Oh, no! Sore Feet:

Me and my buddy BEFORE his sore feet!

The farrier came late yesterday afternoon to the ranch to trim horses. He removed Kanani's shoes and trimmed his feet. He came while I was in town having my taxes done. I had thought he would just check out Kanani's feet then return at a time when I could be there. But, he seems to be a very nice man, and he went ahead and did the work to save me the expense of another return trip.

This morning I took Kanani to the arena to play more games. He walked a little hesitantly on the way out there, but I decided to just turn him loose and see how he did. When he didn't seem to want to move around much or follow me, it seemed like a better idea to take him back to his paddock and wait a day or two for him to adjust to being without shoes. Sometimes when a horse has been shod and you remove the shoes, he may need a day or two to get used to going barefoot again.

Halfway back to the paddock, Kanani stopped and refused to go another step.

I coaxed. I cajoled. I offered him carrots.

The poor guy just stood there--raising first one foot, then another, clearly not wanting to put ANY of his feet down on the hard ground. The arena is all sand. But the walk back to the paddock is hard ground and has a few little rocks here and there and a bit of gravel.

I pushed and I pulled. I clucked and I begged. I raised my voice in a no-nonsense tone and slapped his rump--not hard but still a slap--with the end of the lead rope.

We went nowhere.

It was about 11:00 am and the sun was getting hotter and hotter.

In desperation--and thirst--after twenty minutes, I tossed the lead rope over his neck and left him standing there out in the open while I went to get a bucket of hay pellets, apples and carrots--AND my dressage whip.

He was stilling standing there in the same spot when I returned. Surely, he'll move now, I thought, tap-tapping him politely but insistently on the rump with the whip while I sought to urge him forward.

No, he wouldn't move. He was interested in the bucket but not enough to walk three steps up to it.

I tapped him a little harder then and spoke VERY sternly to him--and all he did was look at me with big hurt eyes.

Well, I've never actually whipped or beat a horse and I am not about to start now. So I gave up on the whip and decided to wait him out. (There's no pushing or shoving a 1500 hundred pound horse who doesn't want to move, in any case!)

Forty-five minutes later, we were still both standing there while he thought the whole thing over. By then, it was now past noon and I thought I might pass out under the glare of the hot sun.

Once again, I left him standing there and went to get my water bottle and my cell phone. I called the ranch owner who I hoped might be down at his house nearby. He was home and said he'd be up shortly and maybe together we could get him moving.

I trudged back to Kanani. I sighed. He sighed. And took one tiny step in the direction of the bucket.

Eureka! I gave him a piece of carrot. And moved the bucket another two steps away.

And so it went. One step at a time, toward the bucket and the paddock beyond.

Just as the owner came down the drive to help, Kanani finally stepped into his paddock and got the WHOLE bucket of goodies.

Inside his paddock, there are nice, soft rubber mats in the shady run-in shed. I don't think Kanani will venture off those mats until his feet feel a little better and ready for hard ground.

Tonight, I called the farrier and told him he better come back and put Kanani's shoes on. Maybe he's not a barefoot kind of horse.

"Call me, Monday," the farrier said. "If he isn't used to it by then, I'll come put them back on him."

Tonight, I cruised the internet to see how much Easy Boots cost and how long it will take for them to be shipped here. Easy Boots are just what they sound like--boots a horse can wear when he has tender or sore feet.

Tomorrow, I will give my poor guy a nice long massage in hopes it will take his mind off his feet and he will forgive me for all the pain of today--and for tapping on him with a whip and raising my voice when he really wasn't being disobedient or mean--he was just hurting!

Games People Play:

Hey, I'm a horse! I need to run!

While waiting for the rest of Kanani's tack to arrive, we have been playing games. The games are designed to let my big boy know that I am indeed his new "herd leader" and he can trust me. He has been a very willing participant. However, the day before yesterday, he let me know that he had had enough of this game-playing-- it was time to gallop and run. I played one last "back-up half the arena game" before I turned him loose because, after all, it's not HIS decision which games we play and when: It's the herd leader's. (That's ME.)

