"Thank you" for her hay! And this is why I do what I do - well besides the fact that I love it but if it weren't for them I probably wouldn't do this on the scale that I do now. My work supports all the critters here on our little farm including vet bills, feed and the occassional treat which can add up to quite a bit this time of year. Hay has been steadily increasing in price due to the drought we've been having here in the south and the rising fuel costs we experienced this summer. I bought hay this past fall at $6.25 a bale and when you need 100 bales to get through the winter well that's quite a bit of green they're chewing up out there! But I wouldn't trade them for anything. I love Mandy (aka My Woman) and all my "kids" more than I can express but she and I have a special bond. I bought her when she was 6 and I was 19 and that was nearly 18 years ago. I had wanted a horse since I could actually speak the word horse - which my mom claims was my first word ;). I asked for a horse for every occassion I could possibly imagine getting a gift - I even asked the Easter Bunny to bring me a horse instead of an Easter basket. And when I was in elementary school I wouldn't wear any clothing (including socks, undies and pjs) unless it had horses on it. Drove my poor mom batty! Luckily Jordache was all the rage then and I think I wore the same 2 pairs of jeans with horses running across the pockets every single day. To be at least a tiny bit cooperative I would settle for unicorns too. I had the most extensive My Little Pony collection and I still have my Breyer horse collection. I would get extra credit from my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Nash, because I used the word pony or horse in every single sentence that we had to construct with our daily vocabulary list. It didn't matter what the word was I always found a way to incorporate horses into it. For some reason I still remember the sentence I used for the word "quality". I wrote "If you own a horse and ride alot you will need a quality saddle." To say I was obsessed would have been an understatement.
Of course no one ever bought me a horse because we really didn't have anywhere to keep one. I begged my parents to let me have one and keep it at my grandparents (which my grandparents agreed to) but mom said it wouldn't be fair to ask them to take care of a horse. There was no way we could get over there every day during the week and deep down I knew she was right. So as a teenager instead of saving up for clothes or a car I saved up my money to buy a horse and pay for her board. Shortly after I bought her my parents closed on a house that had 8 acres and a barn and I was ecstatic! After months of trekking back and forth between my house and her boarding facility Mandy could finally come home and live with me! My boyfriend at the time was getting increasingly jealous that I was spending more time in the barn and riding than I was with him. So he bought his own horse, King (pictured above with Louis in the barn), so he could join us I suppose. Mandy doesn't much like human men and she never approved of him. If he even attempted to ride her she would immediately try to buck him off. I learned to trust her judgement in men and always introduced her to my dates - call me crazy but she was and still is an excellent judge of human character. And when she said Dan was a keeper well he's a keeper ;). Anyway the ex-boyfriend and I obviously parted ways but I couldn't bear to part with King and neither could Mandy so I acquired him on a trade out deal of sorts. We had bought a horse trailer together so the deal I proposed was that he keep the trailer and sell it and I'd keep King. So 18 years later and a move to the other side of the state here we are. We don't do much riding any longer because King is nearing 30 and has arthritis (he did alot of barrel racing in his younger days) and I don't think his sight is anywhere near what it used to be because he gets startled quite easily now. These days our riding is pretty much limited to a leisurely stroll around the lake here and that's perfectly ok with me because I enjoy their company more than anything else. So again all of us here at the little farm say "Thank you" to those who help support us and those wishing us well too! =)
"Thank you" for her hay! And this is why I do what I do - well besides the fact that I love it but if it weren't for them I probably wouldn't do this on the scale that I do now. My work supports all the critters here on our little farm including vet bills, feed and the occassional treat which can add up to quite a bit this time of year. Hay has been steadily increasing in price due to the drought we've been having here in the south and the rising fuel costs we experienced this summer. I bought hay this past fall at $6.25 a bale and when you need 100 bales to get through the winter well that's quite a bit of green they're chewing up out there! But I wouldn't trade them for anything. I love Mandy (aka My Woman) and all my "kids" more than I can express but she and I have a special bond. I bought her when she was 6 and I was 19 and that was nearly 18 years ago. I had wanted a horse since I could actually speak the word horse - which my mom claims was my first word ;). I asked for a horse for every occassion I could possibly imagine getting a gift - I even asked the Easter Bunny to bring me a horse instead of an Easter basket. And when I was in elementary school I wouldn't wear any clothing (including socks, undies and pjs) unless it had horses on it. Drove my poor mom batty! Luckily Jordache was all the rage then and I think I wore the same 2 pairs of jeans with horses running across the pockets every single day. To be at least a tiny bit cooperative I would settle for unicorns too. I had the most extensive My Little Pony collection and I still have my Breyer horse collection. I would get extra credit from my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Nash, because I used the word pony or horse in every single sentence that we had to construct with our daily vocabulary list. It didn't matter what the word was I always found a way to incorporate horses into it. For some reason I still remember the sentence I used for the word "quality". I wrote "If you own a horse and ride alot you will need a quality saddle." To say I was obsessed would have been an understatement.
Of course no one ever bought me a horse because we really didn't have anywhere to keep one. I begged my parents to let me have one and keep it at my grandparents (which my grandparents agreed to) but mom said it wouldn't be fair to ask them to take care of a horse. There was no way we could get over there every day during the week and deep down I knew she was right. So as a teenager instead of saving up for clothes or a car I saved up my money to buy a horse and pay for her board. Shortly after I bought her my parents closed on a house that had 8 acres and a barn and I was ecstatic! After months of trekking back and forth between my house and her boarding facility Mandy could finally come home and live with me! My boyfriend at the time was getting increasingly jealous that I was spending more time in the barn and riding than I was with him. So he bought his own horse, King (pictured above with Louis in the barn), so he could join us I suppose. Mandy doesn't much like human men and she never approved of him. If he even attempted to ride her she would immediately try to buck him off. I learned to trust her judgement in men and always introduced her to my dates - call me crazy but she was and still is an excellent judge of human character. And when she said Dan was a keeper well he's a keeper ;). Anyway the ex-boyfriend and I obviously parted ways but I couldn't bear to part with King and neither could Mandy so I acquired him on a trade out deal of sorts. We had bought a horse trailer together so the deal I proposed was that he keep the trailer and sell it and I'd keep King. So 18 years later and a move to the other side of the state here we are. We don't do much riding any longer because King is nearing 30 and has arthritis (he did alot of barrel racing in his younger days) and I don't think his sight is anywhere near what it used to be because he gets startled quite easily now. These days our riding is pretty much limited to a leisurely stroll around the lake here and that's perfectly ok with me because I enjoy their company more than anything else. So again all of us here at the little farm say "Thank you" to those who help support us and those wishing us well too! =)
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I have always been horse crazy too. I had to give up my horse as a teenager because of my parents divorce. Today my daughter (13) and I own a retired racehorse named "Hoy". Sometimes I wonder (economically)if this is the right thing to do. The board,vet, farrier, lessons, you know! Then we go see him and I think, how could I ever part with him? So I do what I can to keep him with us. Our pets our part of our family. Thats just the way it is! Your jewelry is inspiring. I'll have to check out your beads. I have so many PMC pieces I nned to do something with.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I surfed upon your blog, and so glad I did. I am also a horse lover and jewelry designer. My aim is to try and support my horses with my jewelry, but I am far from making that happen at this point. Your creations are gorgeous, I am a labradorite lover and your is beautiful!!! I'm always is search of the elusive blue flash. Happy Holidays!
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