Horses, ect

As we were watching an animal rescue program I thought of all the animals we have had during our marriage. And what a terrific vet Lowell would have made. He seems to have a sixth sense on how to treat wounded or sick animals. We've had cattle, sheep, geese, rabbits, dogs and horses.

When we lived in Austin we had a black horse named "Smokey" He would pick Randy up by the collar and carry him around a bit. Smokey would also eat the apples that fell off the trees with the juice running out of his mouth. One day he tried to jump the fence and almost ran a fence post into his stomach. Fortunately it didn't penetrate the stomach but he had quite a wound. I ended up having to walk him a couple of times a day for a couple of weeks so that he wouldn't stiffen up. Later when we moved up here he ran a bolt into the center of his hoof. When the vet come to look at him -he said the best thing to do wash the wound often and give him aspirin. Once when Lowell was leading him out of the barn to attend to the wound Smokey hit his foot on the sill. We think he actually cried. We felt so bad. A few years later we buried him between what we called Pine Ridge and the big woods. Now David and Sharon's back yard is near that spot and I think their dog has dug up a bone or two.

At one time we had 9 -I don't know where they all came from - certainly not for our kids because we only had one who wanted to ride. One foggy fall morning the horses were all gone. So we put the saddle in the pickup and went looking for them - hard to do in fog. Anyway we found them not too far from home. Lowell put the saddle on Missy (half Arabian) and started leading the horses home. Half way across the field northeast of us he remembered that it was opening deer season. Oops. He bent over the horse and away he went with the horses following him. He thinks he probably startled several deer hunters.