Two Stoney Acres: Kate's Bad Night

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As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts, too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin. ~anonymous

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Kate's Bad Night

This morning we found Miss Kate with her feet stuck between the bottom and next-to-the bottom bars of the gates between her stall and Classy's. It looked like she had been there quite a while from the signs of struggle. Jesse cut the gates with a Sawz-all to free her feet. But she couldn't get up. Her back legs were straight out like boards. She couldn't stand up at all. Jesse left to go get our wonderful neighbor, Ben, to help us. I stayed by Kate's side, talking to her and rubbing her neck. It was the longest 5 minutes . . . With Ben's help, we were able to get her up by using ropes looped around the 6x6 posts in the barn. Our good friend and mentor, Jim, talked us through this (he was bucked from a horse a few weeks ago and wasn't up to helping physically). I don't know what we'd do without him. He's always there for us when we need his advice. Many thanks to Ben and Jim!

Kate and Classy lay down every night. They swing their back legs to get momentum to get back up. We think that Kate was laying down, and her feet got stuck when she swung them to get up.

Above Kate's eye was rubbed raw against the floor from her struggles. Her eye is nearly swelled shut. She has several cuts on her face, we are not sure from what . . . And her back legs are very stiff. But it looks like she'll be okay when her eye heals and her pulled leg muscles get better.

This is a picture of the old gates between the stalls. You can see the space between the bottom two rails isn't very big . . .

This is a picture of the new gates that we bought today. The bars are much futher apart so they can get their feet out if this should ever happen again. And we bought a baby monitor to so we can hear what is going on in the barn. I am certain that the sounds of struggle would have awakened me over a baby monitor. We bought a Sony monitor that is so clear we can hear them chewing hay!

Believe me . . . We know how lucky we were today. We could have lost our dear Kate. Horses that are down and struggling often colic or twist their intestines and die. She could have broken her legs . . . We are so very thankful this turned out as well as it did.

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Motivation

Don't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.
Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

In the end, we decide if we're remembered for what happened to us or for what we did with it.
Randy K. Milholland

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work. You don't give up.
Anne Lamont

Inspiration

I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time. ~ Anna Freud (1895 - 1982)

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him. ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Advice to young women from Nancy and Ann Wilson, of the rock group Heart (as printed in the 09/19/10 Parade magazine):
Nancy: There's a great deal of pressure on young women to portray a hyper-sexualized image.
Ann: And I think they get told that if they do that they're going to be successful. When, in actuality, if they look like pole dancers, all they do is make themselves more disposable. So be true to yourself.