Day 72 July 31,2011

I keep forgetting that there isn't a program that I have to turn a video so you all have to lay on your side to watch Dino supplement his diet w/ cardboard. and the horse will demand that I pay attention to him and you be back upright again.  

Day 71 July 30,2011

Well, I guess its true for donkeys also the water is better from the toilet.

Day 70 July 29,2011

How can you not love this soft muzzle. That gets INTO EVERYTHING.

Day 69 July 28,2011

Chester used to have a goat to keep him company. She was as thick headed and as stubborn as this donkey. She used to eat cigarette butts and eat the ashes out of the fire pit. Why? Hell if I know.

Donkey has never met goat, she passed away a month before he arrived. So when I saw him playing with the ashtray is made me wonder if she left him a note that he was to keep the ashtrays clean. Or is this just some strange coincidence that horse's companions like to get into the same things?

Day 68 July 27,2011

I come home the other day, I walk up to my roommates room to tell her I'm home and this is what I find. Horse watching TV with my roommate and her boyfriend. I wonder if Chester enjoyed watching Nurse Jackie as much as we did?

Day 67 July 26,2011

Another crazy photo. We met a man TALLER than horse. This dude is 7'4".
I love how he makes horse look so small.

Day 66 July 25,2011

This here is Mother Theresa, who saved my ass when Horse thew me the 1st time while we were on the greenbelt 5 years ago.
I was dumped on the trail and he took off like a bat outta hell. He was heading home and fast. I was scared shitless, home was 8 blocks & across a very busy street away.
 She was sitting watching TV she heard his  thundering hoofs on the pavement and she knocked her friend off the couch & flew out the door and yelled "HEY Where are You going?" at horse as he ran by. He stopped, looked at her, turned around and walked right up to her as if he was on a leisurely walk in the neighborhood. She had her kids give him treats while she went looking for me on the trail on her sons BMX bicycle.
I was so worried about horse and Theresa was worried about me. Her house became a MUST STOP for horse for a few years till she moved. I haven't seen her for a year or so now. He was very happy to see her. As he was rubbing his head all over her clean T-shirt she was telling me how much she loved him and she still has the photo I gave her as a Thank You present and that he wasn't a horse but a human in a horses body.

I got a tag for his bridle that very next day and carried my cell phone with me. As I mentioned in Day 40.

Day 65 July 24,2011

I was talking about his hoof prints a while back in my damages tangent.

Here it is on a fresh blacktop. You won't need a boy scout to follow our tail. ha ha typo but I will leave it. 

Day 64 July 23,2011

O.K. one last stop to visit my neighbors pot bellied pigs.

Day 63 July 22,2011

Almost home this is our driveway. If you look close there is someone who is way back there who doesn't belong.

Day 62 July 21,2011

Heading back home, Back through suburbia. If the kids want to visit he will stop but not really so into it. His attention span is way short, he is really not in the mood to visit now. He must get home to his donkey who misses him SO MUCH.

Day 61 July 20,2011

The end of the trail back up the hill to reality.

Day 60 July 19,2011

Ha, look at our shadow he looks like some critter in Star Wars.  er sumthin

Day 59 July 18,2011

Here is an area we used to have our arguments.
He wouldn't cross this bridge for the life of him till someone walking by walked on it and he was like all of a sudden Oh look I'll follow that person she looks nice. Goof

Day 58 July 17,2011

Look at his ears. 

Do you see how one is forward looking at the stairs and the other is off to the left?  Well, he is questioning me and he has every right. 

No, I would never take this horse down the stairs. Donkey though on the other hand no problem. He can stand on 2 legs a horse needs 3 to keep his balance. 

Day 57 July 16,2011

Brain of horse….
Whats that?
 I must stop and look!
Don't I know them?
Did I hear my name?
Are they coming to see me?

Yes, he knows them, and they know him. We have been running into this family now for a few years.

Day 56 July 15,2011

With a Big Horse you will run into obstacles like this. Now an average sized horse the rider can duck and both will clear easily.
Um, not us! Hell, horse alone couldn't walk under this branch.

Day 55 July 14,2011

I love this car. It is located right next to the trail and was probably in someones backyard or this was an area where farmers would just dump their junk. Either way I find this so beautiful and yes romantic, I'm so happy that they left this car here, for me it is a part of our history of how life was way back when.

Day 54 July 13,2011

This here is "Little Big Man" we would go and visit him on our rides. This was the one and only time we ever saw him out on the trail.
This guy lost his home to a developer a few years ago. Not much land for animals left around here. For some stupid reason folks need to build their McMansions on a property where you can have livestock.
Thankfully there is a boom of folks wanting to have a sustainable living so there are chickens, goats and gardens popping up everywhere. And they have discovered our little city here, where there are still little farms here and that means that these wonderful little farms will stay just that and no McMansions will be built.

Day 53 July 12,2011

The crazy things you will see washed down the creek.

