July 8th, 2010

Its been a few months now since my last post. Snow has melted,  rivers have over flowed with raging waters to settle down to good fishing. Wild Flowers are blooming and wildlife is on the move. People have steadily converged upon our little town to explode during the 4th of July festivities.  Now we are on the down side again, people slowly drifting away.  Mountains are green. We had some warm summer days  that have given way to cooler temps and thunder rains.

I’ve made new friends, am working on cultivating more friends and made a  mistake that caused some discomfort with someone I care about. But hey we are all human right. We get past the crap and move on.

All in all I am so very happy and content in my little town.  I have spent three to four days a week jogging back trails or hiking steep mountain sides to sit under the sky and soak up the sounds and smells of the wilderness.  The soft touch of the wind on my skin always puts a gigantic smile on my face.  If I can find someone to casually share these things with my life would be at its most perfect space in time.

I haven’t taken any pics this spring or summer to share.  Some things you just have to experience in person to understand the impact they have.  To represent how I feel though and how free I am and the joy in life I am experiencing…

I give you Celt’s Prophecy…

(Photo Courtesy: Kathy of Kickapoo Center Spanish Mustangs – Wisconsin – Pro is my 2 year old colt from the last of my breeding program who is staying with Kathy for the next year before I bring him home to Silverton, Colorado.)

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Apr 7, 2010

The windows wide open, fresh air filling the room, Bright sunshine filtering in, this was a glorious day!  Started with breakfast with my friend Pam, then home to organize stuff for a bit. Later comes a visit from Mark Garvin one of the resident carpenters in town.  Mark is a master worker!  He transformed my so so bathroom into a spa retreat in no time at all and with little expense to me and great suggestions.  Only a couple more things need to be done to finish my vision and make the space a wee bit more user friendly and wallah(!) a gorgeous inviting place that’s functional and friendly.   Maryanne, Marks wife is the owner and fitness guru of Silverton Movement Center and has become a great friend.  She sent home with me something really cool today to go with my retreat.  It’s called “CALDREA” (countertop cleaner and liquid dish soap), and it smells heavenly and its a safe product.  Okay I have a new product line that I’m buying my household cleansers from!! I came right home and started wiping down the bathroom surfaces with it, relishing in how wonderful it cleans leaving the bathroom smelling wonderful.  I’m getting some of this stuff for Heather to try!!!  Maryanne also set me up with a couple and possibly more massages this weekend at her massage site. Bring ‘em on!  Mark and Maryanne are just really good people and I am very thankful that I have met them both and that they have been so welcoming to me since moving to Silverton.  Truly, I may not have done as well as I have if not for Maryanne’s referrals and support, and I would not be as happy in my abode if not for Marks creation.  Thank you guys!

Pro is not coming home this summer.  It was really causing me hardship to pull it off this soon. Kathy of Kickapoo Center Farm, who is such a sweetheart, is letting him stay at her place, in Wisconsin, until I can move him comfortably.  It takes a huge burden off of me since June is coming right around the corner and I haven’t had the opportunity to locate an affordable boarding situation. Kathy has been a Savior, a Saint, and a good friend!  Thanks Kathy.

Okay that’s it for today’s Thankful Thursday folks. I’m off to spend the evening with Dragon (the bearded dragon), and Cookie (the guinea pig). Great companionship!

Happy Thankful Thursday, All!

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Mar 5, 2010

Well I skipped last Thursday’s Thankful Thursday.  The day just got away from me.  By the time I got around to thinking on gratitude I was drained and brain dead.  I just  thought for a few moments on all the things I had to be grateful for and hit the sack feeling bountiful.

Today, I’m feeling pretty drained again but do not have any jobs to do. A day off!  Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!  Ha!  Like I don’t get enough days off…   I just seem to need this day to recoup. Thursday has become my Sunday. The day I reflect, and express, and rest, and heal.

Those of you who follow me on twitter and facebook already know that Celt’s Prophecy will be coming home.

Celt’s Prohecy (Pro) at 1 year in Arizona

Not sure when this will take place, but its definite.   Lots of details to work out but I am anxious. I must say after having to leave him behind and struggling through his mothers disease and death, after trying to leave it all behind, I am so thankful that Pro is coming home. I guess I made my own destiny when I started some 11 years ago to produce this colt. I thought I was working on the future of the Spanish Mustang breed. Seems though I was working on my future with one special horse. Instead of improving the breed, Pro has served to improve who I am and who I will become.

Short synopsis:

I bred quality Spanish Mustangs, individuals that many people admired. I saw a decline in a certain type and quality with in the breed and set out to do something about it. In the process and due to decisions I lost all but one of  my founding stock. A mare named Celt’s Kindlewood.

