BarnBiz n’ Bits

The Galloping Mare

We enter the forest,
There’s a soft calmness in the air,
Nature’s breath through the trees
And the breath of my mare.

Sun melts through the trees
And it lights up her hair,
And the wind dances softly,
With the mane of my mare.

She snorts at the shadows
That dance in the air,
With a prancing half-buck
And her nostrils a-flare.

She’s longing for light,
And she knows I’m aware.
So I loosen the reins
And she accepts my dare.

Off all at once,
At a gallop we tear,
The wind cools our faces
And whips at our hair.

And the trees are a blur
And the ground’s barely there
And the day runs to night
But we don’t really care.

When we stop time has gone
But it’s cool and it’s fair
So we both have a drink
From a creek that flows there.

I don’t know the way home
But to know I don’t care,
All I  want or I need
Is all I have there.

It’s nature and nothing
And the cool forest air
It’s time to loose time
And the love of a mare.

I could almost be lost
I can live without care
But sadly I see that
Her hoof prints are there.
O! For a horse that can gallop on air!

Inspirational Quotes for March 2009

“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk.
He trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it.”

William Shakespeare

“To see the wind’s power, the rain’s cleansing,
And the sun’s radiant life, one need only look at the horse.”

Author Unknown

“I have seen things so beautiful they have brought tears to my eyes.
Yet none of them can match the gracefulness and beauty
Of a horse running free.”

Author Unknown

“Half the failures in life result from pulling in
One’s horse when it is leaping.”

Author Unknown

“Virtue shall be bound into the hair of thy forelock.
I have given thee the power of flight without wings.”

The Koran

Of the two spoiled, barn sour geldings we owned that year, it was Red –
skittish and prone to explode even at fourteen years – who’d let me
hold to my face his own:

The massive labyrinthine caverns of the nostrils,

the broad plain up the head to the eyes.

He’d let me stroke his course chin whiskers and
take his soft meaty underlip in my hands,

press my man’s carnivorous kiss to his grass-nipping upper half of one,

just so that I could smell the long way his breath
had come from the rain and the sun,

the lungs and the heart,

from a world that meant no harm.

~ Robert Wrigley 

“The essential job of being with horses is that it brings us in concert
With the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit and freedom.”

Sharon Ralls Lemon 

—♦—

“In riding a horse, we borrow freedom.”

Helen Thompson

—♦—

“When you are on a great horse,
You have the best seat you will ever have.”

Sir Winston Churchill

—♦—

“Horses change lives.  They give our young people
confidence and self esteem
They provide peace and tranquility to trouble souls.
They give us hope!”

Toni Robinson

—♦—

“The world is best viewed through the ears of a horse.”

Author Unknown

—♦—

To thee, my firefighter Master, I offer my prayer. feed me, water and care for me, and, when the fire is put out, provide me with shelter, a clean, dry bed and stall wide enough for me to lie down in comfort.

Always be kind to me. Your voice often means as much to me as the reins. Pet me often, so that I may serve you the more gladly and learn to love you. Do not jerk the reins, and do not whip me when going uphill. Never strike, beat, or kick me when I do not understand what you want, but give me a chance to understand you. Teach me gently not to fear the smoke and flames and clanging of the fire bells. Watch me, and if I fail to do your bidding; see if something is not wrong with my harness or feet.

Do not check me so that I cannot have free use of my head.
if you insist that I wear blinders, so that I cannot see behind
me as it was intended I should, I pray you be careful that the blinders
stand well out of my eyes. Do not overload me, or hitch me where water
will drip on me. Keep me well shod. Examine my teeth when I do not
eat; I may have an ulcerated tooth, and that, you know, is very painful.
Do not tie my head in an unnatural position, or take away my best
defense against flies and mosquitoes by cutting off my tail.

I cannot tell you when I am thirsty, so give me clean, cool water
often. Save me, by all means in your power from that fatal
disease – the glanders. I cannot tell you in words when I am
sick, so watch me, that by signs you may know my condition.
Give me all possible shelter from the hot sun, and put a blanket
on me, not when I am working, but when I am standing in the
cold. Never put a frosty bit in my mouth; first warm it by
holding it a moment in your hands.

I will pull the steamer or hose wagon without a murmur, and
wait patiently for you long hours of the day or night as you save
lives. Without the power to choose my shoes or path, I sometimes
fall on hard pavement which I have often prayed might not be of
wood or brick, but of such a nature as to give me safe and sure
footing. Remember that I am ready at any moment to lose my life
in your service, for I now am also a firefighter.

And finally, OH MY FIREFIGHTER FRIEND, when my useful
strength is gone, do not turn me out to freeze, or sell me
to some cruel owner, to be slowly tortured and starved to death;
but do thou, My Friend, take my life in the kindest way and your
God will reward you here and hereafter. You will not consider me
irreverent if I ask this in the name of Him who was also born in a stable.

Amen
– • –
Author Unknown