Carly....That's how much I knew about her....

Her name is actually KARLY (not Carly). Her actual name is Ryan Day Karly Lyn. Now, I do not pretend to know why any breeder would put that many names on ANY horse, but they do. They are usually some combination of the sire and the mare. In this case, it is that and then some. In any event, I convinced Eric to take her as a rescue...an "easy keep" as we horse people like to say. That is a horse that requires not much of anything. Karly stays out to pasture and that is it. $200 a month in boarding and that is it. Oh yes, quarterly hoof trimming ($60) and 1 annual vet visit. No big one, right?

Guess again.

Within the first week we owned her, she colicked. That is what happens when horses get sick. They cannot throw up so if they get sick, their intestines and colon get backed up, twisted or something in between and it can cause them to die. Many times, they do. And the process is fast. I got a call from the barn owner that Karly was "down" (not a good thing). When horses are down, they are sick. Not that they never lay down, but she was clearly in pain. When this happens, you call the vet and try to get the horse up and walking. I got there as soon as I could and spent the next hour, while waiting for the vet, walking her around to try to keep her on her feet. This is protocol with colick. As soon as I would stop walking her, she would go down. We would get her up and repeat the process. Finally, I knew she was just going to collapse so I brought her into a stall, let her go down and prayed for the vet to get there.

She did. She examined Karly and made a determination that she had a blockage. We got some meds on board and "tubed" her. This is sticking a hose down the nose into the stomach and flushing with an oil/water combo to determine if there was a twist in her gut. If the water comes flushing out her other nose, she has one and we would have to put her down. She did not have a twist so we sedated her and spend the next 24 hours walking her every 2 hours and keeping her well sedated. The long and short of it is she made it. It took three days but she is back to her old gentle self.

However, our "easy keep" that would only cost us $200 a month ended up costing us nearly a thousand dollars the first week we owned her. She is still my gentle giant. I love her and I love my husband who works so hard for me to keep her.

Until next time...

Carly....

Carly. My new horse. She is a Percheron. That meant nothing to me, either...until I saw one for myself. They are a draft horse. What's that, right! Well, let's call her a work horse. A carriage horse. Not quite a Clydsdale, but not far from it. She is dappled, white and grey...a real beauty. She stands about 18+ hands at her withers (shoulders) which makes her about 6 feet tall at her shoulder and according to Eric, add another two feet on for her head and she stands at her tallest point, about 8 feet tall. Her feet are the size of luncheon plates - literally. To put it all into perspective, a normal horses foot is the size of a tea cup saucer. So, with her proportion described, I will tell my story.

I have spent the better part of the last couple weeks trying to befriend Carly. At first I would just go out to the field and stand there with my hands behind my back (always with treats in my pockets) and wait for her to come to me. Let her smell me, size me up and then I would offer her a treat. If I reached to pet her she would back up...very timid. But as the days passed, she stayed a little longer each time, came a little quicker and spent more time looking at my eyes and resting her head on my head (it is quite a heavy head, but if she was willing to use me for a head rest, I was willing to let her). A few days ago when I reached out to pet her, she let me. As a matter of fact, she let me for more than 15 minutes before she began to back away. When I returned the next day, again after some time, I reached out to pet her and she again allowed me to. Now mind you, if you want to befriend a horse, you need three things...1) love 2) patience and 3) treats and lots of them. I reward her for coming to me. I reward her for looking when I call her name. I reward her for allowing me to pet her...and if she goes away and I call her AND she returns, she gets treats for that. Essentially she is associating me with kindness and treats. Both of which she needs.

Tonight, I went there and took her halter, which is the thing you put over their head to lead them around, and went out to the pasture. She came right to me....reward. I tried to get the halter on her and she turned away...no reward. She came back to me...reward. I tried again and she backed away...no reward. The third time I tried she allowed me to do it, but a problem that I hadn't considered arose. Her head is taller than I can reach at a full arm stretch so I couldn't get the thing OVER her big head. I pushed and shoved it back over her ears until it slipped into place....BIG rewards for her for that one! Then I led her out of the pasture for the first time (she has been out of the pasture, but never with me). We tied her on cross ties in the barn which was pretty funny in itself. She took up the entire barn...front to back and darn near side to side! More rewards. Now Buddy is in the stall in the barn so now, simply by virtue of my being there and having treats, each time Carly earned one, Buddy got one. Which made him so happy! I was grooming her. She has fungus on her right back leg which was bleeding so I treated that. I groomed her and honest to Betsy, I could not groom her mane or back so I had to get a step stool and stand on that to groom her. But the whole point of this blog was to describe what happened when we gave her treats...which apparently I hadn't noticed out at pasture ever before. She dreuls....BAD. I went out to my car to get a mane comb and when I got back to the barn it looked like someone threw up. I said to Raechyl, "Did Carly throw up?" (for any horse lover out there you see the idiotic question here!). Rae says "Mom, horses can't throw up". So I said, "Did someone else throw up?" Rae says, "No, it is Carly dreuling!"....NO WAY! It was like three PUDDLES of I swear, throw up! Yellowish, slimy, puddled and splattered like throw up. Carly did it! The owners son was there and Justin says, "Carly is girgitating"... I said, "Don't you mean, regirgitating?" He laughs and says, "No, I mean girgitating!"...I finally got it and laughed. Carly is like a Newfoundland dog. The bigger the breed of dog, the bigger the jowel and the bigger the jowel, the more they dreul. I guess the same holds true with horses. Man, Carly is a complete slob! It was unbelievable. So, now Raechyl and her friends will not give Carly treats. "No, thank you, Mrs. Thieringer" they say. As for me, ah, what's a little spit between horse and owner!

