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| Friday date night with Kodak! LOL Best date ever!! JS |
I have been part of a Christian Western Ranch Camp family for several years now. I use to be their day camp director. I still have the privilege of calling them my ranch family. That is a place where I say "God lives". A place I call home and feel safe. Where life all makes sense. Where I and my boys started putting our lives back together.
Anyways, it's a ranch..which means there are horses! I have always loved horses and have wanted one or some of my own. It was never a reality until I started working for the ranch. You can't help but be awed by the beauty of horse. They are strong, they are mysterious, they are the most majestic creature ever created! I became the proud owner of my own horse not long after starting for the ranch. I lived on the family farm with my ex...so it was able to be a reality..for the time being.
While going through the separation and early part of the divorce, my boys and I lived at camp. Most evenings after a long days work at the ranch I would go and sit and watch the herd. I would sit there for hours watching the herd drama unfold and I would just be in awe. You can learn a lot by watching the dynamics of a herd! It was healing for my aching soul. When my world was falling a part and nothing made sense.....this is where I learned to start being strong, to start thinking. Where I learned to take one step at a time and keep moving forward.
In addition to everything else I lost through the divorce, I had to come with the terms that since I no longer lived at the family farm, I could no longer keep my horse. I had to do what was best for me to start over and what was best for my Bella at the time. She went to a wonderful young girl! Amazing how that too worked out! It was meant to be! I loved Bella, but Bella belonged with Katie. They are meant to be! While I made a little girls dream come true, mine fell a part....BUT just because one door closes......right???
Fast forward to the summer of 2013....one of the ranch horses that I have always loved and felt a bond with was seriously injured. I hadn't been as involved that summer, so I was sort of out of the know. A fellow friend of mine who was doing work at the ranch knew of my love for Kodak, and he too had developed a special bond with Kodak. When Kodak was injured he contacted me. He sent me a picture of his wound. I've never seen anything like it! I know there have been worse...but in my experience that had been the worse I had encountered. Kodak was not good, it didn't look good. But my friend started to take care of him and asked if I'd like to contribute to the care of Kodak. I said yes, of course! I LOVED Kodak!
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| sucking on his candy! |
Kodak had to be in the barn and not in with the rest of the herd. He required daily care. I spent many nights with Kodak, tending to his wound, feeding him, grooming him, talking to him, crying over him. Spoiling him! I would sit for hours in his stall with him....propped up against him or the stall door....feeling his breathe, sharing butterscotch and peppermint candies. He LOVES his butterscotch! I've never seen a horse suck on candy the way that Kodak does....he sucks on the candy, then chews it, then sticks his tongue out...then sucks some more! It is hilarious!!!
Back in the fall I obtained primary custody of Kodak and assumed full responsibility for him and his continual care. We didn't think he'd be able to be back hitting the trails for a very long time...but one fall afternoon, we saddled him up and I started working him! He was awesome!
His leg is still mending, but he is amazing! He runs, gallops as if nothing is wrong! It truly is a story of a miraculous healing!
One of the most amazing parts of this...is that we helped each other! I can't tell you the bond that I have with him now. So its true...the amazing power of friendship...between a girl and her horse!
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| Tacked up ~ first time since his injury. |
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| A friend of mine snapped this pic...this is where I spent many of nights! |
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