HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  Tomorrow-whoops I mean today-we are leaving to go get Sonny and Arby!  I am sooooo excited!!!!  I will update you when I get back.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Your Horse is your gift

Your Horse is your gift

To have a horse in your life is a gift. In the matter
of a few short years, a horse can teach a young girl
courage, if she chooses to grab mane and hang on 
for dear life. Even the smallest of ponies is
mightier than the tallest of girls. To conquer the
fear of falling off, having one's toes crushed, or 
being publicly humiliated at a horse show is
an admirable feat for any child. For that, we can be 
grateful.

Horses teach us responsibility. Unlike a bicycle or a
computer, a horse needs regular care and most of it
requires that you get dirty and smelly and up off the 
couch. Choosing to leave your cozy kitchen to break 
the crust of ice off the water buckets is to choose 
responsibility. When our horses dip their noses and 
drink heartily; we know we've made the right choice.
Learning to care for a horse is both an art and a
science. Some are easy keepers, requiring little more
than regular turn-out, a flake of hay, and a trough of 
clean water. Others will test you - you'll struggle to 
keep them from being too fat or too thin. You'll have
their feet shod regularly only to find shoes gone
missing. Some are so accident-prone you'll
swear they're intentionally finding new ways to
injure themselves. 

If you weren't raised with horses, you can't know
that they have unique personalities. You'd expect
this from dogs, but horses? Indeed, there are clever 
horses, grumpy horses, and even horses with a
sense of humor. Those prone to humor will test you by
finding new ways to escape from the barn when you
least expect it.

Horses can be timid or brave, lazy or athletic,
obstinate or willing. You will hit it off with some horses and 
others will elude you altogether. There are as many "types" of
horses as there are people - which makes the whole
partnership thing all the more interesting.
If you've never ridden a horse, you probably assume
it's a simple thing you can learn in a weekend.
You can, in fact, learn the basics on a Sunday, but
to truly ride well takes a lifetime. Working with a
living being is far more complex than turning a key in
the ignition and putting the car or tractor in "drive."
In addition to listening to your instructor, your
horse will have a few things to say to you as well. On a 
good day, he'll be happy to go along with the program 
and tolerate your mistakes; on a bad day, you'll swear 
he's trying to kill you. Perhaps he's naughty or perhaps 
he's fed up with how slowly you're learning his language. 
Regardless, the horse will have an opinion. He may choose to 
challenge you (which can ultimately make you a better rider) 
or he may carefully carry you over fences - if it suits him. It all 
depends on the partnership - and partnership is what it's all
about.

If you face your fears, swallow your pride, and are willing to 
work at it, you'll learn lessons in courage, commitment,
and compassion in addition to basic survival skills. You'll 
discover just how hard you're willing to work toward a goal,
how little you know, and how much you have to learn.
And, while some people think the horse "does all the
work", you'll be challenged physically as well as mentally. 
Your horse may humble you completely. Or, you may find that
sitting on his back is the closest you'll get to heaven.
You can choose to intimidate your horse, but do you
really want to? The results may come more quickly, but will
your work ever be as graceful as that gained through trust? 
The best partners choose to listen, as well as to tell. When 
it works, we experience a sweet sense of accomplishment 
brought about by smarts, hard work, and mutual understanding 
between horse and rider. These are the days when you know with 
absolute certainty that your horse is enjoying his work.

If we make it to adulthood with horses still in our
lives, most of us have to squeeze riding into our
over saturated schedules; balancing our need for 
things equine with those of our households and
employers. There is never enough time to ride, or to 
ride as well as we'd like. Hours in the barn are stolen 
pleasures.

If it is in your blood to love horses, you share your life
with them. Our horses know our secrets; we braid our
tears into their manes and whisper our hopes into their 
ears. A barn is a sanctuary in an unsettled world, a sheltered 
place where life's true priorities are clear: a warm place to sleep, 
someone who loves us, and the luxury of regular meals. Some
of us need these reminders.

When you step back, it's not just about horses - it's about love, life, 
and learning. On any given day, a friend is celebrating the birth of a 
foal, a blue ribbon, or recovery from an illness. That same day, there 
is also loss: a broken limb, a case of colic, a decision to sustain a
life or end it gently. As horse people, we share the accelerated life 
cycle of horses: the hurried rush of life, love, loss, and death that 
caring for these animals brings us. When our partners pass, it is
more than a moment of sorrow.

We mark our loss with words of gratitude for the ways
our lives have been blessed. Our memories are of joy,
awe, and wonder. Absolute union. We honor our horses for their 
brave hearts, courage, and willingness to give.