(Celt’s Kindlewood 3 months before being put down due to DSLD/ESPA complications)

She actually belonged to my daughter Heather and I  watch sentinel over the mare. Having done all the right things, allowing her to mature to 5 years before riding her, training her slowly over her entire lifetime, became one with her, giving her the best care. finding the right stallion to breed her to and acquiring him having negotiated for two years on related stock and waiting for his arrival for an additional year.  All very carefully executed. Having done all the right things its comes down to a colt who was to carry the torch.  Celt’s Prophecy – not the end result but the beginning of the future. A colt who will be gelded and become a backyard buddy. Why you ask?  Because after all that, Kindlewood came down with DSLD/ESPA, a degenerative systemic disease believed to be inherited.   DSLD/ESPA (video of the diesese) sometimes never raises its ugly head, or not until a horse is aged. However, sometimes it takes young horses by surprise. It took Kindlewood at age eight.  All my plans went out the window because I cannot allow my horses to pass this horrible painful disease into the breed.  I’m convinced that the breed already has its share of the disease floating through its DNA as does most all modern breeds and there is no way to test for it at this time to be sure.  It’s just safer to geld Pro, hope that he stays sound, and hope that others who discover the disease in their bloodlines will do the same with their breeding stock.

Kindlewood died Halloween of 2008 as an eight your old  mother of  the future.  Irony,  “Future”,  my greyhound died two weeks later.

Kathy Freymiller of Kickapoo Center Farm graciously took Pro from me to help me out.  I just was not able to bring him to Colorado with me. I had exhausted my resources trying to save his mother and was now in debt over my head. I thought Pro was gone for certain and my horse days were gone with him.  Then…

I get an email from Kathy, and my life has taken another turn. Just like that! Snap your fingers Pro comes home and things are different than they ever would have been.

Reborn…I seem to be reborn every few months lately.  Horses are back… but this time in a very different way. More like it was when I was a child with Chiefy, my gelding companion while I was growing up.  Pro and I will explore life’s gifts together. I get a second chance to  grow up. Only this time I have the wisdom to not “quite” grow up…

My old best friend Asad, during my grown up days, and his grandson Prophecy my new childhood cohort.  I promise we will be into all kinds of mischief. I promise not to grow up.

My senses are completely overwhelmed with gratitude.  I have been so humbled, I am so humble. Thank you from the very depths of my soul!

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I probably should be out walking, or doing something rather more productive than posting a blog today.  But something just happened that could very possibly change my life forever.

On a whim I decided to visit a website of a Master of Horsemanship who entertains only a small group of people. Those who share a similar philosophy.  He doesn’t make himself available to the general public. You have to earn his trust just as you have to earn the trust of horse.

When I wrote my email of application to join his online forum based school, I figured  that I would be flat turned down.  I share his philosophy, but have trained in traditional styles most of my life.  However, I have been going through a life long change of application and personal relationship with horses.

The experience involved with the process of living with Spanish Mustangs (particularly the ones I lived with), and working with wild BLM mustangs (American Mustangs) changed me forever and basically ruined me for traditional horsemanship of, I think, every kind out there.  I don’t care if I ever ride a horse again.  Of course I would like to ride I love riding, but when it comes to my relationship with my horse, I really don’t care. I don’t want a horse for riding – that’s the point. If I ever get another horse he/she will be a companion, friend, co student.

I WANT TO SEE  WHERE OUR RELATIONSHIP CAN GO AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM ONE ANOTHER, NOT WHAT MY HORSE CAN DO FOR ME OR FOR HIS BREED – I WANT TO GROW WITH MY HORSE AND WITHIN MYSELF.

I truly have been changed where horses are concerned. Horses like Asad

and Kindlewood

changed me for life.  They were friends and we sometimes went riding together. I was never alone or needed human companionship when either of them and I were together.  They new things about me no one will ever know or understand. I believe it was same in return.  Looking into their eyes there was equality between us.  I became over protective.  That became my personal down fall. I thought I could protect them. I believed it – too much ego involved there.  We all fell.

With all that aside, I know my days with horses are not over.  I’m not sure I’ll own a horse again. (OWN) Yeah okay – I’m not sure I will share that intimate life long experience with one certain horse ever again. Then again maybe I will.  That part of my life is up in the air.  I can tell you this…

…if i travel down this road with this Master I will not be involved with exploiting horses for any reason or for anyone ever again.

I am honored to be accepted into the online forum school of  Nevzorov Haute Ecole – the school of  learning from the Horse Kingdom.

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Short but not forgotten.

