A Spring Morning In The Forest

Tawny and Georgie Girl

Such a quiet, pretty day we are having here today. The sun is shining, but it is not very warm. Cold. In fact our wood stove is going to keep the house warm. I went outside to take pictures of the horses and it was cold. The horses love to lay in the sun. Perfect time for a picture. They usually start by standing, but end up laying down in a little bit. Georgie Girl stretched right out next to Tawny and laid like that for hours.

Dark Shadow is always on the look-out for trouble!

Dark Shadow finally laid down after the other girls were down for awhile. Usually one horse will stand up nearby to protect the others. Then they switch places. Our girls here though, have become very laid back and don't see many dangers in their day to day lives. So they lay down quite often, all at the same time. Dark Shadow is like the watch dog around here. She is always watching for intruders or something that is not normal.

Our three girls

Dark Shadow and Georgie Girl are registered Thoroughbreds and have the same father. Tawny is their niece, her father, Bobby, also had the same father as Dark Shadow and Georgie Girl. Georgie was a race horse and raced at the Fingerlakes Track. She was banned from the track when she refused to race. In the breezes (test to race) she was always the fastest. In the actual race, she would not go. Even went over backwards in the starting gate with the jockey on her. She does not like being forced to do something. She likes working with you as a partner.

Quiet Morning At Peaceful Forest

Dark Shadow never raced or left the farm they were born on until we brought her here. Tawny came here two years after Georgie and Dark Shadow had been here. She is half Thoroughbred and Shetland pony. Tawny is very affectionate and gives horse hugs to everyone. She is not that nice to small animals, so I warn people who come here with little dogs not to let them run into the paddock or bark at the horses. I have to admit it is funny when dogs who have never seen a horse see one for the first time. I can imagine them thinking, "Wow, they are big!"

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole

Our Horses Live A Pretty Peaceful Life

 They come out to eat their hay!

Most of the summer our horses have stayed in the barn. They have the option of going in and out on their own. Summer has never been their favorite season. I can go in and sit on the bench next to them and watch them sleep. That seems to be what animals do most of the summer.

 Georgie Girl Was Banned From The Fingerlakes Track!

The funny thing about these girls is that they really would rather stay in their barn all day and only come out at night. They come out and eat hay, grazing from pile to pile. My husband puts it out, and spreads it around in various piles, so that no one horse can hog it all. And they will! They lay down a lot out in the paddock during the night and early morning hours. That is what they do.

Dark Shadow, my husband's horse

Their life is pretty peaceful as far as a most horses'  lives go. They get to do pretty much what they want. In the winter, they really love the snow. After a snow fall, we will get up in the morning and they will be up and out in the fresh snow. They like to eat it and lay on it. So winter for them is no big hardship. At least not for them!

 Tawny hoping for hay!

Summer means bugs, and that is why they stay inside. Even though the bugs are in the barn too. Not as bad I guess. Our paddock has grown larger over the years, as we cleared it. The only thing is, that as our girls are getting older, so they are not quite as spirited as they once were. I can remember Dark Shadow running all around the paddock in a circle pretty often. Or the way she'd try to get Georgie to play with her by rearing up. Not as much anymore. I guess we are all aging around here! Even our mares!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

She Thought She Heard Something!

Dark Shadow, my husband's horse.

Today, Dark Shadow has been whinnying real loud. When she was at the farm where we got her, she used to do that quite a bit. She would be put out in the arena while we cleaned her stall and she would race around the arena like a wild horse. I would pull in the drive way and hear her loud, strong whinny. She hated to be alone and she would let the world know that. Once they started letting her out with the other horses though, she was not so bad as she wasn't locked up like that anymore. She is a very spirited girl!

