The Golden Carrot Newsletter's Archive

 

The Golden Carrot Newsletter

April 27, 2005

 

Spring at TGC is fun despite the rapidly changing weather conditions and the itch of shedding winter coats. Although the majority of these horses are fairly old, and the male horses are gelded, spring stirs thoughts of love in the paddock.

 

Interesting new pairings occur, and the most surprising one this year is Hava falling head over heels in love with Falcon! Now, Buck, her previous and continuing love, and Falcon have been bite-my-face buddies for a long time. For some reason tho, Hava never liked Falcon - I remember a trail ride on Hava, with Buck and Falcon providing escort, which required a week from which to recover. I was bounced, jigged and jogged down that road as Hava glared at Falcon, tried to cut him away from Buck, laid back her ears and threatened him every step of the way. (You know, isn’t that how all the romances go? Girl hates boy, boy shows girl his best side, girl gets to know boy, girl loves boy?) At any rate, this spring, Hava is a drooling puppy-dog following Falcon around, calling for him every night after they are in their stalls and gazing down the row of stalls towards him while chewing her dinner. Falcon is kind and tolerant, a little like a big brother whose little sister’s friend has a crush on him. They give each other back rubs every day and sometimes even share a flake of grass in the field. Buck watches over the whole thing, staying close but not getting involved; he and Falcon still often play bite-my-face. Hum, menage-a-trois? How kinky. I wonder if this will last beyond the springtime mania, and will keep you posted.

 

This spring has been very hard on Prophet because he clearly still grieves for Ladyhawk. But as is often the case, kindly Sunny and PC have taken him under their wing, and so I moved him into a stall next to Sunny. He’s not exactly part of a group with them, but sometimes it seems his loneliness gets the better of him, and he moves to stand close to this long-time pair, and they take turns entertaining him - he and PC play bite-my-face, and Sunny scratches his back.

 

Inch has also given up a little bit of her caretaker duties towards Mitey Nice, and opted for a little quality time with Cuervo Gold. This is an oddly matched pair - but love finds a way. Inch stands downhill from Cuervo so he can scratch her back and she his, since there is a two hand difference in their heights. They conduct their courtship within a horse length or two of Mitey Nice, so she’s not lacking either.

 

Even crazy Navigator, who has blossomed under his friendship with Beau, has branched out. For the last week, he and Belle have been canoodling together. Now, Belle came with Beau and from that pairing the two have remained the kind of friends who get together when things get scary - and otherwise have no real use for each other. Belle hangs out usually with Lucifer and Jack - who are hen-pecked to death by her. But Beau pushes her around .... clearly in choosing Navigator she wanted something between these two extremes. One horse very large, black and manly, one elegant, white and feminine as can be - a very pretty picture.

 

Summer is coming, with the stifling heat we all dread, but for now, spring has sprung!

 

I am working hard on an equine massage course on-line. I am able to make payments for the course. Although I could finish as early as July 1, I won’t get the certificate until I finish paying for the course. The total course cost is $1,500, and with the assistance of one large donation and my own payments, I’ve covered $560 of the cost so far, and completed the first section of the course. I’m also trying to set aside money because I’ll have to drive to Portland, Oregon, for the five day practical the week of June 20. I expect gas and hotel room to be exorbitant! I will probably take food along with me to save expenses. Mike Roth has agreed to take care of the horses for that 10 day period. Although I am struggling under the cost of this course, and the money I’ll need to save to make it to Oregon, I feel this is an excellent idea - I can practice what I learn on TGC horses, thus improving the quality of their life, and with effort and a little luck, I should be able to find horses locally whose owners would pay to have them massaged. Massage has great therapeutic value for horses as well as people, and more and more horse people are becoming aware of that. Wish me luck!

 

Although recently I’ve had a huge spate of work from my legal clients, it’s a drop in the bucket after a long drought. When donations fall, I have to use my own money if I have it to pick up the slack and when I don’t have the money, I have to use my credit cards. After four years of that, you can imagine that the charges and interest thereon are eating me alive. The money I’ve earned in the last 2 months is largely going to the credit cards, trying to reduce the balances and keep the cards active for times like now, when I just had to buy wormers for the herd, and still need feed. Sponsors have continued to keep me afloat, but it’s clear from their irregular payments that even they are having trouble keeping to the commitment. Hang in there, please - the horses may be hanging out now having a frisky spring, but come summer, I hope to have visitors they will be working hard for. And remember - for TGC, no donation is too small! Or too large!!!

 

Thank you all for your continued support!