Wolfie the Wonder Horse!

Wolfie the Wonder Horse!
Wolfie, 24/02/08

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Time

My friend's horse was very sadly put to sleep today. He is at peace now. My thoughts are with his family who loved him dearly. He was a funny, intelligent, mischevious character and he will be sadly missed, but hopefully in time, his family will treasure the memories and many funny stories they have of his antics and the times they spent together.

A horse in his own mind has no thought of the future. Tomorrow is something the horse does not plan for. He only knows the present - now. And he would only ask one thing from his owner and that is compassion and freedom from pain and suffering.

I hope you gallop free across the Rainbow Bridge Mr M.

RAINBOW BRIDGE

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,


Don't cry for the horses
That life has set free
A million white horses
Forever to be

Don't cry for the horses
Now in God's hands
As they dance and they prance
To a heavenly band

They were ours as a gift
But never to keep
As they close their eyes
Forever to sleep

Their spirits unbound
On silver wings they fly
A million white horses
Against the blue sky

Look up into heaven
You'll see them above
The horses we lost
The horses we loved

Manes and tails flowing
They Gallop through time
They were never yours
They were never mine

Don't cry for the horses
They will be back someday
When our time has come
They will show us the way

On silver wings they will lift us
To the warmth of the sun
When our life is over
And eternity has begun

We will jump the sun
And dance over the moon
A Ballet of horses and riders
on the winds
to a heavenly tune

Do you hear that soft nicker
Close to your ear?
Don't cry for the horses
Love the ones that are here

Don't cry for the horses
Lift up your sad eyes
Can't you see them
As they fly by?

A million white horses
Free from hunger and pain
Their spirits set free
Until we ride again

I don't think I'm alone tonight in giving my boys an extra scratch and feeling very grateful and lucky.

Sunday, 5 June 2011

Buttons goes to the Ball!

I haven't posted much in the last month as things with the horses have been pretty busy and stressful for various reasons. I will update a separate post later explaining. However, things are so much very worse for one of my friends at the yard and that puts everything into perspective, so I shouldn't grumble.

Yesterday, we loaded up Wolfie and Buttons and headed off to Campsie Show. It was a fairly last minute decision, due to the various reasons above, but we went for me to get towing experience, Buttons to do an in hand class with Zoe and Wolfie went as a training exercise and to get experience.


Wolfie having his bath on Friday evening.


Buttons ready to go

Both boys bounced up the ramp and into the trailer without hesitation. I was really proud of them both.




They both seemed to travel well, Buttons sauntered off the trailer cool as a cucumber. Wolfie got very excited and wound up at the show field. So much going on for him to try and take in and process. He was very hard work at the beginning. I left him tied at the trailer with Buttons to try and let him settle, but in hindsight I should have tacked him up sooner and got on and ridden him around and worked him in. As later on when I did feel brave enough to ride him as soon as he saw his tack he began to settle. Obviously something familiar to him which he knew. He had a couple of really 'silly' moments,involving taking off and spinning. He threw in a couple of bucks out of frustration and not being allowe to go but I managed to get him back quickly. He's not used to a lot of horses working at speed around him, but it's really only at events like this which I can expose him to this kind of thing. At one point he was performing classical high school movements, levade, capriolle and he was also performing spanish walk, no kidding. If only he was trained under saddle to do this when asked. I managed to get about 10 minutes of really lovely work out of him and I really felt he would have given the big hunters who were warming up for their class at the same time a run for their money. He got some lovely comments from people at the show and one lady was very complimentary about him (who I later found out was the judge for the coloured class).


Due to Wolfie being so unsettled, I really had to leave my sister Susan with Buttons and to get him ready, and she did a great job. She doesn't have vast amounts of experience with horses, but she learnt quickly yesterday and Buttons looked fantastic for his class. I cut my fingers quite badly and Susan was trying to bandage them up. Buttons was passed to Susan's mother in law (who hasn't been near a horse in her life), Buttons probably took the opportunity to rake through her hand bag but we all mucked in.


I know a lot of horses travelling together will just pair bond in a different environment, but Wolfie was getting separation anxiety when I left him, and I ended up having to take him over to the other side of the ring to watch Buttons class. He and Zoe looked brilliant as they walked into the ring. Buttons got very excited once he got into the ring (he had behaved impeccably up until this point) and started to walk faster and faster, broke into a trot which got faster and faster. Zoe is too little to stop him and her legs are too short to keep up with him. He trotted off at speed with Zoe on the end of the rope doing her very best to keep up with him and with the judge of the class in her tartan hat and skirt in hot pursuit. It was really funny and a real Thelwell moment. He stopped and Susan came in to lend a hand. He ended up with fourth place and Zoe was very pleased with her rosette. I was really proud of them both, they looked so smart and did brilliantly. Buttons really did have a ball and revelled in the atmosphere. They definitely had the cute factor and random people were asking to get their photograph taken with him. He was clearly enjoying his minor celebrity status.




Again, they both just marched straight onto the trailer when leaving to come home. Wolfie was a bit sweated up when we got back to the yard, but Buttons didn't have a drop of sweat on him. It was a long day and tiring, but good fun and good experience for us all. I need to get Wolfie out more, but I feel much more confident now about towing etc. I need to invest in a good wicking travel rug for Wolfie. We turned them out when we got home and they both had a good roll and seemed very pleased with themselves. Good horses.