Tornado did not touch us, though I hear that one landed down the road. Heavy rain-woods so full of water that much of the first half of a mile on the afternoon ride in the woods was in water, mud and mire.
But the trees were green and the grass was pushing through the soil--Terry's mounted Easter Egg Hunt was the biggest that we have had since its inception several years ago--plastic eggs hanging from trees-candy, horse treats, special surprises in select eggs.
Nick, the oldest animal born here--a donkey whose mother was captured wild in California--the same one ridden countless miles by Lido, who referred to him as his "very fine quine" ,out on his first mounted Easter egg hunt--He and Jenner make a great team--Kate wanted to ride a horse for the hunt--even "reserved" one--Her regular ride, Belle, a white gaited mule, could be a bit head strong--when I looked up she was bringing Belle up to the tack shed
Kate leading her along-"Uh, you know, she just really wanted to be ridden today." Grown ups hanging eggs from trees--having as much fun as the kids
New riding lesson program began today--Back in the Saddle Program--Jackie teaching skills to adults who may have not ridden for years--learning new skills, relearning old ones--building confidence
Two Spanish goat doelings went to a new home yesterday--no new Marsh Tacky Foal yet--the foal may be the first Marsh Tacky foal bred in Virginia in a century or two--families in the saddle--my wife and I and our granddaughter--all of the Thomas family-Lisa and her three daughters
Lydia brought out four guests toward the of the day--they were interested in the role that horses can play in healing emotional pain--gave rather lengthy demonstration using Joey, a beautiful pinto colored Choctaw.
And every bit of this was done without a single paid staff person. Everyone in our program is a volunteer. Read those two sentences one more time--think about what it means--programs like this bring a lot of light into dark worlds and they can be carried out anywhere there are horses and people.
And in the 13th hour that I had been out to the horse lot yesterday my granddaughter and I planted a chestnut tree.
The roots of our program began nearly 20 years ago----want to be around long enough so that one day people riding Colonial Spanish mustangs will watch that tree die of old age.
For the long haul-we are in for the very long haul.
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And thank the Lord, because it is a blessing not unlike that of having a child. I love it so much, with all my heart, that it is hard to imagine what life was like before.
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