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5.) Candy's Kooter
This story is not about a horse, but about a goat! A goat is something I used to know absolutely nothing about, and certainly never imagined owning one. But one day a needy little goat found me. I was in the house doing the domestic jobs we all have to do before having time to ride our horses :o). I noticed out the window that my 3 mares were prancing around with tails up, snorting and looking towards the road. The road in front of our home is a very busy, two lane highway. I opened the door to get a better look and there in the middle of the road was a tiny little goat. Scared, screaming and scrambling every direction as cars went around him. No one bothered to stop!
I slipped on some shoes and ran out to see if I could help. When he saw me he ran off the road and up beside the horse pasture in a small apple orchard that we have. He wouldn't let me anywhere near him, so I tried to just keep him away from the road until I could figure out what to do. A car finally stopped and the guy asked if he could help. When he joined me in the orchard the goat found a way to slip through the fence to our back barnyard. After trying to catch him for about 15 minutes, with the goat usually leaping over our arms, he finally ran into the horse barn. We shooed him into a stall and I shut the door and thanked the man for his help.
I called some neighbors, called the animal shelter....no one was missing a goat. So, now what? I thought. I went back out to the barn and gave him some water and hay. He was terrified of me, I couldn't even get close to him in the stall! When my husband got home he helped me catch him and we put him in the dog pen with a dog house. He loved it! Two weeks went by and no one claimed this cute little goat.
My friend Patty, who has goats, came over to see him and help me get a collar on him. She said he was at least part pygmy and about 5 months old. She showed me how to trim his feet and what to feed him and generally gave me a whole goat lesson. I took it upon myself to catch him every day and tie him out to eat grass while I repeatedly held him, massaged him and then let him graze again.
I've had Kooter for 3 years now, he's grown into a handsome goat! It was decided that he is 1/2 Pygmy, 1/2 Nubian. He's still leary of strangers, but a handful of sweet feed will usually win his heart. I never imagined that I would rescue a little goat in need and become so attached. Last spring I decided that Kooter needed a buddy, so found him a 1/2 Pygmy, 1/2 Nigerian friend that we named Roscoe.
(yes, we're Dukes of Hazzard fans!) Will there be more goats in our future? Who knows? But I did discover that all animals like to be touched, like massage, TTouches and Reiki....even goats! I never in my life imagined that I'd be the proud owner of 2 goats, but now that I have them I wouldn't give them up!
Candy Cornell, CMT, CESMT, Reiki Level 2
Certified massage for horse & rider
Horses In Harmony
6.) Sher's On Time This is just a story about my almost 23 yr. old Morgan, On Time. He has been through a lot in all his years. Attached are some pictures. One is of him as a weanling. He actually won reserve champion stallion as a weanling in a class A show against 17 other Morgans.
This horse has done everything a horse can do. He has shown In-Hand, Class A saddle seat, hunt seat, park, jumping, western, trail, therapeutic, dressage.
He is broke to harness. He does tricks. He is my best bud. He keeps me humble. He has been treated like a Prince. He has been cast aside. He has been in at least one trailer wreck. He has endured the sometimes questionable practices of some"in at any cost" trainers.
When I first saw him, I was speechless. Oftentimes when I see him now I am speechless. He has my heart and soul.
My Grandma, who died when I was 5 yrs. old, gave me a stuffed animal horse that was chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail. I have him still. That was my dream horse! Watch what you wish for! 42 years later I got my wish.
Time was on his way to the Sugarcreek auction. That is a kill auction. He was at a YMCA camp. They cull their horses in the fall. They had had a strangles outbreak. Time had come down with the infection. He was also deemed a spooky, unsafe horse for the camp. He was thin. It was fall. He would surely have been bought by the kill buyers. I could not let that happen. My daughter rode him home on Halloween eve.
He had some issues. His hooves were bad due to the fever. He was thin because of the strangles. He was sore from all of the above, age and just hard use. He never gives up. I don't either. We had the vet out, the farrier and the chriopractor. They did what they could. Said he was old. Not much they could do. I searched for a way to make him more comfortable. (He never complained. He always did what was asked. But I knew he was sore.)
I have been on this list for a while. I am not a body worker in anyway but maybe one day I will be. I have several books on massage. I am really interested in aromatherapy. I use Bach Flower Remedies. But, what has really, really done the most good for Time is T-Touch. I can thank Maggie for that! She does not even know. I have read all of her posts religiously. I got some of the books. It Works!
Time is much better off now. Actually all 4 of the horses we have plus several others have benefited from Maggie's advice. I've only seen one other place that recommended T-Touch. If it had not been for Maggie's posts I would have passed this by.
So Maggie is my Timey's angel and mine. And she didn't even know! I have never acknowledged that and for that I apologize. Thank you, Maggie. Sher in Ohio
