Sparky, Labor, and Blizzards

Should I go to bed and get up in a few hours, or just stay up and head out to the barn again in two hours? Sparky is finally in labor. It's a blizzard outside. I have to walk through snow past my knees most of the way to the barn. She started waxing heavily this afternoon and at my last check moments ago she had started to leak milk on one side. She was also having mild contractions you could see that were occasionally interrupting her hay munching. Sparky has had many foals, all without any complications, however, Sparky's advancing age (she is 19 this year) does have me a bit worried.

The Gonsoir's have owned Sparky since she was a weanling. I vowed that I would buy a horse with my first paycheck following college graduation. Sparky is that horse. I graduated from college in May of 1992, started my first teaching job in August, got my first paycheck on September 20th, and bought Sparky at Ray and Georga Sutton's production sale on September 21st. I figured living like a college student for one more month wouldn't hurt. Over the years Sparky proved herself as a top horse mentally and physically. Soon after coming to our barn she changed ownership- my husband Tim claimed her as his horse. Tim rode her to check cows, rode her on trail rides, and even was able to shoot a gun from her back. Tim could ride her hard getting a sick cow in at the pasture and then throw two year old Joellen up on her back to ride around the pasture while he treated the sick cow. As soon as Joellen was aboard, it was like a switch clicked in Sparky's brain and she was a quiet plodding along lead line horse without the lead line. She would take Joellen in circles around where we were treating the cow, oblivious to everything around her, but her young rider.

Stan soon outgrew his mount, Lucky, and wanted to find a horse with a bit faster gear. Sparky was just the option. For two years Stan and Sparky went to AQHA shows competing in barrels and poles earning their AQHA youth Register of Merit. I even ran Sparky a few times in NBHA barrel racing. In Sparky's last barrel run with me she fell on the first barrel, hitting her shoulder on the steel barrel top. We finished the pattern, but Sparky never moved quite the same after that. It was believed she probably had a bone chip in her shoulder. A few years later, the sequestered bone finally made its way out opening a terrible would on her shoulder.

After Sparky's barrel career ended Sparky went on to raise some very nice babies that we have sold over the years. She has always been a good mother and good producer. I almost lost her two years ago in an accident. I am not sure what happened one night while she and her foal rested in a pen, but the morning found her on one side of the woven wire fence that was completely laid down- posts too, broken at their bases- and her foal still inside the pen. Sparky's right front leg was cut to the bone nearly completely around her forearm. We caught her foal and put him in the barn, and loaded Sparky to take to the vet, fully expecting to put her down. She could not use the right foreleg at all. It drug along as she hopped. Our vet worked for hours stitching her leg and chest up. He said he had seen horses live good lives as broodmares with a bum leg before. He figured she would never use that leg as the nerves were severed. I spent weeks treating her wounds and hand walking her with a rope on her bum leg. I would pull the leg as we walked trying to get it to be as natural as possible. About two weeks into treatment she started to use the leg herself and about a month later she was walking fully using the leg. Today she moves as well as most 19 year old horses. Her old bone chipped shoulder gives her more of a gimp than the leg.

Well tonight, or maybe early tomorrow morning, Sparky should have a foal. Since she is over due I am betting it is a colt. She is pretty much like clock work in that she foals two weeks before her due date with fillies, and usually goes over or at least up to 342 days of gestation with a colt. Since 342 days was three days ago I am putting my money on a gray colt, no socks, and a star.

The Blog is Back

I am back to blogging. I know, an over one year break seems a little excessive. I have been kind of wallowing in self pity regarding the horse segment of my life. Sorry Amy, I know I have been kind of despondent regarding horses the past year and probably not a great traveling partner. This is not a new year's resolution, I really am not into those and it is a bit late, but I have decided that things are what they are and I really can't do anything with the things out of my control. This is really hard for my type of personality that likes everything to be planned out. The 11th year anniversary of my dad's death is coming up shortly and I know he would want me to get back in the saddle and start enjoying my horses again rather than just going through the motions of horse ownership. Dad was often my horse adventure partner.

It's a bummer to not have reached the goal I had aimed for with my horse. I know 11th out of 26 at the world show is still great, but I was so close to my top ten dream. It's disappointing to have lost three horses over the course of two years that were to be my new show horse. Flipper shattered his hock some how in his stall, Dusty broke his neck in some freak accident with the hay feeder, and Elmo twisted his small intestine in one of the worst knots our vet has ever seen. Flipper and Dusty were subjects of earlier blogs, but I just couldn't write about Elmo last summer. I didn't even ever get a picture of him before I lost him at 2 months. He just floated when he moved on his long legs, even while in pain at the end. Right now I was supposed to be preparing a four year old to show this summer, not anxiously waiting the birth of my new show horse (Elmo's full sibling is scheduled to arrive February 17th).

But this blog is marking a declaration of a change in my internal attitude towards my horse life. While I didn't reach all my goals, I should celebrate the ones I did attain. I did breed, raise, train, and show an AQHA Champion. I do have a special once in a lifetime horse I love. I do have the financial ability and time to attend some horse shows. Of course, like nearly every horse owner, winning the lottery would greatly enhance my horse experience! I have a family that shares my love of horses. Okay, love of horses might be stretching it for the husband. It might be more accurate to say he 'likes' the horses because he loves me.

The recent roadblocks I have hit in my horse journey are maybe just what I need to get me traveling down a new road towards some of my other horse goals and dreams I have put on the back burner. As a teenager I always dreamed of becoming an AQHA judge. I had, and still do, an admiration for the men and woman standing in the middle of the show pen. I have been judging open shows, some other breed's shows, and 4-H shows for the past few years. Maybe it is time to pursue the AQHA judge dream? I have the time as I wait for my new show horse to be born and grow up. I have also dreamed of trying some other horse show events. Maybe it is time for my AQHA champion to come out of his semi-retirement and let me try ranch sorting and team penning, after all he does have points in heading and barrel racing, and he has won a ranch cutting or two with my son. It is also probably time for me to sit back and enjoy watching my daughter show her horse. I am excited to be a part of her dreams and goals. Maybe she will even let me take her horse for a class or two just to give me that show ring high. The arrival of foals still gets me excited to run out to the barn at all hours of the night. I would have to love it to do so in our chilly South Dakota winters. I love to write. I love horses. I will have to blog more often.