Happy April!

By Gayle Carline
Horse Lover, Author, and Eternal Optimist

Welcome to spring! We have birds nesting in our patio, flowers blooming in our yard, and the horses are all shedding their winter coats. I began contributing to this blog on the fourth Saturday of the month, but over time, I've drifted to the first. Don't know how it happened, but this month, I can give you a post on April Fool's, Easter, or Passover.

Dealer's choice, as they say.

April is a significant month for me. Snoopy was born on the 28th, and two days after his fourth birthday, he broke his leg. Trust me, I remember it well.

Today seems like a good time to re-visit one of those days, either his birth or his injury. Since I am the eternal optimist, I choose the happier of those two. I could tell you the story of Snoopy's birth, but I think I'll let him tell you how it happened:

* * * (Excerpted from FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH: ONE LUCKY MEMOIR)

I don’t remember much about my birth, but when I was little, Mom used to tell me the story of the night I was born. I love Mom. She’s so pretty. She is a bright, bright chestnut, but she has stripes of white hairs on her tummy, a blaze on her face and a big white spot on top of her tail.

Most of all, she has the most beautiful voice I ever heard. It’s soft and low and she would let me snuggle against her every night while she whispered in my ear. She usually told me stories at night. I think she was afraid of the dark, but she never told me that. Instead, she would tell me a story.

“On the night you were born, the sun had just started going down on the most perfect of days. My Gayle came to the ranch early and got me out of the stall. She curried and brushed me and cleaned my hooves. She talked as she groomed me. I love to listen to her. I have listened to all her stories. That day, however, she was talking about me, how big I was and how slow I had become.

“It was true, I felt bigger than any draft horse. My belly was so full of you, I thought I might burst. Gayle walked me around the arena a few times. It was nice in the sunshine, even though I grew tired. She took me back to the barn, where our groom Hilde wrapped my tail so it would not get in the way in case I gave birth that day.

“I’ll be honest with you, Son—I was frightened. You are my one and only baby and I knew you were large. I was afraid I would not be able to push you out. Horses usually have their babies alone, late at night. It is our tradition, from years of being wild. We leave the herd to quietly lie down and foal, then get the baby up and back to the herd as quickly as possible. If it’s not safe to have our baby, we can even hold back the birth until the time is right.

“By early evening, Gayle was still at the ranch. Our trainer, Miss Tina was there, too. I heard Gayle ask Miss Tina if a horse’s water breaks when they give birth. I realized this was my opportunity to have you while they were there to help. I relaxed and my water broke.

“Miss Tina laughed and said, ‘It looks just like that.’”

This is where Mom would stop talking and lick my neck. Sometimes I was asleep by then. If I wasn’t, I would ask, “What happened then?”

She would continue. “I could tell the first time I pushed, there was something wrong. You were stuck. I got up a couple of times and turned around, then lay down again, hoping you were rearranged. I love you, dear, but you were klutzy, even in the womb.

“Miss Tina saw my distress and stepped into the stall. She felt around inside me and found the problem. One of your hooves was folded back. You need both front feet pointed forward in order to slide out. She straightened your hoof, then helped me by pulling. I was already getting tired.

“At last, even Miss Tina was tired, so she told Gayle, ‘Get in here and help out.’ Gayle stepped in to the stall and took one of your legs. Miss Tina held the other. I pushed, they pulled and quick as a racehorse, you were out and cuddled up next to me, like you are now.”

“And Gayle is my MomToo, right?” I’d ask each time.

“Right.”

I loved hearing that story. Of course, I don’t remember any of it as it happened. All I remember is opening my eyes, like I’d been asleep but couldn’t remember the dream. I could feel Mom’s warm body beside me and I could see MomToo in the doorway of the stall. She looked pretty blurry, but I think she was happy.

* * * 

Happy Easter and/or Passover, everyone!

Baby Snoopy (1 month), Frostie, and me.

Happy...

                                                            by Laura Crum

            Spring has really sprung in my garden, and everything is blooming…which makes me very happy.

                                     

            I am currently completely absorbed in my most recent (and most ambitious) garden project. Digging a BIG hole in a perfectly good driveway.

            In the end it’s meant to be a pool, lined with natural stone, where the water is filtered and cleaned by water lilies and reeds rather than chlorine. Because we have a small place, it will be a small pool, more of a water hole, really. But big enough to get in. And just in scale with our very small houses (750 sq feet and 550 sq feet, respectively).

            So, I am not riding much right now. But I hope to get back to it when the pool is finished and see a few more views like this one (from our ride last week).

            As for the rest of you, I hope you are seeing many lovely views through the ears, and I wish you a very happy Easter and a happy spring. Cheers--Laura

Have a Free Book--Happy Spring!

                                   by Laura Crum

            Since this is the official first day of spring—by the calendar—though it has been spring at my place for awhile—I thought I’d offer the second title in my mystery series for free. Happy spring to all! Hoofprints has always been one of the most popular books in the series—it was the runner-up in my recent reader poll. So, for those who are interested in a fun mystery centering around western cowhorses, with a down-to-earth horse vet as a heroine, and some nefarious trainers and owners forming the cast of characters, along with some absolutely realistic horses, here’s a chance to try the book for free. The Kindle edition of Hoofprints will be free for three days—March 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd—in honor of the vernal equinox. Here is the link, if you’d like to try it.

