Wish I was riding

  My heart is so very heavy.  I miss my sister so much and am mourning her loss.  She was called home to the Lord 4 weeks ago today.  Today is Halloween.  We would have all gathered at Mom's to see the kids in their costumes.  She would have been helping us with Mom's care.  Her gentle soul was a balm to all of us.  Her little laugh was infectious - her smile lit up a room.  I know that she is in the hands of Jesus - that is the only thing that makes this bearable.  Tears are flowing down my face that I can't stop.    I searched for some of my favorite verses for comfort.

Our animals are always a source of comfort to us.  Dana's two little dogs, Sofee and Scooter were her constant companions and she spoiled them endlessly.   She felt about them the way I do about Biscuit and Sarge.  They are my babies.  I wish they were small at times so I could place them on my lap and stroke their coats like a dog - they bring me solace and comfort.  I can imagine riding them and it eases my soul.  Dana was like me in that respect.  She loved her animals and found great comfort in being with them.  She is so missed and I know that only through Jesus will this separation from her be bearable.  I loved my baby sister so much. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Matthew 11:28
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Matthew 5:1-4

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.^[a]
3     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness^[b]
    for his name's sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,^[c]
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely^[d] goodness and mercy^[e] shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell^[f] in the house of the Lord
    forever.^[g]

 Psalm 51 (this is my favorite Psalm)

1 Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—
That You may be found just when You speak,^[a]
And blameless when You judge.

⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
⁹ Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You.

¹⁴ Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
¹⁶ For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar.

Boys to the Vet

I went to the barn to pick up the horses to take them to the vet for shots and Biscuit's Coggins.  Dang, I stepped in the mud...well, my foot slid into it and got mud everywhere.  UGH.  I put their halters on them and then hooked up the trailer.  They loaded easy as pie as always.  Hauled to Doc's and unloaded Biscuit.  Cassie came out to the trailer and pulled the blood for the Coggins and then gave him shots on each side of his neck.

She commented on how pretty he was now and how skinny he had been when I bought him.  I went to load him back up and he was a little confused as to why I just walked him out and then wanted him back in!  Cassie encouraged him and up he went.  Sarge came out and got his shots and Cassie commented on how well behaved they both were.  I am sure she sees many horses that aren't well behaved!

They had their West Nile and Influenza shots and the Coggins was $128.  I will have to haul them back next week for their rabies shots.  Cassie said there were no reports of rabies anywhere near here but I am pretty sure I saw a post about a rabid bat in the Beaumont Enterprise a few months ago.  $36 isn't worth the risk of rabies.  So they will go back next week.

I hauled to The Cracker Barrel to wait on a customer - the boys got handfuls of treats which certainly doesn't hurt their feelings.  I hauled them back to the barn and parked the trailer where the road turns to go down to the pastures.  I unloaded them and put them both on the wash rack.  I got out my rasp and circular knife after washing off their legs and feet.  Biscuit's feet just needed a little rasping and I used the knife to cut out some thrush looking matter in his frogs.  He was a good boy about getting his feet done.  Didn't take too long.  Hoping to get the cracks out of his feet soon.

I then started on Sarge's feet.  He just had the farrier do them but he doesn't do a barefoot trim.  His bars were long and I think his feet were still a little long.  He had a flair on his back right which he tends to have.  I rasped his feet and used the knife a little on the frogs.  He was pretty good about it.  Sarge has a crack on one of his hooves that runs up almost to the coronet band - it is just a little surface crack but I will keep a watch out on it.

I cleaned off the wash rack, brushed out a mat in Sarge's tail and then loaded them back in the trailer to ride down to the pasture.  They were both good as gold today. 

Lost my dang phone but I could trot!!!

Barry actually went riding with me!  We delivered a wedding cake Saturday morning, changed clothes and headed for the barn.  I coaxed Biscuit into the little corral with treats and told Barry to shut the gate.  He was saying it wouldn't stop Biscuit - uhhhhh  yeah it will.  Biscuit decided to try and walk out but respected the gate of course.  He kinda looked like he would back up from me but let me put his halter on with minimum fuss.  I backed the RAV up to the trailer, telling Barry an after market back up camera would make a LOVELY Christmas gift.

We put his tack in the trailer and took off for the park.  We tacked up and I put Biscuit's boots on.  We went out through Cattail Marsh and went down the old road to Willow BaI spoike to Lee Ayou.  I did a little trotting down Willow Bayou but just 10 yards or so and then I would lose my balance.  We crossed the bridge and went past the little land bridge.  When we rounded the corner there were a number of bird houses and just then  little pigs went flying around - well, not really flying but they scooted into the woods and then more came out and around the curve and then into the woods.  There were about 12 of the bird houses.  I took pictures with my phone.  Kept touching my phone to make sure it was there.  
We went all the way to Hildabrandt Bayou and the grass was pretty tall.  We tried to go down the little trail but it was too over grown.  We went back to the wide trail and started for the other side.  Very nice ride!!!  Down the bayou and across the little cement bridge.  We headed up the side of the bog and it was a little warm.  The horses were sweating.  We crossed the big bridge and Barry was cantering up the bayou.  Kellie and I started trotting and OMG I wasn't losing my balance!  They got pretty far ahead of me cantering but I kept Biscuit at a trot and didn't lose my balance.  I was thrilled until I realized I lost my phone.  Kellie and I went back and forth looking for it.  Barry joined in and they were calling it.  The little purple wild daisy flowers were so thick I don't think we will find that puppy until winter when the plants are dead!

We could see the Lee Ann's and Alison in a distance going in another direction and we headed for the trailers.  Biscuit jogged quiet a bit.   I spoke to Lee Ann B and they had enjoyed their ride. 

