Support

I think it's been pretty clear to anyone who is friends with me or reads my posts, blog, facebook, etc, that I've been under some pretty dark clouds here recently in my life.

Which of course means I've posted fewer blogs, because I really do not like to post only negative things, but sometimes it's difficult to think of a subject to post about when you're pretty down in the dumps.

But today, I can post about something very important. Today I can post about how the community around me is amazing.

Most of you know me from a few certain communities. Horse, goat, wolf, reptile. And those from those communities have come to know me and know my many moods. I suppose that it has become pretty clear that we here at the farm are struggling. We had a few rough weeks, and began to fall behind. I was struggling to find a way to feed all of the animals in the winter.

It got so bad, I even did something terrible and posted publicly that I thought it might be better to sell out completely and move to an apartment, so I wouldn't have to worry about these things anymore.

And suddenly, it was like a wave of support came crashing down. Each community came together and lifted me up with words of encouragement, advice, and more. They sent jokes and funny pictures to brighten my day. Some decided to buy my artwork to help fund the farm.

And some went above and beyond. You know who you are.

Just thinking about everything that my friends and community have done brings tears to my eyes and I only have one thing I can say.

Thank you.

Thank you, to all of you.

Between all of you and Jetta's sacrifice, I think we'll make it. I think things will be okay.

Thank you.

An Update Post

Sorry, just a bit of a filler post today. Little updates on things going on here lately but no real subject.

Jetta hasn't found that perfect new home just yet, but had someone come look at her today. She did wonderful, behaved beautifully. I was proud of her. The lady then told me she wanted something bigger. Really lady . . . 11 hands is 11 hands. SMALL. But fine, she left, and then called me back later and offered me HALF the asking price.

What a lunatic. Offering half the asking price isn't going to make the pony BIGGER. I politely thanked her and hung up. What a cow.

All the goats are going into RAGING heat. They're driving me crazy! Thank goodness I'm bringing the buck in either at the end of this week or next week. I am borrowing a lovely black and white, polled, fainter (myotonic) buck from a good friend. I had originally planned on breeding back to Blizzard (now owned by Udderly Country Farm) but when I realized how bad this drought was, and watching beef prices rise, I made the decision to breed to a meat buck instead.

I will be holding back several wethers to fill my freezers. At the request of some friends, I'll also be documenting the entire thing, from conception, to birth, growing, to death, butchering, and being cooked. The life of a meat goat from start to finish. Hopefully you guys will enjoy that.

Still hunting for hay, and there's more information about that and some things that relate to it that I'll be posting about at a later date. It deserves it's own post.

I suppose that's all I have for now. Keep checking back, stuff is sure to pick up here soon, with breeding season so close.

Horse Slaughter

I couldn't think of anything else to write about, and I hate to let the blog sit idle for too long, so I decided why not? I'll talk about horse slaughter a little bit.

Let's get it right out in the open shall we?

I fully support horse slaughter.

Horses are livestock. They are marvelous wonderful animals, but they don't shit rainbows and they don't fart butterflies. They are animals.

The first thing I'm going to address is the ridiculous notion that it's "okay" to slaughter other livestock, ie cattle, chickens, pigs, goats, but for some reason, it's NOT OKAY to slaughter horses.

Anyone care to explain this to me?

I'm sorry, but anyone who eats meat but is against horse slaughter is a hypocrite. Slaughter is slaughter, no matter WHAT animal is being killed. You can't raise one form of life above others. They are all living creatures. If you're okay eating your cheeseburger or fried chicken, then by all rights you should be okay with horse slaughter.

I'm not saying anyone should be forced to eat horse, of course. I don't eat fish. Does that mean I'm against commercial fishing or fish raising? Hell no. Eat that fish up! I just don't like the taste of fish. But I'll tell you one thing. I do like the taste of horse.

Whoops, was that a Facebook "defriend" I just heard going off?

Then we get the people who stare at your with their jaws hanging like dopes, then manage to stutter out something ridiculous. For example, I had one jackanape tell me that *I* was a hypocrite if I wouldn't eat *my* horses.

Bullshit.

I keep goats. I love my goats. I am the Goat Whisperer. I prefer not to eat my pet goats. I didn't eat my pet chickens. I wouldn't eat my pet horses.

But I sure as heck raised some meat goats, meat chickens for myself, butchered, and ate them. They were delicious. And if I had the room and set up? Sure I'd raise up a foal to eat. Yup, you heard that right.

Meat = meat.

