I live on a small ranch. Just 13 acres, but enough room for my daughter to ride her horse without feeling like she was riding in the backyard. That was the whole point of leaving suburbia. She was head over heels in love with horses. After more than a year of taking riding lessons, she wanted a horse of her own. I actually first started taking her to ride a horse when she was 4 years old. She started taking lessons when she was six. Yes, horse dirt is in her DNA.
My daughter’s first pets when we moved to the ranch were 2 kittens from the animal shelter; the horse came later. When you have a barn, you must have cats. And, although all of my cats were spayed or neutered, somehow my cats multiplied. As it turns out, word apparently gets around when cat life is good. All kinds of stray cats started showing up. Over the years, some cats disappeared, but more always came. It seems that the perfect number of cats at my place is seven. Currently, there is Grey, Smudge, Prissy, Coral, Malibu, Beau, and Mickey.
When you have a ranch, you simply must have dogs to watch over it. They will always tell you when something is going on. Currently, we have a hunting dog, Hank, who, sure enough, hunts everything. I’m not sure if his favorite things to hunt are frogs or squirrels. We also have a Belgian Sheepdog, Hannah. Without sheep to watch, she watches everything else. Apparently, she also makes a great partner in crime. When it comes to mischief, it is nearly impossible to tell who started it, but they are both very guilty of participation. And last, but not least, is Scooby, a rat terrier mix. He appointed himself as the enforcer. If someone needs correcting, Scooby does not hesitate to act. Which is why I think he barks at the rain and thunder; I think he wants it go away. He will bark all day and all night until it is gone.
Currently, I have just one bird. She is a white female peacock. She had a mate, but he meet with an untimely death about a year ago. They were the last pair of a group of about 12 birds. I was raising them, kind of as a hobby. They were fun to watch since they ran free around the property. At one point, they were causing problems by scratching the paint on vehicles. Shiny black paint and peacocks apparently don’t mix.
Of course we have horses; three to be exact. Two of them belong to my daughter, and the other one is mine. I love the fact that my little girl got to grow up riding her very own horse. He was, for a long time, her very best friend. An unbelievable color that reminds you of a newly minted penny, Copenhagen is a Quarter Horse that came from a ranch in Abilene. It is an unusual name for a little girl’s horse, but I figured, somehow he earned that name, so we kept it. There was nothing that he would not do for her; he would have earned “best all-around horse” if he was ever entered in such a competition.
My daughter competed a lot as an eventer. Copenhagen gave her the confidence she needed to conquer each level of competition. When he could not move to the next level with her, we bought her a bigger and younger horse, Duke. Duke was a seasoned eventer when we bought him, and he challenged her to ride her best.
My horse, Ben, allowed me to ride along on many adventures with my daughter. Ben is a teddy bear of a horse. Pretty eyes and a sweet loveable personality, he is fun to hug. He has an appetite like no horse I have ever seen, and he will follow you to the ends of the earth if he thinks you are hiding a treat from him.
My animals are like family members to me; they all have a special place in my heart. Even the goldfish that live in my water trough and my fish pond. They are ultimately a lot of work, but I can’t imagine life without them. If you have pets, I’m sure you understand.
I hope you will join me next Saturday as I tell you more about them.
Psalms 8:6-8 You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