I had to go get a new phone later.  Ugh.  I hated spending money on a dang phone.  I ordered a little pouch to put it in so I don't lose this one!

Riding on the Beach

Kellie and I made plans to ride on the beach Sunday October 20th.  She was going to pick me up at the barn but Bev and James decided to go with us so we were all going to meet at Tyrrell Park at 8:30.  I got up at 6:25 am and left the house around 7:00.  I never know how long it will take to catch Biscuit if necessary and hook up the trailer if it is being cranky in the soft soil.  I have been leaving it at the barn.

I packed up my lunch, 5 carrots for the horses, drinks, cameras, Garmin and extra clothing as it was supposed to be pretty dang chilly :-)   When I stepped outside it was cool but nice.  I stopped at the barn and got Biscuit's breakfast.  I got out at the pasture and had 2 carrots with me.  There was standing water and I kind of lost my balance and ended up stepping into the water ugh.  My boots are waterproofed but not totally!  I certainly didn't want to get my feet wet and cold!  Biscuit stood outside of the little corral - LOL I don't think he wanted to get his feet wet!  He hates walking in mud and avoids it if he can.  I gave Sarge some of the carrot and went around the mud and used Sarge's halter that was hanging on the corral panel to put on Biscuit.  He didn't give me any fuss.  I gave him carrots and hugged him up.  I tied him to the trailer while I backed up my RAV4 and hitched it up.  I noticed Biscuit has already started his winter coat and that is from Wednesday when I last saw him! I loaded him up and hauled out to Tyrrell Park.  I stopped at The Cracker Barrel to use the rest room and to buy some Burt's Bee's lip balm.  We then went on to the park.  I backed up into our "winter" spot closest to the trail head so I wouldn't be in anyone's way that came into the stable/office area.

At Tyrrell Park looking like a million bucks

I brushed Biscuit while waiting for Kellie and when she arrived she loaded my stuff bless her heart.  We headed out for the beach - James and Bev decided not to go.  We arrived at the beach and saddled up.  OMG the cockleburs were unfreaking believable.  We mounted up and headed out to the beach.  We got to the end of the road and Elan spooked at the restroom port a potty that is in a little wooden building.  LOL  Kellie couldn't get him to walk up to it at first until I got Biscuit to walk up to it.  Biscuit didn't see what spooked him so he wasn't bothered by it.  We went to the left for the first time ever.  We always ride to the right towards Galveston.  We rode along on a little sandbar for a good ways.  Biscuit was a little angel the entire ride.  We did a little trotting and cantered a little way but I am not balanced enough to canter well so we stopped.  We rode out 4 miles and turned around.  Elan wasn't a happy camper and kept trying to turn around and go the other way.  He wasn't convinced that was the way to the trailer.  LOL that is because every time we go to the beach we are going in a different direction on the way back.  The entire way back he was trying to turn around and walking so slow.

Biscuit, on the other hand, discovered that the beach is a great place
to trick or treat even if it is not Halloween.  He went up to some people and they were more than happy to give him a treat of pretzels and potato chips in exchange for petting him.  Biscuit thought that was just fantastic.  Everyone he saw after that, especially if they had a bucket, was hit up for a treat.  Kellie and I laughed at him and said he had no shame at all.  He got a treat of several flour tortillas.  Elan didn't care for the tortillas...they must have been to him like licorice always was to me....YUK!  Biscuit's last treat was a handful of trail mix with dried fruit and nuts...yummy!  He was loved up and petted by several people.  It was nice to see he is trusting of people now where he didn't used to be.

A black lab escaped his owner from the back of a golf cart and came running at us barking like crazy.  I turned Biscuit to face him and he and Elan just ignored the dog.  Owner of the dog wasn't too happy his dog didn't listen to him ... he didn't speak to us - just got the dog in the cart and he looked totally ticked off.  LOL no harm done to horses, people or dog so it was a good training session!

We got back to the fire station and got out their bag of hay.  Biscuit's had bahaia and alfalfa.  Elan wanted to share with him.  Kellie said you don't like that yukky hay and I said but he likes alfalfa!  Biscuit was doing all kinds of gymnastics to get to the alfalfa in the back side of the bag.

We rode 8 miles-the weather was perfect.  Sunshine, mild temps, clear blue skies.  What could have been better.   It did my soul a world of good.

Life Changing Events

I haven't been posting much.  My mother has pancreatic cancer and spent 6 weeks in a hospital and a acute care facility in Houston.  My uncle was there in the hospitals with her at the same time.  Two weeks ago Barry's father died on September 30.  We had the visitation on Tuesday.  That was Mom's birthday.  Barry and I went to Houston that morning for a doctors appointment and to see Momma.  That night I saw Dana at the visitation, my baby sister.  The next day was the funeral and Mom and Uncle Ethan both came home from the hospital.  The next morning on Thursday my baby sister, Dana, passed away unexpected.  Oh, the heartache I can't even put into words. 

I had rode Biscuit the weekend before with Kellie on Saturday.  He got astraddle of a tree but didn't freak out.  He is such a good boy.  I rode him the morning of Dana's visitation.  It helped calm my soul and spirit.  Horses are good for that.  We didn't ride long...2.5 miles around the roads in Tyrrell because it was wet.  We have new trails in Tyrrell compliments of Ricky Venable and we are grateful.

I was trimming Biscuit's feet Tuesday and he was being a pill - long and short he kicked over the hoof stand and bent the bolt down that holds the cradle in place - either it hit me or his hoof and I have a lovely bruise - skinned toes on the right foot AND I fell backwards off the stool flat on my back.  ugh.