But let's cover, briefly, the other repercussions of horse slaughter.

THIS is what has begun to happen.

This horse is on my local Craigslist. And this is only ONE horse of many on there. Some are going for free. Some for next to nothing. Why? Because there is NO WHERE for these horses to go. Add in the drought we're having and horses are standing around in fields STARVING to death. I see it every day in my own neighborhood.

No longer will a horse fetch a half ass decent price at the auction. No, now if you dare go to the auction with your horse trailer, you're likely to come outside to some new horses inside of it. Or someone opens your gate and dumps horses in your pasture.

Because they can't afford to feed them, and there's no where else for them to go. You'd think they'd shoot the poor beasts in the head, but even then, some people can't afford to dispose of the body, or have no way too.

Some of you might bleat that breeders should stop breeding then. Yeah . . . good luck with that. Most backyard breeders have their heads so far up their asses they can't even begin to fathom there is no longer a market for meat man babies. So they keep breeding. Like my idiot neighbors.

And more horses starve in the fields . . .

Making Ends Meet

I haven't written for a few days, and I apologize for that. It's been kind of a crazy week, I admit.

Let me start by updating the situation I wrote about some weeks ago. Know that currently the issue is being worked on through cooperation. We're hoping to put aside the problems and move forward. Let's hope it works out!

To the Spyder Followers: He's doing just fine. I know you must hearing about him, and trust me, I miss writing about him. I especially miss his special little nicker that used to be for me and me alone. I was hoping to go see him next month, but that might not work out.

Now, to move onto today's topic.

Making ends meet. In this world, it's a never-ending battle for some of us. In a perfect world, we would all have a savings, good jobs, and everything would work the way it's supposed to.

But this isn't a perfect world, by far.

My house desperately needs prepping for the winter, my roof still leaks, my truck needs a tune up, my vet fund has been decimated, I've run out of hay, there is no grass.....

This list goes on and on, just like everyone's does. That's the way it works. I'm no different than millions of other people who have these problems, and worse.

Sadly, what makes the situation a little more difficult is this Texas drought. I'm sure you've heard about it. A lot. The drought means no local hay. Which means hay and feed has skyrocketed. Today I picked up two bales, two 50lb bales of crappy looking hay for $11 a bale. My heart sunk, but at the same time, I was damned grateful the feed store had some hay at ALL.

I've come to the heart-wrenching conclusion that sacrifices must be made to keep us going through the winter. If this had been a normal year, I wouldn't have had to buy hay at all this summer, which means all the money spent so far would have been going towards the winter hay fund. Hay would be $5-7 a bale or cheaper.

But this isn't a normal year.

So . . . this is the formal announcement. With a heavy heart, I have listed Jetta for sale. Not because she is going without, but because it makes the most sense to sell her. If she sells (which honestly is unlikely in this economy), I will be able to provide forage for the goats and Apple throughout the winter and not have to worry, too much anyways, about making sure everyone is warm and fed. If she doesn't . . . well I suppose it's going to be a very tight and tough winter, truth be told.

Appreciating What You Have

I bet some of you are starting to get a little confused! I'm the Goat Whisperer, but I don't seem to talk about goats too much, do I?

Worry not, my goat loving pals! Next month I will be bringing in the buck I plan on leasing and breeding begins. You can rest assured that there will be plenty of goat related posts soon.

So make sure you stayed tuned. In the meantime, I'll keep posting about whatever catches my thoughts!

Today, I really want to write about appreciating what you have instead of complaining about what you don't. Anyone who knows me knows I too partake in a bit of complaining and bitching from time to time. Who doesn't? It's healthy and completely natural to us all to do it.

But yesterday, as I was riding Apple, I was reflecting on things. When I was younger, I remember wanting a very few simple things. I wanted a husband who loved me, a home of my own where I could have any animal I wanted, a horse to ride.

And guess what?

I have all these things now.

Sure, my husband acts like a five year old sometimes, my roof leaks, my mare decided to have a go at running away with me.

But these are the things I wanted as a young person and I achieved those goals! That alone is worth a lot. Nothing in life is perfect. There is no such thing as a fairy-tale life. Everything is always a work in progress, but sometimes we all need to take a step back and realize what we have.

It's not always easy, especially when your husband is having a temper tantrum, your car is leaking fluids, your horse is showing colic signs, and your dogs have torn up the trash. You want to tear your hair out and scream and bitch.

And that's alright too!