Until next time...

No Comprende' Englaeso'.....

Welcome to America. Not my usual start to my blog but I couldn't help but think that when I left the bagel store with my two children in tow. A week ago we stopped at a local bagel store that we love for a special treat before school. We walked in, like so many times before. "May I have a plain bagel with sausage, egg and cheese please...(and pointing to a muffin I ask) and what kind of muffin is that?" The gentleman behind the counter went and got a plain bagel and went to the back and repeated the order to the cook (I assume) and came back to the counter where me and my two children were standing. Again, pointing to the same muffin in the case, I say "Can you tell me what kind of muffin this is?" He looked quizzical. "Muffin...what kind is it?"...He went to the muffin case, picked up the muffin and walked away saying, "butter?"....

"No...I don't want that muffin. I want to know what kind it is"...at which point he went and put the muffin back and stared at me...I am thinking I need to try a different approach. OK. I point at that same muffin and say "Is it cinnamon and sugar?" at which point he says "AAAHHH" and goes back over to the bagels and pulled out a cinnamon and sugar bagel and says "butter?"...UGH. "NO" I replied. "I don't want a bagel. I'm not even sure I want a muffin anymore. Can you tell me what flavor this bagel is?" at which point he confesses, "No comprehende' englaeso". Oh, now I get it. He has absolutely no idea what I am saying. So I get smart and said "does that man on the grill speak english?" More funny faces. I point to the back where the cook is cooking and say "English?" He says "no". OK. Two men in the store. Neither one speaks english and of course, my language was French, not spanish. HHmmmm...need a different approach - as my italian dander is getting ruffled. I pointed at the muffin and said "FLAVOR" real slow because we all know that when you speak English to someone who doesn't speak the language, if you say it loud and slow, somehow they will get it. "No" was his reply. OK, I start pointing to everything one at a time that were clearly evident as to what they were. "Plain....(pointing to the plain bagel) - cinnamon (pointing to the cinnamon one)...chocolate (pointing to the chocolate muffin...cherry (pointing to the cherry muffin)" then once again I pointed to the mystery muffin and say shrug my shoulders as if to say "What is it"? He says "ah!" as he rushes off to the back. Now I am wondering what on earth he is doing. He comes back about two minutes later with literally a CASE of muffins in the box that they came in and points to the side that says "pumpkin" and he had the biggest smile ever! "Yes! Pumpkin!" "Thank You" I tell him as I try to figure out how to tell him I don't want a pumpkin muffin! He goes in the back again and comes out and I say "No thank you...just the bagel" pointing in the back. He smiled. The cook brings out the bagel and I get some drinks and a coffee and he rings me up and the total is $5.33 (whew - minimum $5 charge and I have NO money). I hand him a credit card at which point he got that sad, sullen look on his face AGAIN and shrugged his shoulders and says "cash?" "No, I don't have cash - I only have a credit card". I am, at this point, looking at the clock realizing that we are now late for school. "Change?" he asks? "No (I repeat) I only have a credit card" and he says "first day" and I take the credit card and take him by the hand over to the credit card machine and I say "I show you"...

I swipe the card and say "see?" then pointed to the green "yes" button and say "push, see?" and then I go to the register with him and point to the sale amount and walk back over to the credit card machine and push 5.33 and say "see?" then pointed to the green yes button and say "push, see?" and waited. The receipt printed and he let out a sigh of relief and says "Yes!, Thank YOU!" and I sign the receipt and show him how to open the drawer to put the receipt away and take care of the next customer who was standing there the whole time smiling.

We took our stuff and walked out..."Someone in there should be able to speak english" I announce to my kids. "Well, mommy, maybe he just got here" says Rae. "Rae, I think if I were in Italy and spoke NO Italian I would be hard pressed to get a job". I thought to myself...once again...you can't make this stuff up!

Until next time...