Well, I am trying to come up with ideas for a fundraiser for the Blackjack Mountain project to save the decendants of Hidalgo.  I have determined to have a coloring contest, with a pony party for the winner, but I still need some more ideas for more money.  I await the go-ahead now.  This subject is near and dear to me, Frank Hopkins is one of my heros.

Well, it was another dammit week.  Found a guy to buy Oka and Ibn, loved the old Arab lines and looked like the type to take good care of his horses, and Skye didn't want a horse anymore, she wanted a cell phone (and a shotgun- yeah, I know).  Grain is going up everytime I buy, (which is every week) and hay aint cheap either.  Grass is all dryed up and it has been a bad, dry summer here, the only rain is in storms and torrents and does more erosion than it does giving the plants any water.  So I thought I had it made, when I sold these two horses, and I had told the previous owners that I would promise they would always stay together, and I kept that promise.  I had taken them as my oldest wanted a horse, these people HAD to move RIGHT THEN (found out later this was a lie, they never even moved) and they couldn't put up fences and whatnot where they were moving.  I asked them if they wanted the option to buy them back, and they told me they would be unable to keep them.  Well. times got tight for us, and I was paying to feed this gelding, and was giving him what my youngest's paint eats to keep up, and he always has the three ribs showing.  Had more than that when I got him showing, believe me.  I was determined to 'get him in shape.'  Well, his upkeep was beggaring me, and altho Oka was an easy keeper they were a pair, and so I sold the two of them to a guy in Pennsylvania.  Both horses had previous injuries that made them unridable (found this out after I got them of course, previous owners said nothing about it) except for light riding, and my youngest wants to show on her horse, and I didn't need one more thing to drain money by eating. 

Thinking everything was fine, I gat a call from Ibn and Oka's previous owner, chewing me out for the shape Ibn's in!!  She accused me of starving and neglecting him (no, I didn't float his teeth like he needed but he wasn't neglected or starved, looked the same when he left as when he got here, a little skinny) and said he had lost a whole 100 lbs (which is bs)and blahblahblah.  When I think of the money I spent on him (Ibn) to try to fatten him up (most of which gave him the runs) and the money in fly spray, and to get chewed out by rich snobby b*** when the money I spend on horses is much more of a sacrifice for my whole family than she could possibly understand, it really BUMMED ME OUT.  Everyone who knew has patted me on the back, and said don't worry about it- you know what the most asinine part is?  She left Oka with the other guy and took Ibn(supposedly, may be another lie, like how she had to move and how she didn't have papers on Ibn) and SHE SEPERATED THEM!  When she said she never wanted them seperated!  I could have seperated them, made a grand apeice at least, but no, I had a promise to keep.  What horsefeathers.

Ona good note, classes are going well, and I am doing well.  It is old hat for me, I was in training for an LPN when I quit last time.  Some new terms, but same old sh**.  Soon as I get my certification I am going for Med Tech, which is more schooling, more tests, and more pay.  I can give meds then, which you can't as a CNA. 

Girls are doing great in school.  My oldest is really applying herself this year, and Trinity is doing great in Kindergarden (I knew she'd have no trouble.)  Skye is still having popularity issues, but she is my daughter, and I was a complete freak in school.  At least she doesn't have short, multicolored hair (like I did!) 

Walk in Love and Light, me and you 

Lord, what a week.  First Ibn gets his leg caught in a wire, and I had to cut him out.  Then my 5 year old's deaf gelding injures himself, and just before her first leadline class.  The horse's tore the door to the feed room down (altho no one got to the feed, thank God) and to top it all off my well pump is acting up.  Been one of those, who painted the bullseye on me week?

But despite that, I am unbelieveably lucky, because I have two beautiful healthy kids, a sexy husband who loves me deeply and I him, and in a time of such turmoil and trouble, my kids are happy and strong.  We are all getting ready for school, as I am going for my CNA certification when they go to their schools. 

My husband has cast his eye on my mare (he has always loved her) and I may be training her for him.  He was always 'stallion, stallion, stallion,' so it is good he likes a mare.  But she is about as perfect as can be.   My wild little indian, my youngest, rides her gelding with no saddle or bridle, and he is a paint.  My oldest loves her horse, her arabian mare, but she wants a cellphone more than a saddle.  My husband tolerates my horse habit, foots the bills, and is glad he knows now how to make me happy..

Now I focus my energies on my grassroots efforts to ban horse slaughter for human consumption.  I am involved in animal and human rights, but the horse slaughter bill is a personal holy grail of mine.  I have started little fires all over, and now I watch them smolder.

Brightest blessings to all!