However, I am a benevolent leader, so I do take his "needs" into consideration. Two laps around the arena and he came right back to me, as if to say, "Well, I got to gallop around so now I'm ready to play games again."

Yesterday, I turned him loose to run BEFORE we played any games and all he did was follow me around. I played with the big scary whip with the long white rope lash--twirling it over my head, whipping to the left and to the right, swinging it around my head like a drunken cowboy with a lasso. I paid no attention to Kanani and what his reaction to "this crazy human behavior" might be.

With my back to him, I beat on a barrel and lashed this way and that. (The idea is to let him know that my long scary whip is no big deal. Wait til I tie an even scarier white plastic bag to the end of it!)

Then I felt a warm breath on my neck. I turned around and there he was--faithfully following me and watching me act like a lunatic. No matter where I went or what I did, he followed. No leadline, no bridle. Nada. Now, I am not sure if he is following me--or the carrots in my pocket. But I can tell you that there is plenty of tasty grass growing at the edges of this huge fenced arena. If he were like any other horse I have known, he would have been busy checking out the grass within easy reach, not following me.

Every day with this guy is a new adventure! I know horses pretty darn well after so many years with them, but every horse is a little bit different and with this guy, I never quite know what to expect! But then I never had a Friesian before, either.

The Glorious Hair Man:

After a good grooming session, I undid Kanani's braids this morning. This boy has hair! And it streams behind him like a flag when he gallops.

I discovered this when I turned him out in the huge riding paddock for the first time so he could check it out. Kay had her camera ready and caught some stunning shots of him strutting his stuff.

He raced around like a Nascar driver for a few minutes--kicking up his heels and relishing freedom after his long journey. Then he calmly trotted back over to me and just stood there waiting to see what might happen next.

There won't be any riding til the rest of my tack gets here. The box that came with him lacked a saddle pad, for one thing. But this is a great time for just getting to know one another and he seems to already realize that I'm his new owner. Or is it the other way around and he now owns me!!!

Have lost my heart to him already. I am so in love. Who can resist all that hair???

The String Game:

Kanani told me today that although he is a very brave boy about most things, he is terrified of the long white lash on my lunge whip. To him, it apparently looks like a cobra about to bite him. Well, we can't have that, now can we?

I took the long white lash (think string, here) off my lunge whip and gave him a lesson in "Yes, you can trust this thing not to hurt you."

It took about 20 minutes and a pocketful of carrots to convince him but he finally decided that I could toss the "cobra" up in the air, whirl it around my head, drag it along the ground and even throw it at him and drape it all over his body wherever the notion took me, and he would be just fine. Nothing bad would happen to him.

The photo below shows the moment of truth when he decided it was okay if I tossed it over his neck.

Such a sweet, trusting boy he is!

Images From A Long, Happy Day!

After a long windy night during which I slept very little imagining my horse being out on a barge on the ocean all night--braving huge swells and wondering where on earth he was going--we (my sister, Kay, and I) headed to the docks. We had been told we could pick up Kanani at about 8:30 am but when we got there, he hadn't come off the barge yet. The dock was very busy with fork lifts, big trucks coming and going, and containers being unloaded. Kay had brought her camera. I brought a lead rope, a lunge whip, a bucket of goodies and a pocketful of carrots in case we needed some or all of that to persuade Kanani to get on yet another trailer.

Poor guy! He's come so far and traveled so long. I was in a fever to see if he was okay--and just to get my first glimpse of him!



Can this be what we are waiting for?




It is! Here comes my new horse in a three horse container (along with a gray gelding and a paint horse stallion.) A fork lift has just taken them off the barge.




The middle horse's butt is definitely a Friesian horse's butt! Wouldn't you know that my first view of Kanani would be his butt!




He's got my name on him so he must be mine!




Wonderful nice lady who loaned the use of her trailer to pick up Kanani. While I helped unload another horse, she held him for me after we brought him out of the travel stall.




Heading for the trailer.




He walked right in--no fuss at all.




All loaded and ready to see his new home.




Driveway back to the ranch. Kay and I followed Kanani in the trailer.




After unloading, we head for the paddock.




Checking out the paddock--his new "home sweet home."




