days. Sox watched her and then it was his turn. We started slow, letting him smell and lick the small stream from the hose. Then it was lightly sprayed on his neck and chest. That was a little intense but he was nervously ok with that. But when the water started on his back and legs, that was too much and he moved away. We did not force the issue at that time.

 Today I took the hose to the paddock and Sox was there to see what was happening. I offered him a drink from the hose and he sniffed, than lapped and then took the end of the hose in his lips. He was able to get a couple of swallows before his mouth over flowed. He seemed to enjoy the experience. Next the water was sprayed up into the air and it came down on him like a very local rain shower. This was fine with him. He got good and wet on the top side then walked over to his favorite dirt wallow and applied a thick coat of dirt to himself. He them got up and came to me and washed off his nose in the stream. With a good coat of mud and dirt and a clean nose he was off to graze.

He is a very different horse than he was two months ago and we are all thankful for the change. He is so much fun to watch as he develops. We are all blessed by his presence here.

Socrete (Sox) came to live with Bonnie Blue on April 5, 2013. He comes to us from the good folks at Trail End Horse Haven here in the Hattiesburg, Mississippi area. They work with the Hub City Humane Society to rescue horses in south Mississippi. He had entered the rescue program after he was found abandon and left to die in a cemetery in George County MS about seven weeks earlier. One of the volunteers had provided him a good foster home and brought him back from the edge of starvation. So when he arrived here, he was thin (estimated weight of 665 lbs.) and scruffy but on the way to recovery.

Socrete (3-4 white feet) and Bonnie Blue (in stall) 4/5/13

Sox on April 6, 2013

For the first two weeks after his arrival here, we feed him three times a day. In the mornings and afternoons he received two (2) pounds of alfalfa hay and two (2) pounds of Safe Choice horse feed. At noon he got one (1) lb. of alfalfa and one (1) lb. of feed. He had access to all of the hay and fresh grass he wanted. After the two weeks we dropped the noon feeding and have continued the morning and afternoon regiment. He has responded well to the feeding and grooming he receives every day. He has consistently gained weight and his old winter coat has shed out and he is slick and shinny with a dark summer coat. Today, May 9, 2013, his estimated weight is 732 lbs. George Lupper, the farrier, said be is a "Seal Bay" with three white stocking feet and a small white footie sock on the fourth foot. He is a gelding and about 9 years old. and 14 hands tall.  He and Bonnie are similar in the size of their frames but Sox still needs to gain another 100 pounds or more to catch up with her.

     Sox on May 9, 2013

When Socrete arrived, Bonnie Blue quickly established herself as the dominate. Poor old Sox looks like what the heck has happen to me now. But his anxiety quickly passed and he adapted to being here helped by lots love and attention from us and Vernell Falgout his trainer. Also,he got some relief from Bonnie once she established her dominate position.

Bonnie Blue and Sox are now the best of buddies and keep one another in sight at all times. If they get separated they start calling back and forth and become very restless. So for now,they hang out together, train together, pasture together and some time even stand together in the same stall to eat hay. Bonnie is so pleased to have her own horse pal. We are also very pleased to have Sox with us. They are both a delight.

Bonnie Blue and Sox hanging out in the paddock 5/9/13

A Life Lesson from Bonnie Blue 

The Dali Lama has often pointed out that animals are sentinel beings like humans but lack the higher cognitive powers. Certainly this is true. Animals do not write essays or poems. They don’t produce TV documentaries or Holy scripts. But, humans are mammals and we do share much of the same DNA and evolutionary history as other mammals. Especially other social mammals like dogs, cats, goats, horses and the like. By studying these creatures I often find patterns reviled that are common in both animals and humans but may be masked in humans by our higher neo cortex with its language, logic and reason.

When we adopted Bonnie Blue last year. She was called “Bones” by the rescue folks but we renamed her “Bonnie Blue.”  The unfortunate creature had nearly starved to death due to neglect.  Her recovery over the past months has been nearly miraculous. Her body and spirit recovered in stages. Big changes started to occur at about three month. Her body was stronger and she gained confidence that her situation was stable with the routine of daily farm life and lots of attention. She is an Arabian, a bred that is considered bright, spirited and known to form strong bonds with their humans. And Bonnie Blue started to demonstrate all of these characteristics. In the three to six month period after she came to live with us life was good and stable and she continued to grow in body and spirit.

We decided to adopt a second horse so she would have a friend or “pasture pal.” Horses are social animals and it is essential for them to be a member of a herd.  According to most sources, this is part of the fabric of being a horse driven in part by the psychology of prey animals. The herd is one of the defenses these creatures have against attack by predators.  In order to accept the new horse a stall which had a collection of junk, including a canoe, needed to be cleaned out. So I went out to the stall (which was adjacent to Bonnie Blue’s stall) and started removing the old junk. At first Bonnie was very curious. She followed me every step and was generally a total nuisance. But, then as the process continued and items were removed from the immediate area, she became very agitated. I stopped and tried to console her with stroking and soft words, but she would have no part of it. And when I removed her canoe, she got downright upset. She would run out of the stall area make a sharp turn, run back slamming down her hooves, skidding to a stop. Then buck, spin, kick and race away only to repeat the process.  It was like she was saying,” WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? You are taking my stuff including my canoe. Please STOP!”  She was exceedingly distressed that I was disrupting everything and it was threatening her basic security. I continued to try to console her with little success. However, when the new horse arrived, a couple of hours later and took up residence in the cleared stall, all was forgiven and life was even better than it was when she had her own canoe.

How often have we reacted from our mammalian brain (horse brain) when change, we did not control or understand, occurred to us. I was very upset when I got drafted into military service during the 1970’s. My life was not in my control, far from it. But I survived, had some great learning experiences and a G.I. Bill that allowed the continuance of my education that I could not have afforded otherwise. Just like Bonnie Blue, I kicked, bucked and vented my frustration and then embraced my fate, tried to make the best of the situation and finally reaped the benefits of the change I could not control. Things do not always work out as well as they did in these two cases. Change can bring disaster, but that is life.

My observation is that social mammals that are comfortable fear change that could destroy the good situation they enjoy. Not only is this logical, it is part of the DNA that has helped us to survive, horse and human alike. The question is:  can we humans use our logic, reason and compassion in addition to our emotions to help us work through changes to make the best of the situation for ourselves, our social group and the world?

Lessen to the horse in your head but don’t let it be the only voice. I hope we will use all of our capabilities to grow in wisdom and deal with the changes in our lives that are inevitable?