Check it here.  Then visit Akal Ranch, Tired Dog Ranch and Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch blogs for more Gratitude.

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My internet is going to go offline sometime today. So thought I’d post one last Arizona post before my move to Colorado  tomorrow. Looks like I’m on schedule. Cleaning bathroom now. Outside work is done. Will begin loading truck soon. Then finish cleaning up the room. I can’t believe it – I am moving. Finally after so many years of indecision. I’m moving and will be closer to Heather and Malcolm…

…my family.

I heard from Kathy about Pro and he is settled into a boarding facility in Utah. The facility owner seems quite taken with him and sees the difference between a BLM Mustang and a Spanish Mustang.  That is what I loved about my particular SM’s you knew they were different. They exuded quality.  Pro definitely does all of that and then some.  I won’t stop worrying about him though until he is safe at Kathys home. When Pro left here he was sleek shiny and full of vigor. (In near show quality shape with hooves trimmed, shots,  wormed, and bathed with a new halter and fly mask). I expect him to be scarred up (from stud colt fights) , much thinner, and somewhat subdued and a tangled mess when he arrives at Kathy’s.  Kinda breaks my heart to be honest.  But she will put him back in tip top shape in no time.

Once I get to Colorado and get settled I’ll get back online to give an update.

See ya all back here soon!

S

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CELT’S PROPHECY

Sire: The Spirit of Bear Paw ( Sangrea Real x Twitckwa)

Dam: Celt’s Kindlewood (Azul’s el Milagro al Asad x La Senorita de Madrid)

30 months old

Loaded up onto a six horse trailer at 5:30 pm June 20, 2009. What in April of 1996 came to be…  has now drifted on in the veins of the black young stallion.

It’s a tough day.

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Well its final Kathy Freymiller of Kickapoo Center Farm a Spanish Mustang breeder, SMR newsletter editor, and SM enthusiast will be taking Pro to her farm to be raised up among her herd. I am very excited as I feel she will do every thing in her power to assure that Pro is safe and remains within the SMR family.

Pro is a very tough character, remember how he attacked my truck at 4 months of age (?), well let’s just say he is a tough character and let it go at that. The plan is for him to go to the Cayuse in Oshoto Wyoming to spend some time in a bachelor band while getting some knocks in life and hopefully gain some respect. If I were to keep him I’d just deal with it until he grew up some. His grandpa was similar and turned out to be a sweetheart in the end. But since Pro is leaving my control I do worry some. However it is likely that he will be gelded so I’m feeling a little better about things. It still will all up to Kathy, he will be her horse to do with as she pleases. What I am excited about is that I will be able to follow his development and maybe see my boy grown up after all.

Thank you Kathy for stepping forward and doing what it takes to make Pro’s future bright. HUGS girl! You are the BEST!

I want to thank Chris Thompson in the UK for offering to help out with Pro if nothing else gelled. Chris you too are another dear friend and I appreciate you immensely.

I want to thank Terry Barrall, for always stepping up to be a friend when I come crashing down with Pro. She knows from personal experience what I have been going through and has tried to be supportive wherever she can. Someone to talk to. Thank you Terry. You held me together many times.

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Horse Trailer is a smaller 2h straight load in good serviceable condition. Needs new tires. Come pick it up for $750.00 and haul my registered Spanish Mustang stud colt, Celt’s Prophecy, home for free. (quality home is required). Check out the link above for more info.

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Yes it’s official after talking with Heather on the phone this morning we both agreed to leave Pro behind.  I was emailing with Simrat about it and told her that I have been holding on too long to keep Kindlewood for Heather, protecting that mare and her training just so that Heather would have a good solid horse whenever she was in a position to have a horse.  That has not occurred in the 9 1/2 years that I have been trying to be the keeper of her horse dream.  Then Kindlewood passed. Prophecy was born bring my dreams from the past into the the present. I find myself trying to keep those dreams and goals alive through him, when in reality I have withdrawn from the emotional side of horses and am not really there for him.  It just doesn’t make sense.  So even though a small part of me is very sad, and a bit lost letting Pro go, a larger part of me is ecstatic to be out from under the horse life pressure.  Just the thought of being out from under the pressure has lifted a huge burden off my shoulders.

So with a HUGE sigh of relief… I let go of the old and grasp the new and launch myself out into the sky and learn how to fly.  How exhilarating is that!

Obviously many discussions on this blog will be on new and exciting adventures as my life metoporhisis’s  with change and new passions. It has taken quite a beating for me to finally let go and let life in.  Sometimes awareness can be quite surprising not to mention the realization of what it takes to become aware.  GRINNING BIG!  I’m happy and feel…

FREE….

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