There are some hunters out and about, and she may have heard them. My husband took some hay out to her, but then she was whinnying again. So it wasn't hunger. I walked down to the corner and found there were about three vehicles of hunters and maybe some hikers down by the bridge. I know she may be smelling our neighbor's gelding up the road. Our neighbor lives about half a mile away up the road at what used to be just a camp. But he moved in a few months back and now he has a couple of horses there. I am sure he does not have a stallion, but our girls aren't that picky. It has been a long time since they have had male company or even seen another horse! 

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Wordless Wednesday Featuring Our Little Girls

Dark Shadow

Tawny.......... had a tough night, needed some sleep!

Georgie Girl, the boss mare

Posing for pictures!

Our Horses, Georgie Girl and Dark Shadow

Georgie Girl, Boss Mare

I love this little girl so much. I cannot explain to anyone how much this horse means to me. She is my pride and joy. She is an ex-racehorse, banned from the Finger Lakes track as she refused to race. She was the fastest in all the breezes and the track people thought she should have been a perfect racehorse. But on race day, she went over twice in the starting gate with the jockey (I am sure, he beat her for that one!). Then she would lag behind 50 horse lengths. I cleaned stalls to get her.

My brother Mickey on Dusty

I wanted a horse my whole life. Then when we grew up, Mickey, my brother, always had one. I lived where I couldn't have one. So I never really was around them too much. Then when Larry and I got together, he had grown up with horses, and worked around them now and then. When we moved out here, he started training and caring for horses at a local farm, where they raised Thoroughbreds for racing. He took me to work with him and I fell in love with the horses there.

The Farm Our Horses Were Born At

Georgie Girl, especially, won my heart. She would pace in circles in her stall. The stall gate was covered so she couldn't look out. She was not friendly at all. Very high strung. I just took a liking to her. She had been their darling. She was the perfect racehorse, even the people at the track thought so. She was the fastest in the breezes, no other horse could catch her! She did not want to be a racehorse. She would show them how fast she could go, but the day of the races, a few times, she went over in the starting gate. Then when she actually did race, she'd lag, way back. The jockey could beat her with his crop, she didn't care. One thing, I have learned about her, is that she likes to be your partner - not your slave. And she is very smart. She doesn't "give" to anyone easily.

Dark Shadow

At the barn where Georgie Girl lived, she and all the other racehorses were only allowed to be outside for about 15 minutes every day in a covered arena, while their stalls were being cleaned. They would race around and play. All of them got to be in there with another horse. Only Dark Shadow, who my husband ended up buying, was made to be alone in the arena. She could not stand it and would whinny at the top of her lungs and race full tilt around that arena like a crazy horse. She was never worked with or even had feet trimmed. Everyone was afraid of her. At that time, she was only 3 years old. When I first went there, I thought she was the stallion. She acted like one.

Dark Shadow

Larry made friends with her. He got on her and she went over twice with him. He doesn't get thrown off a horse normally, he usually goes down with them. If they rear up with someone on them, many times they will lose their balance and it'll cause them to go over sideways. He did manage to talk his boss into letting her go out in the pasture with the "wild horses" (as we called them). They were not wild (my Tawny was one of them), but horses that were not used for racing so they could go out on the 50 acres that was fenced on their hill. The first week Dark Shadow went out there, Sally, the lead mare (and my Tawny's sister) just ran her down for the whole week. Dark Shadow went into that little herd of 10 horses like gangbusters! She wanted to run, and Sally did not let up on her. By the end of the week, Dark Shadow was friends with Sally and pretty tamed down. That's how it is for a new horse joining a herd. They have rules!

Georgie Girl and Larry

When the owner offered to sell me Georgie I could not believe it. Then one day he came to me and told me since she is now my horse, I can let her out with the wild horses that are out all day, if I wanted. He warned me that she might get burdocks on her if she did though. Larry and I looked at each other for half a second then ran to her stall to get her! She walked along with Larry like she was a little girl going somewhere......or she thought he was making a mistake and she didn't want him to know!

