March *5, 2015 – Road trip….lots to do…

Marie picked me up from home, today. Going on a road trip. Lots to do. Left around 8:30. First stop somewhere near Pembroke. Husband wife and daughter, I think Marie said, live here. Lots of horses that were ‘rescued’. One was partially blind. Another had a spine/back problem. Lots of health issues. I’ve learned that every horse has a different personality and some have better manners than others. These horses were not well behaved. The horses on the farm are trained and expected to be polite meaning no leaning on the farrier, no biting the farrier and no dropping a leg, when lifted. Essentially, stand still and be calm. These horses lacked in most of this! Lots of attitude, when she was trimming. Little bit of ‘tuning up’ had to happen. This is something to see and hard to describe. Marie puts down her tools. She ‘asks’ the horse to back up. She expects it to be quick and without attitude. Sometimes the horse is then made to move around in any direction she asks. Some do this quicker than others, but all do it in the end. This is not done in a mean way, but she is firm. It’s not even done in a way that she ‘tells’ the horse she’s the boss. She is, essentially, bringing them back to a calm state so that they are able to cooperate that’s all. When there is a lot of correcting behaviour that has to happen, it really slows down the trimming process. Only two horses were trimmed at this farm and then due to Marie’s schedule for the day we had to leave. More trims were to happen and we were supposed to be seeing a woman about a new dog for the farm, but the woman kept changing the time so Marie kept juggling her schedule for the day. More on that later. Because we had a little time and we were nearby, Marie offered to show me the facility that they use for training and therapy work. Such a nice place! There is an indoor arena, a cabin with a bathroom and kitchen and sitting area. There are a few fenced in paddocks for lessons. A barn where horses can be kept inside and lots of space with a bush for the horses on the farm to roam freely. Marie and Mrs. Farmer and Kate (now back from maternity leave) are gearing up for the next sessions. This is a very busy time for all concerned. The next farm we went to Marie has been treating a horse that has foundered. She was in a lovely barn lying on a thick blanket of hay with a horse blanket on. The poor thing was in such pain that she didn’t want to stand because it hurt so much. (picture is below). Marie checked her feet (hard to do, when the horse is lying down) and discussed changes since her last visit. There wasn’t much else to be done. It’s so hard. It’s painful for the horse and takes quite a while to heal. In some cases (I think rare) it doesn’t. This farm is a huge hay producer. They, also, have buffalo on another site. Marie said their hay is some of the best around and is shipped to the US. This is one of Marie’s suppliers.

The next farm we visited is owned by a young couple with small 2 little girls (baby only a few months old). I understood from Marie that she had been working with this woman for years. The couple had purchased this farm only within the last couple of years. A lovely spot near a lake. Nice pastures and nice buildings. Marie was trimming 2 horses that are boarded at the farm. The first one had one eye. The other one had to be surgically removed due to damage (I hope I have this right) from a type of virus/infection. See picture below. The second horse was huge. Very large feet. See below. Also, I’ve put a picture of the farm dog waiting patiently for pieces of the hoof that are cut off. Dogs love this! The dogs on the farm (especially Sam who seems to love food in general : – ) love them. You’d think they were getting a piece of meat! There were several chickens and lots of roosters. Some very fancy ones (see pics below. )

Next, we were then finally able to go to see about the dog. The woman had juggled the appointment from 11 in the morning till after 2pm. It was around 3, when we finally headed out to see her. Marie had mistakenly thought she lived in Petawawa, as the notice she posted on was a Petawawa website. Before leaving Marie sent her a text and we realized she lives in Chapeau (sp?) Quebec. We used the GPS on my phone to pinpoint where she was. It was only supposed to take 35 minutes. So shouldn’t have been a big deal. We crossed the bridge near Pembroke and were on our way in no time, however, once in Quebec it was another adventure. There are few signs to help with what town we were driving in. The phone/GPS stopped working because there was no service. Not weak service NO SERVICE and of course no payphone anywhere. We drove and drove (again, no signs) and finally it was decided we should turn around and find someone to ask. (also, as crazy as it sounds, Quebec for some reason is changing the names of some of their towns. Chapeau is no longer called “Chapeau”…..We stopped in at a store and Marie got directions. We weren’t far from Chapeau. Once there we had to, again, get directions for the street the woman lived on. Luckily, there are still corner stores in this area! It was then about 5pm , but we finally found the woman’s home. When we drove in the driveway we could see the dog tied behind the house. It was clear this is where the dog was kept. There weren’t footprints all over the yard just a small space outline with poop. Dogs don’t want to poop where they live. She was stretching out as far as the rope would allow and going there. We found out from the woman she was a single Mom of 2. From what we could tell she had a minimum wage job that had her on the road a couple of times a week. She just simply had no time for the dog. She was trying to find her the right home. She said she had met with many (I think she said 20) people, but hadn’t found the right person yet. Then we arrived. : – ) Marie asked a lot of questions and worked with the dog a bit. She was testing her temperament, recall, etc. The problem then was we were an hour and half (at least) from Marie’s home without phone service so no way to contact Mrs. Farmer to discuss this dog. Marie did say to the woman who owned the dog that if for any reason the dog wasn’t a good fit for the farm she would call and let her know. If she wanted the dog back, she would return the dog. If she didn’t Marie would find the dog an appropriate home. So Marie and the dog (her name is Rosie, but that will be changed, if she is kept) and I headed home. In my mind the dog had just ‘won the lottery’. Imagine going from not much attention. Tied to a house on a 10 foot rope and ending up on 65 acres. She won’t be tied and will always have people around to pat her on the head. Marie and her family will take her training seriously. If allowed to stay, she will be a very content well-trained dog that can be used in their program or to help Sam guard the farm. Every dog (especially mine) would love this. A more authentic life. She’ll be able to be active and have a ‘job’. A very long day…fingers crossed for Rosie. She’s a very sweet seemingly intelligent pup.