Late April…….
First off, I’d like to apologize for not getting one of these out earlier in the year. I guess I have no excuse, other than perhaps forgetfulness or laziness. Take your pick.
Just like always, the passage of time has brought bad news & good news. I’ll start with the bad news because it’s always good to end on a high note.
The worst of that is that we lost two of our most precious family members over the past couple of months: SPENCER & MR. TOM MATER.
For years, Spence had been battling some significant physical issues: PPID/Cushings, EOTRH (Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption & Hypercementosis, a painful disease that required his losing over a dozen of his teeth), episodes of his chronic laminitis & trouble keeping his weight on. All along, we’d been religiously adhering to Dr. K’s recommendations but always knew that his hoof issues would most likely be his downfall. And we were right.
Although we’d had him specially trimmed & our therapeutic farrier had put special ‘clogs’ on his hooves, it wasn’t enough. He became progressively more painful &, rather than get to the point where he was suffering, I made the decision. It wasn’t an easy one, but I had to do what was right for Spencer. We miss him terribly.
With Mater (Mr. Tom Mater), he came to us with a chronic problem. He’d undoubtedly broken his left hind hip earlier on in life & always walked with a pronounced limp. He never paid much attention to it & neither did we – he just went along, accepting it. Until, one day, he got exceedingly sore – to the point where he couldn’t bear any weight on it. As soon as Dr. K saw him attempt to walk, she diagnosed that he’d dislocated that broken hip. We made the decision on the spot.
And he, too, was a major loss & that really hit us – especially the volunteers – hard. He was the friendliest, most happy-go-lucky guy on the ranch & was forever ringing his cowbell with his schnoz in a mighty effort to score some treats from one of them. More often than not, it worked, too.
We miss our brothers more than you can know.
One day, a storm came through &, with it, a fierce dust devil. And it was so strong that it lifted the huge shade structure in the ‘field’ (where Danny & Chianti resided) & threw it up against the fence. Over the past 20 years, I guess the six big poles holding it up had rusted enough at the ground level to be separated from their deep cement footings & the wind just picked up the entire several-ton structure like a leaf & tossed it.
We immediately put Danny & Chianti into Spence’s now-empty house, took out a large fence panel to make the pen larger &, now, those two have taken up residence their big, new house.
The plan is to have the shade structure re-built, but there’s no immediate rush to do so because we don’t really need it, right now. Plus, it’ll cost a number of thousands of dollars to do it. We’ll get to it but it’s not a high priority at this point.
Yeah, we’ve had to deal with a whole slew of other physical issues with some of the horses but, with the assistance & oversight of Dr. K, coupled with our own significant experience, have either gotten through them or are in the process of getting through them.
Okay, that’s the bulk of ‘the bad’. Now onto the good…….
The very best news is the arrival of GOLDIE.
A good friend of Dr. K’s (& now my good friend, too) runs a riding lesson business not too far from here, primarily for scores of children. Goldie, who’d been one of her lesson horses, has developed quite a significant swayback over time & our friend decided she should retire from her duties. However, our friend’s barn is too small to accommodate an additional horse to replace Goldie for lessons. So, although our friend loves Goldie dearly, what was she to do? Dr. K with the answer: Tierra Madre.
And, in the age-old ‘when-one-door-closes-another-one-opens’ category, we were able to put Goldie into what had been Mater’s house only a couple of days after he’d left us. Annie tolerates her – Annie isn’t one to get close – she tends to keep her own counsel – but they do go out into the arena together & Goldie screams every time Annie goes or a walk. Plus – & this is a big plus – Goldie has really settled in nicely & has completely endeared herself to the entire volunteer corps. Yay!
Here’s one…..a few weeks back, I received a very nice letter from our Congressman, David Schweikert, congratulating & thanking me for twenty years of saving & caring for horses. I sent a letter back to him, inviting him to come out & visit the ranch. And guess what? He did! Yep, he brought his two young kids, I gave them a tour & everybody fell in love with the horses, particularly M’Stor & Danny. We were honored that that all happened.
We have a new website!
A good friend donated his time, his energy, his expertise & his good nature to build it & the result is the very best website we’ve ever had. It’s packed with facts & photos & all kinds of good stuff. It really captures our mission & our personality. There’s also a new feature on this site. It’s called ‘Memo From Jim’ & it’ll feature regular original content by moi that can (maybe) be seen nowhere else in the world! Big woo, huh? Anyway…….
It’s the same url as the old one: ranchotierramadre.org. Check it out when you have a chance, ‘k? Thanks.
Of course, we’ve kept up with any needed repairs, replaced some old fans & we have the misting system all back in order & I imagine that it won’t be many more days before it’s a daily part of our lives again. Oh, yeah – the flies are back & every day fly spray is a given.
The mesquite trees have all leaved out & all of the palo verdes are covered in beautiful little yellow flowers. The mockingbirds are singing their songs, the hummingbirds are flitting about all over the place, the cactus wrens & the grackles are making a racket & the doves are nesting in the barn. Roadrunners are making their yearly presence known, too. The bunnies are back out & we expect dozens or scores more over the next few weeks. I’ve heard our local Great Horned Owls early in the mornings & hope they come around nightly like they did last year. Coyotes are a regular sight, passing through the arena & up the lane. We even have a resident bobcat, who we believe lives over in what I call our ‘no man’s land’. The Sonoran Desert is a magical place at this time of year.
I guess that’s about it. It’s all I can think of for now, anyway.
As always, I appreciate your moral & financial support – as do all of the rest of the members of your Tierra Madre family. And, like I always say, we can’t do what we do without you. You mean more than you know.
So, as Roy & Dale used to sing, “Happy trails to you, until we meet again……”
All my love,
Jim