To those outside our circle, it must seem strange. To
see us in our muddy boots, who would guess such poetry
lives in our hearts? We celebrate our companions with praise 
worthy of heroes. Indeed, horses have the hearts of warriors
and often carry us into and out of fields of battle.
Listen to stories of that once-in-a-lifetime horse; of
journeys made and challenges met. The best of horses
rise to the challenges we set before them, asking little in
return.

Those who know them understand how fully a horse can
hold a human heart. Together, we share the pain of sudden
loss and the lingering taste of long-term illness. We shoulder 
the burden of deciding when or whether to end the life of a true 
companion.

In the end, we're not certain if God entrusts us
to our horses--or our horses to us. Does it matter?
We're grateful God loaned us the horse in the first place.

Author Unknown

Post pics Later today

Hi!  Right now we are going to the property and they just painted it so when we get back I will post pics:)!

Blog Backround

How do ya'll like my new backround?  Comment and tell me what ya think;)!

Once Upon A Time....

I got Sonny out to ride and it was the day before a show so Mrs.Jamie was giving me and Sonny a lesson. And Mrs.Jamie decided Sonny was ready to start jumpin' the roll top so we jumped it except when he landed he landed kinda funny and tripped. He was fine so we went on w/ our lesson but the next day when I took him out he could barely walk! So, of course, it set off the waterworks cause I thought he had broken a leg, because THAT was how lame he was. So we called vet and they said he probably just sprained it. They said that w/out even comin' out! They also said to check and see if you can feel his pulse right above his hoof. Well we couldn't feel it so the vet said it proved what he said. The reason he said that is because the blood was flowing toward the sprain faster than the hoof because the hoof didn't have anything wrong w/ it. So that ruled out an absess. The only things left were a) a break or b) a sprain the vet detirmined since Sonny is known to be a baby and awfully dramatic he thought it most probable a sprain. But of course that meant no show so I ended up having to ride Cupcake and in my spare time I would take Sonny out and handgraze him so that he would move around and we could asess his walking:). Within 4 days he was good as new:)!

Like It?

Barn Tour(the barn I board at)

Sorry!!!!

Sorry!  Sorry I have not posted in like FOREVER!!!  But there hasn't been much to post about.  Well I just got back from the property about an hour ago and before that Lexi, Hailey, and Maddie did there ballet dance(from the Nutcracker)at there friend Summer's church, then we went to the mall and looked at appliances, clothing, and TV's for the house.  And it looks like we will not be getting the horses until after the new year:( and we will be spending Christmas in our Grandparents house.  At the property I got to drive the quad and had a LOT of fun!!!!  Can ppl who have had/has horses on there property comment and give me a couple tips cause I am a bit nervous(seeing that I am only 12 and will be taking care of EVERYTHING concerning the horses!!!!)?  Well gtg!

HI!!!

Yo!  Man I am gettin' REALLY tired of Christmas shopping(already)!!!!  Guess What!  Sonny and Arby are coming down the weekend before Christmas!!!  YAY!  They are coming down no matter what, even if we are still living w/ my grandparents.  YAY!!!!!!!!!  Slick Myster and Abster,  what do ya'll want for Christmas cause I have NO clue what you want Abster I pretty much know what you want Slick Myster so just comment and tell me.......

Pics of Sonny as a Foal

Here they are~

Hope ya like em'!!!

Favorite Christmas Movie

Yo!  What is everyones fav Christmas movie?  I personally like "The Crippled Lamb" I used to watch it a lot when I was littler:).  Every time my Manna(gr-ma) or Mom would take it out I would cry cause I thought it was just so sad......  But I still watched it tons:D!  Well comment and tell me what your fav Christmas movies is:)!

Feel Betta' Lisa

Instructions:

This card is extremely important. It is to be passed around the blogger world and not to be tampered with. Lisa's recovery is so important to me, and so many other people, and even though she is already doing much, much better, I'm sure we ALL want to keep her recovery going smoothly. So, please TAKE THE CARD! :P Post it on your blog and post these instructions. (That it is to be passed around everywhere)

Everyone pass it on who notices this:D!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am Thankful for family, Sonny, Horses, Equines:D, Dogs, Canines, and animals:)!

I Hope EVERYONE has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  gtg make pies(ughhhh)!

