A Different Kind Of Buck

Miracle happening before your very eyes. I said I'd post pictures of Dollar's high withers and by golly, I'm doing it!

Yep, he's part camel.

We're thinking fitting a saddle on him should be a lot of fun. (I know--bad pictures. Just go with it.)

Little background--

Like many of the other horses, Dollar Bill was a roping horse. In fact, he was a CHAMPION roping horse. I wasn't told his owner's name, but I was told he was good. Once he could no longer handle the competition, he was retired and found himself living with a very nice lady named Connie. (A story for a different post.)

Now Dollar finds himself surrounding by small children running and giggling all over the place.

Sure hope he loves his new home.

Cross Dollar off the list. Now I only two more new horses to tell you about. Just call me Ms. Productive & Efficient. Yep, that's me.

Joe

You know that old saying good things come to those who wait? Well, tonight I learned that is most definitely true!! Melissa has been nagging me for some time to get the story of our amazing new horse Joe on the blog. I couldn't get my soul to cough it up. I didn't feel like I could do it justice. I didn't want to sift through all my pictures. Tonight, after listening to her ask for the umpteenth time for me to write something, I told her to do it. Do it she did! The wonderful post AND pictures below courtesy of Melissa D.
Melissa, take it away--

This is the story of Joe. Sort of.

On August 24, Galloping Grace received its newest blessing. Sweet Joe. He came all the way from Flagstaff, Arizona to live with us here at GGYR. His lovely owner Amita graciously donated Joe to GGYR because she knew that he had another purpose in life, and that would be to bring joy and love to children. Joe and Amita have a very special relationship and we can never thank her enough for bringing him into our lives. After meeting Joe, I realized he reminded me very much of a certain lovable bear..

Just like Pooh, Joe comes from the woods. He loves to eat and he is quite a whimsical, cuddly old ‘bear’. He’s gentle and kind. He’s patient and slow.

Joe is a draft, quarter horse paint cross. He is a most amazing creature and has a Buddha-like nature about him that makes you want to walk up to him and give him a squeeze and wrap your arms around him. He’s extremely sweet and loves getting treats!

After being at GGYR for only a week, we saddled Joe up this past week and he took to the kids right away and didn’t mind giving a few rides, even though he has decided that he\is napping in between rides is part of his contract, and definitely a must.

Spending the past couple of weeks with Joe, I have decided under my own conclusion that he does in fact remind me of Pooh Bear..

And so my friends I will leave you with this:

In the words of Winnie the Pooh..

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?”

Sad News

Almost a year and a half ago, a precious couple donated their horse Flame to Galloping Grace. I did a post here explaining the situation. In case you don't click over, the reason for the donation was a sad one. Karen, the owner, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) earlier that same year. She progressed so quickly that it became apparent she would no longer be able to care for her horse. That is how Flame became a valuable member of our herd.

Larry and Karen heard about GGYR through their son and daughter-in-law who were good friends with Chase and Trish. Karen loved this horse very much and wanted him to go to a good home. We are still so grateful they thought of us.

Two days ago Karen died. We know things are terribly hard on their family right now. We at Galloping Grace send our condolences, gratitude and love.

Larry, Scott, & DeDe--you're in our prayers.

Top Notch

Getting back to that iceberg that seems to be winning the battle. . .

Max got a call from Mike, a man who was interested in donating his flat bed trailer to GG. True to his word, he showed up at the tree stand and dropped it off one afternoon. I was so glad when he made it back last Sunday so I could snap his picture with Max and his handsome boys. Mike and family, thank you for your generosity! Max had just been thinking about a trailer like that and how handy it would be for him hauling things back and forth. Anyone remember that poop/vomit post I did a week or so back? It turns out Mike saw it when he was checking out GGYR and what we are about. I think I owe him an extra thank-you for still donating even after seeing such silliness. Goes to show just how kind this man is.


This weekend was not near as busy as the previous two. I guess most people already have their trees or have given up on the whole idea. Last weekend, however, was rocking! Trees were going out left and right.
It was a pretty cool sight seeing all these vehicles adorned with fir.
I also love this picture because it shows how many people were still in the stand playing, riding horses, etc. even after their trees were loaded.
Remind me to tell you about the humiliated horses.

Blessings Abound!

My dear Nancy showed up tonight with a lot of new friends for us to love. Yep, she found several scarecrows on sale and bought them for us to use at the pumpkin stand next year. There were wee ones, big ones, crow ones--a whole lot of fun. Nancy, thanks for the donation. They will bring smiles to many faces next season and make our stand look great at the same time. We love you.

Max got a call a couple weeks back from a lady willing to donate a horse trailer to us. Max, Trish and I got so excited! That was definitely an answer to a prayer. Today was the day we got to meet the sweet lady.