Day 52 July 11,2011

He found this man and dog fascinating. We had to stop to watch them for 10 min.
Here is a fact I never told you about horse, he also has a thing for dogs. We will be riding the trail and he wants to meet not only people but dogs.
And there are many dogs who have never seen a horse. So Chester is the best horse for their first experience.
  I will always let dogs meet Chester, I find that he is the best horse for a dog to learn that you don't have to be afraid but respect a horse.
He will just put his nose down to sniff noses and if a dog starts to bark at him, he will look at them and the dog will stop.
Hell if I know what he says to them. This horse is a one of a kind.
 I have never  known an animal like him.

Day 51 July 10,2011

Here you can see my cell phone in my boot, Just incase Mr. Wonderful decides to just leave me behind.
See those lips of his?  He thinks I'm gonna share my granola bar with him.

Day 50 July 9,2011

This photo is such a misinformation campaign.
I'm 5' 3" and 1/4 Thank you very much.

Horse is 16.2 hands. That is in people measurements from his wither 5' 5" (the bump between neck and back) He weighs a whopping 1400 lbs. He is a BIG horse.  All of his equipment is large, I have to go to the Lane Bryant section for this horse.
But in this photo I look big and he looks like a little pony.

Day 49 July 8,2011

Kids have no fear. Parents DO!  I guess it is a good thing, they don't know me or the horse. I know my horse and I know he wouldn't move or kick a kid.   Don't ever run up to a horse. But to be safe I always tell kids they have to wear shoes around him, Stay up front, never walk behind or under him and if you must walk behind a horse always have your hand on him and talk to him.That way he will know where you are at all times. He doesn't have eyes in the back of his head like your mother.

But what irks me is a parent putting their fears on a kid.
 But as I said they don't realize I taught kids about livestock for 9 years in Berlin.

Day 48 July 7,2011

More love. I have had kids just grab onto his leg and give him a BIG hug and he won't move an inch.
And the crazy thing is this horse has thrown me we have arguments (temper tantrums) about where we want to ride.
The trick is with him is to make him think that what you want to do is HIS IDEA!
 He will start to dance in place Piaffe (A highly, collected, measured, elevated and cadenced trot on the spot. The movement in the trot is alternate diagonals) The Piaffe is his favorite thing to do  or he will do a Pirouette (When the hindlegs stay in almost the same spot and the forehand move around them, either in a collected walk or a high degree of collection in canter) He does a revised version of this and he basically canters in place. This one he should not be doing in his old age, very hard on his back and legs. But try to tell that to a horse who is insisting I want to go this way and not that way.
He can be very unpredictable But around kids the idiot in him just seems to leave.

Day 47 July 6,2011

 For a horse who has never been around kids all of his life he has taken to them like a duck to water. He has been either in a show barn, on the tour circuit or out to pasture. So when I got this horse a few years ago I truly had no idea how much he loves kids and dogs.

I don't have kids, so it was a shock to me when we started to ride on the green belt. He would walk right up to them as if he was part of their heard. 

Here you can see the love he has for these little humans.

Day 46 July 5,2011

Here we are the head of the trail over 200 acres of greenbelt.

Day 45 July 4, 2011

As you can see here horse loves the attention.  He will lower his head for a child every time.  They can put their fingers in his ears, nose and mouth. He will put up with it all. And he will nudge you for more and almost knock you over if you do not have a good center of gravity.

Day 44 July 3,2011

 I had to add this most wonderful woman in this trail ride series.
This here is Shirley she was 93 yrs old when I took this photo. Chester adored her and she him. This is the woman who's house he would almost trip over his own feet straining his neck looking for her to come out to visit him.
She had this habit of collecting cats, I think she had a total of 30. All of the stays would wind up at Shirley's house. She would nurse them to health and get them fixed.
I loved this woman But I think horse loved her more than I.

She passed away a few years ago. It broke his heart he had such a hard time he would walk up to her door looking for her. 

I felt I had to add this wonderful woman who touched our heart very deeply. 

So in a way I am cheating using a few year old photo and with a camera that was a P.O.S.

Shirley we both think of you every time we ride by your house 

Rest in Peace 

Day 43 July 2, 2011

TRAIL RIDES!!!!
Yes, you all will get to join me on a trail ride.
I have 8 blocks I have to ride through suburbia to get to the greenbelt. Chester knows who lives where and who wants to visit with him, who has treats, and where the children live.
He will strain his neck as we are walking by a house he knows looking for someone to come out. He has his favorite people. And he will stop dead in his tracks when he hears his name yelled and turn around and walk right up to the person who called him.
I have never known such a personable horse.
Now you know why I need the carbide on his shoes.
Metal shoes very slippery on pavement and very dangerous.
And the result, one hurt Jill.

Day 42 July 1,2011

He looks like a camel here bless his fuzzy nosy nose.