But never ever forget to take a moment on those days where your husband brought you chocolates home, your car is running like a champ, you and your horse reach a wonderful partnership, and your dogs actually sit on command.

So guys, when you were little, what simple pleasures in life did you dream of? Have you achieved them? And if not, what can you do to gain those things. If you want something bad enough, you CAN achieve it.

Having Foals Isn't Easy

Today I thought of a good post. If you're a part of the horse world at all, you've heard it before.

"Oh, I really want my mare to have a foal!"

Because having a foal is just a walk in the park, right?

Wrong.

Having a foal is a right pain in the ass. I don't recommend it to anyone who isn't ready for a lot of work and has a big checkbook to cover it.

Some of you may clutch your chests now and gasp out, "But YOU had a foal!"

Sure I did. An unexpected foal that cost me a ridiculous amount of money and put my mare through hell. Which I'll explain more here!

I bet you can't wait to hear.

Most of you know how I came to have a foal. For those who haven't, I'll sum it up. I decided to buy a trail mare. Found a lovely little gaited mare for sale. Went to look at her, liked her despite from flaws, and bought her. I was informed she was "unbreedable," as per the vet's word. Which is why she was for sale, she hadn't settled when bred (according to the vet) and the previous owner kept and bred Missouri Fox Trotters and didn't have need for just a small riding mare.

Works out for me, that's exactly what I was looking for! Spent a couple of months riding and wondering why this mare continued to look so terribly fat despite the diet I put her on. When she started to develop a bag, I knew the vet had made a mistake. Whoops!

Now, having a foal is exciting. I admit to being excited despite the fact I was going to lose a lot of riding time, and a lot of money.

I had no idea.

Like in most cases, my mare's birth was quick and completely normal. The trouble started afterward. And of course, not every birth is easy. You want to breed your mare? What happens when the foal present breech (backward)? Are you ready to shell out money for an emergency vet visit. Prepared to watch the vet cut the foal into pieces to try and save your mare? Prepared to euthanize your mare when something goes horribly wrong? You should be. This is reality.

So I had a healthy foal! Yay!

For a while. The foal, Spyder, developed diarrhea almost right away. Cue the first jab at my veterinary fund. (Something ALL pet owners should have, no matter what. A savings account you add to when you can JUST FOR VET CARE.)

We got that cleared up without too much trouble. But then my mare, Apple, began to drop weight. And drop weight. And drop. Now my vet fund is being drained pretty quickly, along with my regular budget. Vet visits. Teeth floating. New feeds. Different feeds. Supplements.

We tried literally everything we could. Then Apple began to develop a disgusting fungus? on her face. More vet fund draining for creams and tonics and whatever else I thought would fix it. Didn't do a darn thing.

Luckily the foal remained fairly healthy. No vet visits for him at least. But his dam was going downhill quickly.

The final straw came when the mare turned on the foal and took a bite out of his shoulder. Despite his young age, we had to wean. Which meant the foal's growth slowed down a little as he adjusted to no more milk, just expensive feed and hay.

Now, some six months after I realized Apple was pregnant, she is finally at an okay weight. Not a good weight, I like to see more padding on my horses, but at long last I can feel comfortable riding her. The foal won't see a saddle for another few years. Lucky for me, he's got some worth, being a purebred Missouri Fox Trotter.

If he was a grade foal? He'd be worth practically nothing.

Having a foal is fun. But it isn't easy. It's expensive. Nerve wracking. So next time you or your friend goes to thinking about how neat it would be to have a foal out of your favorite mare, really sit back and think about it.

A New Page and Art Work

To make things a little easier to gather a fan base and promote my art, writing, and farm, I've created a Facebook page that consolidates all of that in one place.

Click Here

Or you can always look to the top right of my blog, there is a button to "like" the page as well.

Whatever works easier for you.

Anyhow, this blog will be a little more lighthearted.

I'm pimping my art! It's going to be a long hard winter. Hay is becoming nearly impossible to find, and when you do find it, it's pretty damn expensive. So I'm pushing my own artwork a little harder than I usually do.

The first picture above is my very first commissioned piece. I think he turned out pretty well, don't you? I was nervous about the horse owner liking him, but she loves him and is eagerly waiting for me to offer larger models as well.

Right now I am offering painted model horses. They are done in acrylics and sealed. I do both realistic and decorator styles. I occasionally have completed models for sale for those who just want a one of kind piece of art done by the Goat Whisperer herself.

You can check out my FB page or website for pricing. I'll end this short blog with pictures of two currently finished models, both for sale. You know you want them!