Meeting next door neighbor, Walker, a big warmblood who wanted to let him know who was boss. Kanani just looked at him as if to say, "Hey, man, don't sweat the small stuff! If you knew what all I've been through lately, you'd be a little nicer to me."




A little trot to stretch the legs after so many miles!





Posing by the fence...




A good roll is horse heaven!




Eating orchard grass pellets.




Already, he loves treats!



He's such a beautiful boy!



We'll be back to see you tomorrow, Kanani! And maybe I'll unbraid your hair and see just how long it really is.

Kanani En Route:

Pacific Airlift Horse Loading: Yep, horses go in a container in the back of the plane.

Kanani's great adventure--and mine--has begun. I'm told he was clipped and prettily braided to keep his long hair out of his eyes before he was loaded onto a trailer with a herd of goats for the eight and a half hour drive to LAX airport (Los Angeles.) This all happened on Friday. He was supposed to board the plane at 11:30 pm, in company with the goats and a couple of other horses, but boarding was delayed until 1:30 am.

Don't feel bad about the goats. From all accounts, he liked them. There were a bunch of white milking goats and some little black Nubian goats. Lest the scent of the goats should upset my big "brave" boy, his nostrils were dabbed with a touch of Vick's Vaporub.

Not sure what time he made it to Honolulu. There he was examined by a vet and then transported to a boarding barn to await the last leg of his journey to Maui. He will come by barge, like just about everything else that comes to Maui. Loading takes place late on Monday afternoon and the trip takes all night. I cannot visualize this (or maybe just don't want to!) but a huge crane will hoist him in his stall on and off the barge. Tugs maneuver the barge the whole trip--no one is on the barge itself, steering or watching over the cargo. It has been very windy lately, with big surf, so we are anxiously watching weather reports and hoping for no tsunamis or huge swells. This is one of the roughest ocean crossings anywhere, but please God, just this once, can't you calm the seas between here and Honolulu?

At least, he will have the company of two other horses--and maybe even his goat friends. (Will they all get seasick?)

Come Tuesday morning, he will be available for pick up at the dock at about 8:30 am.

Meanwhile, my sister Kay and I are busily preparing for his arrival. Yesterday, we took "my horse stuff" up to the ranch where I will be boarding Kanani. We found his paddock and my assigned tack locker. Kanani will have a nice large paddock with a run-in shed complete with automatic waterer. There is also a very large pasture where he can eventually be turned out with other horse buddies. He should be quite happy with this arrangement, as horses prefer being outside with shelter to being cooped up in a stall all the time.

I poked around looking for the nearest electrical outlet where I can plug in clippers when I need to clip him. Couldn't find one. So we went searching all over the property looking for an outlet--only to conclude that THERE IS NO ELECTRICITY coming into the ranch, ANYWHERE. No lights in the feed room--nada.

With all the checking I did into this facility, the one thing I neglected to ask about was: Do you by chance have electricity?

This will not bother Kanani at all--but his new human is a little shocked. Thank goodness I haven't bought clippers yet. Guess I will have to look for the cordless, rechargeable kind that I never liked in the past.

Life is about being flexible, right?

Now, please excuse me while I go check the weather report again.

A Journey Of A Different Sort:

(My new horse after being body clipped. Black coat will come in again!)


Sometimes life comes full circle.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of horses. Horses occupied more of my waking hours than anything else. I read every book in the library about them, drew endless pictures of them, made up stories about them...I was horse crazy.

And my favorite dream horse was big, black and beautiful. Somewhere in my early teens I met a horse named Billy and he was big, black, beautiful and for sale. I begged and pleaded but he was not to be mine. He was just too expensive for a girl from a family of seven kids. My consolation prize was a black hunt cap I could wear on the infrequent occasions when I had saved up enough of my allowance to afford a riding lesson. The first time I proudly took it to the barn and hung it on a nail while I was earnestly grooming Billy's hind end, he ate the velvet off it at the front end.

I wore that chewed up hunt cap for years--until long after it began giving me severe headaches because it was just too tight to fit my growing head.

