For the Fallen . . .
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

By Laurence Binyon -1914

 

 

Blazer, pictured above, is a fifteen and one half hand gorgeous five year old Morgan gelding of really excellent bloodlines.  

Blazer’s sire 

Blazer is everything that Stanley did not turn out to be.  He was a show horse until he got kicked in the hock in the field as surmised by his  former owner and expert trainer, Danielle Pauvfe, who works and competes for the Misty Meadows Morgan farm in Connecticut.  Danielle shows very competitively at the highest levels. While Blazer’s surgery at Cornell University fixed his hock so he is sound; it would be unwise to put him through the stress of intense competition and so he came to me. He is five years old and beautifully and thoroughly trained. He has a big heart and spirit yet is perfectly mannered and just the right horse for me. He would have been the perfect horse for me twenty years ago when I rode constantly without all my orthopedic difficulties.  In just four times riding him (pix below) including two lessons to make sure I have not forgotten how to ride in the five years since I have ridden. Mind you, five years ago before replaced knees, steel plate in neck, and a very problematic lower back, I was galloping barebacked across the field on my old Morgan mare who we had to put down for old age.  I am told that my form and seat are intact and horses and riding have been a very important part of my life since childhood.

My friend Mary Ellen Holcomb, quite a rider herself having won the world championship last year on a Friesian, has looked for a retired or retiring top drawer horse for me for some time from an owner that did not want to sell a horse but place a horse just as I do with my retired Cavaliers.  Sometimes unless you place or adopt a horse out with an ironclad agreement that the horse will come back to the former owner, a horse buyer can just sell a horse on without the horse winding up in the best of circumstances.  I sent Stanley back to the rescue organization where I found him. I do not sell horses on, but find places for them where they will be safe and secure. If I could ever not keep Blazer, I have promised and signed a contract that he will go back to Danielle just as I have done with new owners of my beloved retirees who deserve their own pillows and places of honor away from the young hooligans and other retired dogs here. Al and I have always done what is best for the dog although our hearts may break when one of our beloved dogs leave.  Anyway, I have digressed as usual in my ADD fashion.

Mary Ellen had lined up a couple of horses for me in the past but things did not work out.  God was just making me wait for this horse to canter into my life. Through Mary Ellen’s efforts and Danielle’s extreme kindness, Blazer journeyed from Connecticut to Ohio three weeks ago with Mary Ellen and her husband Jimmy.  I am grateful beyond words. Of course, Mary Ellen and Jimmy journeyed back to Connecticut with a tri girl puppy called Lexi and one of my beloved retirees who had fallen in love with Mary Ellen on sight. The right person always comes along for the right dog and the dog always knows who that person is!! With a kiss goodbye, my ruby girl said goodbye to me knowing she will see me again and happily sashayed out the door with eyes on only Mary Ellen without looking back! That is just the way it should be!

Well I could have helped our horse pack his bag, attached a GPS and headed him toward Connecticut yesterday!!!  Darling Blazer has become quite taken with me I am told; both trainers and instructors tell me the horse actually loves me which I know is pure flattery, but nice to hear.  The visiting dressage instructor who gave me a lesson yesterday did say that he loves me and takes care of me while riding him.  We are practicing our diagonals which means if I am on the wrong diagonal while trotting I need to sit my fat ass down for two beats hoping to rise on the correct diagonal. Posting to diagonal changes can be very hard and give many riders a lot of trouble. We are cantering now on my fourth  time on his back and the barn crowd, especially my trainer, instructor, and friend, Kristin Hassen, seems to think I am doing exceedingly well for an old broad with lots of metal in her.  Of course, I have an amazing horse–the envy of the barn especially all the teenaged girls who treat him like a rock star. Oh, Blazer, they sigh!

Blazer is not all that he seems however.  I wear a pair of diamond earrings that I have worn constantly for over 30 years. At a time I had given up on men (didn’t last long enough, should have gone into the convent), I bought these studs for myself having been disappointed in the human kind.  My joining up with the feminists one might say.  Now, Blazer, whom I am told loves me you see, nibbles ever so seductively on my face, my neck, my hair and my earrings.  Have you ever tried to find a diamond stud on the floor of a horse stall.  I was in high gear while lowly crawling around on the floor wailing to St. Anthony to once more save my ass–in this case my earring– as the thought of Blazer swallowing it resulting in my picking through a mountain of turds did not sit well.  St. Anthony has never failed me, but this time he made sure I had crawled the length and breadth of the stall before allowing said earring to reveal itself.  So my earring is back on my ear and Blazer still laughing at me in his stall just waiting for me to stick my neck out again for his caresses this time sans earrings.  I do so love this boy!!!

