Zar

Doncliff's Nazara. I met her on paper in the early eighties through her son, MJD Czun. I went to see him as a sire prospect to breed to my mare Smokey's Windsong. A more perfect Arab I could never have hoped for. Kind eye, good natured, easy temperament, good conformation, well mannered, quiet, and most of all he was a good match for my mare. It didn't happen, Song was barren.

It wasn't until years later that I went to see an aged Arab mare who was lame but a good breeder. I thought maybe I could try it again. I really liked Czun. She was an excellent mare, well bred, beautiful, kind eye, good natured, easy temperament, good confirmation, well mannered, quiet, and most of all she would be a good match for Czun. Until I looked again at his pedigree. There was Zar. His mother!

I took the mare anyway. Otherwise she would go to the meat man. It turned out to be the best decision I had made in a long time. She gave me one foal before cancer took her, but more important she gave me 10 years of wonderful times and good companionship. She was taken by the cancer at the very young age of 26.

This mare had the most wise eyes I have ever seen. She just knew. Everything. She knew when her rider needed quiet walking, and when they needed to step up the pace and challenge themselves. Zar knew when it was time to go.

One year I wanted to start driving her. I checked with everyone she had ever been owned by, and none of them could recall her ever being trained to drive. So I started trying the harness on her. Piece by piece. She never blinked. Never protested. So I did some ground driving with her, and she did really well. The next weekend I tacked her up and drove her around the cart, had my friend move the cart around her, pull the cart beside, in front of, behind, and finally put the shafts where they belonged and held them there while I ground drove her up and down the block.

The next weekend we did the same thing. Then we just hitched and drove off down the road! The very next weekend I took her to a horse show just for the experience, and she beat out my girlfriend driving my other mare!

Zar was a beautiful girl.

My Old Girl

Windsong is officially 32 years old this year. Pretty old for a horse. She weathered the winter in fine shape, no rainrot or getting cold and wet. She held her weight and the arthritis did not show it's ugly head other than affecting how often and how long she would lay down.

For the first time in my life I have blanketed a horse through the winter. She seemed to greatly appreciate it. No itchy rubbing to get it off. No tears or rips to leave expensive blanket shreds hanging on the trees. No broken buckles. At times I had two regular winter blankets on her.

The rain, you know. We had a few storms go through that kicked up the wind a bit. I lost a couple of well established evergreens, at least 30-40 years old. So I was worried about the old girl should she lose her shelter. Not that she would use it anyway!

But I look out the living room windows and there she is in all her spring time glory! Happy to have the blanket off and have her hide exposed to those luscious long finger nails scratching the spot.....right....there.....Oh yes....that one...uh huh, uh huh, uh huh.....

When the blankets came off, she was SOOOOO clean! I don't think I have ever seen my white horse look so clean with the exception of the 3 seconds following a bath! Like the bath, the clean did not last long! She sidles up to me for the best scratch in the world, allowing me to pull great handfuls of winter hair from her coat. When she finally lets me go, there is a virtual blizzard of white hair on the ground.

You can hear the little birds in the trees singing to her their thanks for her contribution to their spring time nests. Cozy homes in which to raise their young. I find them you know. The little nests. After a season of use, and the winter storms, I find them on the trails through the back of my property. Shorter body hair, medium mane hair, and the longest tail hair. Some trailing down like banners from the intricately woven safety of horse hair, grass, and twigs.

I hope in the years to come when Song is gone that I will still have some reminders of her and her service to the other animals in her pasture. Small homes built of the finest materials.

My cousin Joe Dooling forwarded the following 6 lines to everyone in his address book. There were some who took exception, including my father and brother. I feel so strongly about the subject and the responses that I have posted them here. Please take the time to read and comment.

George Bush

To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears

To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool 

To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen 

To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to

To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery

My Father's (a 22 year veteran of the Air Force) response:

I wonder who or what was leading Paul Revere? Geo Washington?