Cindy, her husband, and her mother moved to NM from Iowa. (They just got into town this weekend.) She now lives in a neighborhood where she will not be able to have a horse. When I asked her how she heard about us she replied, "It's a God thing." I told her I knew that, but wondered exactly it came about. :)
She said several weeks back a friend emailed her a link about Galloping Grace. Cindy, our new generous friend, didn't open it. She was busy with so many other things. When she did finally open it, she got chills! Cindy knew then what she wanted to do with her horse trailer she could no longer use--give it to us! She has a friend in Colorado with a similar program, also inspired by Crystal Peaks. She also has a family member (I think) who met with the founder of Crystal Peaks one day for several hours.

Cindy said she later called the friend that had sent her the email and asked why she had. The lady just responded, "I thought you might be interested." The neat thing to me about this story is that the friend of Cindy didn't even know us. She had seen something about GG hanging at the library. ???? I don't even know what that was. It could have been a flier for the pumpkin patch hung by one of our volunteers, Maddie, who also volunteers at the library. Small, wonderful, world.
Fantastically loved horse trailer!

I cannot end this post without telling you that Cindy is not only generous, but she can back up a horse trailer like nobody's business!!! Clearly that is not a skill only possessed by men. I know, I know--a lot of you female readers can also do the same thing. Doesn't stop me from being impressed. There are some things for which I lack zero woman's lib--backing up a horse trailer is one of them! (Also up there--carrying heavy objects and going outside in cold weather to fetch "stuff".)

Cindy and family--welcome to New Mexico! We hope you love it here. Thank you for your incredibly kind donation! We were quite serious about you volunteering at the ranch. We would love to have you.

Oh, oh--thank you to Melissa, Phoebe, and Steph for scooping so much poop today! They got together to have a poop party, a bonding if you will. Diana and David, more terrific volunteers, spent a whole entire day last week scooping and cleaning at GG during one of David's days off. Not to be left out is Maddie, another faithful feces remover. Maddie comes several times a week to help keep the ranch clean.

Our volunteers are the best ever!!! Thank you all.

Tootsie's In The House

I got a call on Monday from a lady named Ginger. She heard about GG from Karen and Larry, the sweet people who donated Flame. She wanted to possibly donate a horse to us. The problem--her horse is a mare. We have adopted a no mare policy because of the issues we had in the past. Max's motto, "Women are trouble." Please note he doesn't mean this in the slightest.

As I talked to Ginger, she made it clear that her horse was excellent for children, even being used in the past for hippotheaphy. How could we not take a looky (with our trailer in tow.) We drove up into the mountains to see this little beauty.


This girl is Isabel, 7 years old. Even though we were looking to take her horse away, she was still all smiles. So was Abbi, her nine year old sister. Apparently Ginger explained that their horse would get a lot of love and attention if we were to take her. The girls were sad, but they looked like they truly wanted what was best. Such maturity, huh?Here is Claire leading Toots, or Tootsie for long, around a bit. Test number one passed with flying colors. She was very responsive to Claire and stopped when Claire stopped. Brooke was up next with a little ride through their field. Does the look on Brooke's face tell you anything? She loved Toots right away. .

For not being ridden much in the last few years, she did great. She was a little barn sour but got over it once she was taken out a ways Besides Ginger, Abbi, and Isabel being very friendly, they also had four super sweet dogs. Two were especially fond of Grant. He was smothered in doggie kisses.
After Garrett took a little spin on Tootsie, he made himself at home shooting some hoops.

The kids, Max and I (a little) messed all around Tootsie's face, hooves, etc. Max said that was one of the most quiet/gentle horses he has ever been around. She is not head shy in the slightest. Also, she let the children all jump on bareback without moving a muscle.

Isabel got on her horse for one last ride. It broke my heart a bit.
Then it was mom's turn. Around this time I couldn't believe these sweet ladies were willing to part with their awesome horse! I'm telling you--we're so blessed!

I had the girls pose for a last picture with Tootsie before we hauled her away. Now the trailer test. Max leaned over to Tootsie and said, "If you load easily I really love you."

Tootsie smelled the trailer and the mysterious aroma of bovine feces,

and then hopped right in with her stiff little legs! What an angel.

The Wade children couldn't help but make themselves at home a little more before leaving.

And this what we saw as we drove off. . .

generous little girls with gigantic hearts!

When we made it back to the ranch, Tootsie was put in a round pen for the night. My mom, our friend Nancy, and Trish met us there to see the newest member to the family. Like I mentioned in last night's post, we were all smitten. Tootsie didn't seem to care she was in a strange new place with unfamiliar humans all around her. She let us pet and love all over her. Brooke and Trish both jumped on her bareback as she munched her hay. Again, she didn't move a muscle.

Thanks so much, Ginger, Abbi, and Isabel. We have a feeling your gift with touch many children's hearts!

There is quite a story once she was penned close to the geldings. I'll leave that for tomorrow night.  That post will probably not be G rated. What can I say--it's nature.

Also up tomorrow--a meeting with a Rio Rancho official, a child nearly passing out from heat exhaustion, and some sad/exciting news! Never a dull day at GGYR.