Happy Trails

Yesterday we sold Kickapoo, aka “the watch horse”. It was a sad day. Olivia cried. I cried. But I know he’ll be happier with his new owners.

The plan when we got him was to let him hang with the cows. Unfortunately he wasn’t down with that plan. He wouldn’t let the cows up to the bale feeder to eat hay. He chased the calves right through the fence and out of the pasture. He failed at plays well with others.

So he was relegated to his own little fenced-off piece of the pasture. He wasn’t able to go out in the main pasture to graze. We don’t have enough acres here to keep him separated. It just wasn’t the happiest life for a horse, which isn’t in keeping with our philosophy about raising animals.

He was also very aware of the fact that we don’t know what we’re doing when it comes to horses. This was made obvious when his future owners came to have a look at him. They saddled him up and rode him right down the driveway. When I had tried that he’d only go so far, then turn on a dime and back to the barn at a dead run.

But he served his purpose in the months he was here. He was a kind and gentle old guy who loved kids. Perfect for the girls to learn how to be safe around horses. I saw this yesterday as Olivia was brushing him one last time. He started to walk away from her and she moved away from his backend. It is instinctive for her now, something she learned in her time with him. Now the girls know how much work is involved in taking care of a horse. And they’ll really know when Matt has them muck out Kickapoo’s old stall!

He’s going to a 15-year-old girl who will be working him and training him for the 4-H horse show. So we’ll be able to go and watch him at the county fair this summer, which will be cool.

Happy Trails, Kickapoo.

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When I went out to check on the chicks before bed last night they were all asleep, in an almost perfect figure 8.