The Power of Horses

I've always been afraid of large animals.  I was bit by a large dog when I was a child riding my bike and have been afraid every since.  And my cousins didn't help, they were the only ones I knew with horses, so when we would go visit, they would give me a hard time and in some cases feed my fears "playfully".  Like the time I was walking with them through a pasture and we came up on some cows, to which they told me to stay still or they would attack me.  Yeah, really funny y'all!  I later found out that cows will run from you, especially if you raise your arms and say HA!.   So I'm glad my daughters do not have the fear I have, but they do have respect for animals and my youngest has a big love for animals especially big ones.  When she was about 6 months old we went to visit a friend who had horses, I was holding my daughter while my friend was showing us the barn, when one of the horses head showed up right next to us and I jumped, my daughter didn't and was very intrigued by the horse.  My friend quickly took my daughter from me and said, "you are going to teach her to be afraid", but I think she was sooo hooked by the horse that she never looked back.  After years of bugging us for a horse and wanting anything and everything that was or having to do with a horse, a year ago she got one (and a donkey in tow).  My only experience with horses is visiting my cousins in Washington State who had horses and I was afraid back then, now we have 2 horses and a donkey!   Mostly my daughter takes care of them and works with them, but occasionally she has tennis or something else at school and I have to feed them or something.  I'm quite proud of myself most days, because I have come a long way.  I use to not get on the same side of the fence as the horses and now I have to get into the stalls with the horses and telling myself to stay calm is my mantra.   My daughter has become my teacher (I think she has read every book there is on horses, plus had extensive lessons).  I know enough to know I don't know very much about horses, but I can appreciate their beauty and power!  This morning on my way back from dropping my daughter off at school, I was passing a large horse farm that is down the street from our place and the horses were all running.  It was awesome.  There was no traffic, so I just stopped the car and watched them (about 10 horses in that particular pen).   From the safety of my car I could imagine them as if they were back in the early days of running around free on the vast lands of Texas.  So when I got home, our horses and our stinker of a donkey were all at the fence wanting a treat.  My husband has nick named me as the "Treat Lady".  My thought...it makes them love me!  I am not quite the lover of horses that my daughter is, but her and my husband (who had a horse of his own growing up) are determined to make me ride.  I feel as though when I have been on the horse for the five minutes that I am, that is "riding", but my family laughs and says that's not riding.   I guess my dictionary has different definitions than theirs.  But horses can be very loving animals, you just have to learn to read them and respect them and since you have to be calm around them, they have the power to relax you and make you take a deep breath and take it all in.

This is a Powerful Picture of Relaxation

Photo:  Lola

My Cottage of Peace and Love

You know how men have the Man Cave, well I have a Girly Haven.  My husband and I built a little cottage for us girls that I have had a blast decorating (a lot of stuff I had been collecting from antique stores over the years).  It was originally to be referred to as the craft house, since my daughters and I enjoy doing crafts, but we had to change the name we called it from the Craft House to The Cottage (people would think we were saying crack house and then tease us mercifully).  And it does look more like a cottage than a craft house anyways.  Not only that, but it has become a place of family history for my girls.   I made a little scrapbook that has pictures of each item in the cottage and then tells the story of the object, so that my girls will have the history of each keepsake.  It has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun and I loved every minute.  The Cottage is dedicated to my girls and one side of the back wall is dedicated to my oldest and her love of acting and the other to my youngest and her love of horses.  When my oldest comes to visit, she stays in the cottage, my youngest enjoys doing her school projects in it and I sometimes just go out there to read and look through my decorating books or watch girly movies (my husband, being the only male, banned all musicals from the house to the cottage).  Every now and then one of the cats or dogs sneaks in with us and enjoys laying around and taking naps in the pure peace the cottage offers.

My Cottage

A Great Place to sit and read

Or Take a Nap

Take some Time Off

Photos: Lola

Well It's Not Quite A House

When our oldest daughter would bring home new friends to visit, taking them off road to our entrance would make them ask her "where are you taking me?"  Then once she would drive them past the tiny little out building that is our well house (a term I came to learn that is literally a tiny little house for the water well) she would gleefully inform them that....."oh, and if you need to go the bathroom, that is where you go" (pointing to the well house).  Hummm...I wonder where my girls get their craziness from?  Of course it was not really the bathroom, but our "temporary" living quarters in our barn is very small and may look like an outhouse or well house.   And being that there is only one bathroom, we all call out for our place in line for it.  And then there is always both of my daughter's favorite response to "were you raised in a barn?" is "why yes, as a matter of fact, I was!"  We built it ourselves and so as each year passed and we got a new item done it was soooo exciting. (it was like winning the lotto, ok...maybe a $3 scratch off, I'm not that silly)   I can remember when at first we only had a kitchen sink, and then we got one in the bathroom!  yippee!!!  Now one person could wash dishes and another brush their teeth at the same time.  (I know right!, what's that ....wash dishes???, yes, we do NOT have a dishwasher (unless you call our girls that which they hate by the way.) It's like we are on the set of Lonesome Dove!  Well ok, we have a "few" more modern conveniences.  And then when I got a light out over the washer and dryer in the "garage" area I nearly peed my pants with happiness, I could finally see down in the washer instead of feeling down in the barrel for any remaining clothes.  Oh happy days!!  Although I would still like to have the washer and dryer in a heat/air conditioned area, because it is a little hard to do the laundry when I have on a coat, hat and gloves and can see my breath or in the Texas heat when it is so hot that the clothes dry before I can get them from the washer into the dryer.   And now the stalls on the other side of the barn finally got lights too!  Now who cares if it is dark early, we can see!   To some it may not be a house, but it has love in it and is definitely a home.

Our Well House with a Fish Pond