I was Tagged(again)

1. YOUR REAL NAME:
You know, I'm not really feeling like telling you right now, so deal with it. :)

2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus "izzle")

Lauizzle

3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color and favorite animal)

LightPurplehorse

4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (your middle name and the street you live on)

Since I am living w/ my grandparents I am going to do 2 of tem:)!

Taylor Illinois
and
Taylor Buckskin

5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name)

Mila

6. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (color of your shirt, favorite candy or chocolate)

Blackchocolate

7. YOUR JAPANESE NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first 2 letters of your middle name, last 2 letters of your first name)

Thats makin' fun of Japenese and one of my good friends was Japenese!!!

8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (both parents middle names)

Thomas Joy

9. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black and the name of one of your pets)

I do NOT think my parents would approve this:D!

Pics:)!!!

Yo!  Here are some pics that I redid on picnik.com:)~

Hope you like them:)!

A Christian Pumpkin;)

I thought this was really cool I got it from Slick Myster's blog:D!

A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?"


The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."


This was passed on to me by another pumpkin. Now it's your turn to pass it to other pumpkins. I liked this enough to send it to all the pumpkins in my patch!!

Love Ya Pumpkins!

I tag Abster, Lydia, and Mellimaus to put it on their blogs and they have to tag at least 3 people:D!

Madeline Pickens to adopt 30,000 BLM horses-no joke

A Dramatic Rescue for Doomed Wild Horses of the West

By Lyndsey Layton

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, November 18, 2008; Page A01 The unwanted horses seemed destined for death. The wheels had been set in motion to put down about 2,000 healthy mustangs, those in a federally maintained herd of wild horses and burros that no one wanted to adopt.



The Bureau of Land Management knew that euthanasia was a legal alternative, but officials were proceeding slowly, afraid of an intense public outcry. The wild horses had become too expensive to maintain, and cattlemen argued that turning them loose would be a drain on the already scarce grazing lands of the West.



Then yesterday, at a public hearing in Reno, Nev., to discuss the issue, a solution arrived on a white horse, so to speak.



Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens, made known her intentions to adopt not just the doomed wild horses but most or all of the 30,000 horses and burros kept in federal holding pens. Lifelong animal lovers, the Pickenses just a few years ago led the fight to close the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States.



Madeleine Pickens is looking for land in the West that would be an appropriate home for the horses.



She is working with the BLM staff to adopt the horses, said Henri Bisson, the bureau's deputy director, while the agency persuades Congress to shift $20 million in funding to feed and protect the horses now in captivity for another year. As backup to Pickens's offer, he said, two other groups, both animal rescue organizations, have expressed similar interest in adoption. "We are very hopeful that euthanasia won't be necessary this year," he said.



The news that Pickens and others intend to adopt the wild horses and burros was celebrated by animal rights groups, several of which were preparing legal challenges to prevent the government from putting the horses to death.



"Of course, I'm thrilled, obviously, that these horses are getting a reprieve," said Shelley Sawhook, president of the American Horse Defense Fund. "At the same time, we need to address the basic issue of how these animals got in this position in the first place."





Bisson said policymakers have to resolve the conflict between a law that permits euthanasia and a nation that is opposed to it. "This is a situation where we have to have a conversation about what the law requires," he said. "We're hearing from members of Congress they don't think euthanasia is an appropriate solution, but the law says, 'You shall.' " If people don't like what the law says, they need to address it. We hope we will find homes for all of these animals before the year is out and Congress will decide what it wants to do about the law."



Long an American icon and inspiration for song and story, the wild horse has special protection under a 1971 law. The federal statute calls wild horses "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" that should be "protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death." But the same law also requires the government to achieve "appropriate management levels" of roaming horses so they don't overwhelm federal lands -- and that's the part that has been vexing for bureau officials.



About 33,000 horses still roam wild on federal lands in 10 Western states. About half of those are in Nevada. The federal agency believes the range can accommodate only about 27,000 horses, and each year government-hired cowboys round up 7,000 to 13,000 horses and take them to holding pens in several states.



Right now, there are just over 30,000 horses in holding facilities awaiting adoption. Those 10 or older or those who have not been adopted after three tries can be sold without restriction under 2004 legislation.

Wild horses compete with cattle and wildlife for food and water. Horse advocates say federal officials have made faulty assumptions about the number of horses that can be accommodated on federal land, tilting those findings in favor of cattle interests.




"We're livestock people. We know animals live and die. And we take that as a very normal part of life. We fully realize animal rights people hate that aspect of the livestock industry. We don't particularly seek the euthanization. What we seek is the management of the population," said Jeff Eisenberg, director of federal lands for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, an industry lobbying group.