My Brother's (a 4 year veteran of the Army during Vietnam) response:

Principals and faith are what lead Paul Revere and George Washington.  A burning desire for fairness and a government of the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE and for the PEOPLE were the motivators for their heroism.  Without the collective will of the PEOPLE, the strength of character, the courage and commitment of her leaders and heroes, there would be no United States of America.  The world would be a very different place today without the leadership of the USA.  The world is full of people who would love nothing better than to sully this nation and her leaders down through history.  I hope you are not one of them.  We have been able to continue to gather strength and become a resource that is counted on by every other nation in the world (including our least best friends) because we have been able to hold most terror and war away from the face of our fair land.  Look at some of the oldest civilizations on the face of the earth and how little their people have compared to the average American.  We could quickly and easily be their equals in poverty if we could just be nice guys and wait for terror to strike our home again with ever increasing force.

On this day, thank God that we have the freedom to choose our leaders regardless of their skills or abilities.  Thank God for those who are willing to be led and that defend the freedom of choice and the often over-used freedom of speech that we cherish.  Thank God for a military that does not believe that it has better answers as to where and how we should be led than the leaders that the people have elected.  Our leaders may be human and may even be making errors, but they are still THE LEADERS of the greatest nation on the face of the earth.  They deserve some degree of respect for having the intelligence to rise to their position and the office they hold certainly deserves to be respected even if the man does not.  If they really screw it up, thank God for the collective intelligence of the American People who can and will vote them out of power.  Thank God for the right of the PEOPLE to impeach and remove leaders that are unfit.  In recent decades we have had a few that nearly were impeached, but even they were not able to damage the good of this nation and PEOPLE to any large degree.  The rest of the world may have a good chuckle or a few grumpy moments at our expense, but overall, Americans are envied and respected… because of and in spite of our leaders.

Hey Joe, you could have been born in CUBA where it might cost you your life to say what you have said in this forum.  Compared to Cuba’s leader (just to name one), President George Bush or President Bill Clinton or any other President look like saints to me.  President George Bush.  My President.  Your President as well, unless you are not an American.  I voted for him.  You didn’t.  I think you are wrong, and you think I am wrong.  Either way we are family and both (Thank God) are American citizens.  I could be wrong about my choice, but the good news is that we will get to choose again in a few years.  Have a little faith in the people and the system of government that our fore fathers so elegantly designed.  Spend a little time being thankful to the veterans who put their lives at risk to protect that system and our way of life.  Respect those who defended our freedom at the risk and sometimes the cost of life and limb.  Try spending a little more of your energy working with those Damned Republicans to root out and prosecute fraud and corruption using our legal system.  Be really concerned when the legal system is used as the pawn of non-citizens to assert their whim over the will of those who were born here and rightfully call this land home.  Work together as an American to improve the system rather than being a self-righteous Democrat condemning those damned Republicans (who are also Americans).  Stop trying to further divide the nation and its peoples by spewing this kind of crap. And stop trying to tell others and me that if I happen to believe that this President is doing more good than bad that I am somehow mentally deficient.  I am not and neither are you. It causes people to loose sight of the fact that we are FIRST AMERICAN and that we secondly have a system of beliefs that might be labeled Democrat, Republican, or Other.  Republicans are Americans, not terrorists.  Have faith in our system of government and it system of checks and balances.  The President is only one part of that system and does not have the powers of a dictator.  We, the People are not stupid nor are we stupefied.  We will make whatever changes need made to satisfy the collective will of the majority of the people.  They call it democracy.  Have an opinion Joe, but don’t discount the opposing opinion.  You never know, it might be right.  God forbid, you could be wrong.  Do us both a favor; don’t put this kind of crap in my face anymore.  I don’t appreciate it and it makes it hard for me to enjoy a chat with you.  When it is all said and done, I love you very much and really want to enjoy our time together.  Saying your point louder or more often or even behind my back will not change my stand on this issue, but it might change my desire to listen to you.  Because my opinion is different does not make me dumb.  I have a brain and I use it.  Have faith in that.  I love you because I say so and there is nothing you can do to change that.  Have faith in that.  Disagree with me, that’s fine...  But don’t disrespect or disregard me… we will both regret that.

Love to all friends and family.  Thank you to every veteran who has and will protect America... especially you Deadeye Dooling!  Renew your patriotism and renew your faith in the PEOPLE of this great nation.   

Respectfully,

Your Cuz

Jim

I found this article and it completely says how I feel about horses.

http://www.beliefnet.com/dailyinspiration/1071505.htm

Click on the link and then tell me what you think!