Horses
Our horses are very special to both of us. On our move from Texas we brought 4 of them with us, 2 mares (Arwin and Misty), 1 filly (BeBop) and a gelding (Wizard). All the horses except Misty were raised from foals by us. The youngest, BeBop, was a bottle baby as her mom died when she was only 2 months old. She has made up for a slow start by growing up to be the herd boss with an attitude to match! Since our arrival to Tennessee we have added to our herd with an 8 year old Tennessee Walking Horse mare, Sweetie Pie (Sandy's Secret Charm), and her foal, Reba (Pusher's Secret Charm). The mare didn't have any milk so the foal was bottle raised by the good people at Party Animals, Inc. Without their patient, gentle care Reba would have died and possibly Sweetie Pie would have too. They were able to use Reba in their petting zoo until she was 5 months old when she became to old for use in the zoo. We are so very fortunate to have them both. Our oldest mare, Misty is 31 years old and is enjoying her retirement along with Wizard who is only 26!
NOTE:
In April of 2010 Wizard passed on to greener pastures. As much as we will miss him we are thankful for having him in our lives for 27 wonderful years and that he quietly walked over the Rainbow Bridge.This fall we have added another wonderful Walking Horse mare who was rescued by the Coffee County Humane Society. Her previous owners realized that they couldn't care for her or her colt so they gave them up to the Humane Society. I am very sure that this was one of the hardest decisions they ever had to make but they didn't want their horses to suffer. I thank them every day even though they don't even know it.
After losing Wizard this spring we were given a wonderful little Morgan cross who had been terribly mistreated by someone who called themselves a trainer. I won't say what I would call him! Flash was so afraid of everyone and everything the lady who had him said that he wouldn't load into a trailer so we took Misty with us to pick him up. We were able to pull into the pasture where he was and she got out of the trailer, greeted him and got back into it. When he didn't follow her, she turned around and looked at him as if to say, "Are you going to come or are you just going to stand around out there?" Well, in he hopped, guess he figured it must be OK if she said it was. After working with him for the past 3 months he now has a halter on and will lead. Lex Hyde came to check out the girls and evaluated him while he was here. He gave us his excellent advice on ways to begin Flash's rehabilitation. Lex's PPK (Patience, Persistence, and Kindness) program is a ray of hope for Flash. Lex has also agreed to work with Arwin and Reba this summer. They will go for their training beginning in late July.
 |  | |
| Arwin | BeBop | |
 |  | |
| Misty | Wizard Gone over the Rainbow Bridge, April 2010 aged 27 | |
 |  | |
| Reba | Sweetie Pie |