Until next time . . .

REVENGE ON THE TELEMARKETER

Three Little Words That Work!!

(1) The three little words: ‘Hold On, Please…’
Saying this, while putting down your phone and walking off ( instead of hanging-up immediately) would make each telemarketing call so much more time-consuming that boiler room sales would grind to a halt.

Then when you eventually hear BT’s ‘beep-beep-beep’ tone, you know it’s time to go back and hang up your handset ….. you have efficiently completed your task.
These three little words could help eliminate telephone soliciting.

(2) Do you ever get those annoying phone calls with no one on the other end?

This is a telemarketing technique where a machine makes phone calls and record s the time of day when a person answers the phone.

This technique is then used to determine the best time of day for a ‘real’ salesperson to call back and get someone at home.
What you can do after answering: If you notice there is no one there, is to immediately start hitting your # button on the phone, 6 or 7 times, as quickly as possible. This confuses the machine that dialled the call and it kicks your number out of their system. Gosh, what a shame not to have your name in their system any longer!!!

3: When you get those ‘pre-approved’ letters in the mail for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages and similar type junk, do not throw away the return envelope.

Most of these come with postage-prepaid return envelopes, right?
It costs them more than the regular postage ‘IF’ and when they are returned. It costs them nothing if you throw them away! In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-prepaid return envelopes.

Send an advert for your local chimney sweeper to American Express … they might need one!
Send a pizza coupon to HSBC … in case their canteen packs up. You get the idea. If you didn’t get anything else that day, then just send them back their blank application form ….. after all, it is their form!

If you want to remain anonymous, just make sure your name isn’t on anything you return.

You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them, and it is their envelope after all .. you are just returning it!!!!

The banks and credit card companies are currently getting a lot of their own junk back in the post, but folks ….. we need to OVERWHELM them, in order to stop them.

Let’s let them know what it’s like to get lots of junk mail, and best of all they’re paying for it … Twice!

Let’s help keep Royal Mail busy. Since the Royal Mail are saying that e-mail is cutting into their business profits, let’s help them so they will not need to increase postage costs again. You get the idea!

If enough people follow these tips, it will work —- maybe you’ll get very little junk mail anymore.

THIS JUST MIGHT BE ONE E-MAIL THAT YOU WILL WANT TO FORWARD TO YOUR FRIENDS!!!!!!!

 

The following photo shows Al’s grandson Darren showing off his big trophy from the Richwood, Ohio, county fair. Darren has been in 4H for several years. Darren showed pygmy goats and did a wonderful project of a wooden carved fish wall decoration. He won the trophy for his work on an environmental project.  We are very proud of him.

While Al was visiting his brother in upstate New York, I somehow held the fort down being ill the whole time. No it was not Al sickness, although I did miss him; it was some weird digestive problem which had exhausted from a heaviness in my gut and just general feeling of unwell, that I got nothing done but taking care of dogs as quickly as I could and just sleeping the rest of time.  I could not pass my bed without crawling into it.  Still not up to full energy. Last night Al and I had a very romantic date at a sleep clinic; I was reevaluated as I have been on a CPac for several years now, but this was Al’s first evaluation.  I have kept telling him he had a problem, but no–just as he did not have a problem when he hit his very hard head on a rock last fall only to have emergency brain surgery for a rather large, soupy clot and fresh bleeding in February. So I just made this appointment and dragged him in.  I am doing fine, still need the CPac but doing fine. My darling husband, on the other hand, has severe sleep apnea–he stopped breathing for almost a minute several times.  So we will both soon be making beautiful music with our CPacs.  I am writing about this as sleep apnea causes all sorts of different symptoms: depression, irritability (you go, Al), fatigue (that’s me) to name a few, and can lead to or exacerbate high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetics, and the list goes on. So if you have any inkling that you may have apnea, usually loud snoring is a sure sign, see your doctor and go through a sleep clinic.  That is Dr. M’s word for today.

