Goodbye, Baby, I love you.

I love you, Baby

September 12, 1998- July 31, 2009


Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

-Author unknown
http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm

Our family dog Baby has been battling a tumor for several months and finally got to the point where she was very uncomfortable. It was a heartbreaking decision because she kept trying to be happy and perky. I took her to get her a puppy cone from Sheridans today as a last day treat and she sat in the front seat like she was the happiest dog in the world. But we knew she was in pain. My parents and sister and brother took her to the lake, her favorite place. They took her to the vet there and put her to sleep. She will be buried in her favorite spot at the lake, with a special stepping stone we made her. I love you Baby- you were a wonderful dog and a major highlight of my teenage years and adulthood. I will miss you terribly. I hope to meet again someday. I hope you are no longer in pain and have many squirrels to chase and can sunbathe all day. I am so sorry I couldn't save you.

Success and Not...

Well the last two weeks have been interesting. The weeds have been out of control in the round pen, so we have been doing more lunge line work and handling work (such as hoof picking, staying BACK instead of crowding me when I stop leading, backing up, turning his head when the lead rope is pulled to each side, and getting him to face up.

It seems for every good day of training we have, we have a rough day the next. Certain days, Tonka will work really hard and totally improve his skills, then other days, he will be SUPER testy, try to run me over, step on my feet, and dig his heels in when I ask him to move.

On the lunge line, I have had to resort to a knotted rope halter to get Tonka to quit trying to bolt away. He got away one day when we were still using the nylon halter and now tries it every time he is lunged. I will NOT let him get away again though. He is favoring his right side, in the sense that he doesn't want to run when his right side is facing out. This side is hard for everything. I'm really trying to work that side more, but he REALLY rebels when I make him turn that side out.

The other major thing we have been doing is getting Tonka to leave personal space and back up. He wants to be practically on top of you or running over you, which is extremely disrespectful and unsafe. He also is still wanting to turn his hind end at you occasionally, rather than keeping the two eyes on you. The part that makes this training difficult is, up until recently, he hasn't been responding to the light gestures with the whip stick- he actually has to be hit, pretty good, before he will move. Or in the case of backing up, the rope has to be shook REALLY hard to get him to back up. And tell me if this is odd.... there are days that when you apply pressure, he applies it right back!!!

So it's obvious this is going to be a difficult road. Hopefully soon, I will have the money to have some professional training done. I feel if I keep working with him though, and educating myself more, we can get quite a bit done. He does show many improvements already. Any advice is always appreciated!

Tonka

I have recently purchased my first horse, an appaloosa named Tonka. For those that know me, you know that I've loved horses my entire life. I thought I knew a lot about them...but I am finding out I just BARELY scratched the surface!

I enjoy a challenge though, and with some guidance and training videos, I'm learning quickly how to be a leader with my horse and train him to do what I need him to do. This summer, I plan on working him in the round pen as extensively as I can, and then in the fall, sending him off to be professionally broken in Oklahoma.

We will see how much ground work I can get done myself with the help of Randy, the landowner where Tonka lives, and Clinton Anderson training videos...wow that dude talks a lot! He's great...but I feel like I have to watch each video twice just to catch the video and audio.

Here's a little bit of background info, what I've received so far, from his landowner, Randy.

Tonka was brought to Randy's property 3 years ago when he was still a baby. His owners were in agreement to pay $50 a month to Randy to keep him there. (They paid for two months). They were working with Tonka, trying to get him broken themselves. They'd come out several times a week and run him in the round pen. One day, his owner ran him in the round pen for 10 minutes, threw a saddle on him, and then jumped on him. Tonka of course bucked and knocked the guy off. (Can't say I blame him). The owner broke 3 ribs and got kicked in the head as Tonka ran away. Needless to say, the owner never returned. He abandoned Tonka on that day and Randy continued to care for him as he was his own.

Next door to Randy, a friend of mine has two horses she is trying to work with to get ready to show. She caught up with me when she was inquiring to have some portraits done of her horses. (www.ccombsphotography.com) I was amazed at the fact she was still working with horses, and she invited me to help out. The land is only 5 minutes from my house so I began visiting every other day to help socialize the horses. One day, I saw Tonka and she informed me he was for sale. I debated for about a week and did research to figure out all of the logistics and if I could afford a horse. I decided I could and told Randy I wanted to buy him.

I immediately started working with him and try to go out to see him at least every other day. In one week, I could put him in the round pen, get him running, and within a minute he would turn his ear and eye towards me. I could stop him, and he would come to me immediately and follow wherever I went. He even would back up with me! I also worked on pulling his head to left or right until he would give. He now does this quite well and will often hold his head in the position with his chin resting at my elbow.

My health took a sudden fall two weeks ago and currently the doctors believe I have Crohn's Disease. I have been extremely depressed as I have not been able to get out there as much now and Tonka was making good, quick progress. I go in for a barrium test on Monday to hopefully confirm or ditch the current diagnosis and figure out good treatments. It's changed my diet immensly and I have lost 10 pounds already. It's good because I wanted to lose weight, but the diet sucks. I keep craving foods I used to eat and have to keep telling myself no.

I've been slowly trying to resume my evening visits to Tonka. Last night I went out and picked out his feet for the first time. He is onery and has made every "new" task a pain. He pulled his foot away or wouldn't pick it up so many times.... ug.... but I stuck with it and by the end had much more success. This will definitely become something we do A LOT more often. Now I know how to do it!

I plan on working him in the round pen this weekend with a saddle on. I will not be adding weight for a while yet, but want to see how he does. I also need to get him to go through each gait in the round pen so we can establish that I am still in control, no matter what his speed. So far, I can only get him to trot. If any of you experienced horse people have advice, please let me know.

There is a basic run down of Tonka. I will try to post some nice pictures of him in the next few weeks!