            I know some of you have read this book already, and I would really welcome your comments letting me (and everyone else) know what you thought of the book—weaknesses as well as strengths. I’d also be very grateful for any reviews you would post on Amazon as well as Goodreads. These reviews are really important to authors nowadays.

            And now, at Alison’s special request and in celebration of spring—here are some photos of my garden in March.

            The vegetable garden at dawn with the plum tree in full bloom.

            Plum blossom—one of the loveliest and most reliable signs of spring.

                                      Algerian iris.

            Henry enjoying spring in the garden.

                   Raindrops on roses.

            Early flowers on rose “Crepuscule” (means “Twilight” in French, right Cesca?). This rose flowers reliably both early in the spring and in autumn for me, as well as its lavish May/June flowering.

            The veggie garden is productive as well as beautiful.

            Happy Spring! I hope you give Hoofprints a try for free. And please, do share this with others--on your blog, website, facebook page or, gasp, in real life. Its a fun read--and right now it doesn't cost a cent.

A Few of My Favorite Things

by Laura Crum

Its been raining a lot lately, and I haven’t gotten to do much (make that any) riding for a couple of weeks. I also haven’t been able to get out in my garden much. We had such good weather throughout January and early February (when I wrote about riding the trails and the beach) that I am really spoiled and am now whining about what is very normal spring conditions here. Anyway, I wanted to do a post about things I love about my horses and garden—just to cheer myself up.

Many of us have written on this blog about not being able to ride as much as we want (or at all) for various reasons. A bad back or other injuries, too busy, the weather, fear issues, lame horses…etc. I have been subject to all these things from time to time, and even though I love my trail rides and have written about them often, I have to say that it’s the day to day living with horses that means the most to me. Horses as part of my garden, as it were. I like feeding and doing the chores, I like watching my horses turned loose to graze on the property, and I also like puttering around on their backs, sometimes with camera in hand, snapping things that look appealing in the garden. This is something I hope I can do even when I’m old—it doesn’t take much skill or athletic ability and its lots of fun.

I know I’ve mentioned here before that I love my garden, but perhaps I haven’t happened to confess that I’m pretty obsessive about roses. My passion for old garden roses is right up there with my passion for horses. I grow over a hundred varieties of roses here in this tangled, wild garden, as well as many native Californian plants, Mediterranean plants and bulbs—just to name the main players.

So here are some photos taken before the rain started, showing my garden in early spring.

My son’s horse, Henry, grazing in our riding ring at 23 years of age. For those who have started reading this blog recently, I bought Henry when hewas 19 and he remains perfectly sound and a wonderful, bombproof riding horse for my kid. He had colic surgery right as he turned 21 to remove an enterolith that was as big as a cantalope (its on my mantel—the ten thousand dollar rock), and has been as good as ever since he came back from this. Henry is the sort of horse that is almost impossible to find. Sound, absolutely gentle and reliable, confident trail horse, with good smooth gaits. We love him to death.

My trail horse, Sunny, grazing—this is his early spring color. He’s much darker gold when he sheds out. As you can see, neither of my trail horses are anything fancy, and should probably not be spoken of in the same breath as the sort of horses that Jami, Francesca and Terri are looking at buying. Mine are just a couple of hairy, sturdy little yaks who are great on the trails. They are both quite happy to have turn out time on grass instead of being ridden, thank you very much. But when I don’t have time or the inclination for a long ride, I often climb on them and walk and jog around the place, enjoying spring in the garden. That is, when its not pouring (which it is now).

So here are a couple of my early roses, shot from Sunny’s back.

Rose “Belle Story” by my front porch. Flowers very early in the spring—every year .

Rose “Mutabilus” reaches for the sky over my back porch. This one blooms all year round here.

The pond in early spring. The water iris will bloom later. The water lilies later still.

Laura and Sunny—note the sandals and halter. This is how unprofessional I am. Just puttering around on my horse in the sunshine. It takes me right back to my teenage years, when I loved to ride bareback in shorts and a bathing suit and sandals. Of course, I don’t look quite the same. But its all in how you feel, right? My husband insisted on taking this picture because he thought I looked silly riding in sandals. Thus my somewhat sulky expression. And yes, I do realize that it is not PC attire or gear, but this is the beauty of owning a couple of truly reliable riding horses. They may not be fancy, but they are highly unlikely to dump me—even bareback and with the halter and sandals.

Are there any other rose lovers out there? And do some of you, like me, like to putter around the garden on your horses? It’s a sedate, old lady pleasure in reality, I guess. I’m not galloping along as I would have at sixteen. Still, I’m having fun. Anybody else do this?

Also, do you guys enjoy these posts that are mostly photos? I have enjoyed seeing your photos on your blogs, but haven’t posted many photos myself in the past, mostly because my old computer wasn’t up to the task. Now I have a new computer (new to me) that will post photos. (Though as you can see by the placement of Henry's photo, I still haven't quite got this process down.) So, I’m curious—are posts with photos, or posts that are mostly photos, preferred, or do you like the “writing” posts better? And if you do like photos, what sort of things do you enjoy seeing photos of? Mainly horses? Or other things, too? I know I have very much enjoyed seeing photos that showed the landscape and gave the “feeling” of the various places that people and their horses call home. But maybe I’m the only one that has this thing for looking at roses? (I confess that I go to old rose websites and browse—so I’m kind of obsessed.) Any thoughts?