 

It has been awhile since I have written about what is going on here at Rattlebridge.  Well, let’s start with our rescue horses.  Shotzi is biting and I mean biting hard. She got my nephew in his arm but good.  So I, the expert, went up yesterday after having been away for a couple of weeks on and off judging (saving this for the next post).  Mind you Shotzi and Buttercup just returned to the farm after having been off to boot camp for a month ensuring that they are fine tuned as my nephew and niece were going to start riding.  I was going to teach Annie to ride on Shotzi and probably Melissa also. Melissa is here to attend Ohio Wesleyan University; she lives in the dorm but is here quite a bit playing with puppies. Melissa has not ridden since the last time I put her on a horse when she was twelve.  After she fell off, she swore off horses forever but has been reconsidering.  So I began saddling Shotzi up and she promptly tried to eat me.  She is lucky that I didn’t eat her.  Every time I began to adjust the saddle, she flattened her ears,whipped her head around and tried to nail me.  I lunged her with no problem and unsaddled her after giving her such an evil eye that she behaved.  So now we have a problem.  We need a companion for Buttercup but we also need a safe horse for all concerned. Nothing is ever easy.  Now as to my dream horse,Stanley:  Stanley has been lulling us into a sense of trusting his overall demeanor, kind eye and acceptance of training.  Well, he has been lying in wait.  With his confidence being built by his training, he has begun to assert himself but good.  He has tried to run me over, our wonderful trainer over, and head butted her so badly she wound up in urgent care.  So since the rescue organization from where we got these two horses, no fault of theirs is full, we are in, as usual, another dilemma.  Perhaps my dream of riding again is not the great idea I thought it was. Oh, well, until next time.

please God let him learn to sweep floors!!

 

I may have included the following in my blog before, but it bears repeating:

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain  Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45  lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever  written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column  once more:

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in  doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are  sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5. Pay off your  credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument.   Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying  alone.

8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

10. When it comes to  chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it  won’t screw up the present.

12. It’s OK to let your children see you  cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what  their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a  secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink  of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep  breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful,  beautiful, or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the  second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going  after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn  the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.Don’t save it  for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go  with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear  purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No  one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called  disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27.  Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What  other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals  almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation  is, it will change!

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else  does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who  God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t  audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats  the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you  loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting  everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw  everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43.  No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44.  Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a  gift.”

Its estimated 93% won’t forward this. If you are one of the 7%  who will, forward this with the title ‘7%’.

I’m in the  7%.

Friends are the family that we choose for  ourselves.

My instructions were to  send this to people that I wanted God to bless and I picked you. Won’t  you please pass this to people you want to be  blessed.

 

My friend Marilee who always shares thoughtful stories and jokes in her emails to me sent me the link to the video mentioned at the end of my rambling thoughts.

Remember Bob Hope?

For those who remember and for those who might be too young to know what this man was about. Bob Hope was a great entertainer, an even better person, and a great American.

Seeing the U Tube video of Bob Hope brought about memories and my following ruminations. I am not preaching by any means–just sharing my own views and wishing I could do as much good for my fellow man, certainly on a much smaller scale, as Bob Hope  did in his long, giving life.

Watch to the end. If you don’t cry, you just aren’t old enough….and if you are too young to remember World War II and the Korean and Viet Nam wars, you will see how our troops from these past wars and our current wars defended our country at great cost and many of their lives just to make a difference in the world, defend those fighting for survival, and protect our country.  The real America is one of sacrifice, honor, protection of our way of life, and belief in what our country stood for and may again someday.  We have become a country for the most part of greed, selfishness, lack of service to our country and our fellow citizens, and loss of our faith in and obedience to God.  Maybe, really there is no maybe about it, I am old fashioned with a moral code drilled into me by my parents, my faith, and my education; I developed a conscience and a moral code which sometimes felt and feels like a burden as I did not always want to take the harder road and follow as obedience to a code, those in authority, and God is not always easy. I have fallen and certainly made mistakes by not always doing the right thing, but all my failures and shortcomings in following God’s Commandments and the Golden Rule were learning experiences; I always thank God for the lessons by which I hope to someday become the person I should be. I have learned not to judge others, because “there for the grace of God go I and I have not stood in the shoes of others.” I greatly admire those who have given their life to duty and making a difference.

