November 25, 2020
And here we are heading into December. The weather has been exceptionally mild and makes herd keeping so easy. Erik is able to put the round bales on the hills of the south pasture. The stream is not great but still running. And when those two items are difficult, they will be coming to the barn paddock for the winter.
The big part of our programs, is catching horses. We teach everyone how to hug a horse and get the halter on to lead them to the barn. A couple of our programs are in the evening, this is not an easy thing to do in the dark. . There is very little pasture to tempt them on the back 50. The plus side of the situation, the horses are at the top of the hill munching on the bales, which makes for a short walk. The situation fits my philosophy of horse minding. If you want one, you learn to catch one.
The threat of ticks and its accompanying Lyme disease made us check the herd regularly. We are always running our hands over their bodies looking for nicks and bumps anyway. We found our first tick of the season on Ernie the cat last week. So perhaps they are lurking in the barn grove and not in the pasture field. One of the main symptoms of Lyme Disease is lethargy, we will keep an eye on Ernie the busy busy mouser.
Are you ready for the snow? It is always a busy time picking up bits and pieces, and finding a place to store it all. The adventure grove is disappearing. The trampoline has been dismantled. The dragon and the gryphon will be the only one with heads up over the snowbanks. The “Smalls” will still have the hay bales to continue the adventure and they will have the horses of course.
We are teachers at the Sanctuary. Between three of us, we have more than 100 years of education and experience. Helena is and educator has 20 years of experience with Autism, years of Swedusg Horsemanship. Maxine is a licensed Early Childhood Educator from England and has had 40 years experience In the horse world. I have 75 years with horses, my degree is Animal Science, with 15 years of teaching. I have been teaching horsekeeping since I have been on the island. Sometime you just have to blow your own horn.
The herd is a therapeutic herd, there is a lot of love and learning for them to give. My oldest Foster Brother was a psychiatrist, through horses he gave a second start for youth in corrections in Washington state from the 60’s for many years. This was the beginning of EAGALA in the northwestern states . I was instrumental in training their horses, even though he had the same beginning as I at the family ranch with 200 horses. The rhythm of the routine to care for horses is a comforting thing. And that is why I call our starter program “Comfort Around Horses”. Tuesday evening has been declared “Ladies Night”. Sunday afternoon is for “Smalls”. Our youth program “Trailblazers” will probably begin in January. And there has been an interest in the Sanctuary providing 4-H a venue for learning. That would be nice for me, I had been 4-H involved for over 37 years. Unfortunately, PEI 4-H passed a rule that the members could not share horses for their project. Horses are pretty expensive to maintain, thank heavens they rescinded that rule.
Be kind to one another. Love and hugs from Yogi and the Herd.