Georgie and Dark Shadow

Larry led her out to the group of other horses waiting to go out for the day in the pasture. They all smelled her, as they might live on the same farm, even in the same barn.....but they did not know her as the racehorses are kept separate. So she just walked along with them in the group and they seem to have accepted her. I was a little worried about her as she was the newest member of the herd......and in the horse herd that means she was on the bottom. And she was not used to being with others in a group like that.

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Georgie, Tawny and Dark Shadow

So a few days later, I saw Sally, the boss mare and she seemed to be pushing my Georgie! I did not like that but there was nothing I could do if I wanted her out in the pasture with the others. She had to learn to take care of herself. But I worried about her after that.A bout a week later, the wild horses gathered in the paddock in front of the trail to the pasture and did not go straight up it. Usually when that would happen, I would take a hold of Sally's halter and lead her and the rest would follow, as she was their leader. I took a hold of her, and led her......nobody followed! ???? I looked at the rest of them and didn't know what to think. Georgie looked at me, then walked straight up past me.....and the rest just fell into place behind her................ My worrying had been for nothing.....my Georgie Girl had taken over the herd! She was now their leader!

Copyright © 2008 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2008 Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2018

Pets' And Horses' Personalities

Raised Beds made of wood

One of the things I love about working at home is that when I am working on my computer, I can see my garden. I love seeing those corn stalks gently moving in the breeze. This is the first year that I have planted corn here. As I told you before, I have raised beds now. So I planted my corn in them to see how they would do. One thing I know I did wrong was to plant them spaced too far apart. I forgot. They hold each other up if they are closer. I noticed that in the farmers' fields they were really close. Mine will be closer next year.

Tomorrow, my daughter in-law and her daughter are coming up for the day. Her daughter is at the age when girls are so horse crazy. She loves to ride my horse, Tawny. Tawny is half Thoroughbred and half Shetland Pony. She is the most loving horse you could meet. She will rest her chin on your back if you're working in the barn or in her paddock. And she loves to lick you.

Tawny

Looks can be deceiving though. She tried to kill my pet chicken once. We were standing right there. She went right after her and tried to stomp her to death! I had her go after our cats and our dog who is a big dog. I think it may have to do with the fact that she is the low horse on the herd totem pole. She can be in the barn and the cat will rub on her face from the stall gate and she's fine with that. If they are outside near her she will go after them unexpectedly. I punish her every time by telling her no and not giving her a treat. Walking away from her when wants attention so tgat eventually she will learn not to do that (I hope). My other two horses, aren't like that at all. They are the spirited ones!

Animals are sometimes as sneaky as people! Our  tortoiseshell cat, Callie, is very affectionate and not afraid of anyone or anything. I saw her chase a big dog out of our yard once and she was right on his butt. She was hitting him with her feet as he ran yelping toward the road. The thing is that if all cats would learn not to run from a dog the dog wouldn't chase them. She doesn't run from them but toward them. One time a stray dog came to our house and she would not allow him to come on the porch.

My friend and her boyfriend have three little dogs. Callie plays with them and is usually the winner. One of the dogs barks at her so she goes right up to her. Then rubs her face on her. That dog doesn't know what to do next. Totally confuses her! Of course, Callie is used to living with our dog Nikita who is a big lab mix. She picks on Nikita all the time. She has known her since the day she was born and she may think that Nikita is her mother. Nikita will protect her when needed.

My husband used to work at a barn  training horses. One of the nice things about that job is that he could take me and our dog to work with him. Nikita loved all those barn cats that she would chase them as soon as she got there every morning. One morning they were waiting for her. This one cat, Sawdust didn't run this time. Instead he went after her and she ran. All the cats chased her together! It was as if they planned it. After that first morning there would be times I would find her cornered in a stall by one of the cats. That barn is where Callie was born and Nikita loved those tiny kittens. Sometimes I would find the mother had left to go out and Nikita would be laying on a hay bale with the four kittens nuzzled up to her. 

Copyright © 2005 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2005 Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2024