Our future lies with our youth; I fervently hope our young men and women make our world a better place by following the Commandments and the Golden Rule.  I believe that the Commandments are not just our directive from God but a moral code we should all live by.  It is time to stop worshiping and emulating the celebrities who break every commandment with aplomb and start celebrating those who sacrifice themselves to make a difference. Our veterans certainly deserve to be honored more than Michael Vick, Michael Jackson, and others who lead by terribly wrong examples and are worshipped for talent and not their character and sacrifice to do the right thing. 

Bob Hope was a great American who contributed to our troops for his entire career. Please watch the entire video and show it to your children!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBr9cm9EWJQ

I have always had horses in my life, but since I had to put my Morgan mare down at 28 years. On my 60th birthday I was still riding her bareback across the field at a full gallop.  Then I lost her. my knees had to be replaced and my back became such a disaster that I could not roll over in bed for a year.  Now my back is much better thanks to decompression therapy and my knees are so marvelous that I can kneel for an extended time in Church; I have total range of motion.  I still never thought I would truly love a horse  again or really have a desire to ride again because I did not think I could ever find a Morgan like my Glory.

When we moved we had three horses we could not keep due to the move.  If my niece and nephew had evidenced a desire to buy the farm at the time we were moving, we may have been able to keep them.  We did keep our Buttercup who was born on the farm and put her into a boarding stable. I hate selling horses as one never knows where they will wind up because horses are often sold and resold and resold.  My heart and mind were much more at ease donating the horses to a first class horse rescue, in this case Last Chance Corral in Athens, Ohio.  So we donated two of our three horses to Last Chance with the request that when and if I was ready the founder of Last Chance Corral, Victoria Goss, would help find me the horse of my dreams. With my niece and nephew living at the farm, it became possible to have horses again at the farm. I wanted another Morgan but the Morgan I wanted would have been so expensive that I could never justify buying a horse as good or better than as my Morgan mare. If you frequent this blog you may remember my blogging about the horse slaughter auction and the need for donations to Last Chance to get as many horses out of the auction as possible. Horses are winding up in slaughter auctions as they are just dumped from race tracks, from those using horse buggies as transportation and horses to plow, and to people who are just plain broke and unable to afford a horse in this economy. When Victoria and I talked about our making a donation and perhaps getting a horse from the auction to go with Buttercup when we moved her back to the farm for she needs to have the companionship of another horse, Victoria told me about a seven year old Morgan who had been kept in a round pen all his life with no training or experiences other than the round pen. She told me he was incredibly beautiful but would take a lot of work, and she meant a lot of work, to get him to the point where he could be ridden; the trainer at Last Chance looked apprehensive when she told me that it would take more than a year at the very least.  Victoria said I could have the Morgan who had just been castrated if I wanted him.  The horses that Last Chance rescued were really nice horses-hard to imagine them winding up where they did. When Al and I went to see the auction rescues at Last Chance and chose Shotzi, who is a small, very pretty and well trained bay mare, as a companion for Buttercup, we met “Screaming Demon,” the Morgan’s registered name, and I fell totally in love.  He didn’t know anything but would not try to hurt anyone and had the kindest, wisest eyes.  I connected to him instantly, but Al and I thought if foolish at my age to get such an untrained horse.  Al and I talked more that night and decided not to pursue it further.  I could not sleep.  I just knew that this horse was sent into my life for a reason as he was truly my dream horse.  So I called Victoria and said I wanted him.  I found an amazing trainer in a stable very close to where we live as I wanted “Stanley” at a barn with an indoor arena with a trainer who would use the Natural Horsemanship approach.  Stanley is coming along marvelously; he is sane, sensitive, affectionate, and so willing and anxious to please.  I will be riding him in a couple of months according to the plan. Since like my Glory, I will be the only one riding him, I hope that we will forge a relationship like I did with my Glory.  I am so very happy he is in our lives along with Shotzi and Buttercup.  Below are pictures of my “Stanley,” a name that just popped into my head as his name!  Until next time . . .