Much later in life, horses became an everyday reality for me and some very special animals passed through my life. I owned, showed, trained horses and best of all, got to share them with daughters and nieces, creating memories I will always cherish. I don't know if my family members ever loved them as much as I did but I do know that they all learned from them. Horses help young people to develop into responsible, compassionate, confident adults. They teach life lessons that stay with you long after the horse has moved on to teach someone else. I think that's why God put these amazing animals here on earth.

The last horse I was lucky enough to own was big, black, beautiful and a bit pricey. My wonderful, wise and indulgent husband made his purchase possible. Little did I know that Mon Coeur--or Mike, as I called that horse--would be a last gift. Only a few short years later, my husband set out to journey ahead to those mysterious greener pastures we can only imagine while we are in this plane of existence. Left behind, I was devastated. Even my beloved horses could not console me.

Entrusting them to a new owner who could give them the time/attention I no longer seemed capable of providing, I sought a new life in a place my husband and I had planned to enjoy together when we finally "retired." I moved to Hawaii. Years passed and life gradually became good again as I adjusted to loss and immersed myself in many new, satisfying activities.

But something was missing. I began to dream of horses again--big, beautiful, black horses. Horses with flowing black manes and tails, large kind eyes and gentle natures. Horses of a breed that has always epitomized the very beauty and majesty of "equus:" Friesian horses!

Too expensive, I thought. Too impractical. I'm too old for this. I'm too creaky in the joints and my back aches more often than I want to admit. But the dreams came every night--sinking my hands into a long black mane, wrapping my legs around the warm living body of a horse again as he rounds his back into a canter, gazing into a horse's knowing eyes that, for me, have always held the secrets of all life and the universe...that special connection to a power far greater than ourselves.

There's a saying that seems to say it all: "God forbid I should ever go to a heaven where there are no horses..."

So another journey begins. My new black horse--my long-yearned-for Friesian!--is arriving March 19th or thereabouts. I have given him a Hawaiian name because he will be a Hawaiian horse, a long way from his native lands in the Netherlands. His registered name is the very Dutch-sounding name of Bareld van Stuv Neve, but I will call him Kanani. It means "The Beautiful One."

I, too, am a long way from my native lands--but this is the land of my heart. And I hope it will be so for him.

Comings and goings. Beginnings and endings. Life's journey continues. All you can do is grab hold of the reins and ride into the wind with a big grin on your face and a song of gratitude and excitement swelling in your soul...

Thank you, Great One, for another incredible journey...on this journey that is my life.

The Final Chapter: Things I Learned in Thailand

Now that I am home safely, I can reflect back on some amazing experiences--especially since I just received the DVD from Patara Elephant Farm.

So here goes:

I learned to make friends with people from around the world:

Folks who shared my elephant adventure.

I learned to make friends with an elephant:

Getting to know Mae Mai

Start by feeding her treats.

I learned how to check that an elephant is well:

Look for signs that she slept well.

Make sure her droppings smell sweet!

Examine her toenails for signs of sweat.

I learned to get the worst of the dirt off her hide before bathing my elephant:

A branch with leaves on works well.

Find a little low spot to stand your elephant in so you can reach the very top.

Don't miss any spots!

I learned how to bathe an elephant in the river:





Elephants take a lot of scrubbing!



Elephants like to be with their friends even when they are getting a bath.

Are we finally finished?

Just as we were congratulating ourselves on a job well done...

The elephants decided to give us a bath!

A rainbow bath!



Among all of their other attributes, elephants have a sense of humor.

I learned how to get up on a pregnant elephant who couldn't down on the ground for me:

Being graceful is the last thing on my mind.



Bottoms up! (I can hardly stand to post this one.)

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Almost there!

Success at last!

Whooo Hooooo!!!!



I learned to ride an elephant into the jungle and up and down the mountains:





That's me bringing up the rear.



Uh, oh! Leg cramp.

I learned I could still walk when the ride ended and I finally got down off the elephant (even though I was in doubt for a few minutes there...)



I learned to reward my elephant for a job well done.



Looking back on this experience, I can see that it's not the things you Do in life that you regret (assuming they're all legal and moral), it's the things you DON"T do...so get out there and follow your dreams!



Thanks for joining me on this adventure! (Loved getting your comments!)