We love all our animals and we have so many! Cats, dogs, horse, and chickens. We have nice animals. So here are the members of the herd, flock, pack, pride:
Our horses are Tex, Ace, Weenie, and Roany. Jayden has Joker and Breezy. Tex, the big palomino Mark brought home from Texas after an NRS clinic. Tex has been our all around and one of the best! He has had many people on his back from young to old. He has been in Serpentine, 4H county fairs, parades, rodeos, barrel racings, team ropings, ranch rodeos, trail rides, and used for lessons. He is a great horse. Ace is Jayden's semi-retired barrel horse. He still gets ridden by me now and then. He is pretty easy to jump on and is pretty smooth. He is the sweetest horse on the ground. He likes attention, lunges perfect, and will follow you around. In a pen with other horses, he is a beast. He goes into attack mode and will rare, bite, and kick. He is down right viscous at feeding time and could possibly kill another horse. He has to be in his own pen. Weenie is my beautiful palomino. He is the most gorgeous horse I have owned with his dark golden palomino color and long flowing mane, he is a looker. He is easy to catch and chill. He isn't the smoothest ride and he can spook and be unpredictable. Roany is a roan horse we acquired when a friend was looking for his son. Roany has slowed way down and seems like his age is catching up to him. After having his teeth done, our horse that we thought was 13, turned out to be more like 23. He is a great horse for a beginner, rides slow and doesn't get excited about much.
Nine cats make up our pride of cats.WallE and Bandit are both gray tiger stripe. Bandit was a full grown gray stray that was scared of people and is now a lover. WallE is the only cat born on our farm. Latte, Mocha, Roger, and Felix are black. Latte is solid black and we found him as a kitten around 9 years ago. He is a long skinny cat and a hunter like no other. Mocha is black with a little white chest. We found him as a kitten just days before we found Latte.I remember picking Jayden up from a school field trip and surprising her with Mocha. He is fat and scared of most of our cats. Felix has four white paws and Roger is a long haired solid black cat, both came from Texas. MiMi is a calico kitten who also made the long trek here form Texas. Little Monster, a female long hair tabby was an adorable little fluffy kitten we first named Lilac. Her personality came out and she is a monster! She will snarl and growl when you pet her. She will try to bite, but only as a warning. She is a moody thing. Coco is the VIP housecat black tiger stripe at 9 years old! He is beyond spoiled and acts like a human. He prefers to sit in a recliner, sits at the door to be let in and out. He likes a warm cozy lap or blanket and prefers to be in a room where you are. He sleeps most of his life. The kids all fight over who gets to have him by their side. He is the ultimate house cat.
When Jayden came back in May, she brought with her 3 new kittens. 2 were born on the M ranch and the third was a 1/2 grown kitten that was malnourished and in sad condition. It meowed desperately to Jayden and followed her all over. The cat appeared the very day she was going to bring my two new kittens back to Iowa. She felt so sorry for it and knew that I would nurse it back to health. I was not thrilled when Jayden showed up with the new half gross, sickly looking cat with an open wound. He was a long hair black male that we named Roger. He was so overly affectionate and had a loud annoying constant meow. His bony spine was so prominent and he had no belly. He was in bad shape. The kittens were looking rough too with patches of hair missing on their faces, paws, bellies and legs. I knew instantly we were dealing with ringworm. We got the vet out and meds administered right away. It was two weeks of isolation and an unpleasant treatment of creams. The kittens started to hate me holding them or petting them. In those first two weeks, they were handled twice daily with creams, got shots twice, and wormer twice. I have no doubt that type of handling affected their affection towards humans. Roger on the other hand wanted to be in your face, on your lap and petted constantly. He was a people cat. It didn't take long to fatten him up. After 2 weeks in the stall I gradually accustomed them all to their new environment. They loved climbing trees and playing. One thing I have always been an expert on is rehabilitating cats. If only I could have a paid job out of it.
Our pack starts with Tuff the heeler Aussie mix, the oldest dog and dominant. His name is ironic, because he is chicken. He is scared of thunderstorms. When it starts to rain he gets nervous. He is afraid of people driving in and barks at everyone. He prefers to be right by your side when you are outside. Buster is a flufferdoodle, a big fluffy labradoodle. He would love to be in your lap if he could fit. His tail wags enough to knock you over. He likes to lean into you and loves affection. He is a hunter and loves to run. He gets to hunt the north acre of hay ground and once in awhile we remove his electric collar and let him run the west hay field. He runs free, digs, and hunts. He has eliminated all creatures he can find. It took some training to keep him off the cats.
IN August, Jayden brought back the latest addition to the farm, a puppy named Ricky Bobby. In a moment of weakness and a lot of convincing, I allowed Luke to have his own pup. We are enjoying the little heeler pup from Sage's litter. We currently have 4 hens and 7 head of roping cattle, plus 3 new calves from our roping stock.
Comments