The federal government has been rounding up wild horses since the 1980s, putting them in holding facilities and offering them for adoption to horse lovers, who promise not to sell them for slaughter. But the roundups became aggressive under the Bush administration. As of June, BLM was holding 30,088 animals, more than triple the 9,807 held in 2001.



Bisson said yesterday that the BLM would limit the roundups next year to about 5,000 horses.



Meanwhile, the pace of adoptions has been falling as the cost of feeding and caring for the wild horses has skyrocketed. The price tag to federal taxpayers for maintaining the horses tripled from $7 million in 2000 to $21 million in 2007. Hay prices for one short-term holding facility in Nevada rose from about $160 per ton in 2007 to almost $300 per ton in 2008, for example.

In a report released last week, the Government Accountability Office called the situation a "crisis" and said the bureau needed to exercise its options, including euthanasia and the practice of selling the wild horses "without restriction," meaning they could be sold for slaughter.



In the first analysis of BLM's wild horse program in 18 years, the GAO found that the agency lacked a coherent nationwide management policy. The GAO recommended that the bureau investigate alternatives to euthanasia and adoption.



Animal rights groups say the government ought to sterilize horses and return them to the wild to live out their lives. In addition, they say, it should offer tax incentives to landowners who allow wild horses to live on private land.



Virginie L. Parant of the American Wild Horses Preservation Campaign, a coalition of about 45 groups, said the BLM does not use a scientifically sound method to estimate the size of horse herds or the number of horses that can be sustained on the range. That makes the roundups arbitrary, she said.



What's more, about 19 million acres of land where wild horses once roamed have been removed from the program, reducing the amount of land available to the horses and increasing their concentration elsewhere.

People on all sides of the issue recognize some fundamental changes are needed.




"It's intractable," Eisenberg said. "The animal rights people put the BLM in a box. We are seeking a balance in the land. Congress doesn't want to put more funding into these holding facilities, especially when times are tight. It's a problem nobody likes."

Click Here to view it at the website

I've been Tagged *strangled gasp* JK

Yo!  I was tagged by Mellimaus
The rules…


Find the 6th folder in your pictures directory and post the 6th photo in it.

So here are the instructions:

* Go to your sixth picture folder then pick your sixth picture.


* Pray that you remember the details.


* Post it on your blog.


* Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

Well here is my pic~

This was taken at my last show by Mrs.Cheryl and I then redid it on picnik.com:)!

And I tag~

Abster and Slick Myster

Poll Results

Yo!  I am going to post the reults for the poll and I would like everyone to tell me who they voted for in a comment:D!  I(of course)voted for Sonny!!!!  Well here are the results~
Sonny:6 votes 75%
Rambo:1 vote 12%
Arby:1 vote 12%
Red:0 votes 0%

Million Dollar Friend award

Hi!  Mellimaus over at Riding Miss Daisy gave me this award~

and I want to pass it on to~
Slick Myster(aka my BFF) because of how great her and Slick, the horse she leases, get along and also because of Saphire, he had to be put down about 3-4 months ago cause of a fracture and Slick Myster and Saphire were really close.

I also want to pass this on to Abster(aka my other BFF) because she is such a good friend:)!!!

Post

Yo!  Here is a post where you post about everything that has been going on w/ you.  Well tell me whats been happenin' at home.  Oh and Lizzie PLEASE comment on this post and if you don't you are NEVER going to hear the end of it:)!

~Lauren aka ~

Unwritten the song

Hi!  I just wanted to post this song cause I absolutely love it:)!  Well here it is~

"Unwritten"

By: Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten, can't read my mind, I'm undefined

I'm just beginning, the pen's in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty window

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost taste it

Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you

Only you can let it in

No one else, no one else

Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide open

Today is where your book begins

The rest is still unwritten.

The pics from our trip:)!

Hi!  Here are some pics of the trip I FINALLY uploaded them~
The hotel~

In front of the hotel~

An iguna at the front of the hotel~

Me, my cousin and sisters in front of a Banyon Tree~

looking over the balcony at the resturant~

The sunset from the balcony at the resturant~

Manna at the table in the hotel's resturant~

The frog that decided to have fun chasing my sisters and Maddie in the pool at like 9:00 at night(lol)~

in front of a Banyon Tree(again)~

The plastic cup at one of the hotels resturants(the one where I say balcony:D)

The bridge opening for the yachts to go back out to sea~

Hope you enjoy the pics:)!
PS:The reason it says 01/01/2004 on ALL the pics is because my camera is acting up:)!